How to Climb Everest, Conquer English and Survive

Advancing by Going Back to Basics

There is a striking similarity between mountaineering and English language learning: advancing while regularly going back to base camp.

It's similar to a conditioning drill in sports and the military for increasing speed, agility and stamina, commonly known as suicide sprints or suicide drills. I vividly remember the exhausting drill from when I played basketball as a teenager as well as from basic training in military service. I also use it in my teaching; not literally, of course, but the idea of returning to basics.

For those not familiar with the sports term suicide drill: it's an exercise in which you steadily increase your range yet always return to the starting point. Picture a sports court of field with lines, like in American football. Starting at the baseline, you run to the first line, touch it, and run back. Next, you run to the second line, touch it, and run back. Then to the third and back - and so on. It is repetitive, yet none of the runs is exactly the same as the previous one, if only because the distance increases each time.

The educational strategy to take away from this exercise is to return to basics before attempting to move ahead. The baseline anchors each run, while each increase of the distance seems relatively small when compared to the previous run. What's more, going over familiar ground and repeating the initial stages at each consecutive run reinforces basic skills, stamina and confidence. So the name of this training routine is certainly a misnomer: it should be called a?survival?drill.

Mountaineers at Everest have a similar strategy to survive climbing at high altitude. In order to conquer the mountain, they set up base camp first and return there several times before attempting to reach the summit. They must get used to breathing and functioning at high altitude. If they didn't return to lower camps regularly, it would indeed be suicide. Instead, they go back and forth, pushing a little further each time, steadily increasing their chances of survival and of reaching their goal.

The idea of taking a step back before pushing on can be found everywhere.?Reculer pour mieux sauter, as the French would say: take a step back to make a better jump. Back to basics before attempting something new. Return to base camp before venturing into new territory. Look for the familiar and similar things first and learn to recognise basic patterns. No matter what the endeavour is, there is always a base camp or baseline to return to.?

SvVOPT is that baseline in English, supporting each next step in essential grammar. Basic word order, emphasis, questions, verb tenses, compound sentences: they're all anchored in SvVOPT. So when moving on to a new subject, first return to basics to show that it is only a small new step up from the familiar basics. That way, repetitions are empowering instead of boring. Once SvVOPT becomes second nature, each next step becomes easier and challenging steps can still be within reach.?

So back to basics it is, always showing that basic pattern governing English. That's repetitive but should never be boring. Repetition doesn't necessarily mean doing the exact same thing. What matters is recalling and consolidating previous steps before moving on.

So the back-and-forth drill has nothing to do with suicide after all - on the contrary: it's a key to survival. SvVOPT is the baseline to return to. It's the lifeline to cling to. It's the ONE Rule in English to stick to. SvVOPT rules!

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