Can you learn English with polyglot Petrov's 16 lessons?

Let us recall that the host, polyglot Dmitry Petrov, taught adult project participants to speak English over 16 lessons. In many ways, 'Polyglot' appealed to viewers due to its simple, non-academic approach to teaching English. But is this approach effective?

What do Petrov's 16 lessons consist of?

If we disregard Dmitry Petrov's talent as a teacher and consider only the material of his course, we will see that the 16-lesson course consists of the following elements:

1. A brief, very simplified grammar course

Grammar in the course is given very simplified. For example, from school we are accustomed to the idea that tenses in English are a big and complex topic. You can find the full tense table here: http://langformula.ru/english-grammar/vremena-v-anglijskom-yazyke. But in Petrov's course, 'unnecessary' tenses are discarded, i.e., forms rarely used in spoken speech.

2. Teaching a lexical minimum – words and conversational patterns

Only basic words are strung onto the grammar patterns. The course's vocabulary is no more than 300–500 words. Such a number of words, if they are indeed commonly used, is enough to convey a simple idea to a conversation partner.

3. Conversational practice

Grammar and vocabulary are learned with minimal explanations and theory, with the main emphasis on practice. Despite the small amount of grammatical and lexical material, students manage to express thoughts in English.

What results can be expected after 16 lessons?

It is implied that after going through 16 English lessons, the student learns to speak English. In a sense, this is true, but you should not expect that after the course you will be able to communicate freely on any topic.

With the 'Polyglot' course, you can learn to speak within the vocabulary and grammar minimum that fits into 16 lessons. In other words, you will be able to express simple thoughts. For conversations about eternal and beautiful things, you simply will not have enough vocabulary.

Pros and cons of the 'Polyglot' course

Disadvantages:

• You may get the false impression that after 16 lessons you will speak English fluently.

• The course is not suitable for zero level. You need to know at least the alphabet and reading rules. Pronunciation is not covered, since for the course's purposes (basic conversational skills) perfect pronunciation is not necessary.

• There are almost no listening exercises, except for conversations in lessons, writing, and reading.

• For the sake of simplicity in presenting the material, Petrov avoids terms such as Present Simple. If you are already familiar with the terms, this may cause some inconvenience.

Advantages:

• The course is a digest of everything most necessary. You get a 'base' that you can then expand on your own.

• Emphasis is placed on conversational skills.

• The brevity of the course, clarity of presentation, and practical orientation allow the student to see real results in the shortest possible time – this is very motivating to continue studying.

Conclusion

Petrov's course should not be considered a complete English course; do not expect that after 16 lessons you will learn to speak confidently on any topic. However, after completing the training, you will master the necessary minimum of grammar and vocabulary, which you can then develop on your own to the required volume through practice, studying more detailed courses, and textbooks. In other words, Petrov's course is an excellent start to learning a language, but nothing more.