It started when I lost my job
Four years ago I was made redundant and with no jobs to apply for, I decided to go freelance and set up Languages for All with a simple mission – to help as many people as possible to learn another language. I wanted to continue to work with children and teenagers to support them through their exams, however, I also wanted to start working with adults and teaching them to enjoy language learning as well as learning the language.
There is never enough time … right?!
It became quickly apparent that the majority of adults these days want to learn Spanish, which back then was my weakest language. So, I had to upskill and improve my Spanish. I could only realistically give an hour a week, in one chunk, to learning, as I was juggling setting up and running a new business, with family life – my kids were both still at Primary School at this point and we had just moved house and adopted a new puppy! In short, time was precious and I need to ensure I used it as effectively as possible.
I started to complete a course by myself and tried and do a bit of Spanish learning every day, using a couple of different apps. However, I quickly found that I was coming up against things I didn’t understand in these courses and became frustrated.
Little and often
I realised that I needed to treat myself like one of my learners and follow the advice I had been giving to my students for the past 20 years! If you want to really master a language, you need to give yourself every opportunity to engage with it. I began listening to podcasts and Spanish music. I watched Spanish TV and films, allowing myself to listen passively and not forcing myself to understand every single word. I listened and read along to texts. I read text aloud, applying everything I had been taught about Spanish pronunciation. I repeated language in different ways, until I knew it. I went back over tasks that I found hard. I found a tutor to answer all my questions and explain the parts I was struggling to understand.
This sounds like a lot, but by engaging with one of these things at least 5 days out of 7 per week, I saw an improvement in my Spanish very quickly. I looked for opportunities of time that I could exploit, such as when walking the dogs (ideal for listening to a podcast), waiting for my children to finish activities (great time for completing some vocabulary, comprehension or grammar tasks), brushing my teeth (perfect time to look over some new phrases or grammar – one focus per week, looked at twice a day for two minutes!). I pinned key phrases to the fridge door and made myself repeat one each time I opened it. I ensured I booked out one hour per week to complete a section of my course. Within six months I had moved to an advanced level course, I was feeling so much more confident and was ready to teach Spanish to all my learners, not just Absolute Beginners.
Four years on and I have devised a course which supports my learners to take ownership of their learning and engage fully.
