سخت است که برنامه ی غلط آموزشی را بطور کلی عوض کرد

Chapter 10 : The Hidden Curriculum Can Be Hard to Break

When I was teaching English in San Francisco, I had two Korean students named Jinny and Jacky (their American nicknames). Each of these students was struggling with her speaking and each wanted to attend an American university. In order to be accepted into a university, the students had to pass the new TOEFL test, which included listening and speaking sections.

Jinny and Jacky had spent years studying English grammar in Korea. As a result, their speech was slow, unnatural, and hesitant. They felt nervous when speaking, constantly worried about making a mistake.

As students in my class, I taught each of them Rule Two. I told them to stop studying grammar. I told them to get rid of their grammar books and their TOEFL books. I told them to do their best to stop even thinking about grammar.

At first, both students were skeptical because this advice went against everything they had ever learned in school. Jinny eventually decided to accept my advice, while Jacky did not. Over the next several months, Jinny completely avoided grammar study. Jacky, unfortunately, continued. I would often see Jacky studying grammar and TOEFL books in a cafe after class.

Gradually, Jinny began to feel more relaxed about English. Her speaking became more natural and fluent. She was thrilled with the improvement! Jacky did not improve. She came to me and again asked for advice. She had once again failed to achieve the required TOEFL score.

Again I gave Jacky the same advice, stop studying grammar. Yet, despite her continued failure, she just couldn’t believe me. The beliefs of the hidden curriculum were so strong in her that she simply couldn’t accept another way. So she continued to focus on grammar books and TOEFL books.

When I left that job, Jinny had moved on to an American university. Jacky, however, was still stuck in the language school. She was still studying grammar and still failing to achieve success.

Jinny and Jacky’s story is powerful because it shows us how strong the hidden curriculum can be. Despite years of frustration and failure, some people just can’t seem to break free from grammar study. They will continue using the same failed method for years, never learning to speak English powerfully.

To me, that is the worst tragedy of the hidden curriculum. These limiting beliefs imprison many people into a downward spiral of failure. It saddens me to see this cycle of frustration and stress.

For some, it may be difficult to accept Rule Two, but this rule is essential for your speaking success. As Jinny and countless Effortless English members have proven, spoken grammar can be mastered without studying grammar rules.

What I want you to remember is very simple: Do not study grammar rules. If you focus on grammar rules, it will hurt your speaking. You will speak more slowly. You will understand more slowly. To put it strongly, grammar kills your English speaking.

So if you have grammar books, throw them away. Say goodbye to grammar books forever. If you want, you can even burn them, set them on fire. Have a little celebration. Because grammar translation is worse than useless, it is actually harmful to your speaking ability.

For Practice

Exercise: Take a grammar holiday. For the next six months, just decide you are not going to study grammar. In fact, do your best to completely forget about grammar rules. Unlearn this information by avoiding grammar books. Whenever you catch yourself thinking about grammar, immediately change your focus. During this time, instead of worrying about mistakes, accept them. Accept that mistakes are normal and necessary.

Focus on communicating. The truth is that native speakers will still understand you even if you make grammar mistakes. While schools hate mistakes, normal people really don’t care. They simply want to hear your ideas, your feelings, your thoughts. In fact, native speakers make grammar mistakes, too, and they don’t get upset about them.