Do hormones support language learning?
I am a bit tired today, physically. I was biking to our neighbor state Germany and it was 67 km bike trip. Yes, not too long but my first one this year. My body needs to accommedate after the winter rest. So, I will finish my „search for English“ today – but the blog will continue, of course – there will come other posts (some of you were able to recognize the certain similarity with the name of that well known book by Viktor Frankl „Man's search for meaning” :-) Does the concentration camp have anything in common with language schools? No, actually it is not so bad. This book was just one of my favorite audio-books to listen. I will have to refresh it again!
So, I will just finish this (last) part of my story and the „BIG ANNOUNCEMENT“ I promised to some of you via email is postponed till tomorrow. Be patient. Meantime you can download the 7 day version of BrainSpeakActivator course for free (if have not done already) and become familiar with it a bit.
Let's continue. The second course, the course with native speaker, was here. He, RF and me! Just 3 protagonists. I was rather nervous. My friend RF is easy going girl and I hoped that she will help me if necessary. And it was NOT necessary at that time at all! I was able to understand the native teacher and I was able to communicate with him and my friend quite well. My English significantly improved, my speaking abilities in comparison with that previous course boosted! I was very happy about it! And it encouraged me to continue the way I set to myself.
I am a bit tired today, physically. I was biking to our neighbor state Germany and it was 67 km bike trip. Yes, not too long but my first one this year. My body needs to accommedate after the winter rest. So, I will finish my „search for English“ today – but the blog will continue, of course – there will come other posts (some of you were able to recognize the certain similarity with the name of that well known book by Viktor Frankl „Man's search for meaning” :-) Does the concentration camp have anything in common with language schools? No, actually it is not so bad. This book was just one of my favorite audio-books to listen. I will have to refresh it again!
So, I will just finish this (last) part of my story and the „BIG ANNOUNCEMENT“ I promised to some of you via email is postponed till tomorrow. Be patient. Meantime you can download the 7 day version of BrainSpeakActivator course for free (if have not done already) and become familiar with it a bit.
Let's continue. The second course, the course with native speaker, was here. He, RF and me! Just 3 protagonists. I was rather nervous. My friend RF is easy going girl and I hoped that she will help me if necessary. And it was NOT necessary at that time at all! I was able to understand the native teacher and I was able to communicate with him and my friend quite well. My English significantly improved, my speaking abilities in comparison with that previous course boosted! I was very happy about it! And it encouraged me to continue the way I set to myself.
Next year (2010) we were with Jane on holiday in Mediterranean island Rhodes. I started to use my English practically and it worked qute well! I can remember the beautiful receptionist at beach bar I was able to chat with about half an hour every day – kind of English lessons! :-) She was also foreigner working there,she was in her early twenties, blond, slim… good at English. I noticed at that time that communication is about two things (at least) 1. form (language) and 2. content (what to say, the message itself). We, as language learners, pay too much of our attention (and perhaps brain resources) to the first, to the language itself and somehow there is not so much energy for the second. The consequence is poor communication. I found that in my case it was not so bad. We both entertained, the girl included ;-) She was also glad to be able to chat with somebody in English. I enjoyed that learning experience and practiced my English speaking well with the support of my hormones which seems to be instrumental in the language learning process! ;-)
In my opinion the most important thing to keep in mind it to be proactive. To create opportunity for learning, to surround yourself with the language you are learning (I notice that even Jane by living with me and by being exposed to that English is able to understand enough even she does not learn it intentionally, nearly against her will) Use the language on daily basis in different forms. Use every possibility to practice it!
So, I continued and I still continue writing emails with R.F. She moved to other part of our country farer form here. Kate, on the contrary, moved nearer, so we are able to meet each other about once a week for 0,5 – 1 hour English coffee chat which is very helpful and pleasant. I read, I listen and I use English for writing this blog to share my experiences with you. I do of the course BrainSpeakActivator, those exercises every day. Actually I managed to persuade the author of this method that it could be good to make the English version of his method available for public (he stopped to offer it a few years ago and was selling only Czech version in book (paper) form. I completed the English version and made some changes in it. This method is not any quick fix or any gimmick. And it is not the easy method at all. To quote Jarno: „One thing I have noticed during my way, there are no shortcuts for learning language!“ - See more at: http://www.brainspeakactivator.com/1/post/2013/04/self-teaching-mosaic-part-4-speaking-last-but-not-least-overcoming-difficulties.html#comments
I fully agree with him. Some methods work better some not so well. But what is crucial – keep going! Day in, day out. The beginning is usually the most difficult, kind of a rocket overcoming gravity of the Earth, then you create a habit (it takes 21-30 days) and you are able to continue and you will improve (I will too, I need it). English is beautiful languages worth to be learned! Let's learn! Read this blog tomorrow, there will be that BIG ANNOUNCEMENT from me. Similar to this one:
:-)
In my opinion the most important thing to keep in mind it to be proactive. To create opportunity for learning, to surround yourself with the language you are learning (I notice that even Jane by living with me and by being exposed to that English is able to understand enough even she does not learn it intentionally, nearly against her will) Use the language on daily basis in different forms. Use every possibility to practice it!
So, I continued and I still continue writing emails with R.F. She moved to other part of our country farer form here. Kate, on the contrary, moved nearer, so we are able to meet each other about once a week for 0,5 – 1 hour English coffee chat which is very helpful and pleasant. I read, I listen and I use English for writing this blog to share my experiences with you. I do of the course BrainSpeakActivator, those exercises every day. Actually I managed to persuade the author of this method that it could be good to make the English version of his method available for public (he stopped to offer it a few years ago and was selling only Czech version in book (paper) form. I completed the English version and made some changes in it. This method is not any quick fix or any gimmick. And it is not the easy method at all. To quote Jarno: „One thing I have noticed during my way, there are no shortcuts for learning language!“ - See more at: http://www.brainspeakactivator.com/1/post/2013/04/self-teaching-mosaic-part-4-speaking-last-but-not-least-overcoming-difficulties.html#comments
I fully agree with him. Some methods work better some not so well. But what is crucial – keep going! Day in, day out. The beginning is usually the most difficult, kind of a rocket overcoming gravity of the Earth, then you create a habit (it takes 21-30 days) and you are able to continue and you will improve (I will too, I need it). English is beautiful languages worth to be learned! Let's learn! Read this blog tomorrow, there will be that BIG ANNOUNCEMENT from me. Similar to this one:
:-)
Its (in our case the English Speaking) conquest deserves the best of all mankind. We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win ...