Every day, one realizes that the most important thing in interpersonal relationships, whether professional or personal, is conversation. After all, what would be of the world if people did not communicate orally, only wrote or read information?
And when you talk about learning another language, like English, it’s no different. Those who study a second language want and need, at first, to speak the new language. Also, saying the first words in English is very stimulating.
You can compare it with children who speak their first words, since after that they want more, to speak and talk more, to communicate with the people around them and make themselves understood, right?
Sammy Oliveira, Robert O’Neill and the Life USA technique
With this in mind, the English school LifeUSA applies an innovative teaching method, based on conversation. Even if grammar is taught, the focus is on speaking, in order to allow students to master the new language more quickly and efficiently.
However, this teaching technique did not arise with LifeUSA, but with Robert O’Neill, who is responsible for its basis in English language teaching methodology. Do you want to know more about him and his methodology, as well as meet other famous figures in this universe?
So, keep reading this article and check out the following topics all about Robert O’Neill, his teaching methodology and the basis of LifeUSA. To do so, please refer to the following topics:
- LifeUSA Methodology
- Meet Robert O’Neill
- Meet Sammy Oliveira
Therefore, in class, teachers only speak in English, which still helps to train the students’ ears. In addition to providing agile and effective results, this method saves students less time in class.
LifeUSA Methodology
The LifeUSA English school has a different proposition than all the others. Its focus is on immersion in the new language and immediate oral production, and this method allows the student, from the third class onwards, to understand and communicate with the teachers in English.
Even if at the beginning there are few words that the student understands and can say, it is a gradual knowledge. Thus, with each class, he learns new words, increasing his vocabulary and his ability to communicate.
Therefore, in class, teachers only speak in English, which still helps to train the students’ ears. In addition to providing agile and effective results, this method saves students less time in class.
This means that it is not necessary to stay years and more years in school benches to master a second language.
Meet Robert O’Neill
Robert O’Neill was a teacher, teacher trainer and writer, being one of the most influential figures in the world of English teaching. At the age of 81, he passed away on July 29, 2014, however, his knowledge, teaching and dedication are still remembered today.
With a gift for writing and telling stories, Robert is even remembered as a person of many interests. Likewise, his encyclopedic knowledge and controversial opinions stand out, which often surprised and even shocked.
Many had him as an eccentric, brilliant and scandalously anti-conventional man, but at the same time an immense heart. After all, he was a professional responsible for pioneering publications.
Colleagues also remember his professional enthusiasm and his exceptional generosity to younger colleagues. His story is also full of events. Born on January 21, 1933 in Chicago, Robert first worked as a teacher.
Then he went to the Research and Development Unit of the European Centre for Languages and Education in Bournemouth. He taught extensively in Europe and wrote over 30 books.
As a respected author of ELT – English Language Teaching, translated as teaching English, he has taught all over the world, speaking at conferences and giving workshops. Robert’s contribution to the world of English teaching is said to be legendary.
In particular, the publication of the pioneering book English in Situations in 1970, which has remained in use for over 35 years. He also wrote the book English in Situations, raising the question: what would you say in a particular situation and how would you say it?
He also kept strong views on the role of textbooks in language teaching. Like the fact that language is a tool for generating what people need and want to say spontaneously.
So much depends on spontaneous and creative interaction in the classroom. This is one of the precepts of LifeUSA’s teaching methodology.
Meet Sammy Oliveira
The writer Sammy Oliveira, owner of the copyrights of Robert O’Neill, LifeUSA’s founder. He is responsible for the formatting of over a thousand pages about his entire pedagogical process.
According to the statement of the English school students, it takes only a few moments of immediate oral production class to feel the heart beating stronger. Besides, it is a magical taste and different from anything you have ever experienced.
Sammy is also CEO of six networks in the education segment and in the last two years he has released 10 books. About Robert O’Neill, with whom he worked, he has many memories. Among them, he counts:
Robert O’Neill was undoubtedly the most charismatic writer I’ve had the privilege of working with. He would also become a friend. In his public life it was often scandalous, but only to stimulate a response from his audience, be it an individual or a group of teachers.
His strange comments and references to body parts or his functions are legendary. In many ways, he shared his love of language and life with Dylan Thomas’s tastes, and you could not help but be attracted to him.
Robert also always thought outside the box, long before that expression became commonplace, especially when dealing with established “authority. He described his colleague’s work with “a glorious battle.
This was because the teacher, colleague, and friend had the goal of mixing metaphors in their works, which was not common at the time. Because of this and much more, Sammy regrets that the world of English teaching has lost its most colorful and creative collaborator.
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