The cards in life are dealt and you flip them over, what you see wasn’t your choice but everything from that moment onwards is.
You start a new course, or a new job and the training or induction is something you absolutely have no control of, so you take it and make the most of it. At times it’s sufficient and equips you well enough for the tasks that are to come. At other times, you have to improvise, innovate and even seek external interventions to accomplish your goal.
Why do we do this? As humans we are creatures of adaptation. It’s an amazing characteristic we possess and if often manifests across everything we do. Our social circles, work life, relationships and outer environment.
One of the remarkable skills I see in the people that seek our support is their excellent adaptability to how their cards were dealt. It’s not their fault their English teachers were not aware of the small yet significant aspects to language learning but despite that, they persevered. Almost every single one of them has taken their own path to speak with better clarity and confidence, through online resources, group activities and autodidactic study.
One of our students who I must admit is an incredibly diligent learner said something to me that stuck in my mind a little: ‘I wanted to learn a 3rd language but instead of speaking in my 2nd language with less confidence than I’d like, I decided to perfect my use of my 2nd language and THEN move to the third’. This display of clear self-reflection and willingness to take the future of his language skills in his own hands (through accent reduction) is an admirable display of courage in my opinion. He wishes to go further than where his language teachers took him.
I hope you enjoyed reading these thoughts and appreciations.