I used to teach English at a University in Mexico. During one of the classes, one of the girls brought me fresh baked cookies made from a regional recipe from her home state of Sinaloa. I think she liked me.
One day, she begged me for a 9.5 on her English exam so she wouldn’t lose her scholarship.
Her family wasn’t rich. They couldn’t afford the university fees, so it was vital to her future to keep the scholarship.
She asked me, “What can I do to get a 9.5? I’ll do anything to get the grade.”
Can you hear The Police singing “Don’t Stand So Close To Me?”
Sorry, it’s not that kind of story. It wasn’t anything like Gordon Sumner’s (Sting’s) song.
She was a lovely, salt of the earth girl who just wanted to get ahead in life to help out her family.
The problem was she was in an advanced English class but her English was almost non-existent. She could hardly string a sentence together.
How did she get in an advanced class?
Simply put, placement tests are rubbish. They grade people on grammar instead of how they can speak the language.
That’s why I did something I would never do now.
I got her to study grammar.
I had her study very specific pieces of grammar that had nothing to do with what she needed to speak more English. Instead we just focused on the grammar for the upcoming exam.
She learned things like irregular verbs. The past tense of “see” is “saw.” The past tense of “put” is “put,” not “putted.”
She learned to conjugate verbs in the pluperfect.
She didn’t know the meaning in the sentence but she knew exactly how to conjugate the verb in the required tense.
She learned only what was going to be in the exam. She filled in the gaps where the answers go and she got the 9.5 she needed to keep her scholarship.
Mission accomplished.
She still couldn’t speak a lick of English, but speaking English wasn’t the objective. Passing the exam was the objective.
What I did is called teaching to the exam.
Teachers all over the world do this. They teach to the exam, not to real life.
You can’t blame them. They are under pressure from administrators to have their students pass the standardized tests. As teachers, the system judges them on averages of the exams.
Helping kids leave school with skills for real life counts for nothing. The sterile meaningless exam average is what drives the system.
!Qué lastima! (What a shame!)
Fortunately for me I am no longer part of that broken system. I said adiós to that farce a long time ago.
All I have to do now is give people what they need and want.
I‘m not judged by a board of education. An administrative bureaucrat has no power over me.
My students don’t have to pass written tests. Instead, they speak Spanish in real everyday life situations.
All I care about are the testimonials of my happy students from all around the world who can now speak Spanish.
I am judged by the only people that I care about, my students.
So far, my grades look good.
http://www.synergyspanishsystems.com/blog/program-reviews/
Saludos
Marcus
P.S. That girl could hardly write English either, yet somehow she got a 10 out of 10 for her essay. The teacher must have “accidentally” written the wrong number down in the results column.
So true. My sister is a teacher of teachers in a large border town where ESL is necessary. Unfortunately, what you described is still a constant problem. She struggles to break her teachers of this habit. Try and try again, she never gives up.
Hi Marcus!
Soy yo otra vez. I found an interesting Facebook page. “ Ortografía” It’s the Grammar Nazi page for Mexicans but it has many interesting points.
Gracias a Dios – la verdad!
Hello Marcus, This story isn’t surprising, I am a Gringo married to a recently retired university professor here in Mexico. Her major complaint was that higher education had become big business and no longer was about education. There are no entrance exams, or prerequisites, anyone with the money to pay for a class can take it. Most of her students were not prepared for her advanced classes and many failed. Those who went to the department head and cried loud enough were passed.
I’ve finsihed synergy spanish and Bola De Nieve. Still waiting for the next edition. Keep it coming.
