There is a saying – I think it may be from Laurie Clarcq – that Jim Baird down in Georgia riffed on. Here is the original version:
Tell me a fact and I will learn.
Tell me the truth and I will believe.
But tell me a story and it will live
in my heart forever.
Jim modified it as follows:
Teach me vocabulary lists and I will try to memorize, but I won’t learn the language.
Teach me grammar rules and I will try to remember, but I won’t learn the language.
But teach me stories and they will live in my heart forever, and I will learn the language with ease.
Jim Baird
Dalton, Georgia