By Norman Coury
Tough Question
I’ve long maintained that people learn in all kinds of ways, so the question of what way is best seemed to me really tough. With decades of experience and maybe the right diplomas, it’s easy to over-think such things. So I went to the demographic that I thought should know best: I went and asked a kid. After all, isn’t that the perfect function of childhood: growing and learning?
But this particular boy, who happened at the time to be building something out of Lego or maybe some other geometric construction toys, wasn’t much help, at least not at first. In fact the busy little builder seemed bored by my question. ‘I dunno’, school, I guess.’, and right back to his castle, (or was it a fort? I don’t know – he’s not the only one who doesn’t know stuff).
Obviously the kid hadn’t read much Mark Twain, who may have once humbly boasted ‘I have never let schooling interfere with my education’. Twain, immortal for his classic boyhood adventures on the River of Life, seems to be advocating getting out there and doing things.
Practice, Practice, Practice
Learning by doing. Hard to argue with that. Isn’t that what most people learn the most from? Despite the efforts (best or otherwise) of teachers, parents, guest speakers, hard liners, or whoever?
Van Morrison: No guru, no method, no teacher. Just you and I and nature.
Indeed, the best lessons that I give are driven by the participants being highly active. They have something to say and they do their best to say it. Sure, they get lots of input, feedback, tips, tools, you name it, but what they gain the most competence and comfort from is practice: from doing something, then doing it a little better, and –maybe with a twist- doing it yet again. In the end, doing it competently, confidently, and maybe even unconsciously.
This is why I think that in a bad course the student says Yes, I understand, and in a good course those same words are said by the trainer.
Something Better
So back to that kid who refused to be distracted from his playing / building by my academic question on methodology. Maybe Little Johnny wasn’t so dumb after all, maybe he just had something better to do.
And maybe my question wasn’t even so tough. Maybe in that old Denzel Washington movie, Man on Fire, our hard-drinking, reluctantly loving, tragic hero got it right when he told the little girl: There’s no such thing as tough. There’s trained and there’s untrained. Now which are you?
(With apologies to Tony Scott and good gurus everywhere.)
Practical Tip: If you want to improve your speaking, then activities like watching tv and reading newspapers can help a bit, but the best way to improve your speaking is by speaking. If it’s writing that you want, then start writing.
Taaltest
Wat is uw kennis van de Engelse taal? Doe direct vrijblijvend de taaltest!
Correct Engels leren?
Voor het leren of bijspijkeren van Engelstalige schrijf- en spreekvaardigheden kunt u diverse trainingen volgen. Altijd maatwerk, waarbij uw wensen centraal staan. Interlingua biedt een compacte online crash course Zakelijk Engels van 10 uur waarin uw kennis en vaardigheden snel up-to-date zijn.
Een overzicht van ons aanbod:
› Zakelijk Engels
› Engels effectief schrijven
› Effectief presenteren in het Engels
› Engels voor secretaresses
› Financieel Engels
› Engels voor Customer Service
› Engels voor HR professionals
› Technisch Engels
Vragen
Heeft u vragen, wilt u de mogelijkheden eens rustig bespreken of een offerte op maat ontvangen? Onze accountmanager Bas van Eck staat u graag te woord en helpt u verder! Voor een vrijblijvend adviesgesprek belt u 088 – 02 88 070 of stuur uw bericht via de contactpagina.
