> > There is no need to ... send your
> > babies to illegal english-only preschools (this
> means
> > you, taiwan).
>
> Isn't this what you're recommending?
>
> --
> Andy
No. Why would you think that? Taiwanese parents send their kids to 8-hours a day preschools to learn english in a forced monolingual "total immersion" environment, sometimes before they're entirely potty trained. Ever tried to teach a baby the ABC while daddy changes his diaper? I have : (
The problem is that Taiwanese treat ESL as an academic subject rather than as a practial skill or even an art. Hence they blow the difficulty of second language acquisition way out of proportion then take insane measures to deal with this "difficulty." A 4 or 5 year american-style second language program would produce far better results than all the weird contortions taiwanese parents their their poor kids through to learn english.
Say what you will about American schools, but nobody who goes through 5 years of high school french *and really applies himself* enters college unable to utter a single intelligible sentence in french, but this does happen in Taiwan, where children spend 10-15 years "studying" english (read: preparing for standardized tests that ostensibly test ones english ability) and come out of high school unable to communicate with a foreigner.
This is not to say that things aren't getting better. They are, but primarily for A-track kids and those lucky enough to have a rich daddy who can hire a private tutor (me).
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