THE GRAMMAR TRANSLATION AND THE DIRECT METHODS

INTRODUCTION
First of all I want to give a brief history of what language teaching was through the nineteenth century where reading comprehension and writing instead of speaking and listening were in fashion ; just following the classical languages as a model to be followed.
Very few schools taught foreign languages, and in general the learning of foreign languages was more in a private way. It was only by 1900 that most secondary schools incorporated one or more of their major European languages.
By the middle of the century many European countries came into closer and more frequent commercial relations, so it was created the necessity to learn foreign languages according to practical needs and interests.
Due to all these, some teachers, specially from Germany and France, began to think on how to create methods that could help to learn foreign languages in the easiest way.
As market among European countries improved, writers like Ahn and Ollendorff, had an enormo...