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My father-in-law thinks he knows no English. You ask him and he’ll tell you he can’t speak a word. And it’s pretty much true. Put a native English-speaker in front of him, my dad for example, and they both gesticulate wildly, neither understanding the other and speak more and more loudly in their respective languages. Then a nervous laugh. Then silence.
By any standard, it’s true, Antonio knows no English.
In the English-teaching world, however, Antonio would be given the initial level of “False beginner”, which basically means “The student has some knowledge of English, even if they don’t realise it”.
The majority of Spanish people who don’t use English would most likely fall into this category.
Why?
In the world that we live in it really is very difficult to have no contact with English. The chances are 95% of these people know and understand the following: Black Friday, Christmas, Halloween, hello, thank you, please, good-bye/bye bye, sales, made in China, game over, parking, burger, pub, always (Coca-Cola), just do it, I’m loving it…and at least another 100 words. Not to mention company names.
Just from these 100 words, even if the person doesn’t know how to put the words together in a sentence, it’s enough exposure to the language for the brain to have an idea about how words are constructed in English, the relationship between pronunciation and spelling, the general sound of the language.
This makes a first class with false beginners relatively easy and they progress quickly in the first few classes.
An “Absolute beginner” is a totally different story, and increasingly rare to come by.[thrive_leads id=’1049′]
I’ve had a few over the years and they’re a lot of fun, like a blank canvas.
My most memorable students, and partly my inspiration for my philosophy on teaching English, are Anton and Mohammed. One from Russia, the other from Yemen. Two absolute beginners.
It was winter in Brighton, England, not a very busy time of the year in the international English school I was working in, so these two were the only students in my A0 class.
The first class was how to greet people and introduce yourself, the alphabet and numbers. Progress was slow.
They got on well as they were both the same age, both their families worked in the oil industry, and they were both being prepped for jobs in their respective family businesses.
After the first week, Anton started to attend fewer and fewer classes. He explained as best he could that he had joined the local golf club and was playing golf most days.
Mohammed attended class religiously. Always on time, always did his homework, and always made an effort.
As to be expected, Mohammed finished the three-month course ready to start the next level, maybe he could even start an A2 course if he pushed himself.
Anton ended the course with less than 50% attendance and never did his homework. When he did come to class though, he would bombard me with questions about grammar, vocabulary, and expressions. Things he’d heard his new golf buddies say.
He “finished the course” with a good B1. He could have a conversation about any topic, and had become a confident English speaker. From A0 to B1. In three months…
Three months in a country is not a long time. He used the time perfectly. Most don’t make the progress Anton made after a year in England. Mohammed wasn’t a bad student at all. On the contrary, he was exactly what was to be expected from standard teaching methodology. Maybe even a little better. I was his teacher of course : )
Anton, however, took matters into his own hands and became a very effective learner. He was attentive to what native speakers said to him and what he read, he asked endless questions about the language, and filled his time with real life practice.
The perfect recipe for learning a language.
Mohammed achieved what standard teaching practice told him he’d achieve.
I tell my students to be like Anton.
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