The baby s eyes turn in the direction of the voice. The child s physical response signals understanding, which makes these transactions true conversations. Babies are silent except for babbling for about two years, but during this critical period the infant is internalizing the sounds and patterns of the strange, new language. Only after the child internalizes an enormous sample of the language does speaking occur. In the recorded history of the human race and in all cultures, we find no deviation from this sequence for language acquisition.
Production always lags far behind comprehension, and it remains that way for many years.
The neural blueprint does not change with age. The sequence is the same for all ages. Surprisingly, children and adults can acquire the sounds and patterns of a target language in a fraction of time because their range of physical responses is vast compared with infants. However, studies are consistent in showing that children younger than puberty have the advantage of being accent-free in speaking a second language. No other learning model is concerned with the motivation of the teacher, but if teachers are not excited about what they are doing, they cannot orchestrate a spell-binding learning experience for students.