You can read about my journey in La Paz, BCS at our website. I have followed Marcus all the way from Shortcut to Spanish 1 and 2, Synergy Spanish, Bola de Nieve 1 and 2. I must admit that I took Spanish classes here in La Paz – 2 hrs per day, 5 days per week for 1 month. However, I was plugged into Synergy Spanish on my 45 minute walk to and from school and spoke Spanish the full 2 hours per day class. I went in at an intermediate level (thanks to Marcus’ system) and came out at an advaned level (because I was plugged in to Marcus’ system 1.5 hours per day 5 days per week and I spoke Spanish for 2 hours once at school). Marcus’ system is so successful because it is simultaneous translation from English to Spanish. That is why we are able to speak Spanish immediately. In fact I use the written parts of shortcuts to Spanish 1 to teach English to the children and those women who want to learn English at the Shelter for Women and Children in La Paz. When we were selling jam at the organic market in San Jose Del abo (3 hr. drive from La Paz), I would use Marcus’ technique to teach ” las muchachas ” from the shelter the English they would need to deal with expat clients at the organic market. I am a French Canadian originally from Ottawa, Canada. I just spent 1 month living in French. When I returned to La Paz, YIKES!! I was speaking French instead of Spanish. I am redoing Bola de Nieve 2 to reimmerse myself in Spanish. It is funny to note that I speak Spanish so well that the locales think that I am perfectly bilingual. lol The locales here in La Paz speak so fast that I can’t understand the answer to my questions. I am not alone in this. Even Mexicans from other parts of Mexico can’t understand them. However, this does not prevent me from being a member of El Club de Mujeres Profesionistas y de Negocios La Paz, BCS, Founder of Mujeres Ayudando a Mujeres, A.C. and interacting with the locales on a daily basis. None of this would have been possible without my journey with Marcus. In fact I wish he would develop Bola de Nieve 3. Luiza Lanoy, La Paz, BCS Like us on Facebook at faebook.com/tasteofthebaja
It’s true. We don’t need to pass exams, just to communicate. When I speak to Spanish people I know that I’m not perfect (yet) but they understand me. I’m not saying we shouldn’t strive for perfection, but what I am saying is that it’s better to be understood than not to be understood at all. I did 3 years at college studying Spanish and have learned far more useful everyday Spanish with this system.
Marcus;
I always enjoy reading about your past years as a teacher and hope one day to be able to say that I am fluent in this beloved Spanish Language.
I have completed Synergy Spanish and Bola de Nieve and need to know where do I go next.
I would appreciate some direction from you and suggestions on what my next purchase should be.
Thank you
Jim Rice
Hello Marcus,
I was born and raised in Sydney so hello from the old country”.
I am no longer learning Spanish as I no longer have an Argentina girlfriend. You taught me enough to get by while I was in Argentina. I first visited Argentina in 2006. The very first meal I ordered was in a restaurant. I wanted bacon and eggs for breakfast. I had forgotten the Spanish word for bacon so (as I determined later) I ordered eggs and pig. My scrambled eggs and fried strips of ham were very nice lol. My fiancee is Chinese. I wanted to say that your Spanish lessons are the best there is and I wish you were teaching Chinese or my other favourite language: Hebrew. If you ever get back to oz I’d love to share a beer.
Keep up the exceptional work!
Regards,
Eric
Marcus. I live in a purely agricultral area in spain which over the years has developed a dialect that is hard even hard for spanish people from outside the area to understand . But thanks to you i have made friends with people who like to speak with me and interact and for reasons i wont go into now i am only half way through Bola De Nieve and thanks to you i am doing well. Please keep up the good work ,You are the best. Thanks for everything . Mike.
Dear Marcus – I believe I previously related to you an experience which happpened to me. I was out getting a breath of fresh air one evening at the lodge where I was staying. It was a gated community in San Jose, CR. I said good evening to one of the guards and we chatted for about 15 minutes. He asked me where I was from, Mexico or Costa Rica? WOW!!! What kudos.
That is what happened to me after 2 1/2 years of your courses. Prior to your lessons, I had had 3 semisters of college Spanish. I could barely communicate. Thank you, Marcus and Jose Luis.
