Now. OK tomorrow. I am being cereal about this. Don’t instruct them. Be with them. Talk to them. When you think you are teaching them, then they perceive that they are being taught, and a cycle of “I’m-the-teacher-and-I’m-the-smartest-and-if-you-listen-to-me-then-you-learn-the-language” kicks in, complete with testing and the whole pathetic school thing.
It is impossible to teach a language. I found these definitions of “to teach” online:
…show or explain to (someone) how to do something….
…develop the mental, moral, or social capabilities of, especially by schooling or instruction….
First, you can’t show or explain to someone how to speak a language. It is far too complex for that.
Second, you can’t develop the mental capabilities of a person since command over a language is a far more complex process that involves far more than mere mental (read “conscious”) analysis. For more articles on that, see the category on the right side of this page called “Unconscious”.
So we are limited in what we can do in that we can only provide interesting input along with other sources, and we cannot teach in the way that the dictionaries define the term. Don’t call me a teacher. I’m not a teacher. I am a provider of language input in lighthearted settings – a plils.
If you want to see some teachers, go to ACTFL in San Diego next year. There will be thousands of them walking around, boring the shit out of each other and asking to be recognized and approved of. Ask them what they do. They will tell you that they are a language teacher. Good. Bravo. But don’t include me in that group.
So stop instructing your kiddies. They are as sick of the game of school as you are. It’s a mind set thing. Kids don’t learn languages from teachers but from low affective experiences in the classroom where they are not even aware that they are acquiring because they are focused on the meaning of what we are saying about them in the target language with no thinking involved.
A good article to read on this if you haven’t read it already is:
https://benslavic.com/blog/lart-de-la-conversation-and-tprs/
So get the teacher thing out or sign up for a really long ride on the train called the Boredom Special for the rest of your career. Bring in the “let’s have fun talking” part. Try being a plils for ten minutes! Note the difference. Kids don’t like being taught, but they love to hear and see interesting things about themselves. Trick ’em. Sneak the language into their unconscious minds while they reflect on how odd it is that that girl has seventeen stars on her forehead but they are not real tattoos.
If you try to teach them the language, it won’t work.