Obstacles to EFL (English as a Foreign Language) Learning

sorry to bombard you with comments:)...no need to reply to all...just agree with the points you are making and think there is definitely a need to address these issues...to further facilitate things so as to increase the likelihood that students will both want and be in the position/condition to learn outside of the classroom...i'll try to stay in touch via facebook and here on youtube of course...thx again!

re second life, it's certainly not for everyone...huge learning curve and very time-consuming...but for those who can come in with purpose and quickly master the skills they need to make proper use of the medium, there is certainly a lot to benefit from...the immersiveness of the medium...the multicultural aspect...word to object recognition...and constant confrontation of new language and associated experiences...but SL is not for everyone...think students who avoid PC learning need more help..

re my vids, i don't have a lot of my own up...just a few, but i do favorite a lot of second life/virtual world related videos which my be of interest...would love to connect via facebook if you are there...will do a search for madridteacher and see what turns up...thx again for your vids...like the open and honest approach you take...

learning options are exploding like never before, but it seems even more options are needed...to address the lack of time issue, the pc at work issue (no desire to use it at home), the motivation issue (demotivated due to previous school experiences and/or other things), the burnt out issue, etc...options need to be made available which excite, are easy, and have a noticeable effect...

regarding lack of time for study...completely agree...have experienced the same...perhaps aim should be to facilitate a kind of learning lifestyle...things which can be easily done at home, minus much effort...on-line and off-line...some random exs: provide vocab stickers for object identification around home, provide useful portable study guides and/or exercise stuff, provide or suggest games which may be left out on the kitchen table...this sort of stuff...just some random ideas...

I think mixing the information with entertainment seems to be the most promising. There's nothing like "play" to get people to "work." I'll have to check out your videos a little more closely over the holidays. Loved the second life health care one . . . by the way, I teach 10 hours a week to nurses in a University among other things.

agree...seems there is a lot of potential in on-line and/or off-line games...and many games have yet to be developed which might be good motivators and easy to pull out and use...i'm quite involved in e-learning but from experience have seen that many of the students i've taught had zero interest in being in front of a PC due to the fact that they have to work in front of one all day : /...thus the need for more off-line possibilities...easy to play games/activities, etc.

Same experience here. I can't get most of my students online (even in the University where their grades depend on it), not to mention get them to do much of anything at all outside of class. I'm thinking that a site like Second Life might well come along, but for students of languages. There are companies developing things for some schools' systems in the States. We'll just have to wait and see.

like your vids...thanks for sharing!

So what DOES help someone learn English?