It’s not just language teaching, see my approach to Extreme Language Learning, with lots of stories I’ve never shared before, in this video with Julian from Doing English! It’s 45 minutes so grab a coffee and be sure to stick around to the end to get Julian’s best techniques on how to implement this in the classroom.
And as always, write up your notes, comments and questions in the comments – I’d love to hear what you think about this type of video and discussion!
P.S. Yep, I had the chance to get tickets to see Prince live that night but didn’t take them!!
Earn More From Your Passion For Teaching English!
Wow!!!!! This was so great to see.
Julian, such a long time, and I am so happy to see you here. I used to tap your name on your blog links and You tube channel videos, yet I think it must be more than 6,7 years since I noticed your name last.
Wonderful to hear a few stories from Richard, I didn’t know yet, too.
(I am not completely through yet, quickly wanted to comment here though and say HI)
For now, 1000 thumbs up for this video, and further on good best luck. Keep up the great work there.
I was so excited to wake up to find this interview!
I really recommend teachers check out Julian’s stuff – he really hits the nail on the head with a lot of comments he makes about English learning – especially in Japan. Many times I’ve wanted to reach through the screen to “high five” him!
And how cool is it that he sees Richard as one of his mentors! Totally awesome!
Having been in Japan in the early 90s really was a crazy and at the same time blessing thing, I think. Especially in the rather suburban parts of Japan. I remember that I was invited by the media to hold an interview on ‘Changing the law on selfdefense of the country in Japan and Germany’~after just one week here. My Japanese was horrible, I didn’t know much about politics and I am kind of happy I don’t have a recording on what I came up with.
However like Richard says, my experience in language learning is also that it is all possible if you just do it, not analyze or think and sometimes even the more if you need it to survive.
DOING things (Love the name of ‘Doing English’) and immerse yourself into the culture into the people you are dealing with, was for me the way to go. I went to university for 4 months here in Japan to ‘study’ and I didn’t learn a tiny thing. Then I quit, left the house where mostly foreigners lived and had international parties every night, started to immerse myself into the culture: Japanese dance, Japanese Noh theater, Japanese silk spinning and dying, with Japanese people from 2-80~it took me 1 month to be told fluent and make my days speaking zero English, except for when I was teaching.
It took me one year to be at a level that I organized a group of Japanese Noh and Kabuki professionals going to Germany. I guided and translated for them. It was never the ‘language’ I was thinking about once I had started to immerse myself into ‘doing’.
Look at many immigrants now in Germany~those who focus so much on the language they don’t have time to get into the culture are really struggling. I am lucking to have met many who have great guardians pushing them into the daily life, normal schools to be educated normal working places to get working skills and their German is amazing after a short time. Many have not been to school at all in their home countries, though now they are learning to be skilled bakers, chefs, …
Thanks again for this interview.
It was a surprising video to me. It was a great pleasure to me to great some stories by Richard. And I’ve never heard of Julian before and about that book, he recommended to read. Thanks a lot. It was very informative as usual. I’m going to read that book.
My wife just did exactly what you advise above. She works at the Disaster Prevention Centre here in Fukuoka. She decided to run a workshop in English. She is Japanese and has never lived abroad or anything like that, but she went ahead and delivered CPR training and gave a lot of information about what to do in disaster or other emergency situations all in English. It was also featured on the news. She didn’t do everything perfectly, but everyone in the audience appreciated that she was able to give them a lot of important, potentially life saving information.