How do you feel about making mistakes? Personally I hate it. I had much rather stay in my comfort zone!
And where does the uncomfortable feeling when making a mistake comes from? I just need to watch my children battling with the feeling that they are not adequate, they they are not making the grade, that they are not meeting their teacher's expectation, to be reminded of when it all started. Maybe my parents had a hand in it too as they were prone to comparing their children and give praise or cast blame in no uncertain terms.
I learnt to walk, as we all do, and fell numerous times. It did not matter. I picked myself up and started again and again and again until I could walk and then run. I was not afraid of making mistakes, getting it wrong or looking ridiculous.
Then I grew up and school happened, evaluations happened, standards were set. Failure to meet those standards was seen as a shortcoming.
To this day, my mistakes make me cringe and make me think less of myself. When I have an objective in mind, I read every stumbling block, every difficulty I come across as a proof that I am not adequate, that I will not make it. But I am working on it and it is a balancing act.
There is light at the end of the tunnel. There is another way to look at mistakes, another way to view evaluation. That is the way I am trying to get my children to see them. That is the way I would like to invite you to adopt.
I now come to the realisation that the journey is more important than the destination, that every hurdle is a chance for deeper understanding, a stepping stone that brings you closer to your objective, an experience to embrace.
These considerations can apply to many situations. I would now like you to consider your language learning journey. Most probably, it is a bitter sweet experience with a mixture of successes and failures, of pleasant moments and of utterly miserable ones.
If your intention to learn a language is serious, then I invite to to get out of your comfort zone, to accept mistakes and to learn to use them as stepping stones.
If you need help on this journey and the language you want to learn is French, I would be happy to help.
As a teacher, my aim is to empower learners, to help them use the challenges they come across as opportunities to get closer to their objective and to enjoy the journey.