Ever feel like traditional English lessons and apps aren’t helping you become fluent? You're not alone. Many of my students share this frustration—until I introduce them to a completely different approach to language fluency.
Let's start with a question: Why isn't the traditional approach of studying grammar and memorizing vocabulary engaging?
There are many answers, but one might be because it’s as fun as watching paint dry. Sure, some folks love learning every little rule. And I respect that. But even they don’t naturally use much of what they know in real conversation. Sorry, grammar nerds, but it’s the truth.
Here’s why: Two words. Learning and Acquisition.
Learning happens when your brain understands deliberate instruction from a teacher or teaching material. It’s when you understand a concept, memorize it, and can recall it on a test.
Acquisition, however, is not the result of deliberate instruction. It comes from repeated exposure to the target language in a high-energy context. It’s when you naturally pick up language from people or materials without conscious effort. It’s how you learned your first language.
This is also how we can become fluent in a second language. The lack of this method in formal education is why most learners struggle with fluency. It’s the white elephant in second language education. Most people in our industry know about Stephen Krashen’s Second-Language Acquisition Theory. But it’s easier to stick with the business-as-usual grammar-based curriculum and multiple-choice exams. Students pass exams, get good scores, but don’t become fluent. Those who do often rely on other means, like YouTube.
“I’ve studied English all my life,” many tell me. “Why is it so hard to become fluent?”
“Because you studied English,” I tell them. “You didn’t acquire it.”
Our brains are wired to acquire knowledge and skills through movement and excitement, not monotony and drudgery. Neuroscience shows that engaging activities, done repeatedly, exponentially speed up the process of neuroplasticity—your brain’s ability to adapt and acquire new knowledge and skills. Go watch or listen to Andrew Huberman’s podcast to learn more about that. You would think this would be part of teacher training today. Spoiler alert: it isn’t.
Either way, neuroplasticity is the brain’s natural way of storing deep knowledge, language or otherwise. And one of the best ways to feed your brain that knowledge is through stories. Stories are the natural language of the brain, involving events that highlight the human experience of going from a problem to a solution. Stories engage you, release dopamine, and help your brain soak up new words, phrases, and notions in language faster than you can say "fluency."
Traditional methods stress you out with rules that don't connect with our natural tendencies to crave problem-solving and adventure. They bombard your brain with charts and abstract rules, raising cortisol levels and killing your imagination and creativity. I believe the late Sir Ken Robinson expressed that better than anyone else in his famous TED Talk about schools and creativity.
But the fact of the matter is that we’re also social creatures. We thrive on connection and interaction. And therefore, it’s important to meet and collaborate with fellow language enthusiasts. This helps us hone our conversational skills, talk about those stories, their characters, themes, our impressions, and help each other with difficult words, phrases, and pronunciation—without the stress. Combining alone story time with these type of roleplaying activities and taking advantage of our current endless array of free digital tools for communication and language assistance is the perfect combination.
Plus, talking about stories is richer and more meaningful than practicing dry, artificial conversations from textbooks. It also frees us from the stress of speaking about our own lives with conversation partners.
So, what if there was an approach to language fluency that showed you how to combine learning with stories and practicing with conversation partners? And what if this approach also included optional coaching from an English communication and story expert?
There is. It’s called Storylingo.
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