Language environment and native-speaking teachers. Non-obvious points
I periodically read comments like “The difference between Past Simple and Present Perfect is a simple grammar topic, it’s taught normally in the school curriculum, or maybe your schools were just different.” This is not true. The topic is extremely difficult. There are no people who find it easy. Even foreign language graduates often get confused. As long as there are marker words (when, just, already), everything is more or less fine. Without them, they float because they don’t understand the essence of it very well.
There is an opinion that foreign language classes in Russian are conducted only by teachers with low qualifications. English should be taught in English!
Teaching in a foreign language is a good idea if the goal of the lesson is to develop oral speech. But there are purely theoretical aspects to teaching a language: grammar, pronunciation, explaining the internal logic of complex idioms. Some key topics explain is practically impossible – the teacher must set the tasks in the correct sequence and guide their solution. It is difficult to do this even in Russian – many cannot cope, they cannot reveal the moments that the student understood incorrectly. Voluntarily complicate this process by doing the same in foreign language, – why is that??
I had a student who rode a bike without holding the handlebars and knitted at the same time. It's not that difficult: she loves to ride a bike, often lets go of the handlebars, and has been knitting since childhood. But imagine teaching someone to ride a bike without holding the handlebars RIGHT AWAY, and for them to knit at the same time! Of course, they'll learn eventually, if they don't break their neck in the process. When learning a language, necks are rarely broken, but they often come to the firm conviction that “languages are not my thing.” To me, this is as absurd as “I can't master chemistry in the volume of a school course – it's not given to me.”
___Pronunciation
It is believed that a teacher must have good pronunciation, otherwise “the student's incorrect pronunciation is reinforced.” This seems incredibly logical until you encounter hundreds of examples of the results of the work of native teachers and people who live 24/7 in a language environment. Their pronunciation is often as dull as if they were taught by a person with the same dull pronunciation. Pronunciation improves in two cases: either you live in a language environment for a LONG time, or if you work specifically on pronunciation. (I will not discuss exceptions: I work with average students and write for them).
I personally have a pretty good British accent because I've been cultivating it for years. demonstration lessonhowever, I use Russian pronunciation and I am often criticized for it. But if I suddenly switch to a pure British accent in the middle of a Russian lesson for the sake of one English phrase, then it will look more like showing off and will sound as funny as the joke about Levitan, who in the 40s read out the information bureau reports on the radio:
Levitan comes to the store in his old age and asks in a weakening voice: “Give me… please… a bottle… of SOVIET champagne…” (zoomers, sorry)
I'll tell you more. If I start using a British accent in the middle of Russian speech, students might just not understand me out of surprise. The lesson is difficult, people usually don't cope with homework the first time. A pure British accent is not needed there at all.
___”Speak!” It is believed that the language environment is the best way.
Before 2013, I had lived in both England and the USA. However, it was not the language environment that gave me true confidence in spoken English. In 2013, I rented a two-room apartment in Moscow and settled an American English teacher in one of the rooms. The condition for his moving in was literally: the official language of the apartment was English. Unlike the average native speaker, this guy understood the nature of my difficulties quite well, because he himself had studied languages, and according to his diploma, he was a teacher of Russian. We constantly talked about learning languages, compared different ways of expressing the same idea… And, although we communicated on average 1-2 hours a day (the rest of the day I spoke only Russian), I am sure that it was this year that really pumped up my speech.
I don't think that a year of working as a bartender or a sales consultant in the US would have given me more: I would have heard and used the same phrases every day. And when you communicate with the same person, you don't have to waste time on What do you do and Where are you from every time. It's like you continue one very long conversation day after day, remember what you've already discussed, and you can develop a topic that was raised once. In a language environment, a lot of time is wasted, and there are about 1-2 hours of truly productive communication per day.
I remember how happy I was in 2008 when I first found myself in a language environment, completely abandoned Russian, diligently avoided Russian speakers, communicated with the locals as much as possible, and already on the 9th day of my stay I woke up with the realization that I didn’t have a single Russian thought in my head – I literally thought in English! It is considered that this is very cool and you are on the right track. If you live in a language environment for a long time, then yes – a complete rejection of your native language gradually makes you a native speaker. In 2013, I lived in Moscow and thought in Russian. At the same time, I spoke English two orders of magnitude better than in 2008 in England, when thought on it.
