The WPS mindset: The three verbs that will make you a better learner (I)
The three verbs
Have you ever felt lost when you’ve started to learn a second language? Or when learning any other thing?
Then, this article will help you to start from scratch: with our attitude towards learning.
Although this article is oriented to language learning, this mentality is also applicable to any other discipline.
There are three pillar verbs that we need to keep in mind when starting to dive into any matter, so that our attitude and actions are in sync with the learning process.
These three pillars are the WPS: Wondering, Practicing, and Sharing. Being curious, constant and passionate ensures us the structure to always keep learning.
So now, let’s start with wondering.
Because, in order to learn anything, we need to turn on our curiosity and wonder about it.
Verbs before nouns
Using verbs for this mindset is no coincidence: they help us focus on the process and the actions.
Verbs must come before nouns. Before becoming a good runner, one must learn to run. Before becoming a good drawer, one must learn to draw.
However, the older we get, the more inclined we are to think that if we’re not making good drawings from the start, it means we are not meant to be drawers.
Likewise, we might tend to punish ourselves for not being able to speak correctly in a new language, and give up on the process not long after starting.
In her TED Talk, Marianna Pascal puts it beautifully by saying that we should learn a language like we are playing a video game, not like if we were playing classical piano.
We should enjoy the process, knowing that we are getting better at it with every attempt, instead of being afraid to press the wrong key and get reprimanded by our teacher.
When we were kids, we made countless errors in our own language, but our linguistic muscle got better and better every time.
Failing is a key component of practicing, we need to fall before we can walk. Every fall gives us an amazing opportunity for learning.
That’s why it’s important to focus on the process, not the result.
Wondering
Children are amazed by the world that surrounds them.
In The Wonder Approach, Catherine L’Ecuyer highlights the importance of astonishment for the development of children and as a way to rescue their innate desire to learn.
She clarifies the dangers we expose our young children to with the excessive stimulation of screens and modern life. After, she proves the incredible power simple stimuli can have to enhance our imagination and our sense of wonder.
Therefore, before anything, we need to recover that capacity to wonder.
The Wonder approach
We must remember, every day after waking up, that we live in an astonishing universe filled with infinite nuances, many of them yet to be discovered.
And a lot of them are inside us. Each language and its culture can help us to get closer to those subtleties, so we can get to know them and make them bloom.
We need to be curious, about ourselves and about the world that surrounds us.
So ask yourself questions, non-stop, and keep your senses awake, ever-looking for answers.
What is this Spanish song about? What are the lyrics saying? How can I say “I love you” in Japanese?
What expressions should I use to express my anger in French? What are the typical Portuguese foods and how can I ask for them in Lisboa?
How can I explain my passion for languages in Arabic, Chinese or Russian?
“The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existence. One cannot help but be in awe when he contemplates the mysteries of eternity, of life, of the marvelous structure of reality. It is enough if one tries merely to comprehend a little of this mystery each day. Never lose a holy curiosity.”
Albert Einstein
4 basic skills
We are standing on the shoulders of giants.
The acquisition of proficiency in any discipline requires the development of a variety of skills. In traditional schools of language learning, those are normally reduced to four, that summarize the different situations in which we will need to use our knowledge of the language to understand or to express ourselves:
Reading (text, input), writing (text, output), listening (sound, input) and speaking (sound, output).
When doing any of these activities, keeping active an inquisitive attitude will help us to keep wondering.
When reading, we should be asking ourselves questions like:
What’s the meaning of that word?
How is she connecting those two paragraphs?
Why does it look like this sentence doesn’t make sense? Is it maybe an expression?
When listening:
How are they pronouncing that sound?
What’s the rythmn they’re giving to the full sentence?
How are they connecting the expressions and the gestures with what they are saying?
Then, we have to integrate the answers to our own practice, when we’re writing or speaking.
In doing so, probably more questions or doubts will come up. That is to say, new opportunities for learning.
In these multimedia times, it is more and more common that all of those skills get fired at the same time:
Maybe a friend is showing us a reel in Instagram, and then some comments to it, while he is waiting for some answers on our side, and maybe even asking out for some collaboration to write their own comment.
Mediation
Also, the European Frame and the Instituto Cervantes include a new skill: mediation.
In this globalized world, when we interact with people from other cultures, it is necessary to mediate cultural meanings, so that the context and the background of the message can be understood.
We find a very basic example when we are going to greet somebody. A British woman might be shocked if a Spanish man greets her with two kisses on the cheeks, and an Irish man could go through the same feelings if a French man says goodbye with a kiss on the cheek.
There’s where mediation is essential to avoid misunderstandings, to understand why people act like they do and how they see the world.
This proves that reading and listening are not totally passive, because we’re projecting our own worldview in every interaction.
As you probably already know, learning a language has many benefits. One of them, highlighted by mediation, is the capacity to put ourselves in each other’s shoes.
Therefore, by wondering about how other people and other cultures see the world, we unavoidably develop our empathy and our comprehension of both the world and people.
And that can only be good for ourselves and for everybody around us.
Aimed wonder
When we start to learn a new language, the amount of knowledge to be learnt can be overwhelming.
To help us with that, books and courses provide us with a structured pathway. Also, teachers can quickly point out with their expertise where our weak points are and what we should be paying attention to in order to improve.
Therefore, both of them can help us to aim our wonder more precisely.
Nevertheless, it’s very important to be conscious and remind ourselves why we want to learn this language every time we are going to use our energy to do it.
Are we trying to be able to have conversations with native speakers on our trip to Costa Rica? Do we want to read books or articles in Spanish?
Knowing what we want can help us focus on what we need. That way, it will be easier to aim our wonder precisely, even when we are learning on our own.
Now you know: aim your wonder and relentlessly shoot questions.
…………………………………………………………………
THE WPS SYSTEM
You can already read the second part here.
Do you want to read this article in Spanish?
