THE THREE PILLARS OF COMMUNICATION

One of the stories making the news in France right now concerns the strange story of this year’s winner of the national scrabble tournament in French. It was won by a New Zealander!

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-33606449

New Zealand's Nigel Richards wins French Scrabble crown - BBC News

New Zealand's Nigel Richards wins French Scrabble crown - BBC News

The French-language Scrabble world championship has been won by a New Zealander who does not speak a word of French, competition organisers say. Nigel Richards defeated a rival from French-speaking

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-33606449

And what’s more, the man in question, Nigel Richards didn’t speak a word of French! Apparently, his secret was to have memorised an entire French Scrabble dictionary by heart in just nine weeks!

A lot of people were shocked by this… but I was not. After all, the French education’s approach to learning foreign languages is based on a similar system of learning lists by heart.

Speak to anybody between the ages of 9 and ninety who tried to learn English at school in France, and they will almost certainly describe that they had to learn a list of irregular verbs off by heart… and often start to recite them in a mechanical voice: “to be, was, been, to go, went, gone, to think, thought, thought”… and so on!

I was very surprised by this when I started working here, since I had never learnt irregular verbs and only stumbled across their existence during a dinner with French friends!

But it’s not just irregular verbs. Pupils also learn lists of words about different topics or themes, such as the weather, food, sport and so on; and they also learn far more about English grammar than the average English pupils does. And in spite of all that, they are still unable to communicate dearly or confidently.

When I start coaching somebody in communication in English, one of the things we look at is what I call “the three pillars of effective communication”. In other words, for a message to be transmitted and received clearly, three elements need to be used efficiently:

- Vocabulary

- Grammar

- Communication Techniques

I use the image of a tripod to convey this concept. If only two elements are mastered… the whole edifice of effective communication comes crashing down, and the message is neither transmitted nor received. Generally, the school approach focuses on just vocabulary and grammar – one more than the Kiwi approach for sure but still not enough. The skill, or, “How to do something” is neglected. As a result, the metaphorical tripod collapses and communication becomes difficult, even impossible.

In more detail…

Vocabulary – words and expressions used in both formal and informal situations, professional or technical jargon and the (very hard to learn) phrasal verbs (look for, look after) and idiomatic expressions (to be in the red/ back, lhe last straw, to be under the weather… but over the moon!)
Grammar – all the major tenses, active and passive forms, modals, conditionals, comparatives and superlatives.
Techniques – how to use these expressions and structures in context: agreeing, interrupting and disagreeing, giving presentations, asking and answering questions, negotiating, writing emails, participating in a meeting or conf-call, speaking on the telephone or leaving a short message, reformulating and validating.

Focusing on the VGT approach may not make you the next Scrabble champion, but it should allow you, at the least, to survive in an international context and at best, to thrive and be convincing…

nigel richards