Reading Comprehension: Unschooling

Hi there!

How are you this morning? Ready to learn some English tips?

Do you know what unschooling is? It’s a phylosophical approach to schooling which allows children to learn at their own speed, by playing, doing housework, work experience and social interation.

Pam Sorooshian, an expert in unschooling, wrote a list of principles on how it works. It’s interesting to see how some of the principles of unschooling can be applied to learning English:

Learning happens all the time. The brain never stops working and it is not possible to divide time up into “learning periods” versus “non-learning periods.” Everything that goes on around a person, everything they hear, see, touch, smell, and taste, results in learning of some kind.

• Learn English by incorporating vocabulary words into everyday activities. For example: write down all the ingredients and utensils you use to cook supper this evening!

Learning does not require coercion. In fact, learning cannot really be forced against someone’s will. Coercion feels bad and creates resistance.

• One of the first rules to learning anything is to want to learn. Feel excited and happy about learning English. For example: make a list of all the reasons you want to be able to speak in English. Look forward to your class!

Learning feels good. It is satisfying and intrinsically rewarding. Irrelevant rewards can have unintended side effects that do not support learning.

• Remind yourself of this point when you don’t feel like studying. Just think how proud and satisfied you will be after!

Learning stops when a person is confused. All learning must build on what is already known.

• By having an organized schedule and good learning material, you will become more focused during your lesson and this will make learning easier.

Learning becomes difficult when a person is convinced that learning is difficult. Unfortunately, most teaching methods assume learning is difficult and that lesson is the one that is really “taught” to the students.

• Many people think learning English is very difficult. But it’s not! Ok, learning a new language is challenging, but if you do a small lesson everyday soon you will have learnt without getting stressed about the difficulty.

Learning must be meaningful. When a person doesn’t see the point, when they don’t know how the information relates or is useful in “the real world,” then the learning is superficial and temporary – not “real” learning.

• Remember the list you made of why you wanted to learn English? If you feel less motivated one day, re-read it!

Learning is often incidental. This means that we learn while engaged in activities that we enjoy for their own sakes and the learning happens as a sort of “side benefit.”

• This is why so many people learn with movies or series or games. Why? Because you are having fun but your brain is still absorbing lots and lots of information.

We don’t have to be tested to find out what we’ve learned. The learning will be demonstrated as we use new skills and talk knowledgeably about a topic.

• Learning is personal growth. Don’t always set yourself an exam to test yourself. Relax and learn because you want to, because it will make your life better.