¿No Habla Ingles: Should Immigrants to an English-Speaking Country be Required to Learn English?

The “Need” for Spanish?
When an AP news Wire service website recently posted an article on the fact that in certain cities in the USA, Spanish is replacing English as the lingua franca, hundreds of online reader comments ensued at “The Theologian’s Café”. The article, entitled “In Miami, Spanish is Becoming the Primary Language” detailed how English-speaking American citizens were moving out of the region as the need for Spanish began to encroach on their ability to function in the area, find work and conduct their everyday affairs.


Nearly 500 Comments from Readers
On the one hand, some readers felt that the US is a country of immigrants, a “melting pot”, so that acceptance of the Spanish language was the proper way to go. Other readers commented that the US should be more of a bi-lingual or multi-lingual country. But other readers opposed the apparent “takeover” of Spanish in the predominantly English-speaking USA, further citing that using their own first language (L1) is fine, but immigrants should at least make an effort to learn English. One reader even commented, “If I moved to Spain, I’d learn Spanish”.

Chinatown, Little Italy, Jackson Heights
Another strongly-emphasized point was that although the origins and culture of the USA are English-based, many cities with high immigrant populations have historically exhibited “clusters” and ethnic neighborhoods where the use of the English language was minimized or practically non-existent. The are many cities with a “Chinatown”, “Japan Town”, Little Italy, German-speaking, Polish-speaking, Russian-speaking, Spanish-speaking or other foreign language, religious or ethnic-based cultures where residents may use their original first language on an everyday basis. In New York City there are scores of “ethnic, religious and language or culture-based neighborhoods like “Jackson Heights” where Colombians predominate. These same or similar “pockets” exist in Chicago, Los Angeles, Toronto, Boston, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Houston and San Francisco, even Paris and London among many other cities across the USA and world wide, for example.

Additional Factors to Consider
Opinions expressed also took some additional factors into consideration. “I could understand older people not learning English”, said one comment, “…but younger immigrants should make an effort to learn the language”.

Comments from non-Spanish-speaking residents brought out the fact that many of them, “no longer felt comfortable” living in an environment where Spanish was becoming a requirement.

What Do You Think?
So what do you think readers, should non-English-speaking immigrants to the US or other English-speaking country be required to learn English?

If you move to the province of Quebec, in Canada, for example, Canadian immigration laws require you to learn French within one or two years. From personal experience I can tell you that if you immigrate to France and don’t learn to speak French, you’re in a lot of trouble, in more ways than one.

Would you try to learn a new language if you relocated to a foreign country where English, or your first language, wasn’t the lingua franca of the country? Should learning a new language be mandatory or voluntary?

Post your comments, opinions and ideas please!


Prof. Larry M. Lynch is an EFL Teacher Trainer, Intellectual Development Specialist, author and speaker. He has written ESP, foreign language learning, English language teaching texts and hundreds of articles used in more than 100 countries. Get your FREE E-book, "If you Want to Teach English Abroad, Here's What You Need to Know" by requesting the title at: lynchlarrym@gmail.com Need a blogger or copywriter to promote your school, institution, service or business or an experienced writer and vibrant SEO content for your website, blog or newsletter? Then E-mail me for further information.

Part Two - Learning English or a Foreign Language: 6 Effective Ways to Use the Internet

Let’s Continue Learning English or Another Foreign Language Using the Internet

So, you can’t go live in a country where English or the foreign language you want to learn is spoken, attend a formal language class, get a private language tutor or use books and written materials because you may not have good access to any? We said in part one of this article post that some other ways to learn English or another foreign language are to listen to CDs or audio-cassette tapes, watch TV, movies and video programs. But available to almost all are the vast resources of the world wide web – the internet. We’ll continue here to examine three additional ways of using the internet to learn a foreign language.

Photo: A Language-learning computer room at the Santiago de Cali University in Cali, COLOMBIA

4. Help in developing listening skills
Considered to be the most difficult of the language skills to develop, listening cannot be taught. Rather, you must practice, practice, practice and then practice some more. Every week, twice a week I passed a street vendor at the same spot, absolutely clueless as to what he was saying. I knew what he was selling – I just peeked over at his wares. But his entreaties in street Spanish fell on my language-clogged ears for months. Then one evening, without warning, it happened. Just two days before, his cries were the same incomprehensible slur they’d been for months. That one evening however, when he launched into his huckster’s spiel I suddenly understood every word. My listening comprehension skills had clicked in. Why then? No one knows. Especially not me, and I’m a post-graduate-degreed Language Education Specialist!

Practice your listening skills with radio programs in your target language for a change at www.live365.com which has live global feeds 24 hours a day in multiple languages.

Foreign language internet radio and foreign news radio in 27 European, 4 Middle Eastern, 9 Asian languages and audio feeds from 19 African countries are broadcast on: http://www.multilingualbooks.com/online-radio.html

5. Playing games and having fun
Vocabulary is often referred to as the "building blocks" of language. Knowledge of vocabulary is one aspect that separates the language learning levels. The more vocabulary and lexis you know, the more communicative you are.

Here are some unique language activity sites that help build your language as you “play”:

• The http://www.manythings.org/ site offers “interesting things for ESL students” like songs, jokes, quizzes, word games, puzzles, slang and even podcasts to help stimulate English language acquisition.

• The foreign language course site at:

http://www.foreignlanguagehome.com/topics/courses/index.htm has activities in 27 languages including Finnish, Mandarin and Quechua.

• At the Transparent Language site you can play games in any one of more than 100 languages from Afrikaans to Farsi or Guarani to Yoruba. And yes, they have Zulu too. Check out all their listings here: http://www.transparent.com/games/

6. So what language tickles your fancy?
While the selection of language courses, tutorials, news feeds, music and other audio – visual materials online is extensive, ALL the world’s 6912 languages simply aren’t available. Sorry. But many are and here’s how to find yours if it’s online.

• 108 FREE online foreign language courses are posted at: http://www.word2word.com/coursead.html

• The PARLO language website offers courses in English, Spanish, French and Italian at: http://www.parlo.com/parlo21/home/courselist/courselist_en.asp

• The E. L. Easton Language Institute offers 14 languages online from Albanian to Japanese, Latin to Croatian to Russian and Spanish. The site is online at: http://eleaston.com/languages.html

• A plethora of language learning activities for the world wide web are online for practice activities from the University of Hawaii here: http://polyglot.lss.wisc.edu/lss/lang/nflrc.html

Although the internet may not be the complete answer to all your foreign language learning needs it nonetheless can be a tremendous resource in your efforts to “habla español”, “parlez francaise”, or “sprechenze Deutcsh”. The prestige, financial gains, personal satisfaction, envy and opportunities that frequently follow with knowledge of a foreign language are without equal. Why don’t you start today trying out some of these effective ways to use the Internet to learn English or a foreign language. By the way, if you do find Cochimi, Cibemba or Kukapa, please let me know – I’m still looking! Any other informative, constructive comments are also welcomed.

Prof. Larry M. Lynch is an EFL Teacher Trainer, Intellectual Development Specialist, author and speaker. He has written ESP, foreign language learning, English language teaching texts and hundreds of articles used in more than 80 countries. Get your FREE E-books,"If you Want to Teach English Abroad, Here's What You Need to Know" by requesting the title at: lynchlarrym@gmail.com Need a blogger or copywriter to promote your school, institution, service or business or an experienced writer and vibrant SEO content for your website, blog or newsletter? Then E-mail me for further information.

