I'd love to be in your classes, and I think you are doing really important things in Greek pedagogy. But I do believe there are people who read Greek at high levels but don't speak Greek orally. That includes some of the most respected members of B-Greek - the Big Greeks, not just people like me.RandallButh wrote:Not speaking Greek is not an option if people want to read Greek at high levels. The person who does not practice speaking the language will carry around a particular 'pigeon Greek' in their heads. And the stories that I could tell about Hebrew profs, but it's not polite. [Actually, all language users carry around a 'pigeon language' in their head. Those doing the most input/output are the ones who are conforming most quickly to the language's equilibrium nodes. (No, I don't have time to unpack this.)
I suspect you are right in saying that oral Greek is a better way. And perhaps many more people would be able to read Greek at high levels taking this kind of approach.