What makes learning English in Taiwan so difficult?

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technobabel
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註冊時間: 週六 5月 14, 2005 8:42 pm
來自: Eastern Seaboard

What makes learning English in Taiwan so difficult?

文章 technobabel »

What makes learning English in Taiwan so difficult?
That is the ultimate question, and a persistent one.
What are the missing ingredients?
And, what can you do about it?
Can anybody actually create an optimal English learning environment?
First, there are few modes of learning:

1. Exploration: This is when you aimlessly expose your mind to material that is totally unfamiliar or somewhat unfamiliar. How unfamiliar? That depends on your level of comfort. This is a very crucial mode in which one's "foundation" is likely to be based. Be brave, but don't be too greedy.

2. Fine-tuning: With repetition, eventually the unfamiliar will cease to be unfamiliar. But, as you will soon realize that the subtlety is a bitch. Language isn't an exact science. There are more than a few ways to express a similar sentiment. How do you know which one to go with?
Word choice is often a matter of personal preference. But, there are conventionality to be considered.

3. Realtime spontaneous Interaction: Who among us wouldn't want to carry a meaningful conversation on any topic, anytime, anywhere and with anybody? However, let's not forget that the English speaking world is too developed and sophisticated for non-native speaker to undercut.

to be continued...
I am not abandoning Yoyo, I am just dancing slowly away from it.
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technobabel
YOYO member
文章: 1188
註冊時間: 週六 5月 14, 2005 8:42 pm
來自: Eastern Seaboard

文章 technobabel »

Basically, 1 is prerequisite of 2 and 2 is prerequisite of 3. It is not a remarkable statement.

The problem lies on the fact that English learners are curious, but not that curious. Maybe that isn't a proper description. Cultivating and maintaining a high level of curiosity is the fundamental of aspect of teaching or mentoring skill. That usually means that one needs to keep the learning material a little difficult but not too difficult.

In Taiwan learners gravitate towards the easy stuff. In a native English environment, learners do not have that kind of luxury to pick and choose. Often, difficult material only seemed difficult at first glance. Soon the hurdle will be lower and lower.
I am not abandoning Yoyo, I am just dancing slowly away from it.
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