REPORTER: Arnold, what kind of milk do you drink?
ARNOLD: I don’t drink milk. Milk is for babies. When you grow up you drink beer.
-Arnold Schwarzenegger in the 1977 documentary Pumping Iron
Say “hello” to the newest member of the Vig family.
Sunday, my niece came to visit and brought the newest member of the family, her baby raccoon, Sophie.
(Backstory: Sophie’s parents were killed. A friend of my sister’s found her. My sister and niece plan to keep her untill she’s an adult and ready to survive on her own.)
As you can see, she’s drinking milk now, but when she grows up that will change.
Raccoons are omnivores. They’re not herbivores (plant eaters). Nor are they carnivores (meat eaters). Instead, they eat everything: bugs, frogs, berries, nuts, even human trash from trashcans…
Now, I know you’re not a raccoon expert.
And neither am I.
But it probably doesn’t surprise you to learn that baby Sophie will be different from adult Sophie.
Everyone knows children are different than adults.
Their food, how much sleep they need, how they think…even how they learn.
Everyone know this fact… except, it seems, the English language industry.
When you were seven years old, the English “experts” told you:
- Go to school.
- Sit down for 60 minutes
- Study
- Memorize
- Learn rules
- Take tests
And today, if you walk into the most expensive language school in your town…
At age 27, 37, 47, 57 or 107…
They will tell you:
- Come to our school.
- Sit down for 60 minutes
- Study
- Memorize
- Learn rules
- Take tests
They’re using the EXACT same methods for kids AND for adults!
I say, they’re feeding milk to grown ups.
I say, adults are different.
I say, you have different needs, different goals, different schedules and unique strengths.
And your English methods should also be different.
So here’s the plan for this is week:
I have identified three advantages adults have that children do not.
Three advatages adults can use to learn faster, better and for less money.
We’ll start tomorrow with “The New Methods for Adults.”