Learning new things. Scary sometimes. Almost always difficult. Many of us have been conditioned to think that the way we learn things is by listening to someone else explain how to do it. And by the same token, we are also conditioned to think that the best way to teach someone something is to explain it to them. Think about it. Think all the way back, centuries ago, when you were in school and you were surrounded by those miserable meatbags each and every day, for hours on end. You know them. Your teachers. Many of them, standing in front of you and spouting gibberish for an hour, expecting you to remember it. Many of them standing in front of you writing gibberish for an hour, expecting you to remember it. How much of it do you remember? How much of what you actually know and apply each day was learned from these people? How much of it did you learn from some other source? I’d wager most of it didn’t come from people talking at you or writing things down for you to copy. You learned from actual practice; usage.
Learning something, anything, takes practice. You have to try it and possibly fail many times before you can truly say that you know it. Think about a baby who is just learning to walk. If the baby was surrounded by people who never walked, but only crawled around, would the baby make any attempt to walk? What if those odd people in her life did only crawl around, but they sat the child down and explained to her the intricacies of walking on two legs, but never showed her and never propped her up on her feet to make her try it. Would that kid ever walk?How should I know? I’m not a doctor. But my feeling is that no, the kid probably wouldn’t walk. Most of us can ride bicycles. Do you think that before you ever got on a bicycle, if your parents had explained to you how to ride one, and then gave you one, you would be able to ride it perfectly? No, you have to get on the bike, fall down and scrape your knees several dozen times whilst being laughed at by the neighbor kids before you can successfully and confidently maneuver a bicycle. Riding a bicycle can’t be learned by reading about it, or hearing about it. You have to get on a bike and make it happen. This same principle applies to learning any other skill.
Reading, writing, dancing, biting, jumping, skipping, swimming, flipping. Can’t do it perfectly the first time. Can’t know how to do it simply by hearing someone explain it to you. The theory is fine. Learning how to play an instrument or learning how to drive a car. Theory comes into place, of course. But true learning takes place in practice. If you want to learn a new language, you will never speak it properly by simply buying a dictionary or phrase book. How would you ever know if you are speaking properly? You have to communicate with someone who speaks that language! Yes, studying from a book is almost necessary to perfect it, but speaking and using the language is the only way to truly learn it.
When I was in culinary school, we would have 2 types of classes: in the classroom, and in the kitchen. In the classroom, we would discuss recipes and ingredients and what made certain things work. In the kitchen, we would put it into practice. What I noticed was that no matter how much I studied a written recipe, it was always difficult to remember it. But once I actually worked with the recipe and made it, I could always remember the recipe. Your mind isn’t the only thing with a memory, as I’m sure you know. Every part of you has memory. And when it all works together to remember something, you’ll never forget. That’s why once you learn how to ride a bicycle, you’ll never forget how to do it, even if you go 30 years without riding one. It’s not just your head remembering how to control a bicycle; it’s your head, your arms, your hands, your legs, and your feet. Everything is used to work the bicycle, so it’s one big memory. One memory triggers another, which triggers another.
When’s the last time you read or heard a word that was new to you? Your reaction was probably along the lines of “Hmmm I did not know that”. But then a week later if someone asked you about that word, would you remember it? Probably not. You didn’t practice it. This applies to learning a new language just the same as learning a new word. Once you learn it, you have to put it to use. Say it out loud, put it into a sentence. Use that word every day for a few days and BAM. You have added another word to your vocabulary. We learn from practice, not simply from listening or reading. We teach by enabling our student to engage in the activity, not by talking at them. Learning something new can be daunting at first. You start to doubt whether or not you could ever learn how to do that. But of course, you can. Just takes practice. Every habit you have, good or bad, you earned from constant practice. You want to write? You want to know how you can become a writer? Just write. You want to be able to cook? Just cook. Sure you may be terrible at first and send a few loved ones to the latrines, but eventually, if you keep at it, you will improve. Or maybe go to jail. But a skill is a skill. Keep cooking whilst incarcerated – it’ll help pass the time.
Cary B Sands 