audiot

in the last entry i mentioned a very common mistake people make when they’re hiring a teacher. it’s simply a matter of what to expect. many people think that, as soon as they have a teacher, they’re off the hook – meaning they don’t have to learn it themselves. they rather think the teacher just fills their heads with the knowledge and the abilities needed in order to perform the task, like filling up an empty bottle – in which case there would be an active part (the teacher) and a passive part (the student). now this is exactly how it does not work. learning requires something from you. at the least it is to be (and stay) motivated and open-minded for the things to come. our brain wants to learn, it has a desire/an urge to learn – yes, yours as well – there’s just one catch: it has to be important!

when it comes to learning a new language, the vocabulary-drill is what people dislike the most. why is that? because it’s boring and not very effective. you’re reading a list of words over and over again, hoping to remember some of them in the end. your brain notices you don’t like it/find it boring, it concludes that this is not important for you and therefore goes into standby-mode. well, not exactly scientifically correct but something like that. now another example: imagine a campfire. now you reach out and hold your hand directly into the flame. in a split second you have learned something you will never forget for the rest of your life. that is efficiency. and why? because this lesson is important. now you don’t have to get wounded every time you want to learn something, it’s sufficient to just be motivated. make your brain believe that you want, want, want, want to learn this, that there’s nothing more important, sexy, joyful to you right now than this – and your brain will gladly comply.

now back to our question: you should expect from a teacher to show you what, why and how to do something in order to learn it. the doing itself though is up to you. of course he/she should know how to motivate, but with you giving a sh!+ about it, it’s all just wasted time…

a few more things: he/she should be able to protect you from doing harm to your voice, hands etc. and should know how to break things down into smaller steps or how to take a different approach if something is too difficult for you. he should answer your questions (ask them by the dozen – important !!! ). nobody knows everything but finding a way to solve your problems is his job. that’s one of the things i love most about teaching: questions i can’t answer right there, because that means i get to learn something too, yay!

and finally (for now…): it’s about you, not him!