When I was new to the Cardlanger Academy, I got a part-time job as a page. I had to run messages back and forth between different administrators and different departments. In one department in particular, I had a formative experience I’ll never forget.
The Department of Language Learning was charged specifically with learning new languages (including the languages of our enemies), deciding which languages would be taught in the school, how best to study them and so on.
There, I got to know the secretary, who was so eager to learn the ropes; the director, who really drove things with zeal and fresh ideas; and the dean, who didn’t rest on his expertise, always trying for that last one percent. It seemed like little could go wrong and the department was set up for greatness.
But years later, after I had graduated, I decided to visit the Academy again, the departments I used to frequent, and the people who used to inspire me, and, unfortunately, I found that things had fallen apart. The secretary had basically given up, she appeared to have lost faith in herself. The director’s usual creative zest and energy had dissipated. The dean was asleep, with his feet up on the desk in the morning hours!
I didn’t have time to figure out what had happened and I didn’t want to pry. One-by-one, I smiled at them, shook their hands, we reminisced, and I asked for their cards so we could stay in touch.
I knew there was a lesson to be learned here. When I went home, I mulled it over. I spun and flipped each card in my hand, while I contemplated the devolution of each person. All of them had encountered a hidden pitfall they did not expect, which led to catastrophe.
And then it hit me: every card had two sides and an edge that was hard to balance on. The cards became a metaphor. Each member of the department, at different stages of their journey, balanced on a razor’s edge between success and failure, and toppled to failure.
I wrote “motivation” and “stopping” on the front and back of the secretary’s card, “momentum” and “stalling” on the front and back of the director’s card, and “mastery” and “sleeping” on the front and back of the dean’s card. These became known as “The Three Razors of Language Learning,” later codified in one of my most popular courses that I offered to students, who later went on to revive that crumbled department.
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from Failte royd | Languagelearning https://ift.tt/35NDWPl
via Learn Online English Speaking
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