Effective language learning: Why we need a total immersion approach

Caroline Watson
4 min readSep 15, 2021

I studied French right up until university, wrestling with great works of literature from the likes of Jean Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir, François Mauriac and Gustave Flaubert. But when I arrived to live in Paris 11 years ago, I struggled to negotiate simple transactions at the market, failed to keep up with conversations at parties and generally wondered around in a fog of confusion concerning many of the idiomatic phrases that peppered the billboards of the Paris metro.

Why is it that language learning is so out of touch with the realities of needing to communicate with others from different languages and cultures?

When I learnt to teach English myself as part of the Cambridge CELTA qualifications, we were early taught the difference between FLUENCY and ACCURACY. Accuracy is the defining model of language training in academic contexts, a desire to be able to conjugate a French verb perfectly and never to forget the gender of each noun as it is taught. We are encouraged to learn set phrases that can be inserted into our beautifully written essays and analyses of French literature, but then end up being stumped when an ordinary French person asks us a simple question about daily life. Fluency, on the other hand, is rooted in the desire to COMMUNICATE with another, which, it has to be said, is ultimately the goal of speaking a foreign language, is it not? Don’t get me wrong — it’s important that when we teach, we teach correct usage of a word or phrase, but the goal of language teaching is so very rarely the unfettered, joyous and freedom-loving experience of the delight and curiosity of communicating with someone from a different background and culture.

The drive to communicate is innate in us as humans and is the primary driver in our relationship with others. Why is this, then, not the modus operandi for how we teach languages too?

I have lived and worked in many countries around the world, and have now learnt multiple languages, including Chinese. I have also taught and examined students learning English as a fully-qualified English teacher and examiner for the IELTS exams, the international benchmark for English language attainment for entry to academia. Throughout so many years of both language learning for myself, and language teaching of others, it strikes me how much of language training fails to deliver the very concrete goal of enabling people to COMMUNICATE in the chosen language. Countless times I have observed students who, I sense, are probably quite competent at declining a French or English verb table, yet clam up in shyness or a lack of self-confidence, when you ask them simply to share their opinion on current affairs or, even, where their last holiday was.

What we need is to give students the CONTEXT for language learning, namely, how we work with others in the achievement of a goal, where correct usage of a language isn’t the only end game, but, rather, the means by which we achieve that goal. It’s about a more student-centered approach that moves past the self-consciousness that kills confidence and makes us so absorbed in a fun or meaningful activity that we simply cannot help but be driven to communicate with others in the achievement of that activity.

At Global Explorers, we seek to make language learning immediately usable, impactful and relevant. We believe the best learning happens when you don’t realise you are learning, when speaking English (or any other language, or, even, traditional school subjects too :-) happens naturally because you are in the right context and driven mainly by a desire to communicate — not in a self-conscious way that has you overthinking whether you declined that verb correctly or are too frightened to say anything for fear of getting it wrong. We want our students to understand that learning another language is natural and effortless, situationally appropriate and driven by the joy of connecting and communicating with others. That doesn’t mean we don’t stop and learn the correct usage of a particular word, but we do it with a light touch and by way of explaining something in context, and then moving on to ensure the learning is immediately implemented and practised.

That way, we learn how to truly communicate in international contexts — and, crucially, learn how to make that all-important market purchase of delicious French cheese :-)

For more information about our programmes, and a link to sign up to our upcoming programme in Maurecourt, please click on the link here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeCCC9ilGhalgyWhgs7QnJv8nXI7qVHVRh5yI7_nEkRJtcYKA/viewform

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Caroline Watson

Empowering the potential of the world’s current and future leaders. Entrepreneur, consultant, speaker, facilitator, actor www.carolinewatson.org