Learning Languages With Joy

“I’m just not good at languages!”  This was one of the first things one of my learners told me when we met.  For privacy reasons, we will simply refer to her as Kaylee.   She had negative associations about being in a foreign language class due to past experiences.  She had attended three semesters of Spanish in her high school and still felt lost.  

Worse yet, Kaylee was a high achieving student, with excellent grades in all her other subjects. She had her mind set on a very competitive college and her GPA was at risk because of this one subject.  She wanted to become an engineer and the only reason she was taking Spanish was that it was necessary to satisfy the school requirements.  That was the one thing that threatened to drag her GPA down.

One semester later, after working with me once or twice a week (depending on her schedule), she ended up acing her Spanish finals.  Yes, including the oral portion of it!  But more important than the grades was the fact that she had learned to enjoy the process of becoming proficient in another language.  She had gained enough confidence to speak that language with others and have conversations.  She had learned that it is ok to not get everything right the first time and that it is all indeed a continuous process.  In case you are wondering, yes, she received acceptance letters from multiple colleges and she was even looking forward to continuing her study of Spanish.  She also was thinking of taking up Portuguese!

So, what changed?  Many factors lead to such a significant improvement.   However, I can mainly speak about what we implemented during our sessions.  Below I will write about some things I think were very helpful.  

An educator that sees the learner as an individual 
Our first few sessions were a time for me to learn about Kaylee. This is also what I do with most of my learners, and I find that it really helps create a plan for them as well as establish good rapport between us.  The very first time we meet; 0lkI like to start with a casual conversation in Spanish. This is a tool that helps me get a feel for not only their level of proficiency and their language skills but also how comfortable they feel using those skills.  Whenever we hit the proverbial wall, I reassure them that it is ok to continue in English. This point tells me where we need to start and saves us both from starting at a level that would be too basic or too advanced.  

Tailored lessons and activities
Remember the conversation in the first session?   Its purpose is not only to help me find out a baseline from where to start.  It also serves me to get to know the learner so that I can tailor lessons and activities to their specific needs and interests.  Whether in the target language or in their native language, the conversation will include a discussion of hobbies, interests, personality, and subjects that are relevant to the specific learner.  I have been known to make special lessons for learners who were fond of building robots.  My tutoring folder holds a few specific lessons with vocabulary and exercises about carnivore plants and marine biology because I had a leaner that was obsessed with both.   One of my favorite activities of all time was building interactive quizzes for a learner about a tv show we both loved!  In Kaylee’s case, I discovered she liked music and plays an instrument and likes to sing.  Guess what?   We both enjoyed analyzing songs by a couple of South American singer song writers.

Having a one-on-one educator
All this specialized content is only possible in an individualized setting.  Having individual time with an educator can greatly increase a learner’s progress. Aside from individualized content to engage each learner, an individual lesson allows the learner to move through it at their own pace. For some that might mean being free to power through at greater speed. For others it might mean spending extra time on a specific concept.

Being part of a group
This might seem to contradict the paragraph above.  However, being part of a learning group and having one on one training are both important.  They are complementary to each other.  Learning a language, just like any skill, requires practice.  The learner that has a natural ability might need less repetition.   On the other hand, those who do not have a natural affinity but are highly motivated are willing to do drills over and over until they achieve their goal.  Most of the people fall somewhere in the middle of these categories.  Many students find mindless drills boring.  Others have technically learned the required knowledge but might feel too shy to use it.  One thing that helps people over this obstacle is “need.”  Learners who get bored easily and learners who are too bashful to use their new language on their own can find the motivation in a group class.  A group class that involves peers talking to each other in the target language, creates that “need” for using the words they have learned.  

Make it relevant
Students often quip “When am I ever going to use this?” about various subjects that are mandatory in school.  Some of them feel like that with foreign language. This makes it very difficult for them to feel motivated and put for the necessary effort and time.  Having a goal in mind really helps.  Language becomes relevant if you know you are going to use it.   Planning a trip to a Spanish speaking country is an obvious choice.  But of course, not every has the means to do that.  A smaller scale endeavor can also be effective.  In the past, I have taught in-person courses that after 8 sessions culminated in a trip to the Olvera Street, a well-known Hispanic heritage site.  The trip included lunch at a Mexican restaurant and my students interacted with the staff in only Spanish.  For our courses online, we do virtual field trips where the learners order out loud from a menu, ask for directions, and interview a Spanish guest speaker.  

At Learning With Joy, we pride ourselves in incorporating all these elements into our offerings. From one-on-one tutoring sessions to group classes, to conversational clubs, Learning With Joy has something for every learner.  We also offer activity workbooks for early learners.  They make for a great way to spend the summer.   We have helped hundreds of learners reach their goals and you can find out more about us at Learning With Joy.