Yesterday the Guardian in the UK had an article about my favourite of favourite language teachers the late Michel Thomas: My message “anybody can learn”. The interesting think about this article was that it is about taking Michel Thomas’ ideas and methods and using them in normal schools instead of just private learners. I think this is a great idea, and something I do already, his method is the best in the world. For example just telling your students not to worry about learning, to just relax, all the responsibility is with the teacher and the materials, makes such a huge difference.
The best bit is there is a new book out soon about his method called Michel Thomas: The Language Revolution which looks like an excellent read for any language teacher
To prove again how good his system is, I’m supposed to be learning Hindi for when I head back to India next month. But I’m having a hard time of it, just because there aren’t any good materials out there. I bought the standard “phrasebook CDs” (e.g. the Lonely Planet and the Berlitz one) but they never stick. I also splashed out on Rupert Snell’s Teach Yourself Hindi which just sends you to sleep (in fact that’s what I use it for if I can’t get to sleep on a night! Sorry Rupert.)
But in complete contrast, when I heard about the upcoming Beijing gig last week I put on the new Michel Thomas Speak Mandarin Chinese course and it is the best Chinese course I’ve ever heard. Even though it’s done by a new guy, Dr Goodman, who actually emailed me the last time I blogged about the course, he’s taken all Michel’s best bits and really made an excellent Chinese course.
So anyway, getting back to the Guardian article I do agree with the guy at the end who says that any method gets watered down when 400,000 teachers start using it (I see that all the time with teachers just taking bits of Genki English and leaving the most important stuff!) but I also think his ideas will be very useful for many teachers.
Also here’s the BBC documentary about Michel Thomas again:
Well, don’t just take my word for it, now we have the funky new comments (and a chance to win a CD of your choice when you make one!) why not let us know what you think of Michel Thomas and his ideas (have you tried his materials? Or why not?) or do you have any other great language teachers you could recommend? Looking forward to hearing from you!
Earn More From Your Passion For Teaching English!
I’ve always been into education, psychology, languages, and I’ve done some classes at university. But in the end I was always bored; lectures were boring and nothing to put into practice.
Reading your blog every day, I think: “This is what real studies should be” I want more and more, read it, think about it, put it into practice, get results and want more and more again.
I must admit, I never got any degree-but with the content I’m taking out of your info and putting into head and heart I feel totally qualified.
THANK YOU!
So, definitely YOU are the language teacher I recommend. But great you’re writing about Michel Thomas. Seems to be a very interesting person , so I want to get the book (seems not available right now)
‘Whether or not you learn is down to me. If you don’t learn, I’ll go home and revise what I’m doing and try to teach you differently.’
I hate to copy-paste quotes, but I think this is really the key here. I’ve come across this guys work before – and it’s spectacular. I think all teachers should take responsibility for their students learning – as has been said on this site many times, there’s no such thing as a bad class. His language sets are so cheap on Amazon too, so really there’s nothing to lose! I’m using his French program to learn what I didn’t back in school, and I wish I’d known about his work when I first began to tackle Japanese – It would have saved me allot of time and effort. I’ll definitely be buying the book!
I had the chance to listen to Michel Thomas’ method of French. I’m French but not a teacher, so I am not the best to talk about his pedagogy’s efficiency. I just found his voice very strange as a French teacher: very old, with a bit of foreign accent, and some accentuations we don’t use anymore. I hardly imagine teenagers learning French with this method without being bored. In my opinion, this method fits well for mature people really motivated. I am interested by knowing what makes the Thomas’ method so spectacular. So I will recommend it to all my partners in the all-language conversation club I belong to. Thank you.
I’ve just tried “Get Started” of Speak Mandarin Chinese (Michel Thomas method). It’s my first time to experience his method. It’s amazing!
No books. No memorization. No stress. And I found myself speaking several sentences in Chinese only 15 minutes after I started to listen to the CD.
I like the hand movements to learn the tones of Mandarin. It must be the essential part of his method.
When I finished “Get Started”, I’ll go on to “For Beginners”.
I’m so happy to know such a great method!
Thank you!!