Whenever anyone tries to communicate they are taking a risk.

Risk taking can include:

• Trying to use correct pronunciation
• Trying to speak in whole sentences instead of those silly one-word answers you always give me
• Using the language creatively to say something you have never said before
• Trying to use a new word or structure
• Guessing the meaning of a word or phrase from context
• Acting on what you know or what you think you know
• Attempting to answer deep structure/communicative questions (see your methods book for definitions)
• Doing something other than copying from the book whenever you do your focus questions

I’ll give you a more specific example.

A man is visiting America and has to go to a doctor.  The secretary says, "take a seat" and motions to a chair.  The foreigner has never heard the phrase "take a seat" before and doesn’t know what it means.  He remembers that on the airplane he was "seat" number 5 and remembers that it was a chair. He then assumes she wants him to take a chair.  What should he do? She is motioning to the chair. Does she want him to sit down? Or, does she want him to pick up a chair and take it away? If he does either, then he is taking a risk. If he takes the chair away then he is making a terribly embarrassing mistake and everyone will laugh at him. Even worse, they might think he is a thief or a crazy man.

What are some of the consequences of taking a risk? What happens when you try to speak English?

Someone just stares at you and doesn’t answer.

Someone looks angry and you don’t know why.

Someone thinks you are childish.

Someone thinks you are an idiot.

Someone thinks you are rude.

Someone thinks you speak English very well and begins talking way too fast.

Someone laughs at you.

Someone misunderstands you and thinks you want something else.

Example: If you say "Ich bin warm" in German, it doesn’t really mean you are warm, it means you are gay and horny.

These problems can be terrible on our ego and self-esteem. We must have a strong ego and a high self-esteem to get through them. We must know that we are NOT stupid and we CAN succeed.

Our ego and self-esteem determine how we respond to such situations.

This is called "coping" --- "to cope well" or "to cope badly"

• People "cope badly" by avoiding communicative situations. They may still want to study grammar textbooks, but they don’t want to actually speak. These people study English their whole lives but never learn AND as a result CANNOT SPEAK when they have to… AND as a result, get a lower situational self-esteem about English.
• They may however speak. They may not have any choice. For example, they might live in America and even have an American husband. They protect their ego by not trying out new forms or vocabulary. Because they are afraid to take risks with new forms and vocabulary, their language level stays the same and eventually FOSSILIZES.
• Another bad affect is when they blame others. They may defend themselves by blaming the culture. "These people are all stupid"… "They all hate me and don’t want to talk with me because I’m Korean"… "If I were white then they would want to talk to me."
• OR EVEN WORSE… blame themselves… "I’m just stupid." "I can’t speak English correctly because I’m not good at learning anything."