Learning English or a Foreign Language: 6 Effective Ways to Use the Internet

There are many ways to learn a new language
There are many ways to learn a new language: you can go live in a country where the language is spoken, attend a formal language class, get a private language tutor or use books and written materials. Other ways to learn a foreign language are to listen to CDs or audiocassette tapes, watch TV, movies and video programs, memorize phrase books, use the Internet or employ a combination of all the above.

Photo: Student in a language-learning computer room at the Santiago de Cali University in Cali, Colombia

Can’t Go to Live in a Foreign Country?
But not everyone can arrange to live in a foreign country. Native speakers of the language may not be available. Written or recorded commercial materials may not be available in the language you’re interested in (Cochimi, Cibemba or Kukapa, anyone?). True, many major languages like Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese and English broadcast TV programs via cable. Even Korean, Catalan, Arabic and Japanese have venues available in cosmopolitan areas worldwide; but the vast majority of the world’s thousands of spoken tongues are simply not at large outside of their local areas. So what’s a prospective polyglot to do?

Use a Search Engine
One answer of course, is the internet. Plug “foreign language courses” into an internet search engine like Google or Yahoo and more than 7 million six hundred thousand hits instantly come up. From Afrikaans to Punjabi, and Hebrew to Zulu, thousands of listings lay before you only a mouse click away. How exactly then, can the internet be used to tackle learning a foreign language?

Start off effectively by using these six ways:

1. Do an initial evaluation
The first thing you may want to know is where you are in the scheme of learning the language. An initial language skills evaluation is in order; are you a raw beginner? False beginner? Intermediate level? Higher? Let’s take English as a second or foreign language as an example.

English proficiency diagnostics tests are free online at:

• General English Test with instant results http://nll.co.uk/test/english.shtml
• Parlo http://parlo.com/ (diagnostic tests in English, Spanish, and French)
• Upper Intermediate Test
http://www.wordskills.com/level/caeform.html

If you score above 80% in this test, you should take the next one and also show your teacher or tutor a copy of the results.

2. Become familiar with language learning strategies
How do YOU learn? Knowing this can make the daunting task of foreign language learning less like study and more like play. Are you a Visual – Spatial learner who likes pictures, drawings, graphics and extensive use of color? A Musical – Rhythmic type that would benefit from having your lessons and materials set to music, rhythm or rhyme? Perhaps you’re the athletic type who’d derive more success with learning by motion, movement, mime or even dance? Playing the works of Mozart in the background while studying has been shown to enhance learning in a number of areas.

To find out more about your manner of learning visit these sites for starters:

• Learning Styles Explanation http://www2.ncsu.edu/unity/lockers/users/f/felder/public/ILSdir/styles.htm

• Index of Learning Styles Questionnaire http://www2.ncsu.edu/unity/lockers/users/f/felder/public/ILSdir/ilsweb.html

• The Success Types Learning Style Indicator http://www.ttuhsc.edu/SOM/Success/LSTIntro.htm

3. Practice reading skills
Literacy is one of the 21st century’s most innately valuable compound skills. After all, you’re reading THIS now, aren’t you? Few would wish to be illiterate in their new foreign language so practice of reading skills is paramount. Online newspapers, magazines, newsletters and blogs can provide the needed practice and learning materials.

Check out these reading comprehension skills sites:

• How to Read Your Textbook More Efficiently http://www.utexas.edu/student/utlc/lrnres/handouts/1422.html

• Self-study reading lessons http://www.english-to-go.com/

• Read the article in the following address: http://www.pacificnet.net/~sperling/quiz/read1a.html

In the address that follows, take the quiz to verify your understanding of the reading passage: http://www.pacificnet.net/~sperling/quiz/read1

To Be Continued …

In part two of this multi-segmented article post, we’ll continue to examine ways of using the internet to learn English or a foreign language by means of the internet.


Prof. Larry M. Lynch is an EFL Teacher Trainer, Intellectual Development Specialist, author and speaker. He has written ESP, foreign language learning, English language teaching texts and hundreds of articles used in more than 80 countries. Get your FREE E-books,"If you Want to Teach English Abroad, Here's What You Need to Know" by requesting the title at: lynchlarrym@gmail.com Need a blogger or copywriter to promote your school, institution, service or business or an experienced writer and vibrant SEO content for your website, blog or newsletter? Then E-mail me for further information.

Teaching Verb Tenses and Grammar in the English Language

Grammar in English
There are number of ways grammar in English or the grammars of other foreign languages can be taught. Should you teach learners rules and grammar, translations of speech and meanings or just go with teaching communicative forms and discourse? This will depend, of course, on exactly who the learners are and the purpose of their course of language study. But often, as is the case with the following example, foreign language learners can become confused – as on occasion, so can English or other foreign language teachers.

Consider the following:

A teacher said, “I tutor Spanish. I find that much of a student's confusion in learning Spanish often stems from a lack of understanding of English grammar and language constructs, in general.”

First, you are correct in saying that a foreign language learner’s confusion can stem from a lack of understanding of the grammar in their first language (L1). This is but one of the many reasons the English or foreign language teachers should be trained. If you don’t know the grammatical formation of your own language, then understanding the grammatical structure of another language will be that much more difficult. In fact, this very theme causes many would-be foreign language learners to “throw in the towel” after becoming hopelessly lost or confused. It doesn’t help either when profit-crazed language institutes and unskilled teachers make astonishing claims for “instant” foreign language learning like “Learn a Foreign Language in 48 Hours”.

Another query area came up with, “I was trying to explain to a student that the present tense in Spanish (for example, "yo voy") can translate both to "I go" and "I do go." It then struck me that, while I know that the first explanation is obviously the present tense ("I go"), I was not entirely sure what name, if any, is given to the English construct of "to do + infinitive" (e.g., I do go, I did go, etc.).”

Second, I for one am not in favor of teaching technical terms to English or foreign language learners at all. But rather, I strongly feel that taking a much more communicative approach is more effective. It’s also more easily and quickly absorbed by learners especially when you use fun activities and authentic language. For example, while on vacation if someone asked you “How long have you been here?” you’d hardly respond by asking what’s the present perfect continuous form of saying two weeks? Hopefully, you’d just respond by saying, “Oh, I’ve been visiting here for three weeks now.”

Instead of burdening a learner with trying to “translate or conjugate” in their head I prefer teaching communicative response without the need for thinking about grammar rules or translation. When I study languages, I do the same thing with myself, not asking for a “translation”, but rather what is "real language” that could be used, an effective spoken discourse or response in the situation.

Some expressions, idioms and normal speech elements do not translate correctly from one language to another. Saying, “That’s cool!” in Spanish would translate, “Esto es fresco.” But that hardly means the same thing at all. If however, you wanted to express the same thought in Spanish and said, “¡Que chevere!” you’d certainly come across a whole lot better and definitely be well understood.

Third, in your example, “I do go …” the “do” is being used for emphasis of the main verb “go”. Consider:

“Do you study Spanish?”

“Yes I do.”

