S4E45: Take your language learning outside
Full transcript:
Good morning, happy Friday, and welcome to The Language Confidence Project, the daily dose of language courage for people who love languages, and those who really don't but have to learn one anyway. And as you'll remember, this is the final episode of season four of the Language Confidence Project. I'm taking a break over the summer and season five will start on the 4th of September.
So today, as we head into the summer break, I just want to remind you that language learning does not need to happen indoors. So often, we tell ourselves that the important stuff happens in an office, in a classroom, at a desk, and then outside is the reward that we get when we've done all the hard stuff.
But today I want to ask you, is there anything you can do today, throughout the summer, whenever the weather is good, that could take your language learning outdoors? Even if you are not living in a country where they speak that language, even if you're in a country you've always been in, in your hometown, how could we get your language out there in the world?
So here are some ideas for you. Go somewhere really green, a park, a forest, a riverbank, and look at what plants and wildlife you can find. Look up the words for them. And if the place is really overwhelmingly green, go on a kind of treasure hunt for what other colours you can see in your new language.
Go to places with beautiful views and use all five of your senses and journal about how being there makes you feel. Draw it, label it, write or record notes about it. Have a conversation with someone, even if it's in your native language. Maybe someone you know that you see on the street, or a cashier of some kind.
And then reimagine that conversation in your new language. Explore what your local street sellers have to offer. What do they sell? Do you know the words for all of those things? And of course, if you're living in the country, you can ask them what certain things are. But even if you're not, look them up when you get home.
And if you can, take pictures, and then it can be part of a creative project to label them and write about them and do a collage about them when you are at home. Look at the street performers. What are they doing? What instruments or props are they using? How are they dressed? And how do they change the atmosphere of the street?
Who's watching them? And what do you think of their performance? Or turn your attention to the people around you. What are they wearing? Where do you think they're going? What's their general vibe like? What might they be thinking about?
Or you could explore the shops and the restaurants. Look at the fabric and the patterns of the clothing. Do you like the fashions in your city or your country right now? Look up how to describe what you see or the textures of the fabrics. If there are some multinational restaurant chains, why not take a photo of their menu and then go online when you get home and see if they offer the same foods in the other countries.
If there are some ice cream parlours near you, do they change their flavours every day? If so, what's on offer today and do you know the words for those flavours in your new language? Or finally, before you go out, how about memorising some words on a certain topic? So, for example, types of plants, types of vehicles, dog breeds.
And then when you're out walking, do a kind of treasure hunt of how many examples of that thing you can find. Whatever you do, language learners, do not force yourself to stay indoors and only promise yourself the outside when you've done the study. Language learning can happen without a desk. It can happen without a pen.It can happen without the internet. Let yourself go outside.
And finally, I just want to say thank you so much for listening, for following along with the Language Confidence Project, and for trusting me and sharing your journey with me every day. Have a wonderful summer, and I will see you back here in September.