【文档】why we dont like English classes Module 1（英语外研必修一）.doc

Why we dont like English classesEnglish classes are the most popular way in which people study English. They are so amazingly popular that most people do not even think abouthow to learn English. The process is automatic:I want to learn English, so I sign up for an English course. I will pay some money, sit in class for a few hours a week, and I will get good English.This is very surprising, becauseEnglish classes are a very poor way of learning English. We spent a large part of our lives in English classes (in high school, college, and in language schools), and we know what they are like. With all our knowledge of English classes and courses, we would be surprised if we met a person who has learned to speak English very well by going to English classes.If you attend English classes, you spend many hours a week on them. Often, you also spend lots of your money. What do you get for your time and money? Here iswhat you can do at an English class: Listen to some bad English.Thepronunciation, grammar, and vocabularyof other students (and sometimes the teacher, too) will be bad. Sometimes as bad asthis, or worse. Surely listening to these people will not make your English better. Say five sentences in English.There are usually 10-20 students in the class, so there is little time for you to speak English. Normal English classes are very poor speaking practice. (Conversation classes are better.) Read a boringtextbook.Almost all English teachers usetextbooks. Want to know why? Because it makes their work easier. They dont have to prepare for every class. They just do the next unit in the book.Textbooksmake teaching easy. Andthey make learningboringand ineffective. You have to read stupid stories about Michael Jackson or a woman who lived in the African jungle for two years. Then you have to answer questions about them and talk about them with other students. This is madness! All this nonsense that you dont care about. It makes you think that learning English isboring. Listen to a few grammar rules, such as “the present continuous tense is used for talking about developing and changing situations”. Memorizing dozens of grammar rules is the stupidest thing you can do. The two main reasons: 1) It is impossible tomemorizeall those hundreds of grammar rules anyway, 2) When speaking English, you dont have time to think: “What tense should I use? Lets see. I want to present the idea of action continuing up to the present time, so I should use the present perfect tense.” You want to use your English naturally. Grammar rules may improve your scores in tests, but they do not improve your English. Do some grammar exercises. After talking about grammar rules, teachers usually give you some exercises, such as multiple choice or gap filling tests. Grammar exercises have two functions: 1) they make you review the grammar rules, 2) they test your English. The first function is useless because grammar rules are useless (see previous section). The second function, testing, is okay if you want to compare your knowledge with other people. But testing does not teach you any English. Get a homework assignment. The homework is usually a grammar exercise (seeprevioussection) or acomposition. The subject of thecompositionwill usually be something that you dont care about. Examples:Your opinion on the proverb “Blood is thicker than water”,Is it good to be famous?. What nonsense. Doingboringthings is not going to help your English. It will only decrease yourmotivation.English classes will not teach yougood pronunciation(which is simply necessary for communication!). Most teachers completely ignore it, sometimes because their ownpronunciationis bad. Some teachers will correct your mistakes when you speak. But very few teachers will tell you how you can avoid making the same mistakes again. Very few teachers will tell you about the sounds of English and how to use a dictionary to learn about thepronunciationof words.Most teachers willnotencourage you to read in English, to buy agood English-English dictionary, to listen to English-language recordings on your own. They will just do theirtextbookand the exercises in it. If your teacher is different, you are lucky.This is what most English classes look like. Think about your classes. If they are like that boringand ineffective then you are simply wasting your time. (Dont worry: you are not alone. Millions of people around the world waste their time by going to English classes, even though they do not improve their English.)You can replace ineffective andboringclasses with interesting things which will really improve your English: Instead of listening to bad English in the classroom, turn on your TV and watch CNN International or another English-language channel. You will get lots of perfect sentences in excellent English. Instead of sitting for two hours to say five sentences in English, sign up for a conversation class with anative speaker. Or start speaking English with your best friend. Instead of working with aboringtextbook, read something interesting. There are so many interesting texts in English! Surf to English-language sites on the Web. Read a good book in English. Simply, read something that interests you. Something that wont bore you to death. Instead ofmemorizinggrammar rules and doing grammar exercises, read and listen to English.Inputis the only way to learnimp