Adults and English as a second language

How is the situation of adult students and the learning of English as a foreign language in your country?
Leave your comments here.

Adults and their real needs for learning English

Adult students have characteristics that make them different, and the most important is the immediate and real need for english. I mean, we can not expect them to just learn how to read and write simple sentences, or just to understand the basics of a conversation, they need to speak and being able to be understood.

In my country (and may be in others too) adult students are expected just to develop receptive skills, while real life expect them to manage communicative skills, so the question is: What do we must do?, Should we follow a curriculum which we know is not the best, or try to do the right thing and get away from it, teaching them what they really need?

I live in a city where tourism is a very important area, but incredibly the people who work in all the tourism related services do not speak english. Should we "rise against the system" or obbey its commands?

TO BE CONTINUED.............

English in adults classes

English is an important area for students all around the world, it means a key element for their development, specially in the academic field. For adult students learning English is a challange that they have to overcome. So many fears, shame, lack of interest represent a burden they have to carry with them. Adults need to learn the language because it is a real opportunity to do great things, to get a promotion at work, to travel abroad, to settle down in other country, to start their own business, etc. This is challange we as EFL teachers must take.