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One does not learn to paint by just looking at other paintings or memorizing the names of many colors. When one wants to learn to paint, one must paint, and enjoy painting!
Dr. Peter’s program approaches learning English in a way that is different from how many institutions go about it. Everything is based on the personal experience, knowledge, and also the endless wisdom of the thousands of students and colleagues of Peter A. Edwards, PhD:
· Born in Washington D.C. [in the Year of the Snake]
· Lived three childhood years in Heidelberg, Germany
· Red Cross Water Safety Instructor [WSI]
· B.A. in English Literature, Dickinson College
· English Specialist for Polish Ministry of Agriculture, Poznań, Poland
· M.A. in English Literature, UC Berkeley [Graduate Student Instructor in writing composition]
· PhD in Psycho-Social Linguistics, University of Nottingham, England
· Instruction and administration for Korean University students and Teacher training in Korea since 1994.
· International academic presentations and publications
· Founder, President and CEO of Infinity Unlocked Consulting
· What is it?
o Simply: Do it again and again, and always try new things.
· Why is it important?
o “Repeating Creative Production” not only refers to how children learn their first language, but actually to how most people learn most things. You must do something again and again to learn it, and you must learn to create new adaptations for different situations.
o Native speakers of any language speak an average of 5,000 words per day. Almost all of it is creative production, sentences that have never been said before but fit the situation. This is necessary to learn and maintain language skills.
· Why don’t Korea’s public and private education systems provide this?
o Old habits and fear of trying something different
o Someone, somewhere is profiting from students taking two classes or two tests instead of just one
o The motivation to learn English is really just not there
Does Korea really need or want most of its citizens to speak English well?
· Korean learners of English could sometimes be said to be victims of a cruel monster: the SYSTEM OF EDUCATION. This is not to say, “a group of people” who are evil, but rather a system, like a stock market, fueled by everyone but controlled by none.
· Simple statistics [see Population Grid]
o What is Korea’s population?
o What is Korea’s working population? The top 10% of that number?
o 10% of Korea’s working population can run all the high positions
o But the other 90% make great consumers!
o English generates much more money for the economy if the 90% fear test scores, and poor public education causes them to go to more poor hagwons, have more poor tutors, buy more poor textbooks.
o The 10% can afford to send their kids overseas to learn to speak English.
· Test Scores
o Cause deep fear in the Korean population
o Weed out the 10% from the 90%, then becomes a lottery.
INDIVIDUALISTIC Korea
o Few Koreans think of their society as individualistic, citing hyo, jung, cheymyon and more
o This ignores “me first” attitudes so often found on elevators, subways, checkout lines, traffic, doorways, and of course performance in school and on tests.
o “Keeping up with the Kims,” “SKY school” obsession, “The three keys” and “No DDD jobs,” all add great competitiveness to the individualism.
o Such individualism hinders communicative approaches to language learning
Our General Program
Dr. Peter’s Program is designed to create an environment where speaking in English, repeated creative production, becomes natural for students. Where it’s ok to say “Where are you going?” instead of “Odigaseyo?”
This usually does not happen among English learners. Ask any native English teacher how often they must pull English out of their students, even when they students have the aptitude. Our camp aims at the root causes of “English avoidance”: psycho-social attitudes. We create a different atmosphere. Then learning becomes much more natural.
· Philosophy
o Create an equal and cooperative community, with teamwork including:
§ Trust
§ Commitment to success
§ Vulnerability
§ Healthy disagreement
§ Mutual accountability
o Set goals that are always:
§ Clear
§ Valuable
§ Reachable
§ Challenging
o Focus on REAL WORLD English Chunks [common word groups, not individual words]
§ Promote repeated, creative CHUNK usage more than grammar and vocabulary memorization
o Base learning on active tasks
o Lower fear of making mistakes
o Nurture intrinsic motivation
Motivation | |
Intrinsic |
Extrinsic |
Enjoyment, pleasure, Satisfaction from inside |
Higher test scores |
Self-improvement and group improvement |
Threats from parents, teachers and the rest of society |
Example: a child learning to walk and talk. How does it happen? Repeating and encouragement |
Focusing on getting the best possible job and salary |
Of course vocabulary is important, but our program does not focus on memorizing words over “Repeating Creative Production.” However we hold to strict vocabulary standards based on the following:
§ How many different words does a native speaker know and use?: Again, experts disagree, but let’s say 30,000+ after a university education. However the average native speaker’s conversation in one day has about 2,000 words.
o
o How many different words are found in some well-known texts?
§ Dr. Seuss’s Green Eggs and Ham [50. 49 have only one syllable!]
§ Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland [2,766 words]
§ The New York Times [average: 4,000 words]
§ The Bible [approximately 11,000 words]
§ All of Shakespeare’s plays and sonnets [25--30,000 words]
· Acquiring new vocabulary
o Native speakers from age 1 onward, learn at least 2 root words per day [800 per year]
o L2 learners above the age of 5 can usually learn a maximum of 7 new words per day. Higher numbers of words result in lower retention over time.
Our program will asses all students based on their proficiency of 1,000 to 10,000 of the most common English words. This is thanks to specific research.
“Word Walls” & “Word Books”
o Walls at the camp will keep a growing number of the words students are learning
o Books will be kept by individual students for the words and chunks they want to remember.
