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also means that he would be robbed of the chance of revising the far
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more common word "nail". A word like "claw" is probably used
only in normal conversation about once a year, whilst the word
"nail" is probably used once a week, i.e. each time a person wants to
cut his nails.
In any case, if the teacher looked up the meaning of the word "claw"
in a dictionary, he would find that it says "the nail of a beast or
bird", which is good enough for the student at this stage of his
studies - he does not need to use the exact word.
Up-dating the questions
Some teachers have the temptation to up-date some of the questions
in the Method. For example, to change the word "wireless" to
"radio". The basic words in the language remain constant for
centuries. It is only the less common words that go out of fashion.
The word "wireless" is still in current use, as is the idiom "down in
the dumps". Most Callan Method teachers are usually quite young
and tend to think that their youthful vocabulary is the only one that
exists.
Also, the word "wireless" is used instead of "radio" because "radio"
is too easy to learn, as it is an international word. The word
"wireless" also gives the student practice in pronunciation by getting
him to use the words "wire" and "less". The Callan Method never
misses an opportunity to use each second of the lesson to the full.
It can be seen how little a language changes in its basic vocabulary
by how few words of the 4000 or so contained in the Method have
developed differently in America over the last 300 years. Only
about 40 have, in fact, changed.
There is also sometimes a temptation to update a question like
"When did President Kennedy die ?" Even if the students do not
know the answer, because the event was well before their time, the
teacher can quickly tell them, so that they will have no difficulty in
answering on revision.
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A preoccupation with death and disease
Some of the questions in the Method might give the impression of
being unduly preoccupied with things like money, crime, war,
illness, death, the police, murder, accidents, killing etc. The reason
for this is that, apart from the frequent use of words of violence in
any language, questions have to be based on topics that everybody
has some interest in. Questions can obviously not be based on
stamp collecting or bird-watching, which only interest a few.
Whether we like it or not, it is such things as illness, crime, road
accidents and war that have interested people throughout history.
To realise this one only needs to see a Shakespeare play, or a
modern film, or watch television for an evening. People like to see
terrible things happening to other people. Probably because it
makes them feel lucky it is not happening to them.
It is not the teacher's opinion that is being asked for
Just because some of the questions in the Method ask the students
their personal opinions on various subjects, the teacher should not
allow his own opinions to intrude into the lesson. He should be like
a radio or television interviewer who just asks questions to people
with varied points of view. The interviewer's job is to ask the
questions, not to answer them, or to comment on the answers, no
matter how disagreeable he might find them to be.
Being human, of course, the teacher can occasionally put forward,
very briefly, his opinion on a particular issue if he finds it absolutely
impossible to stay silent, but his aim should never be to contradict
the student, and certainly he should never cross out a question in the
Method because he disagrees with the feelings it might arouse.
As elsewhere explained, the questions in the Method are intended to
be as mild and as innocuous as possible. If the teacher takes
exception to them, he is almost certainly the only one in the
classroom doing so. The students seldom worry about them, or
notice that they could be offensive in any way.
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Graffiti
Although we live in an age of graffiti, the teacher is asked not to
mark his Method books in any way by crossing things out, writing
comments in the margins, or drawing doodles, unless of course he is
the only person ever to use the books. If other teachers have to use
them, it makes it more difficult for them to read the questions,
especially for a new teacher. Like the notes of a public speaker, the
questions have to stand out clearly, and be easy to read.
Not conventional teaching
Teaching by the Callan Method requires the teacher to be pleasant
and friendly, but it is not teaching in the normal sense of the word, it
is more straightforward, and does not require the teacher to motivate
the students' interest in the subject by chatting, stimulating, or
putting forward ideas. Learning a language in its early stages is
mainly a question of mastering a mechanical action. Consequently,
it is best taught as one is taught to type. The teacher is therefore
asked not to take up the classic pose of teacher as adviser and
helper. Such a teacher is ideal for any other subject, but for a
language he will take four times as long to get his students to the
level they desire, and finish up by boring them. If the teacher wants
to teach in that way, he should use some other more conventional
method.
Teaching English by the Callan Method should really be removed
from the academic field and put into the same category as the
teaching of a musical instrument or a sport, where a great deal of
training and drill are required in order to develop the necessary
reflexes. Up to the level of the Cambridge First Certificate the
learning of English, like the learning of a musical instrument, is a
non-academic, non-intellectual activity. After this level it becomes
academic and intellectual. Up to First Certificate the learning of the
language is a means to an end, not an end in itself, as certain
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