“You’d learn faster if you went to school.”

“But I DO go to school.”

Finally, we as English or foreign language teaching professionals, need to continually bear in mind the foreign languages are not translations of each other. Languages were created with another purpose in mind according to the Bible book of Genesis, from verses 1 to 9. Check it out for yourself sometime and you’ll see just what I mean.


Prof. Larry M. Lynch is an EFL Teacher Trainer, Intellectual Development Specialist, author and speaker. He has written ESP, foreign language learning, English language teaching texts and hundreds of articles used in more than 80 countries. Get your FREE E-books,"If you Want to Teach English Abroad, Here's What You Need to Know" or "7 Techniques to Motivate Your English Language Learners and Make Your Classes More Dynamic" by requesting the title you want at: lynchlarrym@gmail.com

Home Schooling: Too Much of a Challenge?

Why Home School?
Why do some parents consider switching from traditional school attendance to home schooling their children? For the most obvious reasons you need to keep up with the national news. In one place after another, there is increasing crime and violence in both public and private schools. Institutions of higher education don’t exactly escape the bad rap either. It seems almost every year there are more and more problems in colleges and universities with abuse of drugs and alcohol, rapes and other types of sexual misconduct and excessive acts of violence at rallies, sporting events and even seemingly for no particular cause during the normal scholastic year.

The “Problems”
Many “problems” are commonly associated with home schooling. Some of these may include:

• Quality of education
• Availability of high-level teachers and tutors for areas where parents may lack knowledge and skills
• Reduced interaction of home-schooled children with their peers
• Boredom
• Lack of motivation
• Parental fears over the home schooling process
• Difficulties with local, state and national laws and requisites
• Financial concerns
• Availability of adequate texts, resources and other materials
• Bilingual or multi-lingual education concerns

But for each of these concerns, although initially valid, has several viable solutions within the means of virtually every household. One increasingly difficult aspect of home schooling, however, deals with providing children with a bilingual or multi-lingual education.

Bilingual or Multi-Lingual Education
While in many parts of the world a bilingual or multi-lingual education is desirable or even an essential in many cases, it is quite possible to provide a quality bilingual education for home schooled children. Speaking a foreign language can be a tremendous asset in many walks or life and career paths. The same can be said concerning knowledge of a foreign culture. In a number of locations, education which includes elements of foreign languages is easily incorporated in the child’s everyday educational life, providing them with a solid basis for foreign language acquisition and practical use. A broad spectrum of foreign languages can be included incorporating languages such as:

• English (varieties from regional America, Britain, Australia, Jamaica, etc.)
• Spanish (spoken and written forms of Castellano can vary widely between the 21 countries where Spanish is spoken as a first or official language)
• French
• Chinese (Mandarin, Cantonese, or other forms)
• Arabic
• German
• Italian
• Portuguese
• Russian
• Greek
• Turkish
• And a host of indigenous or local dialects, Creoles and patois

Help, Resources and Assistance are Available
In most countries which allow home schooling of underage children there are programs available to inform and provide parents with information, curricular requirements and other types of assistance to help make the home schooling process a much smoother, effective and rewarding one for both the parents and the children. With home schooling too, parents are able to provide focus and direction in areas of which the child may have special interest, talents and abilities. It is possible to insert an increased number of field trips or attendance at inter-cultural or related events, seminars, conferences, workshops and special activities which may be unavailable to children and learners at traditional institutions. Home schooling parents likewise have the option of integrating learning alternates into their home schooling program.

Consider the Children Too
Rather than allowing themselves to be overwhelmed by the challenge of home schooling, parents should embrace the concept. The first step is to seek out those government agencies, resources and organizations which can provide the quantity of information and guidance needed to effect an intelligent decision on whether or not to home school, why and how. Home schooling is not too much of a challenge to be considered once proper investigation has been conducted on the part of the parents in consideration of the wishes, desires and attitude of the children. Parents could also use teaching and learning techniques not only with their children but also with themselves to make themselves smarter. Now wouldn’t that be nice?



Prof. Larry M. Lynch is an EFL Teacher Trainer, Intellectual Development Specialist, author and speaker. He has written ESP, foreign language learning, English language teaching texts and hundreds of articles used in more than 80 countries. Get your FREE E-books,"If you Want to Teach English Abroad, Here's What You Need to Know" or "7 Techniques to Motivate Your English Language Learners and Make Your Classes More Dynamic" by requesting the title you want at: lynchlarrym@gmail.com

Use an English Only Language Immersion Environment to Develop Your Language Skills in a Hurry

English Language Immersion









One of the best ways to stimulate improvement in English language learning is to immerse yourself in an “English-Only” environment. However, many English or foreign language learners might think, “I live in a country where this simply isn’t possible”. This though, is not necessarily true. Let’s have a brief look at some strategies that might be used to help in “simulating” an effective English or other foreign language immersion environment. Some language institutes and universities like the State University of New York (SUNY) at New Paltz try to accomplish this in their foreign language learning programs by employing several “artificial” means to do so.

Some of these means include:

• Sequestering learners in a physical language immersion location for a weekend, week or longer sustainable period
• English or target foreign language movies and videos only

• For a unique change of pace try watching cartoons in English or the target language

• Not allowing learners to speak in their first language (LI) for the entire immersion period
• Supplying English only newspapers, magazines and other daily reading materials
• Allowing English only music to be played in the immersion location
• English or target language only news, music or sports radio stations are allowed
• Learners eat only foods and drinks typical of the culture where the target language is spoken
• Use games and fun didactic activities in English or the target language
• All speech must be in English at restaurants, cafeterias and other target language-related locations

Some Practical Language Immersion Suggestions
Providing an "English-Only" environment can actually be much easier than you might imagine. With the radio or CD player, have music and songs in English only. Post signs, notes and written material on walls and objects around the room, etc. Play videos, movies and other audio-visual materials in English only - with NO L1 subtitles if that's possible. English or other target language subtitles ARE allowed, however. Read newspapers, magazines and websites that are in English. Get your news from CNN in English if available. Try to talk on the phone with friends, classmates and others in English only whenever possible. Then of course, only surf sites on the internet in English.

For Starters Only
These suggestions are only for starters, brainstorm and you'll come up with many more if you just put your mind to it - and, Voila! an English-Only (or other foreign language) environment will soon surround you. Using this technique, people have developed speaking fluency in as little as a weekend – from Friday evening to Sunday afternoon. The techniques are not limited to English either. Fluency in any target foreign language can be developed in this way as well. I personally did this in learning Spanish, French, Twi and Kpelle. You’ll be absolutely amazed at how well this can truly work. Just try it for yourself and see.

Prof. Larry M. Lynch is an EFL Teacher Trainer, Intellectual Development Specialist, author and speaker. He has written ESP, foreign language learning, English language teaching texts and hundreds of articles used in more than 80 countries. Get your FREE E-books,"If you Want to Teach English Abroad, Here's What You Need to Know" or "7 Techniques to Motivate Your English Language Learners and Make Your Classes More Dynamic" by requesting the title you want at: lynchlarrym@gmail.com

They Speak Spanish as a First or Official Language WHERE?

English Language Teaching:
They Speak Spanish as a First or Official Language WHERE?

