Having lived and taught in a number of countries, it is interesting to see how differently particular nationalities approach language learning. With the Italians, for instance, the desire to speak and communicate means that their speaking skills improve very quickly but this can often be to the detriment of grammatical accuracy, whereas the Japanese are the opposite.

In 2002 I was teaching English to Junichi Inamoto, a Japanese football player, who at the time was playing for Arsenal. After a fairly frustrating season with most of his time spent sitting on the bench, Inamoto suddenly flourished in the World Cup, held that particular year in Japan and South Korea. However, although his ball skills were no longer under scrutiny, his ability to speak English was quickly brought under the spotlight as during an interview session reported by the Sunday Telegraph, Inamoto was 'unable to answer the simplest of questions in English,' with 'one frustrated radio reporter' begging for a decent reply.

'Please could you just say something, anything, in English,' he implored after several minutes of tortuous effort.'

You can imagine my frustration and annoyance at reading such an article. The Inamoto I knew was bright and vivacious and had made a staggering amount of progress in English since I'd started teaching him the previous year. What the journalist had failed to understand was that the Japanese are perfectionists and would prefer not to reply to a question unless they are certain of rendering a grammatically correct response, which in the case of Inamoto could well have been the reason for his reticence.

 I responded with a letter which was published the following week and followed up by a barrage of phone calls from the News of the World and the Sun, seeking titillating gossip about the footballer which, as a humble English teacher I was of course, unable to provide.

 I think the point I'm trying to make is that there is no right or wrong way to learn a language. Whatever works for you is the right way and this can often be down to personality or indeed, nationality so it's important for the teacher to tailor make an English course to suit not only the level of the student but also their personality and nationality.

From my experience, nationalities such as the Germans and Swiss are likely to benefit from a methodical, grammar centred approach whereas the Italians or Spanish can cope with a more flexible style. However, it is also important to recognise natural weaknesses which can come to the fore should certain skills be neglected e.g in the case of the Japanese, if grammatical accuracy is the focus, this can prevent them from trying to speak so the teacher should aim to create a comfortable, encouraging atmosphere where the student feels relaxed enough to try to speak regardless of whether they make a mistake or not. Likewise, although the Italians should be commended for their willingness to communicate, error elimination should be a priority for the teacher, as unless basic grammatical mistakes are 'nipped in the bud' they will persist and be less easily eradicated later.