The Two Hands Approach to the English Language

Two Hands Approach to the English Language

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The Two Hands Approach
To The English Language

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the easiest, most logical approach to the study of English...
a foundation for a life-time, for all world citizens...

"And sometimes, when he and the other children were tired with too much playing, one of the old men of the pueblo could talk to them, in those other words, of the great Transformer of the World, and of the long fight between the Right Hand and the Left Hand,..." Aldous Huxley in Brave New World	"We have to recognize that education must satisfy the needs of its pupils (a highly un-Platonic idea), and that in the case of some children, not necessarily the least able, their needs will be best met by allowing the balance to tip in the direction of the practical." Mary Warnock in A common policy for education
"School 2.0 is born out of the idea that active, engaged, constructivist learning will lead to active, engaged students and people." Chris Lehmann at practicaltheory.org	“You’ve never seen a gazillion, Yet you’re more sure about gazillions than you are about pencils that you can see and touch and taste and smell. How do you get to know so much about gazillions?” Reuben Hersh
“Consumers as a whole want simple and reliable things they understand.” Reed Hastings founder and CEO, Netflix
Metaphor is for most people device of the poetic imagination and the rhetorical flourish--a matter of extraordinary rather than ordinary language. Moreover, metaphor is typically viewed as characteristic of language alone, a matter of words rather than thought or action. For this reason, most people think they can get along perfectly well without metaphor. We have found,on the contrary, that metaphor is pervasive in everyday life, not just in language but in thought and action. Our ordinary conceptual system, in terms of which we both think and act, is fundamentally metaphorical in nature. The concepts that govern our thought are not just matters of the intellect. They also govern our everyday functioning, down to the most mundane details. Our concepts structure what we perceive, how we get around in the world, and how we relate to other people. Our conceptual system thus plays a central role in defining our everyday realities. If we are right in suggesting that our conceptual system is largely metaphorical, then the way we think what we experience, and what we do every day is very much a matter of metaphor. Primarily on the basis of linguistic evidence, we have found that most of our ordinary conceptual system is metaphorical in nature. Metaphors We Live By by George Lakoff and Mark Johnson Excerpts
“...Culturally relevant teaching is [a] valid teaching style because it does not expect teachers to follow certain steps. Pedagogy that tells teachers to follow specific steps like teaching is a recipe is unrealistic and useless. Culturally relevant teaching practices can be used in countless teaching styles and curriculum because the underlying theme of appreciation of culture and differences will create a better learning environment and better results for African American children.” Dawn Bobo "school girl" in comments on Gloria Ladson-Billings' The Dreamkeepers: Successful Teachers of African American Children and see also Geneva Gay's Culturally Responsive Teaching
“...of primary concern to me is the need to combine detached and immersed ways of seeing to yield what I call an Inclusional view of Spatial Togetherness or coupling. Here the dynamic relationship (resonance) between inner and outer spaces is included (as opposed to excluded, as in rationalistic representations) in our understanding. Moreover, to appreciate how this relationship is mediated in organic life forms as we know them here on Earth, we need only add water to the dry ingredients of our artificial representations! For me, rivers have always been a wonderful metaphor in fact more than a metaphor, actually an inclusional description, of the way life diversifies into its myriad of dynamic forms. As it erodes rock and deposits sediment, a river both shapes and is shaped by the landscape it flows through, both creating and following paths of least resistance opening up and closing down spatial possibility for movement. This shaping occurs at the rivers banks, which mediate the reciprocally changing relation between inseparable stream and catchment content and context. ” Alan Raynor in The Real Nature of Living Systems

The Two Hands Approach draws on methods from both the past and the present. Old terms are discarded or renamed, and all key elements are summarized in colorful and memorable charts that are as easy as 1-2-3 to remember. The main focus of this method is to describe and demonstrate the fundamental eleven forms that are used in good spoken and written English sentences.

With a secondary theme that emphasizes a fundamental awareness of the polarities of language as something that is worthy of recognition by both teachers and students alike, this Approach mainly provides an effective method to enable English students at a junior high, high school, or freshman college entry level of English proficiency to write English compositions that are grammatically correct and stylistically fluid, clear, and graceful. In addition, the Approach provides instructors with a drastically simplified and effective method for teaching the essentials of English grammar, in a short time and in tandem with the course in English composition. Altogether, the Approach consists of two books, several handfuls of posters, and an online database of sentences. The instructional part of the course can be taught in 30 to 40 hours of classroom time, but a follow-up course of an additional 30 to 40 hours is highly advisable.

As a foundational course in English Grammar and Composition, The Approach insures that within 40 to 80 hours of instruction, all English students will be comfortable and competent in both English Grammar and English composition, attaining a level of proficiency that most contemporary students do not achieve until the upper levels of college instruction.

This Approach will also kindle in all ESL/EFL/EAL students a lifetime interest in English, radically improve their writing and speaking abilities, and dramatically enhance their enjoyment of reading.

At present, we are seeking help to publish and popularize the books and the Approach. We are open to suggestions or collaboration from individuals who see some merit and potential in our Approach, and who would like to be part of the process of improving the learning and instruction of one of the world's most widespread and important languages for education, commerce, and communication.