So far this semester, I have done a lot of learning and gained a lot of insight into the art of learning. The art of learning a language is something that I never thought would be a course taught in college. I assumed you had to have the IQ of Einstein or just be really rich to travel the world, just learn Français or русский. But I can learn here and start now. Some of the insights I have gained so far are that language is not learnt from a textbook. You learn through other means, such as podcasts, movies, and of course, speaking it. What I learned is that you must not be afraid to fail. You must be able to overcome the fear of mispronouncing something or committing a grammatical error. Only by that means can you progress and learn. I used to buy expensive books and guides to try and learn a language. I used to think that having a 400-day streak on Duolingo would suffice and make me fluent in Japanese, only to attend an actual Japanese lecture to be lost. You must diversify the way you learn a language by using different methods. Retaining and memorizing words and grammar rules only go so far. They are essential, yes, but they are not the only things that will make you speak like a native speaker.
With learning comes learning its culture. And what better and fun way to learn it than immersing yourself in that culture? I am not saying go to Spain and pay for expensive hotels. Watch shows in Spanish. Listen to music in Spanish. Watch your favorite soap operas or Netflix series in Spanish. That is what learning is supposed to be. That was very insightful about this course. That learning a language can be fun and rewarding.
Now, some of the struggles I had were using English when I was supposed to be using another language. One method that I am using is spending an hour of my day without speaking English and only speaking Korean. I try to use no English, but at times it can be difficult due to my environment, as I am not in Korea, which puts a limit on the usage when I have to interact with others. But I will continue to use this integration technique as it is most enjoyable and helps me learn the customs and culture of the language, as well as practical usage.
Now, some of the activities that I liked in the class, and one in particular, were teaching my classmates. I was told by a professor that in order to fully know if you understand, you try to teach it to someone else. Someone who has no idea about that topic. If you can get them to learn or understand, then it means that you successfully know that topic or subject. That, in practice, is the best way of learning something. I enjoyed using the Rassias method on my classmates and saw why it is effective and a popular method among faculty at UR and other respectable universities. That is something I enjoyed and would like to explore other similar techniques used to learn a language.
In summary, that is what I got out of this course. I learned a lot about learning and how to enhance the techniques I used, and learned how to utilize new ones.
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