• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Get into English

Learn English | Express yourself in English!

  • Home
  • Welcome!
  • Contact
You are here: Home / Expand Your Vocabulary / The lessons you remember

The lessons you remember

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Google+
  • Pinterest
  • LinkedIn
  • Digg
  • Del
  • StumbleUpon
  • Tumblr
  • VKontakte
  • Print
  • Email
  • Flattr
  • Reddit
  • Buffer
  • Love This
  • Weibo
  • Pocket
  • Xing
  • Odnoklassniki
  • ManageWP.org
  • WhatsApp
  • Meneame
  • Blogger
  • Amazon
  • Yahoo Mail
  • Gmail
  • AOL
  • Newsvine
  • HackerNews
  • Evernote
  • MySpace
  • Mail.ru
  • Viadeo
  • Line
  • Flipboard
  • Comments
  • Yummly

In the years to come, what will you remember from your English lessons? Hopefully it’s something fun and positive. But if you have some negative memories, even then there’s something that makes language learning come alive – emotions.

In fact, you can’t really learn much without being emotionally involved somehow.

When I first meet a potential student, they usually tell me they need more grammar. If only they had a better grammatical knowledge, everything would be alright, they say.

Don’t get me wrong – grammar has its place and it’s something I do in my classes. But beyond grammar and today’s lesson that you attended, what are you doing all this for?

Is your goal really to get better at grammar?

Aren’t you doing all this because you want to travel around the world and use English to get by wherever you go? Or perhaps you want to set up a business where you’ll have clients who speak English?

Or because you want to understand films from the English-speaking world?

Or perhaps you want to make real and lasting friendships with people who don’t speak your language?

Your English lessons are a great way to get started on the way to achieving these goals. If you’re attending a group class at a private language school, for example, then it means you have 9 other people in your group who you can talk to, get to know, and exchange opinions, ideas and perspectives with. On top of this, there’s your teacher, who may have a whole world of different perspectives and thoughts to your own.

But if you see learning languages as pretty much doing grammar, then you’ll miss out on some of the best things you can get from taking a course.

My dance instructor tells me that zouk is all about the connection, and I’ll add it’s the same for learning a language too.

The lessons you’ll remember are those that gave you an emotional experience, hopefully a positive one. And you’ll remember those times you had a special moment with your classmates or your teacher.

So that’s your homework for this week – to step beyond the grammar, and see if you can find out a little more about the others in your course.

To make a connection.

Photo credits

Image: me

Share this:

  • Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • Click to print (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window)
  • More
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Francisco Javier says

    May 19, 2013 at 09:46

    That’s very true, David.

    Reply
    • David Sweetnam says

      May 19, 2013 at 10:37

      Hi Francisco thanks for visiting this blog after I was away for quite some time 🙂

      David

      ps I have some catching up to do on yours, I can see…

      Reply
  2. Marcelo says

    May 20, 2013 at 00:52

    Hi, David!
    It’s really nice to see you blogging again!

    I couldn’t agree with you more David! I do think that grammar has an import role in English but I believe it is not something that we (learners, me included) should focus at an earlier stage in our learning process if the main purpose of the student is to speak in English, I say this because I see that some students don’t intend to or don’t have the intention to speak English at all, it’s kind of weird, isn’t it, because if we study a language we should use it, speak it.

    I’ll take the example of my wife, she doesn’t want to speak English, she wants to read and write better in English, even though I’m trying to convince her to speak it at all costs 🙂

    Another thing that I would like to point out about grammar and rules if you allow me to, is what Warren states on his blog: “Many people try to learn English the same way. They reduce English to pieces and instructions, or rules. For them, learning English means memorizing the pieces and rules. And using English becomes a process of trying to remember the pieces and using the rules to correctly assemble them, to “get it right.”

    All the best David! Cheers!
    Marcelo

    Reply
    • David Sweetnam says

      May 22, 2013 at 00:24

      Hi Marcelo

      It’s great to see you here. You offer a different perspective as you are already proficient at English, amazingly so, but also you want to learn more. In my case it’s my native language, but I am learning French and Czech, and in the future I’ll brush up on my Spanish. So I have a good idea about the challenges learners go through.

