I love English. During my teens (as far as I remember) I used to spend most of my time searching for new words in the dictionary. The root of this habit stemmed from my nonstop reading. I used to read a lot. Of course, I still continue to do so, old habits die hard. Another reason why I love the language is I received my first salary for teaching English. While studying my graduation I worked part time as an English faculty in an institute in my hometown.
Apart from all this I have incredible passion to share my knowledge. I draw lot of contentment in making an ignorant person awakened. So people approach me whenever they got a doubt in the language or when they need clarification in the word usage or even to know the meaning of an unknown word. This helped me to gain deeper understanding of the English language, while they used to gain insights about their doubts. It's a perfect win-win scenario.
This article is the beginning of a series that teaches you secrets of learning the English language. All the techniques I share here are designed by me during the process of teaching English to my friends and students. In fact, the techniques came out of the curiosity I had seen in my students. They contributed more, than what I have taught them. In a nut shell my students (and friends) are my biggest teachers.
In this first article I focus on myths people have in learning the language. So what is a 'myth' in the first place. A myth is a 'false belief'. A belief which is not true. It is based on wrong assumptions people accumulate over a period of time.
Reality: I have seen many regional people claiming that they cannot speak good English even after trying their hand at various opportunities. In reality this is just a myth, they believe it’s true because they lay all their assumptions on the base of their regional background. In fact, coming from a Telugu or any non-English background has a dual advantage. You know your mother tongue well, and now you can learn English too.
Myth 2: "It's difficult to learn English now at this age"
Reality: Age is never a barrier to learn new things. In reality the more you learn the more life you add to your existence.
Myth 3: "I tried many institutes, but failed. English is not my cup of tea"
Reality: One surprising thing for people who try English institutes one after the other. Any institute will and can teach you only 30% of the craft. The rest solely depends on you. Unless you practice, nothing ever changes. You are changing an institute but are you changing yourself?
Myth 4: "There is no best teacher available to teach the craft"
Reality: The only best teacher available in the world is you. Any great teacher’s duty is to make you understand this truth. Once you understand this, the teacher disappears. The purpose of a teacher is to reduce his purpose to the student.
Myth 5: "I bought so many books, but I didn't get the right one"
Reality: Many people have this notion of buying new stuff. They are curious not to learn but to buy and to keep the book safely in the shelf. Before practicing the exercises given in the book they exercise to buy another book.
Myth 6: "English comes as a gift to only a few people"
Reality: After trying various things they come to a conclusion and give the above statement, which is not true. The gift of learning is present in every one of us. We need to tap into that incredible potential which is lying asleep inside us.
Myth 7: "I don't have time to learn"
Reality: Time is just a matter of priority. As long as learning English is not our priority, we don’t have a single minute for it.
PS: If you have any myths, doubts or difficulties in learning English, please do share with me in the comments or mail me: myinterface@gmail.com
- ajaY vegeSna
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