Spanish as a First or Official Language
Often, when I teach or speak before of group of English language teachers in Latin America, I like to ask the question, “How many countries are there which have Spanish as a FIRST or OFFICIAL language?” “You ARE all native Spanish speakers, aren’t you? I say, teasing them a bit. A few minutes then pass as I wait for the group to “sweat it out”.

By the way, how many of these countries can YOU name?


Then, mercifully, I offer a response after taking an assortment of guesses ranging from half a dozen or so to fifteen or fifty. The following countries each have Spanish either as an official or first language.

In North America
The North American continent, home to only three countries, has two of them with Spanish as a first or official language.

• United States (oh yes, it is!)
• Mexico

In Europe
In Europe, one of the world’s great melting pots, several countries claim English as a first or official language.

• Spain
• Portugal (by the way, Portuguese is in the same language family as Spanish)

In the West Indies
In the West Indies or Caribbean, formerly a virtual hotbed of colonization, several island nations have a form of spoken English.

• Cuba
• Puerto Rico
• Dominican Republic

In Central America
If you though only Spanish is spoken “south of the border”, you’d be wrong. There are three countries which use English as a first or official language. There are fifteen countries with Spanish as a first or official language. They are:

• Guatemala
• Honduras
• El Salvador
• Nicaragua
• Costa Rica
• Panama

In South America
Passing from Central America into South America as you head south from Panama, these countries have Spanish as a first or official language.

• Colombia
• Venezuela
• Ecuador
• Peru
• Bolivia
• Chile
• Argentina
• Uruguay
• Paraguay

In Africa
I know what you’re thinking. Africa? There are no Spanish-speaking countries in Africa! Oh yes there are – there’s one! Surprised? So was I. Most people are. The officially Spanish-speaking country in Africa is (drum roll, please):



• Equatorial New Guinea


Why Learn Spanish?
Spanish has been a widespread and useful “Lingua Franca” for centuries. It still is. So when your Spanish as a foreign language learners ask, “Why learn Spanish?” you’ll have some new ammunition with which to respond to them as a foreign language teaching professional.


Prof. Larry M. Lynch is an EFL Teacher Trainer, Intellectual Development Specialist, author and speaker. He has written ESP, foreign language learning, English language teaching texts and hundreds of articles used in more than 80 countries. Get your FREE E-books,"If you Want to Teach English Abroad, Here's What You Need to Know" or "7 Techniques to Motivate Your English Language Learners and Make Your Classes More Dynamic" by requesting the title you want at: lynchlarrym@gmail.com

English Language Teaching: They Speak English as a First or Official Language WHERE?

English as a First or Official Language
Often, when I teach or speak before of group of English language teachers, I like to ask the question, “How many countries are there which have English as a FIRST or OFFICIAL language?” A few minutes then pass as I wait for the group to “sweat it out”.

By the way, how many of these countries can YOU name?


Then, mercifully, I offer a response after taking an assortment of guesses ranging from half a dozen or so to fifteen or fifty. The following countries each have English either as an official or first language.

In North America
The North American continent, home to only three countries, has two of them with English as a first or official language.

• United States
• Canada (for the record, French is also an official language in Canada)

In Europe
In Europe, one of the world’s great melting pots, several countries claim English as a first or official language.

• Ireland
• Scotland
• England

In the West Indies
In the West Indies or Caribbean, formerly a virtual hotbed of colonization, several island nations different dialects, patois and varieties of spoken English.

• St. Lucia
• Cayman Islands
• St. Vincent
• Grenadines
• Bahamas
• Bermuda
• Grenada,
• St. Nevis / St. Kitts
• Jamaica
• Trinidad & Tobago
• Barbados
• U.S. Virgin Islands
• British Virgin Islands

In Central & South America
If you though only Spanish is spoken “south of the border”, you’d be wrong. These countries use English as a first or official language.

• Guyana
• Belize
• Curacao

In Asia
Another great polyglot melting pot of the world with hundreds upon hundreds of languages dotting the nations that comprise the majority of the earth’s population, English is claimed as an official or first language in these locations:

• Singapore
• Hong Kong
• India
• Philippines
• Malaysia

In Africa
With more than a thousand languages covering the African continent, it seems nearly impossible to have any language emerge as a dominant one. English has however, broken through as a “Lingua Franca” in several populous nations across the continent. Here are some to date:

• Sierra Leone
• Liberia
• Ghana
• Zimbabwe
• South Africa
• Seychelles
• Nigeria
• Kenya

In the South Pacific
Itself a continent, Australia heads up a short though impressive list of English-speaking countries in the South Pacific. G’day, mate!

• Australia
• Falkland Islands
• New Zealand
• Samoa

Why Learn English?
So when your English as a foreign language learners ask, “Why should I learn English?” you’ll have some new ammunition with which to respond to them as an English language teaching professional.


Prof. Larry M. Lynch is an EFL Teacher Trainer, Intellectual Development Specialist, author and speaker. He has written ESP, foreign language learning, English language teaching texts and hundreds of articles used in more than 80 countries. Get your FREE E-books,"If you Want to Teach English Abroad, Here's What You Need to Know" or "7 Techniques to Motivate Your English Language Learners and Make Your Classes More Dynamic" by requesting the title you want at: lynchlarrym@gmail.com

How long does it take to learn English or Other Foreign Language?

Most people believe that to learn to speak a foreign language like English well, they need to spend hundreds or thousands of dollars and pass through years learning grammar, vocabulary and practicing before they can develop any fluency.

How long does it take to learn English or another foreign language?
People think they need to struggle with long vocabulary lists, grammar rules and irregularities and memorization of irregular verb lists and language forms that only tend to distort, twist and confuse you. You are sheepishly led to believe that only after all this can you hope to "speak" any English, French, Spanish or whatever other foreign language you may wish to learn.

THIS IS SIMPLY NOT TRUE.

Unfortunately, in many societies, many "institutions" use English or foreign language teaching only as a vehicle to make more and more money. Their interest is NOT in you learning English or a foreign language as quickly, fluently and easily as possible. Their interest is primarily in getting more and more of your tuition money for English language classes. They may not have native language speaking teachers or their teachers (native English speakers or not) may not be trained as English or foreign language teaching professionals.

This may help to explain why many people can "study English" or Spanish, French or another foreign language for two, three, five or more YEARS without any substantial progress. Why? Because if you ever do "learn English" or the foreign language you’re studying you won't need to pay them any more money. They won't make another peso or cent off of you.

So what?

Well …

They have bills to pay.
They have teachers who need a weekly paycheck.
They have company expenses.
They need profits to stay in business.

So then, what's their incentive to have you quickly become fluent in English or whatever the foreign language you’re studying is?

Think about that. Then answer the question for yourself.

Integrating into an English or Foreign-Language-Speaking Society
NEVER in my nearly 20 years of English language teaching experience have I had a student more than 10 months to one year. After that they really don't need me any more! They have the skills to continue, grow and develop their English language speaking skills for the rest of their life - for whatever reason they might need.

Many of my students don’t even need ten months or a year. They’re off – integrated into American or Canadian society after a much shorter time. Not with “perfect” English mind you, but with solidly-based English language acquisition skills that will enable them to continue on their own at their own pace for as long as they need.