      The main point I’d like to mention again is that once you have a connection with someone, it doesn’t really matter if you are ‘advanced’ or ‘intermediate’ or whatever level you may be: instead, it’s two people using language to communicate and make a connection 🙂

      Reply
  3. Marcelo says

    May 22, 2013 at 02:45

    That’s true, David, well said!
    Thanks.

    Reply
  4. Martina says

    June 18, 2013 at 19:20

    Hi David,

    I ´ ve just read your article above. I absolutely agree with you … Can I have a small comment? You wrote about talking in the classroom at language school. It helps to improve… But personally I think that there are dangerous of much mistakes which I can learn from my classmate, aren ´ t there? This is the problem why I don ´ t want to talk to czech in English:-)

    Martina

    Reply
    • David Sweetnam says

      June 29, 2013 at 21:51

      Hi Martina

      It all depends – if you are in an English classroom where you are being exposed to English phrasal verbs, idioms, and natural expressions, with feedback from a teacher, then how can that not be effective?

      Or you’d prefer to stay at home and make more excuses not to study?

      Yeah, a lot of Czechs have told me over the years that they don’t like speaking to each other. Two points on this:

      – Why do Czechs continue to spend money on language schools where the course is advertised as being communicative and where you WILL have to speak to each other?
      – It’s really more about the Czech mentality. Czechs, at least Prague people, don’t like to communicate with other human beings. The rest of the planet is different and if you can join us, you’ll make more progress 😉

      Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Coursebooks are not the problem — Get into English says:
    October 25, 2013 at 23:51

    […] The lessons you remember […]

    Reply

What do you think? Cancel reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

Welcome to Get Into English. I’m David, an English teacher, traveller & language enthusiast from Melbourne Australia.
That’s me above in Bendigo, Victoria before Corona came!
I write articles on learning English especially for people wishing to live in or travel to Australia, and for those who are interested in business and all kinds of issues!

Older posts were written while I was in Europe, newer ones are from Australia.

Feel free to leave a comment!

davidsweetnam

This is a nice time to take a little break from po This is a nice time to take a little break from posting photos. This is from my 12 km walk to Middle Park last Thursday 😮 
Not quite sure what to do with the hundreds of photos I still have from during the lockdown 🤷‍♂️ 
But I’ll be back in Middle Park, hopefully tomorrow, it’s a beautiful part of Melbourne. 

Mej se hezky a zatim ahoj 🏝😊🌱

#výlet #cestujeme #cestujemespolu #timeoutmelbourne #melbournelife #melbournebeach #middlepark #heartmiddlepark #melbmoment #melbournemoment #beachlife🌴 #visitmelbourne #melbourneiloveyou #aussiebeaches #sunsetlovers #beachlover #plages #pláž #alaplaya #playabonita #modra #seaside #beachwalks 🏝
Walking home from Middle Park. Melbourne and the M Walking home from Middle Park. Melbourne and the Melbourne Cricket Ground at dusk 🏏 
So many magical moments in Australian sporting history have happened here. Hawthorn’s three-peat in 2013-15, Shane Warne’s 700th wicket, the 1992 World Cup, the 1956 Olympics. 
There are many walks you can go on from here - to the river, to East Melbourne, to Richmond. Or indeed up William Barak Bridge to the city 😊🌱☕️

#mcg #melbmoment #melbournemoment #checkmelbourne #výlet #cestujeme #cricketground #always #hawthornfc #naprochazce #stadiumhoppers #exploremelbourne #mynikonlife #urbanscape #trainspotting #citylife #urbanexplorer #railfans #vlak 🏝
If you’re not sure where to go, come here ☕️ If you’re not sure where to go, come here ☕️😃

I came here quite a bit during the lockdown. This one is from late October 🤗 And it’ll be waiting for you tomorrow. 

#melbmoment #melbournemoment #sunsetlove #zapadslunce #slunicko #slunce #sluníčko #výlet #cestujeme #likemelbourne #checkmelbourne #melbournelife #yarrariver #australia108 #eurekatower #morellbridge #mynikonlife
I walked all afternoon from Richmond to Middle Par I walked all afternoon from Richmond to Middle Park last Thursday. Still posting some of the pictures 😃 This is Beaconsfield Parade, Middle Park 🏝

#heartmiddlepark #melbmoment #melbournemoment #visitmelbourne #middlepark #cityscene #cityscapes #výlet #cestujemespolu #cestujeme #naprochazce #beachliving
Waiting for the sunset at Middle Park. The views f Waiting for the sunset at Middle Park. The views from those buildings must be amazing 🏝

#melbmoment #melbournemoment #výlet #slunce #zapadslunce #nebe #cestujeme #coucherdesoleil #heartmiddlepark #checkmelbourne #melbournebeach #summervibes☀️ #mynikonlife #beachdiaries #beachwalk 🏝
Melbourne is oddly tropical at times - I quite lik Melbourne is oddly tropical at times -
I quite like this 🌱🏝☀️

Middle Park, Melbourne 

3.12.20 😊 
#middlepark #heartmiddlepark #visitmelbourne #likemelbourne #checkmelbourne #vylet #cestujeme #naprochazce #tropicalvibes #mynikonlife #melbournegram #streetsofmelbourne #seeaustralia #melbournetodo 🏝
Middle Park, the red city. This street has many Au Middle Park, the red city. This street has many Australian Bottlebrush trees 😊

#bottlebrush #citylife #sundayvibes✨ #streetphotography #urbanjungle #citylifestyle #melbournemoments #melbmoment #mynikonlife #urbanscape #výlet #naprochazce #cestujeme 🌱
3.12.20
Late in the day in Middle Park, Melbourne 🏝 #h Late in the day in Middle Park, Melbourne 🏝

#heartmiddlepark #visitmelbourne #likemelbourne #jaro #checkmelbourne #printemps #melbmoment #melbournemoments #sunlover #beachvibes 🌱
The colours of Thursday 😍🏝🌱 #jacarandatr The colours of Thursday 😍🏝🌱

#jacarandatree #melbourne #melbmoment #melbournemoment #melbournegardens #queenvictoriagardens #výlet #cestujeme #mynikonlife #roseslovers #eurekatower #australia108 🌳
Richardson Street, Middle Park 🌳🌴🌱 #výl Richardson Street, Middle Park 🌳🌴🌱

#výlet #cestujeme #kostel #heartmiddlepark #checkmelbourne #likemelbourne #urbanscapes #beachtown 🏝
Middle Park is one of Melbourne’s smallest subur Middle Park is one of Melbourne’s smallest suburbs. If you haven’t been here, I totally recommend you visit 😊🌱☕️ Beautiful sea, churches, shops, homes and tree-lined streets. 

#middlepark #melbournebeach #visitmelbourne #likemelbourne #checkmelbourne #cestujeme #výlet #heartmiddlepark #beachlovers🌴
Wandering along Richardson Street, Middle Park 🌳 🏝 

#iheartmiddlepark #middlepark #heartmiddlepark #likemelbourne #checkmelbourne #tropicallife #beachlovers🌴
Load More… Follow on Instagram

Subscribe

Get the latest stories in English and articles on idioms, phrasal verbs, grammar and exam tips! No spam.

Trending

  • The Difference Between 'Catch Up' And 'Meet Up' - Reader Question
  • 'If' And 'Will' *Can* Go Together
  • The Present Simple In Everyday Conversation
  • Short Phrases You Can Use In Conversation With Your Friends
  • "Let's CATCH UP" - And 8 Other Phrasal Verbs You Can Use Today
  • "She Smiled And Walked Away" - Cambridge English: First For Schools Story Writing
  • Expressing Future Time: Plans & Arrangements
  • 7 Present Perfect Phrases You Can Use In Conversation
  • English Phrasal Verb - Take Care Of
  • She denied 'kissing the pig' or 'denied to kiss' the pig?!

Aussie Vocab

Business

Finance

Footer

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy

Featured

English Vocabulary for Corona – COVID-19

So it’s gone all around the world, already disrupting the lives of a few billion people. The 2019 Wuhan Coronavirus has affected our lives everywhere and so I thought it’d be good to present some key vocabulary for you to be able to follow the media discussion. First up, what to call this virus? In […]

Learn English

© 2009–2021 · David Sweetnam Log in

loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.