Larry Tomaw
Dear Marcus,
I do like grammar – it enables to be understood correctly, it allows for nuances, subtleties, and understand all of the above when spoken to.. You do teach grammar in your way which is alive and flowing. A pleasure!
Thank you again!
I very much appreciate the commonsense way you deal with everything. I understand exactly where you come from as I am an ex-teacher.
Marcus this is a great post. From personal experience in Brasil, I know the truth of what you shared!
By the way, being fluent in Portuguese has certainly helped me along in Spanish! Your course is superb. Thanks.
Linda
hola Marcus
We have learn your spanosh lessons we love it
but still ,,,,we will know in a 24 days how it realy is
going to ecuador soon
i thing we are ready to ….because we are french we have to translate twice in our head
you should have french to spanish be maravillosa the way you teach is great
muchs gracias
valentina
I used to teach English in a secondary school in Austria within this broken language scheme, but teaching to the tests was almost impossible because after 3 years of English instructions with other teachers the students could not even form a sentence like I am tired, he was going to school, etc….So when I found your course on the web for learning Spanish I got it immediately and it worked like a charm. Am still learning and am so glad you came up with the idea to teach people how to speak.
Although I can’t speak fluent Spanish, using this system I am able to make myself understood. Yes I still make mistakes but the Spanish are so generous they repeat my mistakes back to me but correctly, this way I can learn more easily. I am determined to speak the language but find it difficult when not around Spanish speaking people all the time.
Years ago when I was in the air force and before I started learning Spanish I had a buddy who said his sister had a degree in Spanish from college but couldn’t speak a word of it. I could not believe that. Sounded impossible to me. But now that I am at the end of Bola de Nieve I understand.
Marcus – you are amazing. I have been receiving your emails for over 12 months now. I am to be married to a Mexican man I met 15 months ago and who is currently waiting for the Australian government to grant him a Visa. After reading today’s emails I now know why you send free emails. Your heart is definitely in the right place. My Spanish is improving each day, however I do have a problem with grammar and my dear fiance is asisting me with pronunciation via SKYPE. Spanish is such a simple but perfefect, beautiful and romantic language and, as we know, English is an impure language and I am not surprised that Spanish speaking people have a problem. Que Dios te bendiga – todos los santos no están en la Biblia – Julie
Muy interesante Marcus, y pienso que es porgue ahora, eres un gran profesor, realmente! I’ve got a lot of your material and other courses but your style of teaching has given me more confidence to speak than all the others. Keep up the good work!
I always love your E Mails about real life experiences. Still struggling with my Spanish but not down to you just the time I have had available of late. I think your course is the best I have ever seen. Thank you so much Marcus. Keep the updates coming. Thank you so much you are truly inspirational. Linda Matthews
I studied HARD! for a year and a half but struggled to form sentences until I studied Synergy Spanish. Just went to a Mexican grocery store and they were saying that my Spanish was very good. What a difference! Thanks.
Senor, your students rate you un perfecto diez. Gracias y tenga un bien dia. I’ve given up on grammar, and accepted that as a senior, I shall have to settle for ‘”pigeon ” Spanish.
I agree with your comments, all of them to date. Time, how quickly the days tick by but I do make some progress, thanks to your open minded approach. I am eighty-six years old and recovering from a stroke and learning to speak Spanish has restored my memory so it is never too late to anticipate in the joy of living . Eventually I will be ready to benefit from an addition to you course material I have still a lot to do with your book as events stole the time that I planned for it.
Marcus,
Thank you for synergyspanish. with it I am able to learn at my own pace, when I have the time for it. And every time I listen to a lesson….I do learn and it sticks. My only problem really is that everyone around me speaks english….even the folks that can speak spanish. But nevertheless I’m getting it. My son is in 8th grade and your article above is real in our lives right now. His math teacher just isnt getting the job done. She is caught up “in the system”. We live in Texas and “teaching to the test” is a huge problem here. I look forward to the day when kids will be taught languages, math, science, history (not even taught in Texas) as it should be and quit bothering the kids with how wide the shoulder strap is on their shirt or what color their hair is and all the other nonsense they get caught up in. Again….thanks for teaching me to speak the language….not all the crap they teach in schools.
