Teaching-Teacher 2 Conversation

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Teaching / Teacher 2 Conversation
AJ:
Hello.
to cut off:
to interrupt
Kristin:
Hey AJ, sorry I had
to cut off
that last call.
AJ:
It’s okay, no worries.
on the same page:
in
agreement, sharing the
same ideas
Kristin:
Yeah, y’know, I’m, I’m just really glad that we’re
on the same page
when it
comes to, um, our teaching techniques and ideas on…
AJ:
Yeah.
Kristin:
…teaching.
AJ:
Well, it’s, it’s really exciting actually, that, uh, that we’re kind of doin’ all this
together. I think it’s, it’s really great.
Kristin:
Oh, I agree. Yeah, it’s very exciting.
AJ:
I think it’s exciting for the um, uh, too. I think it’s just exciting that we’re makin’ all
this great stuff for, uh, y’know for students. Because, y’know, as a, as a language
learner myself, I’m very frustrated. I think that’s one thing that has motivated me to
be, uh, a better teacher… and improve and improve always as a teacher… and make
the lessons really good… is because my own language learning, uh, y’know, efforts
have been so frustrating.
Kristin:
Mm-hm.
AJ:
And I, I saw such a difference… Like, for example, Spanish… Y’know, uh, I
learned Spanish in the traditional way in school. So, y’know, I’m just al-, I’ve always
struggled with it.
Kristin:
Mm-hm.
Tomoe:
a (Japanese)
name
AJ:
But then
Tomoe
just started learning Spanish. I mean she’s just a low beginner.
She had zero Spanish. I mean she’s Japanese. They don’t learn Spanish in Japan.
But she took this four day
intensive
, uh, course using the story telling technique.
intensive:
concentrated,
powerful
Kristin:
Yeah, I remember.
AJ:
Yeah, the same one we use.
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Teaching / Teacher 2 Conversation
Kristin:
Yeah.
frickin':
fucking (more
polite version of fucking);
adds stronger emotion
AJ:
And, um, I couldn’t believe how much she learned in four
frickin’
days. It was
amazing [laugh].
Kristin:
[laugh]
AJ:
And then we went down to Guatemala for two weeks and, uh, by the end of that
two weeks she was speaking, I’d say, easier, more easily, flowing more, uh, than me.
I mean I had a bigger vocabulary just ‘cause I have so much more experience. But,
uh, she was speaking with more ease. Y’know, I, I was const-, speaking slowly. I ca-
, I was thinking all the time about grammar rules, still. I didn’t want to. I know it’s not
good. But it’s kind of like those things are stuck in my head.
Kristin:
Right.
AJ:
So it…
Kristin:
Yeah.
AJ:
…was amazing to see her after four days classes and then two weeks in
Guatemala and she’s just start-, it’s just startin’ to come out. And I’m just like, oh my
god! Wow…
Kristin:
Oh, you never told me about…yeah, you never told me about this.
cool:
great, wonderful
AJ:
Yeah, yeah, it-, it’s pretty
cool
[laugh].
Kristin:
So she, she wouldn’t be stressed at all, it would just kinda come
automatically.
AJ:
Right, exactly. And I think that’s the main thing, too. It’s just like emotionally it’s
so different to learn with, y’know, this effortless system. Because, uh, you just feel so
much more relaxed and enjoy it more. Like, I was stressed [laugh].
Kristin:
Mm-hm.
AJ:
Because I learned this traditional way, y’know, and I’ve tried to take a different
approach, but, um, uh… Y’know, by just listening…. But I have a lot of that old, uh,
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Teaching / Teacher 2 Conversation
method to, to overcome, y’know, and…
Kristin:
[laugh]
AJ:
[laugh] It really is. Y’know, I remember… Who was it? Uh, it was David Long, I
think, in, in Thailand. He used to talk about how, y’know, that, that traditional
language teaching methods… They’re not only ineffective. They actually damage
you. Y’know, they create, they create damage that you have to then heal. And it
takes time, to… If you’ve learned with traditional methods for a long time, it takes
time to sort of undo that.
Kristin:
Right.
crap:
worthless stuff, shit
AJ:
You’ve got to go and use, use this kind of effortless system for a while so you
can forget all that old
crap
.
Kristin:
Um-hm.
AJ:
I can see that, y’know, certainly my Spanish, uh, improved some as I started to
focus on just listening and tried to forget about the grammar rules. It definitely was
better than in high school or college or university.
Kristin:
Um-hm.
AJ:
But, um… But still compared to Tomoe who has only used the effortless
methods, it was, it’s amazing, she, to see her. It was pretty cool [laugh].
Kristin:
I’m sure you’ve seen as well in the classroom, I know I have, students
themselves struggling with it. Because you were sayin’ you’ve, you’ve, y’know, seen
it with yourself, within yourself, but trying to overcome, uh, the old ways that we’ve
been taught.
AJ:
Oh yeah, the, the, y’know, most of the problems are psychological.
Kristin:
Yeah.
AJ:
Y’know, when, when, like… If the students in my classes, um… The biggest
challenge for me… It’s like, y’know… The, the method I know it works. And it’s got
all this research. I, no doubt about it… But the, the problem, the challenge is to get
the students to accept it, to change their mentality and relax and just, y’know, really
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Teaching / Teacher 2 Conversation
a leap of faith:
a risky
action, a brave action
believe me. Forget your grammar books. The students who, who would do that, who
would just, just have a, kind of
a leap of faith
, y’know, and say “Okay, I’m gonna, I’m
gonna believe AJ, I’m gonna try these methods,” they would learn so fast. And the
ones who struggled were the ones who just couldn’t do it. Y’know, they, they were
like “No, but I have to study grammar.” And they, they would just keep…
Kristin:
Forcing it.
AJ:
…they would come to my class but they would keep forcing it. They would keep
using their grammar books. They’d keep trying to memorize vocabulary. And they
would learn so slowly.
Kristin:
Yeah.
AJ:
And then they would be frustrated because they would be… They’d be asking
me “Why am I learning slowly?” and compared to the other students, who were
learning so much faster. And I would tell them every time, y’know, it’s because you
keep using these old methods, y’know. Forget it.
Kristin:
Right.
AJ:
But it’s, it’s a psycho-, it’s psychology. I, I think, y’know, it’s not just the method
that people have to… to have a psychological change…
Kristin:
Yeah.
AJ:
…to succeed with this method.
fitting:
appropriate
Kristin:
Well, it’s very
fitting
that you’ve named your lessons effortless, Effortless
English.
AJ:
[laugh] It’s hard to get that across because, uh, uh, people are taught that the-,
that they always need to have effort and struggle…
Kristin:
Yeah.
AJ:
…I get people to relax, that’s the, that’s the maybe the big challenge for us as
teachers.
Kristin:
Right. Well hey, I gotta, um, get ready to go to work. So tell Tomoe I said
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Teaching / Teacher 2 Conversation
hello and I will talk to you later.
AJ:
Okay, will do. And yeah, talk to you later.
Kristin:
Okay, bye.
AJ:
Bye.
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