Me Talk Pretty One Day

We've talked a lot about language in class, and we've also talked a lot about learning. But we haven't really talked much about learning a language, which is a whole subject on it's own. Today in class we read Me Talk Pretty One Day, which presented an interesting take on learning.
My mom personally teaches languages, so I couldn't help but compare her to the teacher described in the story. The teacher is harsh and downright verbally abusive, but she makes her students determined to impress her.

So, eventually they learn to understand French. My mom is honestly really chill-she thinks learning a language should be fun. We learn how to speak phrases and how to understand conversations. Maybe, because she's so nice, people don't always take the class as seriously, but they don't cry to themselves at night.
Clearly there is more than one way to learn a language, but no matter how you learn it, what language you learn, or when you study it, there will be one thing in common with students: self doubt.
I find that teens especially already doubt their actions and are anxious about always being perfect. Switching to a new language, making mistakes, and sounding dumb make students reluctant to actually take on a foreign language. I don't think the teacher in the essay was particularly good at her job. Though the author figured out what she was saying, maybe the Polish Annas didn't. And for such a strict disciplinarian on proper verb tense, her students had awful grammar when they were speaking. But I do think a message can be taken from this.
The author felt dumb and anxious about speaking in public, because "I was convinced everything I was saying was wrong." He thought because his speaking wasn't perfect, he wasn't learning. Though his teacher certainly treated him as if he had to be perfect, her main goal was for him to understand. That is learning.