Have you ever felt stuck in a language rut, like you’re just going through the motions but not really making any progress? But what if I told you there’s a secret ingredient that can make learning a new language fun, effective, and even emotional? That secret ingredient is emotions!
Choosing the right words to communicate the message effectively has been the driving force for most of the things I do… and it didn’t take me long to realize that words affect and are affected by emotions, so I considered them from the beginning when creating the You First Idiomas method. So in this post, I’ll share with you how we use them.
The Power of Words
Whatever you say to yourself or others affects reality. I know it sounds far-fetched, but there is plenty of scientific evidence to support, for example, the effects of positive or negative self-talk on altering the brain’s functional connectivity (https://www.researchgate.net/publication/353377971_The_effects_of_positive_or_negative_self-talk_on_the_alteration_of_brain_functional_connectivity_by_performing_cognitive_tasks)
The way we understand the world comes from the words we hear from our parents, relatives, friends, etc. I have heard MANY students telling me that they "suck at spanish" because someone told them that. You wouldn't believe how much harder it is to make them believe that they are good enough than to actually teach them the language. The words have affected them and even if they have all the knowledge in the world, they can't use it because they doubt most of what they say. That's why I created some practical activities to help them improve their confidence, because often this is 80% of success.
In addition, the method considers the specific objective of the student in order to create a lesson plan that helps them be perceived as serious, professional, caring, etc. If you think about it, words have this effect according to the context.
Attaching emotion to knowledge
At YFI, we are constantly connecting information to make it easier to remember, this is especially true with emotions as I have noticed that they build stronger memories, so we always use this trick to help our students remember words, grammar and expressions. For example, the 'auxiliary verb' in English is difficult to add for Spanish or Portuguese speakers, but when I attach the idea of the auxiliary being there to help the main verb, I give it a caring personality and the students enjoy it even more and do not forget it.
Another aspect we could consider is that most of our English students have some passion for sports, music or movies and 99% of the time they already have some vocabulary that they know, but did not even know they knew it.
The “Swearing Level”
The YFI methodology doesn’t label students’ levels, we actually just “measure” their success in achieving their goals, but for those who have moved or lived abroad, we joke about the “swear level” and this is because many advanced students confessed that they didn’t feel so comfortable in their second language. Even after mastering it, they felt like outsiders… but after a few sessions with us, they felt like they could really express themselves. We added a special session sharing some “swear vocabulary” just in case they needed it. If you can express yourself when you’re really angry in your second language, that’s a higher level! LOL
(Disclaimer: learning to swear in a foreign language isn’t necessary for everyone, but it can be a fun way to improve your fluency).
Laura Chasampi YFI method creator
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