Yumi Imai is a Japanese student who studies English 4 hours a day. Her English grades are great. She has high test scores. Yumi, however, has a problem. Her speaking and listening skills are extremely low. She has trouble understanding even simple conversations. Her speech is slow and filled with errors.

Yumi does well on tests, but she can't communicate. Of course, she is not alone. All over the world, millions of English learners struggle with the same problems.

Most of these people learn English in the same way-- they study grammar textbooks, they memorize vocabulary wordlists, the do "speaking drills". Many learners, like Yumi, do well on tests but cannot communicate.

A new movement in English education seeks to solve this problem. It's called the "Listen First" movement and teachers are getting powerful results with it.

The Listen First approach to language learning was developed by Dr. J. Marvin Brown. Dr. Brown noticed that "when people move to a new country the children will eventually speak the language like natives and the adults won't." The normal explanation is that children have a special talent that they lose as they grow up. Dr. Brown, however, believed that the differing learning methods of children and adults made the difference.

Dr. Brown found that children focus on listening during their first year of language learning, and speak very little. Adults, on the other hand, tend to force themselves to speak the language immediately. Dr. Brown believed this was the key practice that makes children such powerful language learners.

His Listen First method is now revolutionizing English language education. Listen First programs encourage students to focus 90% of their study time on listening activities. Students are also taught to never force speech, but rather to speak only when words come effortlessly.

The method is being used by David Long, president of "Automatic Language Growth", to teach English to students in Bangkok, Thailand. Long says, "The formula is Listen, Don't Speak, and Be Patient."

Listen First teachers advise students to focus solely on listening for a full year. They call this year the "silent period", though students may speak during this time provided their speech comes effortlessly.

Long is getting excellent results with the Listen First method. He says, "The students just listened for as much as a year without speaking at all. We found that adults get almost the same results that children do. When adults listen to natural language, and don't force speech for a full year, they become fluent speakers with near-native pronunciation."

Yumi is convinced. She has traded her grammar books for an iPod and mp3 lessons. She says, "I don't care about test scores anymore, I just want to speak easily to native speakers."