What I love the most about teaching the English language is that it’s a journey without end.
In every lesson which I teach, not only do I pass on my passion for and knowledge of the language onto others, I also learn something new myself; often it’s a word or an expression used in a certain context which doesn’t quite ‘sound right’, which leads me to investigate further exactly why we say things in the way we do.
Even native English speakers don’t always know why something doesn’t ‘sound right’, we don’t usually have to think about it; we have developed our ability to communicate by copying our parents and family at a young age so that learning to access and apply the correct vocabulary and grammar has come to us as naturally as learning how to walk. However, those of us who have learnt another language know that it is not that easy the second time around, often at a later stage in life. We forget until that point that our ‘naturally acquired’ native language is made up of a combination of rules, some strict and some not so strict, but rules nonetheless, which ensure that we are understood by our peers. This aspect of learning forms the basis of how I help my students to develop their English-speaking skills.
More on that in my next blog….
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