Customer Reviews

Michel Thomas Method: The Learning Revolution

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There's a lot of useful information in here about teaching methodology and about Michel Thomas. Unfortunately, the book overall is hodgepodge rather than synthesis at times. You get the sense that Sollity really wanted to write a book about instructor-centered learning, but knew that it would sell better if piggybacked on the success of an instructor who used something like it albeit that he had come to on his own.

The big insight that Thomas and instructor centered learning share is that the purpose of testing isn't to document whether students are learning. It's to be sure they are learning and to correct one's teaching if they aren't. This is the heart of the success of the original Michel Thomas tapes - since he was teaching actual students he couldn't cram in more than you could actually learn by listening to them. The book covers this well, as well as the secondary factor of breaking down learning into small building blocks that can be easily mastered and readily tested.

However, it feels as if the author doesn't quite bring together the Micel Thomas Method and instructor centered learning. If you want to learn about either, or both, there is useful information in here. But it is up to the reader to sort it out.