What type of student are you? – How do you learn?
See version en español below
Have you ever stopped to think about how you study? Where, when or with whom did you learn the most things throughout your life? Was it at school, college, university, high school, work; from someone you admire, just from life experiences or maybe from everyone a little bit? And what do you say to this: what is the most important thing you have learned?
Stop and think. It is almost impossible to choose one thing, one idea, one place, one time or one person. For me, the first thing that comes to mind is experience, specifically, my experience in learning English or any language. Surely, many of you will share this same experience although each of you will have a different adventure in this demanding but rewarding process.
Before moving to Barcelona, I thought I had a good enough level of Spanish to defend myself, but I had never been so wrong in my life. If it hadn’t been for a good friend who translated what I was being told, I probably wouldn’t have survived those early days so easily. Then I asked myself: “How long will it take me to be able to translate a conversation for a friend as he has done for me? After signing up for classes at an academy, having several private teachers (which helped me a lot) and making endless and uncomfortable mistakes when talking to people, I finally achieved the level and confidence to be able to communicate fluently in Spanish. Today, it is still an ongoing process that is laborious on some days and very light on others.
As I said, everyone has their own story or method for learning English or any other language. But what is the most efficient way to do this? Is there a better way than another? It depends on who you ask. We all have our own learning methods, but are we aware of them? Do you have a visual memory and learn with images; do you learn better verbally through oral or written methods or maybe you are a kinesthetic learner and use your body and your sensibility for learning? Maybe music and sounds help you learn, maybe you learn through logic and reasoning, maybe you like to study alone or in a group. It is possible that your way of learning is a mixture of all of the above, with one or two techniques predominating.
At FunTalkall our English teachers are trained and qualified to determine what kind of learning our students do best and use different types of activities to bring out those different study methods and to be able to involving students in the learning process English. We then adapt the classes as much as possible to the students’ method of study and their needs, providing them with a comfortable and attractive environment to motivate and encourage students to continue their English learning path.
Benjamin Franklin said: “Tell me something and I will forget it, teach me something and I will remember it, involve me and I will learn it”.
Click here to learn more about how you learn.
Josh Bumgardner
Have you ever stopped to think about how you learn? Where, when, or from whom did you learn the most in your life? Was it in school, at university, in the classroom, on the job, from someone you look up to, or just from experiences in your life, or maybe all of the above? Or how about this one, what’s the most important thing you’ve learned?
Just stop and think. It’s nearly impossible to choose just one thing, one idea, one place, one time, or one person. The first thing that comes to my mind is an experience, specifically my language learning experience. Many of us may share this same experience, but each and every one of us has had a different adventure in this challenging yet rewarding process.
Before arriving in Barcelona I thought I knew enough Spanish to get by, and I had never been so wrong in my life. If it hadn’t been for a close friend translating for me, I might not have survived with such ease in the beginning. And I wondered, ‘How long will it take me to be able to translate a conversation for a friend like he’s just done for me?’ After signing up for classes in an academy, having a few private teachers, which made a significant difference, and an endless amount of embarrassing mistakes while speaking to people, I eventually gained enough knowledge and confidence to communicate fluently in Spanish. It continues to be an ongoing process that some days can be a struggle whereas other days it seems to be effortless.
As I’ve already mentioned, everybody’s got their own personal story, or way to learn a language. But what is the most efficient way to learn a language? Or is one way better than another? That all depends on the person you ask. We’ve all got our own ways to learn, but are we aware of how we learn? Do you learn visually through images, verbally through written or spoken words, or maybe kinesthetically using your body or sense of touch? Perhaps you learn through music and sound, with logic and reasoning, or maybe alone or with other people. Or possibly your learning style is a mix of all of them, with one or two styles used more than the others.
All of our teachers at FunTalk are professionally trained and qualified to see what kind of learner students are through various activities that bring out these different learning styles to get them involved in their learning process. Then we adapt the classes as much as possible to how the students learn and what they really need, providing a comfortable and engaging environment that will motivate and encourage students to continue on their journey learning English.
As Benjamin Franklin said, “Tell me and I forget, teach me and I remember, involve me and I learn.”
Click here and take a few minutes to find out more about your learning style.
Written by Josh Bumgardner
