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How to get into the right state of mind for learning (and life)...

31/7/2018

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One of the most powerful things I have learned in my life is that I have the ability to change my state of mind – anytime, anywhere.  I can choose to live, work and study in a positive state of mind. This literally has changed the way I live….
I am sure you are all able to recall the last time you were in a non-resourceful state – this is when you are worried, stressed, doubting, full of panic or anger, sad, resentful etc etc etc. When you are in one of these states of mind I am sure you have discovered that you are not able to do much, let alone learn very effectively.

Obviously if you are in a non-resourceful state of mind, it is no point trying to do your lessons, SO how can you change it?  The good news is that you can…..It is YOUR STATE OF MIND and that means that you have complete power and control over what goes in and what comes out. When you are in a resourceful state – you feel calm, competent and confident.  You feel good about your ability to learn and approach learning with confidence and positivity. 

You CAN choose to change your feelings and attitudes. You can create a confident, positive state of mind – whenever you choose and when you are in this state it will immediately make you more able to learn.  Don’t switch off and think that I am just talking about positive thinking – I want to challenge you to try using the following technique to change the way you learn.
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Use these simple steps:
Step 1:  Recall a time when you felt really successful – it can be either a key moment in your life or a fabulous learning experience/tutorial you had.  It may be a key work or personal moment; or when you had a tutorial and only spoke your new language – it all came easily.

Step 2: Now, go back to that memory and intensify it.  What did you see at that moment? What did you hear? What did you feel?  Recall the memory with emotion – use all your senses to create as much detail as possible.   You want to recreate the same feeling of success.

Step 3:  How do you feel? You should feel successful, competent, strong. Now visualise your language goal (see my previous blog) – again using all your senses.  Be in a Parisian café speaking to the waiter; around the family table in Russia talking to relatives – whatever means something to you.

Step 4:  Start your lesson/tutorial…….

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These steps can become a powerful resource to draw upon. A strong memory that is played over and over again will trigger a feeling of power inside you which you can use in the present time.  The picture and the feeling are inseparable - the picture is the stimulus – the feeling is the response.  See the picture, feel the feeling – replay the feeling and you’ve created a resourceful state of mind.
Good luck, Jo
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How to create the right visualisation for the Language journey...

18/7/2018

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I’ve been speaking to lots of students in the last few weeks about the importance of getting your mind ready for learning.
One of the ways you can do this is to use conscious visualization. So what picture do you see when you think about speaking your new language? Are you stuttering? Talking to an English speaker? Struggling to understand?
If you are – let’s change the visual. For the picture to be really effective you need to ‘feel’ something when you see it. It should make you smile, internally as well as externally….. ​
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As many of you know, my picture is sitting in my brother in law’s kitchen in Russia, having dinner with family and the next door neighbours (BTW no one speaks English). I understand and join in the conversation as well as the vodka toasts (that story is for another blog!!) Every time I ‘see’ this picture in my mind, I get excited about it and think – "wow this is really cool". My body and mind relax - I am ready to absorb new information and learn.
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So what do you need to create the right picture for you?
IT MUST BE
  • Personal – Can you see yourself in the picture speaking? Who are you speaking to?
  • Present tense – Can you see it as happening now? It’s no point seeing something in a thought bubble as a future event (e.g. when I finish my course)
  • Positive – Obviously!!
It is vital to be Persistent and do your visualization exercises every time (for 2 minutes) before you start your online learning or your tutorial. Remember the more you engage the language of your subconscious mind – Passion – the more effective your learning will be.

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So some good pictures are:
  • Around a family dinner table – we all enjoy food and wine.
  • Shopping – see yourself doing some high spirited and effective bargaining.
  • Restaurant – talk about the menu/ region specialties with one of the waiting staff.
I’d love to hear what your ‘picture’ is – share it with your tutor or VLLC staff the next time you are having your tutorial. Happy language learning…..
Jo

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Are you self-sabotaging your language journey?

3/7/2018

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Are you self-sabotaging your language journey?  If you are - you could talk to me – I have done this a few times….If you can’t talk to me, keep reading - you may get a few tips …. Many adults, as learners, are great at self-sabotage. We get in our own way of learning and don’t give ourselves the opportunity to learn properly.  ​
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People seldom mean to sabotage themselves. It's not generally a conscious decision to spoil things - and that's the problem. We can be left with the feeling: "Why did I do that?" Sometimes it might be a fear of failure; sometimes it might be changing bad habits… but self-sabotage always has some conscious justification (or what seems like an excuse) to explain the situation. I learned a lesson years ago that if I felt the need to justify, perhaps I was the one who was wrong!!
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See if you can recognize any of these:

I want to learn my language but I’m soooo busy – I can never find the time to do my lessons properly. If this sounds familiar - a key for me was to stop making this my excuse; I got my diary out and diarised time for my language.  Set aside certain time (or times) each week that you consistently use for your language. You may go slower in your language journey than you want, but by consistently ‘drip feeding’ your language, you will get the end result you want.

I’ve been learning for ages but still can’t speak …We often self-sabotage because of perfectionism - if it isn't perfect, then what's the point?   My tip here is to focus on what you can say and say that really well – then extend ..

We all expect instant results and when we don't reach our goals right away, it's easy to become discouraged and use it as an excuse to give up. But this is a language journey – so enjoy the process not just the end result.

I’ve got no one to practice with……in this era of technology this is not valid – go onto the internet and check out the language chat rooms or put a note on a university board/community centre asking for a language buddy. You’ll be surprised how many people would love the chance to swap languages over a coffee/beer.

I can’t remember anything… my memory is not what it used to be.  I hear this often with older students – actually I don’t believe our memory deteriorates with age, but perhaps we lose some flexibility with the way information is learned and retrieved, often when we are doing multiple tasks. Guess what? Our mind does not operate flexibly when we are stressed or trying to do many things at the same time. If we store information in our subconscious mind properly – through visualization and repetition – know that it is there – it just needs to be retrieved. It’s a bit like meeting someone on the street whose name we know but have forgotten – we always remember as we are walking away. The information has been there all the time…

Old patterns will continue to emerge unless we get the right and left sides of our brains working in sync—make sure you have a good visual image of yourself speaking your new language and get excited when you think about this. Focus on this visualization before you start any learning and you will be thrilled when you are experiencing it as a reality. One of the perks of my job is to see a prospective student make an enquiry about learning a language and then seeing them walk out of the Centre (in differing lengths of time) having achieved it…. It still continues to inspire me……

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Joanne Ammerlaan has been helping people achieve their language goals at VLLC for 28 years.
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    These blogs are about learning a foreign language and how utilising that skill can help to keep your mind active and assist with your cognitive function.

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