Know thyself

This article is part of a series of articles published on the blog at different times:

• The role of your grammar, your tutor and input
• Redefining what a lesson is

One of the major shifts in my teaching since I started back in 2013 had to do with becoming aware of the importance of having my students know themselves as such.

Self knowledge is no doubt beneficial in any enterprise we undertake, and language learning is no exception.

One typical pitfall for students is when they decide they’ll learn x language (or any other skill for that matter), assuming they know how to go about it.

Worse yet, there’re cases where the student is convinced it’s a mere transfer of knowledge. They expect the teacher will channel all his/her superpowers and pass them on to them.

Many skills, you can learn through this transfer of knowledge process, i.e. someone shows you how to do it and once you know the motions, you hopefully get better at it. But don’t be tricked to think that you only need a tutor to get where you want to be, languagewise. A tutor can be a valuable gear but is certainly not the only gear.

I refer to this as owning your learning. If you own your learning, you take responsibility in your learning and you hold yourself accountable for attaining your goals.

The file I’ve attached below is a questionnaire I adapted from the ‘Strategy Inventory for Language Learning’ (SILL). It was proposed by Rebecca Oxford in 1990 for English learners.

I updated it to this 21st century context, where there are more resources available than back then. I named this version simply Language Learning Strategies.

Anyways, this questionnaire is meant to provide you with some feedback that you can apply to your learning.

Click on the link below to download it for free:

LANGUAGE LEARNING STRATEGIES

Hope it helps you to fine tune your learning,

Until next time,

You might also want to read these articles:

• On Huevos and Pelotas
  Rich metaphors await to those who dare to read this post.
• False expectations are deadly
  In language learning, false expectations can do real damage. Here’s why patience and perseverance win the race.
• Argentinian Spanish vs Mexican Spanish
  In the past, I compared Argentinian Spanish to Peninsular Spanish and Uruguayan Spanish. Here’s the long due AR / MX comparison.
• Cognates and False Friends
  Learn about cognates and false cognates so they don’t surprise further down in your Spanish learning journey.
• Cancherear
  Dive into the nuances of the word ‘canchero’ and how ‘cancherear’ can make or break a moment.
• Hacer una vaquita
  I’m not going to argue how ridiculous this phrase may sound at first. Let me just tell you what it means in Argentina.