Consider This

In much of Europe, many parts of Asia and on the African continent, many “ordinary people” like you can fluently speak three, four or more languages quite easily. They don’t need or take years of “studying” each language to develop conversational fluency either. If they did, it could be years before they could even “chat with the neighbors”! Even children in many parts of Europe laugh, talk and play together in two or three different languages while still being as young as five, six or seven years old. Are they any smarter or better than you?

Most certainly not!

If you truly want to learn and effectively communicate in English or another foreign language in the shortest possible amount of effort and time, you must be selective in how you go about it.

For some of my greatest tips, tricks and techniques for quickly and easily learning virtually any of the world's 6912 living languages just go to:
http://www.escapeartist.com/e_Books/Learn_a_Foreign_Language/Learn_a_Foreign_Language.html

Larry M. Lynch is an English language teaching and learning expert author and university professor in Cali, Colombia. Now YOU too can live your dreams in paradise, find romance, high adventure and get paid while travelling for free. For more information on the lucrative, fascinating field of teaching English as a Foreign Language, get your copy of his no-cost, full multi-media, hypertext-linked pdf ebook, “If You Want to Teach English Abroad, Here’s What You Need to Know” by sending an e-mail to lynchlarrym@gmail.com with "free ELT Ebook" in the subject line. Need professional, original content and photos or images for your blog, newsletter, e-zine or website? Want more information, have a comment or special request? Contact the author by e-mail for a prompt response.

Moving to Mexico? Here’s where to Get Information in English

Questions From Readers

If you’re thinking of moving to Mexico, here’s where to get information online in English. These questions were sent in by some of my readers, who wrote:

We, as a family, have an interest in potentially moving to Mexico. First, we are looking for a southern California type climate; low humidity without the scorching heat. Secondly, we are looking for lower crime rate as we come from a small mid-west town. Finally, we are looking for a site(s) with an all around knowledge of Mexico and her weather.


Photo: the Parrish church of San Miguel at the Parque del Castillo in Orizaba



My Response

Having spent four years researching and writing about living and English language teaching employment opportunities in Mexico, I found the country to be interesting, climatically quite varied, culturally diverse and exceptionally livable. Although individual (and family) preferences will vary, with thousands of cities and towns, and almost every imaginable climate represented across a population of more than 100 million people, there are certainly a considerable number of choices available to you not matter what.

Briefly, there are three main sites in English you should try first.

If you read Spanish there are many more interesting sites searchable on Google which will allow you to listen to as well as watch local documentaries, radio and news.

First check out these three available in English:

http://www.visitmexico.com/wb/Visitmexico/Visi_Home?show=regions
http://esp.mexico.com/eng/index.html

http://www.enjoymexico.net/

The Heat and Humidity

If you're concerned about the heat and humidity (and who wouldn’t be?), then northern Mexico and cities such as Monterrey and Hermosillo are likely not for you. Cities and towns in or near desert areas like the cities of Chihuahua or Torreon will also not likely make your list. Perhaps you'd find mountain and / or mountain valley locations like mid-sized Xalapa (also sometimes spelled Jalapa), the mountain vista town of Orizaba, at the base of Mexico’s highest peak, Pico de Orizaba, or the city-in-the-clouds, San Cristobal de las Casas, more suitable. Even if you choose a smaller town like colonial Tlaxcala or mystic Tepoztlan, you should try to be near enough to a large city for a least a day or weekend trip. Central Mexican colonial towns like Morelia, Queretaro or Irapuato may lack sufficient entertainment, shopping or technological resources for you, but that would be up to you.

The Top Three

Mexico City, Guadalajara and Monterrey are very large metropolitan areas and do not offer anything even remotely close to a “small town” living atmosphere. You may however, want to consider a nearby smaller suburban community. The Lake Chapala region near Guadalajara supports a 50,000 plus population of English-speaking ex-pats. The cities of Puebla and Toluca are commuting distance from Mexico City and allow for a slower pace of colonial life while being in proximity to the world-class facilities offerings of Mexico’s largest metropolis.

I hope this information is sufficient to get you started in your possible Mexico relocation plans. Also, detailed city and cultural information on Mexico is occasionally posted here at my English language teaching and learning blog.

Please let me know if there's anything else I can do for you.


Prof. Larry M. Lynch is an English language teaching and learning expert author and university professor in Cali, Colombia. Now YOU too can live your dreams in paradise, find romance, high adventure and get paid while travelling for free. For more information on entering or advancing in the fascinating field of teaching English as a Foreign or Second Language send for his no-cost pdf Ebook, “If You Want to Teach English Abroad, Here’s What You Need to Know”, by sending an e-mail with "free ELT Ebook" in the subject line. For comments, questions, requests, to receive more information or to be added to his free TESOL articles and teaching materials mailing list, e-mail: lynchlarrym@gmail.com

How to Develop English or Foreign Language Fluency So Fast It’ll Surprise Even You

Do You Talk Too Much?

Have you ever noticed someone “talking” to themselves? What did you think? The words “crazy” or “nuts” probably popped into your mind.

Wait a minute though. Maybe they’re on to something.


“Excuse me?”

I mean, talking to yourself, i.e., speaking practice, can be effective in many different forms when learning English or another foreign language. Mimicking or imitating the speech of others is proven to be highly effective in developing native speaker level fluency in a language. You’ve already proven that to yourself.

How? That’s how you learned your first language (L1) whether it’s English, Spanish, French or some other language. You “mimicked” your Mother, Father, family, friends, teachers and whoever else was around making “talking” noises at you as you formed communicative language skills.

So don’t knock the “crazy” who’s talking to themselves. At least don’t knock it until you’ve tried it for yourself, in English or your new foreign language. Hey, do you remember comedian Groucho Marx? He did it all the time. If it worked for him, it can also work for you.

Conversations with the Id

As you go through your day, in English or your new foreign language, tell yourself what you’re doing at the moment and what you’re going to be doing during the day.

“I’ll have to buy some new safety razors next time I’m in the supermarket. This one’s starting to get dull”, you say aloud to yourself while shaving.

“Which of these shirts, ties, ties, etc. should I wear today? Not this one, I wore it just last week. Maybe this one, but I don’t like this color with these pants. Let’s try another one”, you might say as you are getting dressed.

If you live alone no problem, you can talk aloud all you want without any external consequences except for the dog or cat giving you “that look”. If you don’t live alone however, then first explain to your family or roommates what you’ll be doing, that is talking aloud, to avoid a quiet phone tip to the community mental health emergency via a 911 call while you’re in the shower.

Other Sources for Mimicking

For some other useful sources for mimicking practice, pick out a newscaster or announcer on the radio or TV. Record a segment of their broadcast for a few minutes. Then you have “seed” material you can use during any down time you might have. Movie clips and scenes, TV and radio commercials, soap operas, even local exclamations, expressions and advertising slogans can all help to springboard your fluency at breakneck speeds.

So mimic anyone and everyone you can, and talk aloud to yourself daily for even more speaking practice. Does this sound “crazy”, maybe, but like the Nike commercial says, “just do it”, and you’ll develop English, Spanish, French or other foreign language speaking fluency so fast it’ll surprise even you.


