The Power of Drilling the Basics

An unintended consequence of public education language courses

Welcome, aspiring polyglot! After working with hundreds of students over the past year, one thing about the education they seem to have received stood out above the rest. Whether they had been out of school for 1 year or 25 years, everyone had a good grasp of the basics. They knew the alphabet, they could recite it with some guidance and they knew a fair few words. Grammar structures were still difficult, but even present tense conjugation returned with only a few exercises. Even irregulars were recalled frequently.

Drilling the basics is important. There is no argument about that. The problem comes in that the basics are all the students ever had the chance to experience. While there are certainly students who avoided putting the work in when they were young, there are also students who worked hard and learned what they could and still they have a huge gap in their knowledge. Up to four years learning a new language and only ever seeing three or four verb tenses is embarrassing.

That is what the standardized tests require you to know, though. So that is what the teachers focus on to keep their jobs. Some will challenge you, but many are trying to ensure everyone hits the minimum standard. This is a noble endeavor, unfortunately it is often at the expense of the students who excel in class. For that reason, for better or worse, everyone I have worked with knows the basics well and is eager to learn new concepts. They were always only missing one component: Progressive Overload.