I didn’t realize anything amazing was happening until after the fact.
I mean, when it was happening, I didn't think it was amazing because I didn’t think about it, because really, nothing happened… and then it hit me... 15 minutes later.
Let me tell you what happened :
my Spanish coach extraordinaire Ana sent me a link to a short video. She was sharing it because it made her laugh and she was pretty sure I was going to laugh too. I clicked on the link and started laughing. A lot. I thought it was really funny.
The story could end there.
Now what the onlooker doesn't know is that all of this happened in Spanish. Ana wrote in Spanish, the link was in Spanish and I wrote back in Spanish. Still, I’ve been working on my Spanish for years, so why not?
The momentous event is not that everything was in Spanish and that I understood it. What was incredible, is that I understood everything effortlessly as if it had all occurred in French or English (my languages).
I understood why it was funny, I understood it was going to be funny from the 1st sentence, because I knew where this was going. I understood the humor beyond the language.
What's momentous about it is that I realized then how much I've learned beyond the language. How the goals I had set with Ana when I started with her in 2021 had not only been reached but I’d exceeded some of them.
Lessons learned:
1- Celebrate
A win is a win, big or small. Don’t take the little victories for granted. Celebrate them. These are the moments that will help you stick to your language goals when you want to give up, when you question why you’re working so hard to learn/improve/master a language.
and bonus: science says being happy makes you a better learner!
2- Think big
With Language coaching, we break down your big goal into little achievable goals that add up to reaching your big goal. Don’t hold back on your goals, you can dream BIG.
3- Hang in there
Anything you do towards improving the language you wish to speak counts. It’s not all or nothing. When you don’t feel like doing much, don’t. Do something tiny. Look up a word, watch just 5 minutes of a show, put some music on in that language and sing, or dance, or cry, or laugh or just do something else while music is playing in the background.
Now you!!!
Author: Feriel Temmar