Prof. Larry M. Lynch is an English language teaching and learning expert author and university professor in Cali, Colombia. Now YOU too can live your dreams in paradise, find romance, high adventure and get paid while travelling for free. For more information on entering or advancing in the fascinating field of teaching English as a Foreign or Second Language send for his no-cost pdf Ebook, “If You Want to Teach English Abroad, Here’s What You Need to Know”, by sending an e-mail with "free ELT Ebook" in the subject line. For comments, questions, requests, to receive more information or to be added to his free TESOL articles and teaching materials mailing list, e-mail: lynchlarrym@gmail.com

Of the Thousands of Foreign Languages You Can Learn Which One is Best for You?

A Key Question

A key question people ask when thinking of embarking on the life-long quest that foreign language learning can ultimately become, is “which foreign language should I try to learn?” Certainly there’s no lack of choice. Reasons for wanting or needing to learn a foreign language can be almost as many and as varied as the number of people themselves. Family, ancestry, employment, business, education, travel, adventure, romance and other personal concerns all may have their respective roles in the decision to learn and continue learning a foreign language.

Some Interesting Language Statistics

According to Vistawide World Languages & Culture statistics online at: http://www.vistawide.com/languages/language_statistics.htm
there are currently 6912 living languages in the world, but did you know that 516 of these are nearly extinct.

The Fabulous Five

Of the top five spoken world languages, Mandarin Chinese has the greatest number of speakers with a whopping 1.051 billion who manage one of the nearly one dozen forms or dialects.

Photo: one of my Mandarin teachers, Shutzng Zhang, is on the right in the photo

English is a “distant” second with an approximate total of 510 million speakers in 64 different countries. It is also the world’s most widely published language and has the largest number of words - approx. 250,000* distinct words. (*Some linguists even contend that there are as many as one million or more words in the English language.) English also has the greatest number of people who speak it as a second language – with up to 350 million non-native speakers.

Hindi is in third position with 490 million.

Fourth place is occupied by Spanish with 420 million native and second language speakers.

Arabic comes in fifth with 255 million speakers when all of its varieties are combined according to a World Almanac estimate.

Additional Language Statistics

The language with the fewest number of words is Taki-Taki, also called Sranan, which is spoken in Surinam. It has a mere 340 words.

The country where the largest number of languages is spoken is Papua New Guinea with 820 different languages even though it has only around 5,545,268 people. (That’s one language for every 6762 people for all of you statistics freaks out there)

Number two Indonesia has 742 languages among its 241,973,879 people.

Nigeria, with 516 languages spread through its 128,771,988 people, steps in at third.

In India 1,080,264,388 people spread across the country’s vast reaches speak an astounding 427 languages among them.

These statistics are likely, one of the reasons English has been adopted as an official language in each one of these countries.

Summary

So whether your reasons for wanting or needing to learn a foreign language include family, ancestry, employment, business, education, travel, adventure, romance or other more personal ones, a wide variety of language choices are available.

Prof. Larry M. Lynch is an English language teaching and learning expert author and university professor in Cali, Colombia. Now YOU too can live your dreams in paradise, find romance, high adventure and get paid while travelling for free. For more information on entering or advancing in the fascinating field of teaching English as a Foreign or Second Language send for his no-cost pdf Ebook, “If You Want to Teach English Abroad, Here’s What You Need to Know”, by sending an e-mail with "free ELT Ebook" in the subject line. For comments, questions, requests, to receive more information or to be added to his free TESOL articles and teaching materials mailing list, e-mail: lynchlarrym@gmail.com

A Speaker of Seven Foreign Languages Gives Some Useful Tips

In this blog posting, I invited a native English speaker now living and working abroad; to share his best tips and experiences in picking up a foreign lingo once you’ve been relocated onto foreign soil. As mentioned before, when it comes to foreign language learning, be it English or any one of the other 6912 spoken languages in the world, we could all use any help we can get. Here are some segments from his extensive comments excerpted from my e-book, “You CAN Learn a Foreign Language: Tested Techniques Anyone Can Use to Learn ANY Foreign Language”.

Meet Kayleigh Garman

Kayleigh “Kees” Garman, Director of Language Studies at a large language institute in Europe, offers the following additional comments during an interview on foreign language learning. He speaks English, German, Dutch, Spanish, Danish, and Turkish and is now working on his Hungarian.

Learning a new language can be challenging for anyone As a learner of multiple languages, admittedly some better than others, there are indeed some tricks I have used to make the process easier for me personally which hopefully will benefit those who might be intimidated by the idea of trying to master (whatever that means actually) a new language. Some are rather obvious tips, but others are possibly things not much considered before.

Never fear

“One of the biggest and most obvious ways people hold themselves back in developing a new language is by being afraid to make mistakes.”

“Strive for meaning above accuracy, especially at the beginning!”

What do you mean Kees?

Are you saying that it’s okay not to have perfect grammar and language skills at the outset, even on simple structures? Are you suggesting that foreign language teachers and foreign language learners shouldn’t correct all their mistakes to keep from becoming “fossilized” in some mistakes?

“Yes and yes!”

Learn to laugh

On top of not fearing your mistakes, a very healthy dose of laughter can really take the sting out of those dreadful and “inevitable” mistakes.

“I’ll never forget some years ago being in a kitchen meeting at the dormitory in Denmark where I was living for a year and the horrible blunder I made. After waiting my turn to say that we needed to clear out the freezer of old bread and vegetables from days gone by, I made the following embarrassing mistake: Instead of saying “I’m very unhappy with the freezer situation” (fryseren), I said to my 23 friends at the table that I was “immensely unhappy about my hairdresser” (frisøren). It wouldn’t have been so bad, except that I was practically banging my fist about it – you can imagine the querying looks I got from my friends. You can also imagine the good laughs we had about in the days to come.”

But as they say; “It’s better to laugh than to cry!”

Get your pronunciation right

The mistake above was due to stress and intonation. Obviously you’re going to get it wrong sometimes, but why people (and often teachers as well) are seemingly rather lazy or uninterested in addressing pronunciation will forever be beyond me. Naturally, no one expects a learner of a new language to step off the plane sounding like a native-speaker, but let me say very clearly that …

… “The earlier one deals with getting pronunciation as close to natural as possible, the better off everyone is in the long run.”

Your speech doesn’t need to be the “Queen’s English”, in most settings one sounds quite silly speaking in such a way, but your language needs to understandable and acceptable to the community you’re in.

No matter which foreign language you might wish to tackle, these “from the trenches” tips can be useful tools in your English or other foreign language learning arsenal.

Prof. Larry M. Lynch is an English language teaching and learning expert author and university professor in Cali, Colombia. Now YOU too can live your dreams in paradise, find romance, high adventure and get paid while travelling for free. For more information on entering or advancing in the fascinating field of teaching English as a Foreign or Second Language send for his no-cost pdf Ebook, “If You Want to Teach English Abroad, Here’s What You Need to Know”, by sending an e-mail with "free ELT Ebook" in the subject line. For comments, questions, requests, to receive more information or to be added to his free TESOL articles and teaching materials mailing list, e-mail: lynchlarrym@gmail.com

A Truly Romantic Tip on Learning a Foreign Language

Meet Nick Morley

Foreign language learning veteran Nick Morley from the UK, now lives and teaches English in Bangkok, Thailand after a several-year stint in South Vietnam. With degrees of fluency in Vietnamese, English and now Thai, he briefly comments,

“What has worked for me is meeting a girl who doesn't speak much English and seeing a lot of her, which of course means I have to pick up some language to keep things going.”

