Student Perspective

Language learning is hard. I mean really hard. The kind of hard that makes adults who have accomplished major things in their lives want to give up. Staying focused in another language is exhausting. It’s mentally draining in a way that’s hard to explain unless you’ve lived it. It would be so easy to check out during a lesson. Instead, you’re trying to follow what’s being said, process it, figure out how to respond, and then say something back — all in the moment, all while t

What the affective filter looks like before anyone notices I’ve described moments like this before: sitting in class, overwhelmed, trying to keep up while that dark wall of confusion slowly builds. This time, I want to slow the experience down and look more closely at what’s happening internally when learning starts to shut down. Not all at once, but gradually. After all, I don’t walk into every class wanting to throw a chair in the first few minutes. At first, I am a very po

Misunderstanding gaps, effort, and the quiet cost of being misread In third grade, I struggled with spelling. I still do at times, especially if I don’t slow myself down and think carefully through what I’m writing. That year, I was supposed to be the helper who collected the papers for the month. The problem was that I rarely had time to finish my tests, especially spelling tests. I needed more time to think through the words and remember how to spell them. No one explained

What happens when adults are pushed up levels before they’re ready — and why only a few learners truly benefit from fast pacing “I’m not ready yet!” This is the sentiment I’ve heard from nearly every adult learner I’ve spoken to who’s being pushed from B1 to B2. I’ve now been in two different schools in Spain, and both have tried to move me up far faster than feels natural. The focus is heavy on grammar and on getting you to pass the B1 test or move into the next class. I ke

What one conversation with a polyglot taught me about adult learners, assumptions, and the realities behind learning a new language I was having a conversation with a polyglot. I was amazed when she said she knew 6–7 languages. She admitted her French was slipping since she didn’t use it much, but still—six languages? We were talking about learning languages. I’m taking classes to learn Spanish, and another person there was trying to learn Arabic. I love hearing how other peo

What is that sound? It was the first day it had rained since I arrived in Málaga, but the noise was coming from inside the apartment. I rushed toward it and realized water was pouring through the light fixture in the laundry room. There was no time to process it. I grabbed a bucket, towels—anything—and started cleaning. Four floors above me… there was no way this was from the rain. Something else was wrong. I messaged my landlord and the liaison as quickly as I could in Spani

Week one of my Spanish class in Málaga felt hard but manageable. I understood my teacher. I recognized the vocabulary. I was learning. I belonged in B1. But in week two they moved me up to B2. And everything unraveled. One day we were assigned a worksheet on the subjunctive, and I stared at it with no idea where to begin. The teacher had a thicker Spanish accent, switched to vosotros (a form I had almost never used), and introduced vocabulary I couldn’t even look up because m

I didn’t take a “gap year.” I had my first child on my 23rd birthday, and then life moved fast. Three kids, back-to-back, and all the responsibilities that came with that. I always longed for adventure though. I first started tutoring international students in English when I was 20. It amazed me that they would travel to a new country to learn English and take on that kind of challenge. I think part of me always wished I could do the same. Years later, we took a job in Mexico