You are the best, THANK YOU!
Ah! bless, I hope that girl has succeeded with…. perseverance as I´m doing with the Spanish. Since she wanted to pass her exam so bad, I hope she remembers you for giving her that chance. Good luck to her I hope she has fulfilled her ambition in helping her family to abetter future. I do like that story. You are a great man with a heart of gold. Your free lessons are very welcome. Thanks
Marie
Hola Marcus. I understand what you are saying in your blog and to a certain extent I agree with you.
Sin embargo, he tenido lessons por doce años antes de comenzar su cursos, and the grounding I received from those grammar based lessons have stood me in good stead to go through your courses quite quickly and understand them. I am in no way denigrating what you do because I am enjoying Bola de Nieve and it has helped me a great deal in speaking more Spanish, which I was struggling with and they have given me more confidence. I have downloaded some onto CD’s and I play them in the car, unfortunately I don’t go very far in the car on my own.
Carry on the good work and I will look forward to the next batch of lessons when I have finished Bola de Nieve.
Un gran abrazo, Sylvia
This strikes a chord, when I went to a nightclass to learn Spanish I was more or less forced by emotional blackmail by the teacher to undertake a certificate in Spanish. I was in my mid 40s and really did not need a qualification. It was mind numbingly boring grammar, we hardly spoke Spanish in the classes, my attendance dropped off, the teacher in fear of her job convinced me to sit the exam, I passed and obtained a nice bit of paper with a c grade but my spoken Spanish was no better than the day I entered the class.
Aunque yo ya no vivo en España, yo encuentro su método de enseñar es excelente y yo mejoro mis habilidades continuamente en español.
Muchas gracias
Ian
Although I no longer live in Spain, I find your method of teaching is excellent and I continually improve my skills in Spanish.
Thank you very much
Ian
Day Two of your course, downloaded all to my Mac, burned to disc for the car, Now my every move is surrounded in Spanish. The locals are smiling as I greet them in their own language. Tried for twelve years to learn, being dyslexic it has been a nightmare! Now I listen and repeat and link sentences. To day thanks to your course my life here in paradise ( the Island of Tenerife ) is changing. Thank you so much Marcus.
You nailed it. Sometimes school only gives us a foundation we can later build on, but often it fills us with data that must be unlearned before we can gain understanding. I’m just an occasional user of your system, but each time I dig into it for a while my communications improve. Imagine what would happen if I were diligent.
This works for me too Marcus, and I believe the truth really lies with what works for the individual learner. Being creative and climbing out of the proverbial box can release one from failure.
The exam system can create life long feelings of self doubt which can take years to shake.
I know the single reason I got talking in Spanish is because Synergy Spanish loosened my tongue and once that happened I was off.
If I choose to compare with a friend of mine, which I don’t choose, my grammar is not as good as hers but in a conversational situation I can hold my own and am not tripping through the mental filing cabinet in awkwardness.
This is thanks to your system. It works for me. I am a huge advocate!
This is so familiar. I spent ten years learning French, at school, but can’t spaek the language. Last year I spent two months teaching kids in Vietnam who were advanced English students but couldn’t understand anything I was saying. I was sruggling with Spanish and hating every minute until I realised that studying grammar wasn’t the answer. After all, we all speak our native language for years before we know what grammar is!. I’m really enjoying Informal Spanish 2 and can’t wait to move to Spain and get some real practice. Thanks.
Hi Marcus – fabulous story. I can relate with this girl and glad she got through, thanks to you!!! I too have experienced similar but learning Spanish with you and via your methods actually gives me the confidence to speak the language (rather than try to conjugate in my head from English to Spanish what I want to say). Thank you for being an excellent Teacher. God bless
excellent!