Описание: I believe people learn by doing. Whether its washing dishes, driving a car or speaking a new language the role of the teacher is to present the least amount of information necessary to empower learners to practice their way to competence then fluency. With the right tools anyone, an accountant, a nurse, a secretary, a hitchiker... can effectively teach learners what they need to know in order to jump into the river of English conversatoin to authentically practice and succeed.
First we better be clear about the term Backpacker. Circumstances create informal English instructors that the English as a Second Language (ESL) industry calls Backpackers. Although the term was originally coined for travelers, it can apply to volunteers, refugee hosts, any people with no special teacher training who find themselves in a position to assist non-native speakers improve their English but with no idea how to do it. While coaching with no formal training sounds like a brazen, formidable task, it isnt. And having no special education for it is a blessing in disguise.
English has been maligned as a difficult language making it seem difficult to teach and learn. What if we have been misinformed? What if English is easy? People who speak Many languages say English is one of the easiest languages to learn. As the boiled down combination of many languages English is an easy langauge. What has made English difficult to learn is the way it has been taught. The Backpackers Guide to Teaching English sereis approaches English a completely different way. We approach English as easy.
There is one big problem with English, the alphabet doesnt make sense. Normally, when languages are written down, a system of symbols is contrived -- one symbol for each sound, so people can read the sounds to speak the language from reading it and/or writing it down from how it sounds. Alphabets are created to bridge speaking and writing. This is the part that didnt happen with English.
ABC (or Latin or Roman alphabet - it has many names) works okay for reading and writing (not great but okay) but it doesnt work at all for speaking. There are 26 letters in the alphabet and 40] sounds in English. English spelling is random. Go rhyems with sew, know and toe but not with do or to or two or too or few... English spelling doesnt make any sense. Written English is in code and no one can speak English from reading it.
Its an easy fix. This Book 1 of the Backpackers Guide to Teaching English on Pronunciation is called Cracking the Code and that is exactly what it does. It cracks the code of written English with a keyboard-friendly sound alphabet that finally enables people to read the sounds of English in order to speak it.
With that problem out of the way there is another trick to teaching English that you dont need to go to college to learn. Harvest or keep what is the same between English and a learners first language. Major languages all use about 40 sounds and any two languages use almost identical sets of sounds. Students arent mute, they just dont speak English A much more expedient way of teaching the sounds of English is by identifying which sounds the learner already uses and dont teach those Teach only the English sounds they are unfamiliar with. Good idea? You bet. Again, budding coaches wont find this information in teacher training certificate programs but it is here in Book 1 of the Backpackers Guide to Teaching English - Cracking the Code.
