This blog post is an my own language learning goals and progress.
Read on to hear about
- what happened in my life and business so far this year
- which languages Iām learning and how Iām doing in them
- which courses Iām taking and creating
- what Iām planning to do next!
Iāll be referring to January-March as āQ1ā from here on, since it was the first quarter of 2021.
Lockdown Language Life in Q1 2021
I live in the UK, and our winter was not exciting. Shortly after the new year started, our country went into a pretty strict coronavirus lockdown which is only now beginning to ease.
Cueā¦another 3 months spent in and around the home. Iām unbelievably lucky to have space and quiet available in my home, and the rules allowed for just enough outdoor activity to help me avoid loneliness and depression.
I am so happy to know that our vaccine programme is progressing well, and the relief itās going to bring vulnerable people, their carers, and all who work in healthcare.
We held another Women in Language online conference!
Letās start with the biggest event first: Women in Language 2021! The conference was another smash hit and we learnt SO much over the course of 4 days - itās impossible to sum up everything, but here are some of my personal highlights.
- KachƩ Knowles from The Bahamas helped us kick off the event in the best possible, sunniest, most celebratory mood. I loved her energy!
- I moderated the āLanguage Learning in Australiaā panel and learnt just SO much about languages down under from Michele Frolla, Bec Howie & Karla Zuluaga. Australia is a 360 degree language space with so many indigenous, regional, and immigrant languages. Wow wow! Loved it!
- We added our first ever bilingual presentations with contributions in Spanish, French and Mandarin
We had an entrepreneurial streak running through many presentations, including
- Inspired Teachers Create Inspired Learners! by English language icon Lindsay McMahon
- A 5-Step Manifesto on Becoming a Language Teacher Rebel by Swedish teacher and Author Anneli Haake
- A wonderful conversation on Mindset and Self-Worth as you grow your language business by Gwyneth Jones & Marija Dobrovolska I found myself engaged and excited for the many baby language businesses in the chatroom, loving the opportunity to share my knowledge through mentoring.
Stats round-up: 599 participants, 34 speakers, 56 countries, 1145 Facebook group comments over 4 days. PHEW! It is really cool to see more and more men attending this event each year.
Mobile Mentoring by Kerstin Cable
Through February, I have been quietly trying out a new mentoring offer for online teachers and Iām so excited to share that this is now LIVE! I have offered coaching/mentoring for online teachers for a few years now. Itās the perfect mix of
- Talking shop
- Helping language business owners find the answers that they need for all those decisions about prices, offers, marketing and more
- Lighting that fire of excitement in them about the many fantastic ways they can create a business that makes a difference in the world (and makes some money, that's important too)
Long story short, you should consider booking one!
Itās a 1:1 deal with a twist: you get a whole day with me and weāll be chatting via voice message! Want to learn a little more and try it out? Hereās my booking page link!
Learning Languages in Lockdown 3
When you donāt plan ahead and set myself manageable goals, you donāt achieve as much either.
But when languages are a habit and always form part of your life, you never stand still even in a super busy month.
Closing the 书 on Chinese for now
At the end of last year, I had just completed level HSK 1 in Mandarin Chinese and I wasnāt sure whether to take it any further. Well, after sitting on a very vague intention to do something or other with Chinese, in the end I decided it was time to pack it in.
I am really happy that I took 2020 to learn my first East Asian language, and Iāll happily return to Chinese at some point in the future. I didnāt find it scary or uninteresting, but equally I never quite found my Chinese passion either.
Guess for now weāll choose to stay friends. č°¢č°¢for the good times, äøęļ¼
La signora nuova on the sceneā¦itās Italian!!
One of the reasons I wanted to let go of Chinese was to create space for just one of the many languages on my list: Italian! I studied Italian for 2 years as a teenager and Iāve got plenty of cross-language skills from learning other Romance languages over the years. But speaking Italian? Quasi ninety!
In 2021, Iām finally spending a little time with Italian again. I had a really lovely time with it in the late 90s, so I'm looking forward to playing around with Italian again!
Iām not ready to speak to anyone quite yet, but will get there in the next 3 months. Until then, Iām working with my own Vocab Checklist to build a bank of essential phrases and listening to a few learner-friendly podcasts to get into the groove.
Want to find out what I love for learning Italian? Click here to view my page for Italian learners!
My 6th Year of Learning Welsh (Y 6ed blwyddyn yn dysgu Cymraeg)
I love learning Welsh! Yes, even 6 years in I still do. My language level is B2, and I reached it without ever pushing super hard. I have so much fun with Welsh.
My attendance at the Advanced 1 course continues, a friendly weekly evening with other learners. Iām the only one who is joining the group from England, so Iām getting a great treat here from the 2020 online lessons.
My Welsh conversation skills and my grammar have improved. I now feel more confident and competent expressing myself in the language, and I CANNOT WAIT for everyoneās vaccinations and all those festivals and trips Iām going to enjoy after covid. Cāmon, world!
Also on the Scene: Le FranƧais
In French, Iām in the lucky position that Iāve got a strong basis to fall back onto even if I donāt study for ages. In Q1, I practiced my French mostly with Call My Agent/Dix Pour Cent on Netflix, and in March by listening to Cathy Introās awesome My Polyglot Life podcast.
Every now and then, I practice speaking or writing French but itās not at the top of my priority list.
Want to find out what I love for learning French? Click here to view my page for French learners!
In Conclusion: Steady Effort Wins for Me
Thatās it for reviewing my Q1! After many months thinking Iām ready to move on from Chinese for now, Iāve finally done it. It feels good to have taken the pressure off myself, though I want to continue to look beyond Europe for my language education in the future.
A 4th language Iām eager to learn is BSL (British Sign Language), but Iāve decided Iād like to start that in an offline class so itās on hold for obvious reasons.
2021 is off to a great start, with a successful Women in Language event under our belt, and Iām excited to dive into more support for online teachers and language entrepreneurs through my mobile mentoring days.
Courses & Classes I Use for Languages
- A few italki lessons in Chinese and Welsh
- In Chinese, lessons used this (not so riveting) textbook and sometimes I also used Assimil Chinese False Beginners which is a good resource
- Welsh for Adults Uwch 1, where weāre also reading Cyffeision Saesnes Yng Nghymru
- The Intrepid Guide Italian course
- Bought Italian Tutor (not started yet)
- Using my own Language Habit Toolkit to stay organised
- For added input, I watch Yabla, listen to breakfast radio on Radio Cymru and watch the odd show on S4C
Believe it or not, I donāt watch YouTube. some of these links above are affiliate links
Courses & Programmes I Created / Promoted
- Women in Language 2021 (our 4th one)
- Mobile Mentoring for language teachers and businesses
- A new live round of the Language Habit Toolkit (including BINGO with prizesā¦I love games!)
- How to Get Fluent When Lifeās Chaotic (free class, link coming soon)
Blogs & Podcasts
- Language Coaches: What They Are and How to Work With Them
- The Languages of Western and Central Asia with Erin Morgan
- Our big line-up of Words of the Year 2020
- The amazing story of how your brain processes code-switching
- 5 Ways to Set Your Language Goals for 2021
- Top Tools: Winter of 2021
- Stylistics: The Science of Hemingway and The Wire
This post is part of the #clearthelist round-up hosted by Shannon Kennedy and Lindsay Williams. I used to do these check-ins on a monthly basis, but since Iāve found relaxing the pace recently, I decided that a quarterly check-in is just as good.
The world is feeling like that cloud over our heads is starting to move a little. What about you? Do you feel the same? Leave me a comment below if you have any thoughts or questions for me!