Walter has always been a good practitioner of English. Living in Los Angeles for
50 years as a booming natural stentor, he became used to people always critiquing
his speaking and this made him very conscious of different usages. He was a good
High School student but only an average University one. He worked in the construction
industry for a family-owned business for almost 30 years, where he learned a wide
range of usages related to professional disciplines, engineering, construction technology,
and swearing. He then spent 10 years in Russia, during which time he taught a great
deal of English and became acutely aware of the shortcomings of mainstream language
teaching strategies, which mainly originate from the European continent. His acquired
knowledge of Russian during that time has broadened his perspectives on language
and culture and his appreciation of the basic differences between languages. He
decided to focus on SPEAKING and repetition of the most important core structures
as an offset/positive complement to the distractions that part-time ESL students,
regardless of age, locale, or situation, must deal with. He fully realizes that
most ESL students have strong prejudices about English and often compare it negatively
in comparison to their mother tongues; he knows that the plan herein utilizes these
prejudices for positive purposes by encouraging focus on a minimal amount of material
and thus discouraging the tendency to make comparisons. Walter also knows some French
and a little Spanish.
