Jason Philip West - I Still Cant Speak English: Make Your Own Free Social Learning, Real Practice English Course and Finally Speak English Comfortably

If you have studied English for some time; if you have taken lots of different classes, studied using lots of different course books, listened to lots of audio and still do not feel confident when you speak English (but desperately want to); this ebook is for you. If you use it properly it should be the last English course you ever need to use. To start building your own special English course now, just go straight to How to Plan Your Personalized English Course chapter of this manual.

English as a Second Language (ESL) teaching and learning has not changed much for decades. The majority of ESL courses are taught in the same way and millions of hardworking learners still cannot speak English. Sorry to break the news but I think that this is a huge waste of time, effort and money and that it does not have to be like this. I even found some academic research that proves that ESL doesnt help you to speak English,

In short, educational outcomes measured by way of dropout, failure, and low achievement on standardised tests all suggest that for some reason ESL learners do not benefit from ESL programming. (Roessingh 2004)

A more recent piece of research called Evaluation of the Language Instruction for Newcomers to Canada (LINC) Program , carried out by the Canadian government, clearly shows that the improvement in speaking after 1000 hours in the ESL classroom is statistically the same against a control group that isnt in school at all. So, the study showed that there was no improvement whatsoever.

Since I started English Out There (EOT) in 2001 it has produced English teaching and learning materials based upon 250,000 hours of teaching and constant student and teacher feedback from the field (i.e. the streets of London). The face-to-face course is now called Free Range English but uses the same EOT content. Because of the process followed in every lesson the materials were also suitable for online use with social media such as Facebook and Skype.

If you read this manual and follow the instructions accurately and carefully you will start to become comfortable speaking English. This is not just another marketing claim, it is a fact and we can prove it with before and after audio case studies. It is true because we all learn languages the same way and you just need to provide your brain with the right amount and type of information (i.e. understandable and interesting language) for it to begin to notice patterns that mean something to you.

To become an independent English learner you will also need to do a little bit of work but the more you do the more interesting and motivating it will become. The first three or four lessons are the hardest; that is when you learn how to learn to speak English.

English Out There is a process and like any process if you miss one bit out you will not get the result you desire. We can provide some online help and support but most of it is up to you now, but you can do it, you can finally speak English comfortably.

You can follow me and EOT on Twitter (@EnglishOutThere), Facebook and Google+. Im happy to answer specific questions about this ebook and look forward to hearing from you.

Jason West
Founder, English Out There

NOTES

1. >
2. >
3. >
4. >

Why Do We Talk?

Well, we already know why, dont we? But just to make sure, an MIT professor called Deb Roy made his baby son a study of first language acquisition in the Human Speechome Project and it is amazing to watch him acquire language in huge detail, but for me the most important conclusion of the programme comes towards the end.

The final conclusion is that language is a social, real world inspired phenomenon in humans and this is just what we at English Out There have believed all along and it is what our courses are based upon.

Below is the professors TED talk: Deb Roy: The Birth Of A Word

Watch a Youtube trailer for a programme about the MIT professors study here:

http://youtu.be/TgrQlhVPBjc

You might be able to find the entire BBC programme on an international networks video on demand service, just search on Why Do We Talk, Horizon BBC .

NOTES

1. >
2. >

How We All Learn to Speak

A new view of language acquisition talks about how infants acquire language and how early learning is achieved in a purely social context. The evidence suggests social learning shapes the neural framework of the brain for language and communication. Using brain imaging bilingual babies often show up activity in two overlapping areas, one for each language. I saw mentions of social interaction, mapping and multiple listenings in infants and then second language acquisition was mentioned towards the end.

Another paper by Dr. Kuhl and Maritza Rivera-Gaxiola, Neural Substrates of Language Acquisition contains a whole section on social learning. At the end of Neural substrates ... Dr. Kuhl asks this question: