外教老师对孩子们的建议：
There is something very important that I have to tell you and that you should communicate to all the parents.
Learning a language implies very special changes in the child´s brain. He has to stablish new pathways in the neurons of his brain in order to process ideas in a different way. This change has to be done in a very special way, because it is like cut open new paths in a jungle. The only effective way is to repeat this process many times and as often as possible. Studying a language with a teacher once a week and doing the homework once a week is not a good idea. One lesson with a teacher once a week is good enough, but the child needs to be in permanent contact with the new language EVERY DAY. Otherwise, he forgets very easy what he has learnt. Two things are VERY IMPORTANT at learning a language:
1-MOTIVATION. It is impossible to learn something if the student is not eager to learn.
2-REPETITION. The child has to practice the new language every day. 5-10 minutes a day is enough, but it should be every day and preferably always at the same hour. If the child follows these 2 indications in one year he can be fluent in the new language at a basic level. Of course, it will take him years to be proficient.
A language teacher should be able to accompany the child along all this process providing him with all the necessary tools for learning. It is not teaching him the language, but rather teaching him how to teach himself the language.
The child is with the teacher one hour a week, but the child is with himself all his life.
It is much more profitable to help him to become his own teacher.
Learning means changing the mind. The only person who can do that is oneself.
This is why in a classroom there are many students and one teacher who teaches the same thing to all of them. Some of the students learn, but others don´t. This is because it is the student the one who has the key to learning, not the teacher.
I am quite disappointed with the progress of some of my students. I always tell them that they have to study a little bit (5 minutes) every day. But they do not do it. I need the parents to encourage them to do so.
Thanks for your help about this.
If you agree with this, please, translate it into Chinese and send it to the parents. I know that these kids sometimes have to much homework (which is not a good idea), but 5 minutes a day should be more like a habit of playing with something interesting, like a game. What I have told you about languages also applies to other subjects.
A good student is a kid who does very often something because he likes it.
