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can open up another world to its student through its literature and
culture, but only after the actual language has been learnt.
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" Mastermind
When the television programme Mastermind was first suggested to
the BBC, it was thought that the viewers would find it far too boring
to watch a quiz master putting difficult, and sometimes obscure,
questions to highly-knowledgeable contestants. When, however, it
was suggested that the questions should be asked at top speed, with
the quiz master speaking as fast as his tongue would allow, and the
contestants having to answer immediately or say "pass", the
programme was put on and became a great success, even among
viewers who only knew the answers to half the questions. It was the
pace of the programme they found exhilarating: it concentrated the
minds of the viewers as well as those of the contestants.
The Callan Method works on the same principle, i.e. if you have to
do something which is potentially boring, make it move at top
speed. Speed also trains the student to speak quickly. As in
Mastermind, it is not sufficient to know something, one must be able
to recall it immediately. In a language it is not sufficient for the
speaker to know the words he wishes to use, he must be able to
recall and use them at once without hesitation.
" The student comes with his head full of problems
The teacher at a private school must remember that the student
comes to the lesson with his head full of problems, or perhaps
pleasurable anticipations. He might have just had a row with his
wife, be in danger of becoming bankrupt, have heard his son has just
failed his exams, or he might be looking forward to a party that
evening, or promotion at work, or to going on holiday. Whatever it
is, the teacher can be sure the student will have his head full of
something or other, and it is these thoughts that the teacher must
knock out of the student's head in order to fill it with the language.
He can only do this by smashing into the student from the word go
with questions delivered at top speed. This speed, of course, can
only come from plenty of revision.
The number of pages the teacher should cover per lesson
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Speed of learning by the Callan Method does not depend entirely on
the student. A great deal depends upon the skill of the teacher, and
the manner in which he uses the Method. If a class is learning at the
rate of 3 new pages a lesson, the teacher might think that that is the
class's correct speed. A highly-skilled teacher, however, might be
able to move that same class at the rate of 6, or even 12, new pages a
lesson, i.e. twice, or even 4 times as fast. If, therefore, a class is
being pushed along at its maximum speed, the following Chart will
give the teacher an idea of how many new pages it should be
covering each lesson.
The teacher can easily calculate how many pages he is actually
covering by dividing the number of pages covered during the last 10
lessons by 10. When counting back on his Course Card, he should,
of course, count back 11 entries, not 10, in order to get the number
of pages covered in the last 10 lessons.
The figures in the Chart are based on those for complete beginners
who speak a Western-European language. Those who speak a Non-
Western-European language might be 25% to 50% slower on Stages
1 to 4, but fairly normal thereafter.
Number of lessons to complete Stages 1 to 4
Speed/Ability No. of No. of new Probable
Lessons pages per. percentage
lesson of students
at school
Exceptional 24 12 5%
Fast 36 8 15%
Average 48 6 60%
Fair 60 5 15%
Slow 72 4 5%
As can be seen from the Chart, Stages 1 to 4 takes the average
student 48 lessons to complete, which, with the 25% added to cover
such things as lateness and absenteeism, means that he averages 6
new pages a lesson. If this is not found to be so, then there is
something wrong with the teaching, and the matter should be
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investigated. It is probably some small but very important point
that is being overlooked. The moment it is put right, the students
should begin to speed up.
On the remaining books the speeds will stay more or less the same,
although there is usually a tendency for a student to slow down a
little on Stages 5 to 8 and speed up again on Stages 9 to 12. Also,
after Stages 1 to 4 are completed, it can happen that an exceptional
student may drop down to the speed of an average student, whilst a
slow student may speed up to the speed of an average student. As
can be seen from the Chart, 60% of the students at a school could be
classified as "average".
"Exceptional" students are those who can do 12 pages of new
work when doing the average number of revisions
It is obvious that if students only do two revisions, are asked just the
plus questions, and do every third Reading and Dictation, they will
cover more pages than students who do four revisions, are asked all
the questions, and do all the Readings and Dictations; but the two-
revision students will only fully understand what is going on if they
are "exceptional".
What, therefore, determines the classification of students as
"exceptional"? The answer is that, if the students can do 4 revisions,
i.e. the average number, answer all the questions, and do all the
Readings and Dictations and still get through 12 new pages, they
can be considered as "exceptional".
In practice, it does not work out quite as simply as that, but that is
the guiding principle. In practice, if the teacher sees the students
understanding the questions and rattling off the answers at top
speed, he begins to ask just the pluses and minuses. If the students'
speed still does not diminish, the teacher tries asking just the pluses.
If then the students' speed is still not affected, the teacher begins to
reduce the number of revisions, from 4 to 3, and then 2 (never going
below 2, of course, and never asking fewer than all the pluses). At
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