It’s mid-April and you have just walked through the door of the classroom on the first day of school. Before you lay rows of desks filled with students. Some are staring at you with wide eyes; others are talking to each other. Several appear to be struggling to stay awake, their heads resting on crossed arms. You greet the class, try to begin, but nothing happens: a wall of silence. So you throw out a few questions just to get some communication going—still, it doesn’t start. “How can I get these students speaking? They’ve studied English for years. Why don’t they . . . or won’t they . . . or can’t they . . . say anything? Have they nothing to show for all the time they’ve spent learning junior high and high school English? Didn’t they learn anything?”