That sounds like a winning strategy that worked successfully for me too.

Key Point: Talking on a personal level with the locals, especially those with limited or no English language speaking skills, is an excellent way to ramp your new foreign language skills up to the next levels.

This way you can have dozens, scores, yea – even hundreds of “foreign language teachers” of your new language all ready, willing, able and even eager in their own way, to help you with and teach you, their mother tongue. So nearly everyone you meet can become your foreign language “teacher”.

And actually, it’s not too far off from the way you learned your first language.
No matter which foreign language you might wish to tackle, these “front line trenches” tips can be useful tools in your English or other foreign language learning arsenal.


Prof. Larry M. Lynch is an English language teaching and learning expert author and university professor in Cali, Colombia. Now YOU too can live your dreams in paradise, find romance, high adventure and get paid while travelling for free. For more information on entering or advancing in the fascinating field of teaching English as a Foreign or Second Language send for his no-cost pdf Ebook, “If You Want to Teach English Abroad, Here’s What You Need to Know”, by sending an e-mail with "free ELT Ebook" in the subject line. For comments, questions, requests, to receive more information or to be added to his free TESOL articles and teaching materials mailing list, e-mail: lynchlarrym@gmail.com

A Fearless Fellow Polyglot Ex-pat Gives Tips on Learning a Foreign Language

When it comes to foreign language learning, be it English or any one of the other 6912 spoken languages in the world, we could all use any help we can get. I invited several native English speakers now living and working abroad; to share their tips and experiences in picking up a foreign lingo once you’ve been planted on foreign soil. Here are some segments from their extensive comments excerpted from my e-book, “You CAN Learn a Foreign Language: Tested Techniques Anyone Can Use to Learn ANY Foreign Language”.

Meet Lindsay Clanfield

Canadian Lindsay Clanfield now residing in the south of Spain says, “I speak English, French, Spanish and now a little German.”

“When I was learning Spanish, one of the most useful things that helped me gain fluency was learning "little" words that helped fill pauses or give me time to think while sounding more Spanish. In Mexico, these were words like "este" and "pues" which could conveniently be stretched out too ("pueeeeesss"). In Spain I've used "bueno" quite a lot."

"I've since learned that these words are called discourse markers.”


He clarifies the term discourse markers by adding, “In English, I suppose the most useful discourse marker is "OK", but things like "right" and "well" can also perform a similar function.”

Lindsay also believes that “…one of the successes of learning a foreign language is patience and letting go of perfectionism. My advances in language have been largely due to practice without panicking if everything I was saying was 100% correct or not.”

He notes that “correction, delivered in the right way and at the right time”, is definitely helpful, but cautions, “I don't think I would have progressed as much as I have if I made a point of not communicating unless I thought it was perfect.”

Key Point: Don’t worry about being “perfect”, improvement comes with practice not perfectionism.

Prof. Larry M. Lynch is an English language teaching and learning expert author and university professor in Cali, Colombia. Now YOU too can live your dreams in paradise, find romance, high adventure and get paid while travelling for free. For more information on entering or advancing in the fascinating field of teaching English as a Foreign or Second Language send for his no-cost pdf Ebook, “If You Want to Teach English Abroad, Here’s What You Need to Know”, by sending an e-mail with "free ELT Ebook" in the subject line. For comments, questions, requests, to receive more information or to be added to his free TESOL articles and teaching materials mailing list, e-mail: lynchlarrym@gmail.com

Why You Should Learn to Speak a Foreign Language

There are a multitude of reasons for wanting to speak the lingua franca of another people; travel, business, education, matrimony, retirement, personal pleasure, even family or friends among many others.

Indeed it’s no small feat to habla Español, parlez Francaise, or sprechenze Deutcsh, but the prestige, financial gains, personal satisfaction and even peer envy that can accompany this easily-nurtured skill, can be supremely rewarding. If you’re not already an ex-pat, don’t start packing your bags just yet though, you’ve got a little “work” to do first.

If you’re already an ex-pat, then learning or improving your communicative skills in a foreign language may be a moot point. There you are, one of the millions of “escapees” from the USA, UK or other country, now surrounded by new horizons, vistas, culture, everyday life and a foreign language you need to master as quickly and adeptly as possible out of necessity.

Perhaps you’d like to study abroad; Fashion Design or the Culinary Arts in Paris with French as the medium of communication. Learning Renaissance Art in Milan or Rome would certainly be enriched by your fluency in Italian. Delving into Architecture or beer-brewing in Germany will be far more rewarding if you integrate into their society using your best German.

If you want to immerse yourself into Anthropology or Mayan Culture in the Yucatan, Mayan or Nahuatl would serve you even better than Spanish might. You could also simply double up and learn both languages. (Yes, you most certainly can!)

Exploring the mysteries of Oriental Antiquities, culture or martial arts in the Yellow River Valley of China requires at least some communicative skills in one of the dialects of Chinese, don’t you think?

Acquiring knowledge of ancient and modern agricultural techniques or perhaps the secrets of Yoga in the vast stretches of exotic India will be far more enriching with one of the local dialects of the country flowing like honey from your tongue.

Would you like to learn Karate, Judo or the art of making Sushi in Japan? Do you think knowing how to speak Japanese might make things easier?

You might be thinking of honing your Tango dancing skills in Buenos Aires, or improving your Salsa steps in Cuba or Colombia, then Spanish could pave the way to your progress. The list could go on and on, but just think how the “right” foreign language could not only make it all very possible, but expand and deepen your quest as well.

But, you’re thinking, how can you, with limited time, resources and perhaps even more limited patience, make any decent headway in a reasonably short time? You may well ask, “Can I indeed, at my age, really develop good communicative skills in a new tongue?”

Yes, you can and you will if you’ll use some of my “quick tricks” for heightening your language–learning experience and incorporating your prospective new language into your present everyday life.



Prof. Larry M. Lynch is an English language teaching and learning expert author and university professor in Cali, Colombia. Now YOU too can live your dreams in paradise, find romance, high adventure and get paid while travelling for free. For more information on entering or advancing in the fascinating field of teaching English as a Foreign or Second Language send for his no-cost pdf Ebook, “If You Want to Teach English Abroad, Here’s What You Need to Know”, by sending an e-mail with "free ELT Ebook" in the subject line. For comments, questions, requests, to receive more information or to be added to his free TESOL articles and teaching materials mailing list, e-mail: lynchlarrym@gmail.com

Learn a Foreign Language in 48 Hours

The Clock Starts Ticking

Starting tomorrow morning, you’re going to practice English, Spanish, French or other foreign language. For the following 6 days, for 8 hours per day, you’ll work on grammar, pronunciation, watch videos and listen to audio materials. You’ll write short notes, grocery lists and play games in the target foreign language. All well and good – BUT – a week from today, is it really reasonable to think you’ll be fluent in English, Spanish, French, Arabic, Chinese or any other foreign language?

Of course not.

Could you learn a lot?
Yes.

Could you manage key words and phrases?
Sure.

Could you conduct a very basic “conversation” with someone in the foreign language?
Perhaps.