Of course grammar is important, but our program limits “grammar talk” in order to focus on producing language over thinking about whether the language is perfect. However, grammatical structure can make understanding much easier, so we focus on these aspects:
· Subject (Demonstrative)/Verb/Object (complement): Butch is angry. Butch kicks wall.
o A “subject” is a noun (person, place, thing or idea) that “is” or “does” something. It
o A “demonstrative” is an unnamed subject: this, that, these, those
o A “verb” is an action or being word:
o An “object” is like a subject but it receives the action.
· Time: Before/NOW/After
o The Past
§ Actions that started and finished before NOW
o The Present
§ Actions that happen NOW
o The Future
§ Actions that will happen after NOW
· Questions/Negatives/Prepositions of time & place
o Question: Do you like coffee?
o Negative: I do not like coffee.
o Prepositions: I like tea in the morning, at home.
o Question: Where is the tea?
o Negative: I cannot see the tea.
o Prepositions: The tea is in the kitchen.
Our program does not agree that English can be taught only in English. We also disagree that English can mostly be taught in Korean. We instead will lower the resistance to speaking English. Resistance is basically people’s game of escaping the reality that they should stop doing this and start doing that. People are experts at this resistance game!
We would love to hear 80% English and 20% Korean, especially from the higher skilled students. But we will accept anything above 20% English, with encouragement for more. Our policy is simply: If you can say it in English, say it!”
· Lesson Guidelines
o All teachers follow a specific outline for the preparation and procedure of class time. Listed below is a checklist every teacher uses to create useful lessons:
§ Materials?
§ Objectives?
§ Motivation?
§ OPENING
§ DIRECT INSTRUCTION
§ GUIDED PRACTICE
§ CLOSING
§ Follow-up
§ Independent growth
· Individual differences among students
o Certainly there are differing levels of students, and in fact we see every student as unique. Our program will not always physically separate students but will always take into account differences in the following:
§ Age/maturity factors
· All students develop differently in terms attention span, responsibility, and other factors. Teachers must always monitor students based on these
§ Aptitude factors
· Previously learned grammar and vocabulary
· Pronunciation and fluency
· Other communication factors
§ Affective factors
· Intrinsic vs Extrinsic motivation
· Personality
· L1AS and IC
· WTC
o Teachers and administrators will discuss among themselves general assessments of each student based on a simple “high/low” grid.
JoonHee’s Profile | ||||
Aptitude factors |
A |
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B |
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C |
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Age |
3 |
2 |
1 | |
Affective factors |
o However, to lower the stresses usually associated with learning, these discussions will remain within staff.
o Through our program, over time, we can not only help different learners reach their different potentials in English, but also advise parents on which future paths may best suit their children
Our Specific Schedule: Using English “Chunks”
1 month | |||||
First weekend |
Second weekend | ||||
Period |
Topic |
Chunk |
Period |
Topic |
Chunk |
1 |
Camp |
Please may I… |
7 |
Review |
|
2 |
Camp |
I feel… |
8 |
Camp |
We need to… |
3 |
Review |
|
9 |
location |
When was… |
4 |
location |
A long time ago… |
10 |
location |
Like better |
5 |
location |
It looks very… |
11 |
Free topic |
(is) still (very) |
6 |
Review |
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12 |
Review |
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Growth Report for Joon Hee [Month in program ________] | |
Please comment on any observations of improvements, successes, and motivation for both: | |
Individual progress |
Community contributions |
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Teachers’ names |
Date of report |
· Throughout the program students will be asked about their thoughts and feelings concerning the camp and English in general.
· At the end of each month parents will be asked to report their comments as well, including the frequency of truly productive “English moments” at home. Family’s have a responsibility for creating the best environment as well!
o Students gain an understanding of a new approach to English
o Fear of mistakes begins to lessen
o Understanding of membership in a cooperative community
· After 3 months
o Fear of mistakes within the community is almost zero and begins to lessen in other English study.
o Use of pre-existing vocabulary and grammar begins allow for higher creative production [“Economic English]
o New vocabulary is remembered contextually without memorization
o Fun and camaraderie begin to inspire intrinsic motivation
o Family members begin to participate in “English moments”
· After 6 months
o Previous fear of mistakes begins to seem foolish and pity grows for those still trapped by fear.
o Curiosity grows toward new words to use and new opportunities s to use English [willingness to communicate]
o English performance in school shows improvement
o “English moments” with family, friends, and acquaintances grow [“First language audience sensitivity (L1AS) lessens]
o English fades from being and enemy into more of a friend
· After 12 months
o Ideas of how English will enhance future life emerge and strengthen beyond “maybe English teacher.”
o Intercultural Complex [IC] has improved, sparking ideas of international friendships and travel
o A new identity as “a Korean person who can use English effectively” has formed
It is our sincere belief that Dr. Peter’s English Speaking Program can be enjoyable for all it’s participants.
· Fear will lesson
· Students will learn from each other as well as instructors
· Family members will become helpful participants and not just “English Police”
· Benefits will quickly be seen, not only in confidence and enjoyment in English, but also in better grades and test scores.
We thank you for being brave enough to search for better and better paths to success!