About Us

An evolving list of English for Asians goals.

( 0 Votes )

 

  • Logo EfA
  • Banner3
  • I would like to advocate that ESL learning in Asia spearhead the push for 21st Century Learning. This push would require a swift shift in the ignorance and complacency of both educators and parents about the rapid changes brought upon us by the twin forces of technology and knowledge revolution.
    • Instead of  focussing on learning grammar and acquiring accents the focus incorporating CLiL can produce bilingual speakers who can  think in a higher order, behave ethically and collaborate effectively.
    • Effective language teaching first requires optimum language learners. The current practice in schooling across Asia stifles the creativity and confidence essential to second language acquisition. There is a need to revise our current practice of learning in general and language with content learning in particular.
    • We should demand that quality teaching extend into quality communicative competence, quality critical thinking and quality leadership and creativity.We should demand that since there's a massive on-going push for competency in English as a Communicative Language that it must incorporate filling in the shortcomings Native Tongue education has left behind until such a time that national policies are ready to replace the current traditions of education.
    • Learning English doesn't have to be separate from learning subjects in other domains. It must be organic, teaching qualities of higher order thinking, 21st Century Learning skills, collaborative, communicative and higher literacy skills utilizing the many tools available to enhance the speed and quality of synthesizing knowledge.
    • Learning English shouldn't be about passing standardized tests.
    • The Organic learning of ESL must be both meaningful to the current development in thinking and character and for a future adaptability to fulfilling one's potential in life as part of a cohesive, harmonious global village.
    • Billions of dollars is being spent in Asia on teaching, testing and promoting the learning of English. Why should learning to think and act and visualize as a synchronous organism to thrive in the 21st Century be separate from the acquisition of a universal language for communication and learning?
    Ultimately we aim to facilitate the life-long learning of a community of non-native English learners who are distinctive in their ability to be effectively bilingual and possess the skills and tools of learning and collaborating with the rest of the world to bring upon a higher order of thinking and communicating in the 21st Century.

    • www.englishforasians.com
    Visit our website

 

 

Read more
Add comment (0)
Hits: 113
E-mail Print PDF
 

Focussing in the wrong places

( 1 Vote )

mark_twain2"It ain't what you don't know that gets you into trouble. It's what you know for sure that just ain't so."  ~Mark Twain

 


“The past went that-a-way. When faced with a totally new situation, we tend always to attach ourselves to the objects, to the flavor of the most recent past. We look at the present through a rear view mirror. We march backwards into the future.” ~Marshall McLuhan

 


Many parents are worried about what marks their children get in school. They are afraid that their children will not get to learn enough if the child doesn’t get into a ‘one of the top schools’. Then they are afraid their child will not get to learn enough if the child doesn’t get into ‘one of the top classes’.  If the child does get into one of the top classes, they next worry that the child doesn’t fall out of the top class. If that happens, it means the child is not learning enough. There is this constant fear that what we don’t know will get us into trouble.


The quote above by the famous writer Mark Twain tells us that we won’t get into trouble because we don’t know something. We usually get into trouble because we’re very sure we know something but then the thing we believe in turns out to be FALSE!

 

Read more
Add comment (0)
Hits: 228
E-mail Print PDF
 

The Future is Now

( 1 Vote )

We live in a world where continued-lifelong learning and success in life is inseparable. To be successful in life is also to own the ability to be the sort of learner that can continue to learn with or without an instructor.

Unfortunately, most schools and private cram-schools do not cater to this reality. The nature of their focus, when it comes to the learning of English, is of a paper-result. And as we know, a currency to prove a value, is only worth as much as its derivative.  If a paper qualification is derived from a regurgitation of answers learned by rote and drill, it becomes worthless in a world which requires more than paper-pushers and ticket-sellers.

 

 

Read more
Add comment (0)
Hits: 293
E-mail Print PDF
 

How organic learning is applied in English language learning

( 0 Votes )

Experience over time has shown that the most authentic learning does not come out as a result of strict adherence to a textbook or exam routine. Even though selling English learning according to Stages, Levels and Hours is a convenient form of grading learners and collecting payment, it denies, to a certain extent, the teachers’ and students’ flexibility and freedom in learning.  It also has a tendency to reduce, the priceless intellectual exchange between a Learning Facilitator (teacher) and learners of different abilities, to a commodity packaged into a syllabus that has to be efficiently ‘covered’ within a given set of hours, with less regard to whether learning took place or not.

organic learning

 

 

 

 

Read more
Add comment (0)
Hits: 244
E-mail Print PDF
 
More Articles...


Page 1 of 2