Confessions of a Language Learner
Lark S. Escobar
One of the impressive facts about working at HCT is that most of the faculty and staff speak multiple languages. We are a sea of polyglots! This helps us have precious insight into the experiences that our learners face. It can be very humbling to take the learner’s seat as a teacher, reminding educators about the realities of language learning.
As I was sitting in a Spanish lesson recently, I struggled to produce the answers I needed in Spanish. My brain, for whatever reason, was having difficulty changing the channel and I kept wanting to speak Arabic. Some days are just off like that. I’m nowhere near fluent in either language, but I enjoy studying and trying to learn. Even when someone has a very high level of proficiency in a second or third or forth, etc., language, they will have some experiences like mine. Of course, when I went to Arabic class later that day, i
nstead of being stuck on Arabic, my brain had rebelliously decided it wanted to have French conversation. I had all the desire to practice the target language, but just couldn’t get it together that day.
Students may really care about learning or have a high level of proficiency and still have off days. Being tired, hungry, emotional, stressed, preoccupied, embarrassed, having a headache, or any number of other interferences can complicate or detract from language learning. Many days may be golden and smooth, but learners are bound to get stuck in a rut now and again.
There are also moments when I just can’t learn anything else at a particular moment. Last year I was taking a 3.5 hour language class and often around the 2.5 hour mark I would hit a limit and it felt like nothing after that point in the class made any sense. I had a sincere interest in learning, but my brain was full, fatigued from the high-demand activity of thinking and speaking and comprehending in a non-native language. Language learning can be exhausting. Just hearing the language can wear a learner out as their brain tries to cope with the incoming information and environmental cues- as if the brain automatically tries to translate without our intention.
When I hit my language limit on a given day, I usually remedy the situation by eating some chocolate followed by taking a nap (or going to bed early). This is not possible in all high-demand language environments our learners face (like in class), but we can anticipate this will be a challenge for them from time to time and let them know that its normal to have this experience.