Yet many language institutes and foreign language programs give prospective learners the distinct impression that in 48 hours, a weekend or a week, they can “speak” the foreign language of their choice. This is misleading for the learners, but often quite profitable for the language institute or program directors.

How sad.

Learning any foreign language is not an easy, quick or simple affair. Real mastery, if indeed it ever truly comes, may take years of practice and painstaking effort. This need not at all to be a dull, boring affair. Foreign language learners can, and should, enjoy the majority of the process. They should continuously applying their continually improving foreign language skills to chat with friends and neighbors, conduct everyday life tasks, interact with target language-speaking locals on the job, to shop, to sample a variety of foods and in general soak up the culture associated with their target foreign language.

Functional Ability

When considering or continuing the learning of a foreign language, you should pay no heed to outrageous claims of super-rapid foreign language acquisition. Instead, focus on developing functional ability.

You might think, for example, can you:

· Ask for or give directions?
· Tell the time?
· Shop and bargain for purchased goods?
· Conduct a bank or other financial transaction?
· Introduce yourself?
· Order food and drink in a restaurant or on the street?
· Haggle with a street vendor?
· Make “small talk” with a stranger?

By focusing on what you can do in the foreign language, you will shift your view of its acquisition to long term vs. short term progress, enjoying your skills development along the way.

So, starting tomorrow morning, you’re going to practice English, Spanish, French or other foreign language. For the following 6 days, for 8 hours per day, you’ll work on grammar, pronunciation, watch videos and listen to audio materials. You’ll write short notes, grocery lists and play games in the target foreign language. Only this time you’ll be focused on your functional skills development – that is, what you’ll be able to do in your target language.

No, you can’t learn a foreign language in 48 hours, but you can take a few steps forward towards greater fluency.


Prof. Larry M. Lynch is an English language teaching and learning expert author and university professor in Cali, Colombia. For more information on entering into or advancing in the fascinating field of ELT send for his no-cost pdf Ebook, “If You Want to Teach English Abroad, Here’s What You Need to Know”, send an e-mail with "free ELT Ebook" in the subject line. For comments, questions, requests, to receive more information or to be added to his free TESOL articles and teaching materials mailing list, e-mail: lynchlarrym@gmail.com

Grammar Teaching: Implicit or Explicit?

Implicit or Explicit?
Based on my 15 years of EFL (English as a Foreign Language) teaching experience, the statement “grammar teaching should be implicit, not explicit” could be argued both for and against. Whether to teach grammar as an extracted focus of ELT (English Language Teaching) or more passively as an inductive, integral topic has been the theme of countless debates on the part of institutions, professors, grammarians and language researchers for decades. Grammar is the branch of linguistics dealing with the form and structure of words or morphology, and their interrelation in sentences, called syntax. The study of grammar reveals how language works, an important aspect in both English language acquisition and learning.

Early 18th Century Grammarians
In the early 20th century grammarians like the German-American anthropologist Franz Boas and the Danish linguist Otto Jespersen began to describe languages and Boas' work formed the basis of various types of American descriptive grammar study. Jespersen's work was the fore-runner of such current approaches to linguistic theory such as Noam Chomsky’s Transformational Generative Grammar.

Noam Chomsky
Chomsky, (pictured above) who studied structural linguistics, sought to analyze the syntax of English in a structural grammar. This led him to view grammar as a theory of language structure rather than a description of actual sentences. His idea of grammar is that it is a device for producing the structure, not of a particular language, but of the ability to produce and understand sentences in any and all languages. Since grammar is the means by which we can understand how a language “works”, a definitive study of language grammar is essential to language study.

Strictly explicit grammar study however, and even grammar-focused lessons are often not communicatively based. They can therefore be boring, cumbersome and difficult for students to assimilate. The strict teaching of grammar / structure, except with students of the Logical – Mathematical or Verbal – Linguistic Multiple Intelligences, can be frustrating and highly ineffective. (ref. H. Gardner, 1993)

Grammar teaching should be implicit

In the early 20th century, Jespersen, like Boas, thought grammar should be studied by examining living speech rather than by analyzing written documents. By providing grammar in context, in an implicit manner, we can expose students to substantial doses of grammar study without alienating them to the learning of English or other foreign language. I also agree with this implicit approach of teaching grammar. The principal manner in which I accomplish this is by teaching short grammar-based sessions immediately followed by additional function-based lessons in which the new grammar / structure is applied in context.

The hypothesis (see Krashen-Terrell, 1984) is that adult language students have two distinct ways of developing skills and knowledge in a second language, acquisition and learning. Acquiring a language is “picking it up”, i.e., developing ability in a language by using it in natural, communicative situations. Learning language differs in that it is “knowing the rules” and having a conscious knowledge of grammar / structure. Adults acquire language, although usually not as easily or as well as children. Acquisition, however, is the most important means for gaining linguistic skills. A person’s first language (L1) is primarily learned in this way. This manner of developing language skills typically employs implicit grammar teaching and learning.


Grammar teaching should be explicit

This does not exclude explicit grammar-teaching entirely, however. Some basic features of English language grammar structure are illogical or dissimilar to speakers of other languages and do not readily lend themselves to being well understood, even in context. In cases where features of English grammar are diametrically opposed or in some other way radically different from the manner of expression in the student’s L1, explicit teaching may be required.

Aspects of English language grammar that may offer exceptional challenge to EFL students include use of word order, determiners (this, that, these, those, a, an, the), prepositions (in, on, at, by, for, from, of), auxiliaries (do, be, have), conjunctions (but, so, however, therefore, though, although), interrogatives, intensifiers (some, any, few, more, too) and distinctions between modal verbs (can, could, would, should, may, might, must). Phrasal verbs also present considerable difficulty to Spanish speakers learning communicative English.

Some students also are logical or linguistically-biased thinkers who respond well to structured presentation of new material. Logical-Mathematical and Verbal-Linguistic intelligence learners are prime examples of those that would respond well to explicit grammar teaching in many cases.

Based on my English language teaching and on my second and third foreign language learning (L2, L3) experience, an exclusive approach using either implicit or explicit methodologies is not as effective as utilizing one or the other of these approaches as required. Although it is essential to teach elements of language and develop communicative abilities in our students, there is no one best way to introduce and provide practice in them. Young learners have more natural facility in acquisition, while adults may benefit substantially from more “formal” language learning. Learning styles and intelligence strengths are also a significant factor.

"Teacher, I don't understand!"
There are many generally accepted ways of introducing the sounds, structure and vocabulary of English, including colloquial forms of conversation and the four basic communication skills. Grammar provides for “communicative economy”. Grammar teaching should be implicit, or explicit, as teaching / learning conditions may dictate helping to minimize the student response teachers fear most;

“Teacher, I don’t understand.”


Note: Academic references for this article are available on request.

Prof. Larry M. Lynch is an EFL Teacher Trainer, Intellectual Development Specialist, author and speaker. He has written ESP, foreign language learning, English language teaching texts and hundreds of articles used in more than 80 countries. Get your FREE E-books,"If you Want to Teach English Abroad, Here's What You Need to Know" or "7 Techniques to Motivate Your English Language Learners and Make Your Classes More Dynamic" by requesting the title you want at: lynchlarrym@gmail.com