Back on the horse

I have a new personal trainer. His name is David and he has huge muscles, and he yells a lot. I don't really need a personal trainer, really. Some of you know that I am a huge cycling fanatic and, not so long ago, I used to race, too. I wasn't very good at it. No, the truth of it is that I was REALLY bad at it. I was so bad at racing bicycles that the only reason I went was to have fun with the other gals who were also really bad.

Then last summer hit, and a lot of stuff happened. It's not worth describing what it was; let's just say that I'd rather forget the period between, oh, say, July 27th and today. It's done. It wasn't fun, but it's over with. (I hope.)

I've wanted to write this post for about two months, but it's hard to talk about something when you're still in the middle of it. Let me just say this: even when things are really horrible, even when learning English only makes you feel stupid or silly and you think that there's no sense in trying, you still have to try. I know. It sucks. It's awful. Doing things that you don't want to do, when you really aren't convinced that you can do it, is the most agonizing feeling in the world. But sometimes, it's all you can do.

There's more valor in trying. No one has to know if you quit, but YOU will know if you quit.

You don't have to quit. You can keep trying. You're not Don Quixote. No one will ever make fun of you for trying. Or they shouldn't, anyway.

And you can hold onto trying. Even if it doesn't work out, no one can ever take the sense of pride away from you. There is nothing wrong with being proud of doing a good job. Nothing at all.

In English, we call this "getting back on the horse that threw you." I don't know anything about horses; I know a lot about bicycles. And I know that if you fall off a bicycle, there is only one thing that you can do -- get back on it. Why? Because the shame of giving up is, sometimes, too great.

So that's 2012. Back on the horse.

I hope that you had a great Christmas and a fabulous New Year's, and that you've managed to avoid the January flu.

Now let's get back to work.

STOP SPANGLISH: The Seminar!

New Year! New English! New confidence! New abilities! Ladies and gentelmen (and everyone in between....) I proudly present to you....the FIVE THINGS YOU CAN DO TO STOP SPANGLISH seminar, which will start on Friday, January 14th, 2011.

Instead of babbling on about what an amazing course it is, I've put all of the important information in a downloadable document that you can print out and refer to:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/45323270/Stop-Spanglish-Seminar-1

And, as always, if you have any questions, comments, doubts or requests, don't hesitate to send an e-mail.

Why studying doesn't work.

"I have to study more."

How many times do you hear yourself saying that? How much studying do you actually do during the academic year?

Instead of studying, think about practice. Why? First of all, most people say that they feel that they should study.... but they actually don't do anything at all. Maybe they buy some books or maybe they have lists of vocabulary, but I'll tell you from experience - 90% of students don't even go that far.

Can you imagine what would happen if Alberto Contador wanted to win the Tour de France, but never got on his bicycle? Or if Cristiano Ronaldo wanted to win the World Cup for Portugal, but never put his shoes on? If you say that you want to study, but you don't do anything, all you do is guarantee that you will fail.

Here's an easier idea: Don't study - practice. Use your English every way you can. Listen to music. Write a journal. Watch short videos on YouTube. After all, you're learning English so that you can use it in the real world. The best way to use it in real situations is to practice in controlled situations, and to make it as diverse as possible.

If you think this advice is ridiculous, read this article from The New York Times: http://tinyurl.com/353qvzo.

Remember: You are the boss of your learning. Teachers are there to help you, but they cannot do your work for you.

TRY THIS: I will... I will... I will...

Have you ever wondered why, at the beginning of every episode of "The Simpsons", Bart Simpson is trapped in a classroom and has to write a specific sentence over and over again?

Writing a sentence fifty, one hundred or two hundred times used to be a very common way of trying to teach school children not to misbehave or do things that would annoy the class. Psychologists now know, however, that this is also an extremely effective tool to get people to visualize positive change in their lives and to make themselves believe that something is true. The more times you hear something, the easier it is to remember it - and if it's easier to remember something, you're more likely to do it.

So if you're having problems keeping your focus or staying motivated....TRY THIS:

Think of a positive sentence (something you might want your teacher to tell you, for example) and write it down fifty times. Take a clean piece of paper, write the sentence at the top of the page in red ink...then take half an hour to an hour and keep writing and writing and writing the same sentence over again.

Here are some examples of sentences you might try:

* I don't need to translate from Spanish to English: my English skills are good enough.
*I will get excellent marks on my exam.
* When I go to (name city here), I will not have problems speaking English. I can understand and be understood.
* Learning more slowly does not mean that I will never learn English!

This trick also works well with words or structures that you have problems remembering, like not putting the modal verb in the IF- clause in a conditional sentence. (You probably don't need to write it fifty times, however...ten or fifteen times is probably enough.)