___Listening
Even after 10-15 years of studying, many people have trouble understanding speech by ear. Desperation pushes them to think about a language environment: “Probably, this is the only thing that will help…”. I spent a total of 12 months of my life in England and the USA, and I went there with a very decent level. It didn’t help much. A year with this native speaker didn’t help much either: he pronounced clearly and spoke slowly. I’ve been listening to English-language music all my life, understanding the lyrics, learning them by heart. It didn’t help at all: I often can’t even understand the words to songs in Russian. I can’t say that 10 years of studying films and TV series, which I watched at least 3 times, analyzing every word and expression in the subtitles, helped much. I thought that listening would come with time, I counted on a “cumulative effect”. In the first years, it was there, but very small, and then it became clear that listening wasn’t moving anywhere for several years at all.
Things only got going when I stopped relying on subtitles. I started watching TV series only in good sound quality and without unnecessary background noise (working equipment, music, sounds of nature). With good headphones. In a language environment, you constantly ask again, trying to understand what exactly the person said, but after a second he does not remember exactly and simply rephrases what was said. Or he speaks more clearly and you will never find out WHAT EXACTLY he said the first time. For example, did he say Whaddya wan'? And when you ask again, he says What do you want? If you bother with repeated questions too often, native speakers get irritated. And you can listen to a phrase in a movie at least 200 times, and it will be pronounced exactly the same way. Subtitles often write not exactly what the actor said, and you could not hear it even after 200 listenings. But this exact phrase can be found in discussions of fans of the series.
___Total
Until the 20th century, textbooks and teachers were rarely available, and ordinary people learned languages in only one way – through communication with native speakers. Want German? Move to the German Quarter. Since then, the idea of the extraordinary effectiveness of communication with native speakers has been firmly entrenched in the public consciousness around the world. The myth is constantly fueled by language schools that organize courses abroad and classes “with native speakers.” In reality, a properly selected Russian-speaking teacher is MUCH more effective than a native teacher who does NOT understand how you think or what your difficulties are.
This, by the way, is the only myth that is almost impossible to eradicate. I think I have taken apart the process of learning a language, piece by piece, dissected and described its components. And yet – I still (!!!) feel the influence of this myth. You can understand anything with your mind, but the language environment attracts, it promises a touch of something true, authentic, ideal. Have you heard about people who, denying themselves everything, buy a MacBook or the latest iPhone that they don’t really need? That’s it. (It’s not always a show-off – they just really want this thing and that’s it.) The language environment attracts with a feeling of reliability, correctness.
You can't discount the strong association of the language environment with a trip to a country you're interested in, with an airport, with a sense of celebration. Even when we meet a real native speaker of the language we're studying in Russia, you'll agree that some special feeling initially arises towards him… not even respect. Well, like meeting a celebrity on the street: wow!
Hundreds of British language schools are not selling English – they are selling the experience of a trip to England and feeling involvement, progress. Of course, there is progress. I've been playing a six-string guitar for 30 years. There is also progress – and what progress! My friends say: “I wish I could play like you!” That's it. to this girl 8 years. To play what she plays, I have to work hard for at least six months. Because she worked with a competent teacher, and I just played for my own pleasure for 30 years. Sometimes I played exercises, of course. But, to be completely honest, it was the same kind of pampering as trips to a language environment.
Of course, not everyone will be as lucky with a roommate as I was. But do the math carefully. Classes advertised as “Learn a language with native speakers!” cost as much as renting an apartment with a native speaker in the next room. And if you manage to make friends with him, it will be more effective and cheaper than a language environment. It is important to understand that the environment, the native teacher, and the “with a roommate” option will bring good results ONLY if the preparatory work is done correctly.
The language environment does have at least one unconditional, very specific advantage. I formulated it in the first half of this article: https://habr.com/ru/articles/710710/
