| Think about this very seriously for a moment. If | | | | I haven't the slightest notion how this idea came |
| you have children, just think what degree of | | | | into being. Haven't you heard this pitch? |
| spoken fluency your child had when you first | | | | "You can't learn Spanish here in the States. You've |
| packed him off to first grade. Think of all he could | | | | got to go to Mexico to get into Total Immersion." |
| understand and say before he ever started his | | | | This notion, I am convinced, was born as the |
| formal education. When your child was 6 years | | | | result of someone figuring out that teaching |
| old, he or she had already achieved a high degree | | | | foreign languages in America using the traditional |
| of spoken fluency and you didn't have to enroll | | | | method wasn't working. Someone saw that the |
| him in a "Total Immersion" course in order for him | | | | process designed to teach you how to be a good |
| to achieve fluency. He could understand and use | | | | interpreter of written text in the target language |
| prepositions and other parts of speech long | | | | wasn't working to give you spoken fluency. So, |
| before he ever learned what a "part of speech" | | | | they concluded you would have to travel to the |
| even was. | | | | country of the target language and spend a |
| Long before learning what the names of the parts | | | | fortune to do so. Then the magic of a so-called |
| of speech were, he learned to ride the horse. He | | | | Total Immersion program, based in another |
| achieved spoken fluency. Then, once a high | | | | country, would transform you into a native |
| degree of spoken fluency was achieved, he | | | | speaker. |
| hooked that horse up to the cart. He learned | | | | If the process wasn't working in the States, then |
| formal grammar. | | | | what made someone think that it would magically |
| This is why traditionally-taught foreign language | | | | work in the target language's county? Especially |
| courses do not work to give you a high degree | | | | when the course is taught all in Spanish. It is a |
| of spoken fluency. It is because they put the cart | | | | small wonder why less than 9% of Americans are |
| (traditionally-taught grammar) before the horse | | | | fluent in any foreign language. |
| (high degree of spoken fluency in the target | | | | Let me make the point that coming to a |
| language). The horse pulls the cart. The cart is | | | | Spanish-speaking country can be a very smart |
| inert and lifeless alone. It cannot move without | | | | thing to do once you've developed a high degree |
| the horse. | | | | of spoken fluency. |
| Does this not make sense? Is this an epiphany? I | | | | To start with the cart (formal grammatical |
| remember when this light bulb came on in my | | | | instruction-the cart) cannot do a thing for you |
| head. I recall how mad I got at how much time | | | | without the horse (spoken fluency) to pull the |
| and effort I wasted in my days at the university | | | | cart. Remember, as children we learned first how |
| trying to learn Spanish. I passed the courses. I | | | | to climb on the horse long before we ever |
| could translate written text but could not speak | | | | learned there was a cart to pull. Don't forget the |
| Spanish. | | | | Mexican nationals in the resort towns who |
| Where I live in Mexico, there are scores of | | | | managed to learn how to climb on the horse |
| so-called Total Immersion Spanish schools. These | | | | without the benefit of a cart. |
| are built on the same traditional methods. The real | | | | This is so essential to understand. To learn |
| kicker is that are all taught in Spanish. If you | | | | Spanish, you have to use the same natural, fluid |
| cannot speak one word of Spanish and come | | | | method you used to learn your native language. |
| here expecting the miracle of something called | | | | You have to use the same method to learn |
| Total Immersion instruction to magically work, | | | | Spanish that you used to learn your native |
| you will be sadly mistaken. | | | | tongue. Never lose sight of this fact. Bilingual |
| Can you imagine the horror? | | | | Mexicans, too poor to afford English lessons, do |
| This is another common "myth" about learning a | | | | this all the time to learn English. More than half of |
| second language. For those who finally figure out | | | | all of Europeans learn this way and most are |
| that the traditionally-taught language courses are | | | | fluent in multiple languages. |
| not working, they are told they must engage in | | | | Listen up, America. Learn to use the correct, |
| something called Total Immersion in the country | | | | natural method and you too can become bilingual. |
| where the target language is spoken. | | | | You do not have to attend formal classes or |
| Ok, back to critical thinking. If traditionally-taught | | | | spend a fortune to study in another country. It is |
| second language instruction is, by design, unable to | | | | possible, right now, to begin acquiring a high |
| teach you a high degree of spoken fluency | | | | degree of spoken fluency in Spanish. |
| through its boring process, just imagine going | | | | First, it is the horse you must seek. Then, later |
| through the process when the instruction is given | | | | comes the cart. |
| entirely in Spanish. | | | | |