The way in which adult Africans, and I believe many of the adults I’ve met in the resort areas of Mexico, have developed a high degree of spoken fluency is the same way in which we learned our native tongue as childrenPassive Listening. If ever there was a “natural way” to learn a second language, this is it. If ever there was a way that one should use as the primary step to second language acquisition, this is it.
Passive listening would be the direct opposite of how we are taught to approach the learning of math, history, or science. It is not the cramming, drilling, cold memorizing of facts, or mindless repetition of vocabulary words. It is, rather, the silent assimilation and consequent registering of sights, noises, smells, and action pictures within the new language. It is something that goes on even when a conscious effort is not being made to pay attention to things within the language. I know of one language school in the States that uses the Learnables products with children and suggests playing the tapes while the kids play and sleep.
During the period of silence in which children say little in the new language and play a lot, passive...
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