Very recently I had an interaction with a correspondent of a national newspaper, who had come to Lingua Franca for enrolling his wife in the institute. Before the admission formalities he wanted to know whether the methodology of teaching English followed here was the one he cherished in his mind. He put a volley of questions to the counsellor. His main concern was whether English was taught here through the Direct Method. He wanted a method where the learner is directly exposed to an English speaking environment, and one where grammar, etc. is taught. He wanted that his wife should get an opportunity to hear people speak only English. That, he thought, was the best and the only way one could learn good spoken English. Finally he was determined that it is the best spoken English institute in Allahabad . So far so good. True, very true; the best method to learn a language is the direct one. But then I suggested that in that case he would better send his wife to an English-speakin...