Consumer advocate Clark Howard was talking about dieting last year on his radio program. He said Americans are generally too hurried, too short-sighted, too unrealistic for reaching the goals they want. He explained that he lost a lot of pounds by taking a steady view of weight loss, the way people need to do with money. He said Americans want everything fast and easy.
Then he took a commercial break and on came a software company advertising fast, fun and easy foreign language. Why, anybody could do it. Fast. Fun. Easy. I think it was indeed made for Americans! You could probably learn it while you lose weight and get rich. Multitasking like a productive American!
I agree with Clark. We don’t want to lose weight; we want to have lost it. We don’t want to save and plan; we want to have saved and planned. We don’t want to learn language; we want to have learned it.
If Americans stop to think this over, I believe they have it in them to approach language learning with a new attitude. They would make language a daily matter, not a fast and easy thing, but a daily thing. Ordinary. Practical. Daily. Encouraged in class. Spoken and sung around home, at play, in the car, on the bus, at the games, at bedtime. That is exactly the kind of feedback we get with Max and Max Spanish, and that’s why people who follow our lead do well. Anyone really can do this.
(Note: Clark Howard does not choose the radio commercials.)
Tags: learning like children