Foundations of Fire and Focus

A Foundation of Fire and Focus

FIRE Passion. Devotion. Commitment. These are the foundation you build language learning on. Not grammar, not vocabulary. Passion. It’s not enough to get motivated. You have to stay motivated. It is beyond critical that you engage in your efforts to learn your new language with the predetermined mindset that you will reach your goals. Which brings me to my first few questions:   Q) Why do you want to learn this language?    Why are you even here? I doubt it’s because you just have that much free time on your hands. We’re all busy. For some, the answer might be clear and sharp. That’s good. You need that. Some don’t really know why they want to learn, they just do. That’s all right, we’ll work to fix that.    I want you to forget everything you’ve heard about goal setting for the purpose of this class. I want you to stop thinking within the realm of possible or even ideal. Ask yourself what you actually want. Maybe it’s not fluency. Maybe it’s seeing a life changed by Christ through this new language. Maybe it’s communicating with friends or opening a new avenue professionally. Whatever the reason, get that goal and don’t minimize it once you have it. Don’t tell yourself you can’t. We serve a God who can! Q) Rate the heat of your fire (the strength of your passion) on a scale of 1-10 and let me know why. If it’s anything less than a 7, you probably won’t enjoy the group. If you feel this is the case, let me know and we’ll talk. FOCUS The second critical element in language learning can be summed up in “focus.” You can have the best material in the world, but if you don’t use it, you’ll learn nothing. If you use it wrong, you’re not going to learn as much as you could. For the same reason, just showing up once a week isn’t going to be enough to accomplish anything substantial. You have to be willing to focus. I’ll give you the material you need, but you’re the only one who can allow yourself to learn the language.    Q) How much time do you want to put into learning the language and reaching your goals?   Q) How willing are you to give various methods of language learning a try?    All of these questions help to establish a solid starting point and a launching pad. We’re at a different place in our language learning journeys, but when we come together we can find strength and motivation to advance at a pace that would be difficult to accomplish alone.   Through the weeks as we meet (or if you’re not part of the Spanish group, as you get the emails), I will be completely open to criticism and critique. I am by no means a master language learner, and I don’t know it all. If you have suggestions and questions, I’d love to hear them! Respond in the comments or email me at FireAndFocusLinguistics@gmail.com to receive regular language learning strategies!

Copyright © 2015 Luke Parker, All rights reserved.