S5E10: What could be right for you?- Tasks

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 today is the last day of the two week Be Your Own Best Teacher series on the podcast. Because for the last two weeks, we've been exploring how we can decouple our present day language learning from our school days and create a language world for ourselves that really fits what we want and need right now as adults.

And so today, I'm bringing this topic to a close with one final question for you about how you want to spend your language learning time. And as with the last two episodes, this question applies whether you're self teaching full time, whether you attend language classes, or you work with the time when you're being your own teacher and coaching yourself through whatever self

So, again, this is a question that you could just think about, or you could grab a pen and a notebook and journal it.

When you imagine yourself enjoying language learning, what do you imagine yourself doing?

Do you imagine yourself doing what you're doing now but with some incredible mindset shift or injection of motivation? Or do you imagine yourself doing activities that better match who you are as a person right now?

Because let me tell you, the second one is so, so much easier. Even if you don't have much of a say in what you're learning, and your course or your language institution dictates what words you have to learn, what grammar and topics you're covering, and when, in what order, remember, when you're doing those things at home, you're running your own personal classroom.

So, how could you learn that vocabulary in a way that's better for you? How could you explore those topics in a way that would feel more meaningful or relevant to you? And how could you get that assignment done with a bit more compassion to yourself? What kinds of activities, within the parameters of getting those things done, would you want to prioritise?

Because if you don't like using flashcards to memorise vocabulary, you don't have to. And if you don't like making endless notes, there are so many other ways out there to consolidate your learning. And for every single task that you use to memorise, to practise, to revise, if you hate it, ask around. See what alternatives people are using because there will be something out there that suits you better.

And even if you don't hate it, but you're getting a bit bored of it, see what other things you could bring into your routine to just refresh things a little bit. And then, you might well find that you don't need that mindset shift that you keep beating yourself up about. That you didn't need to spend so much energy forcing yourself to do the thing when actually, that energy could have been put to, well, doing the thing.

So language learners, you really don't have to suffer through this, and hating it does not have to be part of your success story. Take as much of the resistance and the struggle out of this process as you can. It's not cheating, it's not lazy, and it is going to make things so much better for you.

And if you want to really dive into being your own best teacher and making your own personal classroom a place you want to be this autumn, I would love to invite you to check out the Be Your Own Best Teacher group program, which starts on Monday, September the 25th and runs all the way through till December the 15th.

We'll be mixing workshops, journaling, co working, and group accountability calls to help us sift through our learning experiences at school, work out what we want to keep in our present day language learning, and how to leave all the rest behind. We'll be diving into everything from creating our ideal learning environments, getting intentional about what kinds of tasks and activities we plan for ourselves.

We'll be exploring our ideas about reward and punishment, success and failure, and looking at how our inner teacher talks us through confusion and frustration. You'll leave bursting with ideas about how to make learning and productivity more compassionate, more fun, and just so much more you. And if you're curious, but you're not sure yet, it is not too late to sign up to the two week Taster Fortnight. There is still a whole week left where you can try everything out. It's completely free and there's no pressure to sign up for the full program at the end So if you want to join send me a DM at @teawithemily or email emily@languageconfidenceproject.com, and both of those are in the show notes. I can't wait to see you there and introduce you to the rest of the community!

Have a wonderful Friday, have a wonderful weekend, and I will see you on Monday.