Let's face it - nothing is ever perfect, and we all make mistakes. To err is to be human, to forgive is to be divine - or just a good teacher! However, as we get older, one of the reasons that we may find learning more difficult is because we are less tolerant, and less forgiving of our own perceived propensity for making errors. This is especially true of language learning. Adult students are often quite afraid of making mistakes when they produce language, worried that other people will misunderstand them, make fun of them, or (even worse) abuse them. This fear can become a deeply intrinsic demotivating factor when it comes to acquiring a new language - but it goes further than that. It can actually be a block to learning a new skill of any kind. Why is that? Well, I believe that in many cultures, and some more than others, competency and skill are the expected minimum from ALL adults. After all, childhood is the time of learning, so once childhood is over, you should be able to
Hello, and welcome to my new blog. This is taking over the heavy lifting from my previous Paul's ELT Journal , reflecting how my teaching, training and coaching have shifted over the last few years. This blog will still largely focus on English Language Teaching, but it will also be expanded into related areas, such as intracultural communication, voice projection, presentation skills and language performance - in fact, pretty much anything to do with verbal and physical communication! I'll also be reposting some of my better articles from ELT Journal - I hope you'll enjoy them!