Hi Mark, welcome to the board. I don't know which David you were greeting - we've got more than one with a tech background too!

You make some interesting remarks about language acquisition - my gut instinct is that you probably have a measure of broad truth in the proposal that the current 'normal' method of learning is both unnatural and less effective than some other ways, though I am not sure about the detail of your suggested reform. I am just trying to remember if there are any teachers of English as a foreign language around here - ASp, is that you, or indeed are there others perhaps lurking?