Rule #2: Practice? We're talking about practice.

Rule #2: The Basketball Metaphor

The problem with most ESL instruction, and language instruction as a whole (I'm looking at you 8th grade Spanish class!) is that learning English is akin to learning how to play basketball. Imagine that you walked into a room and were told that you would learn everything you needed to know in order to play basketball. The teacher is an athlete with lots of basketball experience, and he seems to know what he is talking about since he has been playing basketball for years.

The teacher then places a large tome of instructions in front of each student and announces that he has passed out the best book available to learn basketball. How about, "The Ultimate Basketball Book: Skills Needed to Be the Ultimate Player" by well-known coach and legend Frank L. Wright (wait, didn't he design houses?) Hush. Never mind that. Fantastic title, you think. That's what I need!

And so you spend the entire semester, 15 weeks, 4 hours daily, pouring over all of the intricacies you find in the book. You learn about the jump shot. You learn about dribbling. You learn about how to drive to the basket with both the left and right hand. The book is fantastic. It has diagrams and pictures and gives you a clear sense of what you are supposed to do to defeat an opponent. You know all of the rules and all of the moves.

Furthermore, you take weekly tests that prove your competence. You ace all of these tests and get straight A's in every single quiz as well. You do all of your homework and read each chapter carefully, underlining all of the parts that you find most valuable.

So, now, so the story goes, you are ready to play basketball. Right? Right? ...Frank Lloyd Wrong.