Habit

Sometimes we feel overwhelmed by our desire to improve. The overwhelming feeling comes from, I suspect, the speed that we expect the improvement to occur. Our patience tends to run out if results are not realized quickly. The other thing we tend to do is take on an excessive amount of “improvement” that we cannot sustain over the long run. Learning a language takes time. You would be surprised how small, incremental habits can accumulate and effect the improvement you desire faster than trying to take on a lot, failing, and trying again resulting in a never-ending, disheartening, loop. Habits helps us to create patterns that become a part of you. Think of habit as a verb – how will you habit today? Here are some suggestions to get you started!

1.  Take a picture every day – show it to your teacher, ask about words to describe it . Who knows where this one habit could lead! A book? A comic? A short film? Accumulating a diary of pictures and sentences over time may result in something fantastic that you can share and use to teach others. When you teach, you learn!

2. Learn one new word every day

3. Learn a synonym of a word you know every day

4. Write a sentence every morning and ask your teacher to check it

5. Breathe! Take 1 minute a day to stop and notice your breath – breath is life

6. Tongue twister mornings. Say a tongue twister to get your mouth “Englishing” before class (how much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood!)

Starry Night by Vincent Van Gogh shows us an example of how small strokes, compounded and arranged, can create something astoundingly beautiful.

The book Atomic Habits by James Clear is a great resource for you to use for helpful advice on how you can create the change you want, sustainably.