Too Much Too Fast Gets Lost in the Process

My daughter signed up to take a “French class” because she is half French and would like to learn the language of her culture.As a child I did not speak English until I started school. In the 30 years that I had been in Dayton, Ohio, I had not met a single person to practice my French with. My daughter was looking forward to this class, because I could help her and myself to re-learn the words that I had lost.

Her teacher dumped “too much, too fast,” on her, and it discouraged and overwhelmed her from wanting to continue the class. I know exactly how she felt. I had taken a Spanish class in college, and likewise, the teacher had expected too much, too soon also. she expected the students to read, write, and speak the language all at the same time. In every country in the world, a baby learns how to SPEAK the language BEFORE learning how to read and write it.

If teachers were not so strict about presenting the entire package that requires a student to become an expert in one class, maybe more students would enjoy learning a new language, and actually  retain what they did learn.  The first part of teaching a new language, should be to learn how to SPEAK the words only. Once a person knows how to say the words, and understand them, they would be more confident and comfortable in learning how to read and write it.

I dropped out of my Spanish class for the same reason my daughter dropped out of her French class. Education is only as good as it is learned. When a child or adult is pressured to learn too much too fast, they may memorize the material long enough to pass an exam, but they may not be able to RETAIN that material for very long. So what is gained in all this?

If you pig out on a big meal, you may feel full for awhile. But if you vomit that meal, it no longer has nutritious value to your system. Eating a little at a time to get full is more healthy and also more beneficial to your body. Learning a little well, is better that trying to learn a lot all at once and not being able to remember it. What the heck is the big hurry anyway?

I know many people who took another language and got good grades in it, to pass the class. Yet, they can not remember enough to ever speak a sentence, let alone carry on a conversation. The educational system is more committed in test scores, than to see that a student learns for the joy of it, and to retain what they learned. No wonder other countries are far a head of us in speaking several languages.