“Be careful what you wish for.”
Have you ever heard that expression?
Here’s an example.
A lot of people dream of working from home.
I did.
And now I do.
But, what usually happens is, around Tuesday afternoon, I start to wish there was a coffee machine down the hall where I could find Bob and we could talk about the game (even though I hate sports and I think Bob’s an idiot).
Well, two years ago I solved this problem by joining a co-working space. This is basically an office for people who don’t like offices.
(Nice irony, right?)
And it’s just like the real thing.
People interupt me…
I have conversations about fascinating topics like the weather…
Phones are constantly binging and buzzing and ringing…
It’s great!
Another benefit is we go to lunch together.
(Here’s where I steer this ship toward language.)
And the topic last week: Czech.
Someone said something like, “I need to study more.”
And I could instantly feel the chicken Pad Thai in my mouth turn sour.
I really hate that expression.
My goal in life is to erase it from the language like smallpox erased the Aztecs.
Imagine if someone said, “I really need to study yoga.”
You would think they were nuts, right?
And how successful do you think they would be solving their back problem?
Not at all.
Well, it’s the same with students who have the study-English mentality.
They sit in a classroom, they look at text books, they do exercises, they take tests…
But they never reach their goal of having easy, stress-free, enjoyable conversations.
And that’s a pity.
Instead, they should do English.
And you can discover how my students do English here.
