On Sundays I belong to a MeetUp group for English Language Learners where I teach classes periodically. I have fun since I teach my favorite classes and meet new fun people. If you have read things I have written before about learning English as a Second Language (ESL) I have a couple of things I really believe. Most important is "you don't learn if you don't laugh". This means if you don't have fun while studying then you will forget it quickly. Another is if you really want to learn English you won't speak another language during class. Every time you speak your native language your English ability slides backwards a little.
At the class today was a man from Turkey, among others. This guy from Turkey is a
neurosurgeon studying at Sanford. He is doing his PhD work about the best way to learn and study. It was really interesting to hear him talk. It was his first meeting and he had not met anyone before. He started talking about his Doctoral thesis and it had to do with how the brain changes during learning. He started talking about how synapse and brain architect and as he was talking I realized that he was studying the things I taught my students. He was putting into scientific terminology the things I have always said in non-scientific terminology.
I am excited to learn more about his research and I will help him edit his thesis. He is very interested in my helping him improve his English and I am excited to know more about what he is writing about! I will keep posting updates here.
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