In her 15 years experience as an English language teacher, Clara Prado has helped many students overcome many hurdles… most of these in their own heads. In this article, Clara shares her reasons why English language learning is not a young people’s game.
As a teacher, I sometimes find it frustrating how some people wouldn’t even give English a try, as they hide under the excuse that they are adults now and they can’t learn it anymore. That language learning is only for children. I feel like screaming back “really? I disagree”. And here is why:
Pronunciation versus proficiency
The first reason is due to my experience. In my 15 years as a teacher I’ve had mostly adult students from various ages (at the moment, my oldest is 84 years old and he is learning like a child). Amongst these students, more than fifty percent started from the beginning (I’d call them real beginners) so that means they could barely answer a couple of simple questions in the first class. Fast forward to a few years later (4 years to be exact) they are now running business meetings and reviewing contracts in English. Yes, I’m very proud. And yes, I disagree that adults can’t learn English.
However, it is true when you learn a language as a child your pronunciation is better? Yes, it is true. But why does that matter? We now live in a world where English is no longer the property of the natives. It belongs to the world! Linguists call that English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) referring to the use of English by speakers of another first language. That means that English is spoken throughout the world and with many different accents. The focus should be on the communication, not perfection; moreover, perfect pronunciation is not the only sign of fluency or proficiency.
Adult may learn even faster than children
Taking about proficiency, another reason why adults may learn even faster than children is due to the previous knowledge of a language. Adults already have an idea of structure, grammar, conjugation and what each component of the sentence is. They already know how to cook; you just have to provide the recipe. Also, if you have an understanding of their native language, you can use it to make comparisons and use the similarities to your advantage.
Accept the error
The only drawbacks I can think of when working with adult students is related to confidence and motivation. The mature student normally has the biggest obstacle inside his head, and that is the acceptance of the error. The first thing I say to new students is that they will have to accept the error, and even learn to love it. In order to make them accept that they may slip-up sometimes, I try to make the atmosphere of the class light and playful, using their mistakes as teachable opportunities. I always let them know that if they don’t make mistakes, I’m out of a job! It’s the entire purpose of the English class to be a save place where they can learn. When you are learning, you make mistakes; there is no way around that.
Motivation, determination and exposure
The last, but not least important point about teaching English to adult students is motivation, determination and exposure. Why do they need to learn? How often they have classes and use the English they are learning? When teaching to kids these are not really issues as they are in a period of life where they live to learn. Their “job” is to go to school and come back home with a little bit more knowledge then the day before. That’s not the case with older students. They have busy lives and it may be hard to find time to study. So what can you, as a teacher, do about that? Well, make fun and make it playful! Not only children enjoy songs and games. Adults also like to have fun!
Furthermore, it’s important to help them find opportunities to learn where they can. I try to send students links every week with different YouTube videos or podcast on the subject they are learning in class. As teacher, we will always have different challenges with different classes. When teaching children, a lot of the difficulties have to do with behavior and attitude. That’s not the case with grown-ups as they are normally quiet and eager to learn, but a little self-conscious about making a fool of themselves. It’s your job to show them that they may be one mistake away from communicating to the world.
If you’re interested in language learning, why not read our very own, Director of ELT Research, Ben Knight’s article on ‘How long does it take to learn a language?’