Changing Your Attitude Towards Language Learning
Amilcar: I came here with no English. Yeah, and five years- five years after I came, I start teaching English. So …
Anya: How did you feel about it? Because …
Amilcar: Yeah, I know. Yeah, of course, I’m so proud- I’m so proud about that -uh, but not only proud, I said, “That could be an example that somebody who hate the language, who never wanted to do it, had to do it …
Carin: And enjoy it.
Amilcar: … and could do it.”
Carin: And enjoy it! Yeah.
Anya: So, do- so I understand that you change your attitude towards English now, um, from not liking English to liking English now. Is that what happened?
Amilcar: Yeah. It’s the same- uh, I remember one day I told you, I love the snow. I know the- the snow days and the cold weather and I wanna be a Si- Siberian.
Carin: You want to go to Siberia? I can arrange that!
Amilcar: But, I come from- I come from a tropical country. Never seen the snow for many years because never snow in Guatemala. And of course, when I came here, I hate it. I said, “Oh, that- it’s so cold.”
Amilcar: I remember in 1998, the winter that time was more than 20 inches of snow. So, I was so cold and, uh, and this is the- the way- the way I’m thinking about correlating the English with the weather.
Amilcar: I hate it for a few years and then I said, “If I continue hating this, I’m gonna be suffering all the time.”
Anya: Yes.
Amilcar: So I better start seeing the good ways, the good thing that the- these things. And now I love it! The opposite way, absolutely. Yeah.
Anya: This is very powerful, what you are saying. Uh, changing the attitude.
Amilcar: Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Anya: Uh, changing the way you look at this because you’re right, if you get up every morning when it’s winter in Chicago, and you look outside and you hate every single minute of it, so what good it does to you, right?
Amilcar: Yeah. Mm-hmm.
Anya: So it’s bad energy, it’s bad day, um, you spread bad vibes out for people around you. And nobody’s having good time, including yourself.
Amilcar: Yeah.
Vocabulary:
attitude – a settled way of thinking, feeling, or approaching a situation, which usually shows in a person’s behavior, “If you want to pass this difficult course, you need to change your negative attitude toward studying.”
arrange that – (idiom) to plan, organize, or make the necessary preparations for a specific event or action to happen, “If you want to see the new museum exhibition this weekend, I can easily arrange that for us.”
tropical country – a nation located near the Earth’s equator, characterized by a warm, humid climate and a distinct lack of winter snow, “Coming from a tropical country, she had never seen a frozen lake or worn a heavy winter coat before.”
correlating – connecting, linking, or showing a mutual relationship between two or more distinct things, “The research paper focused on correlating poor sleep habits with lower test scores in high school.”
suffering – experiencing severe physical or mental pain, constant distress, or emotional hardship, “He was suffering from a terrible headache and couldn’t focus on the computer screen.”
absolutely – completely, totally, or used to express exceptionally strong agreement with a statement, “The presentation was absolutely brilliant, and the clients loved every minute of it.”
powerful – having a very strong, meaningful, or deep emotional effect on someone’s thoughts and perspective, “The documentary about world peace delivered a powerful message that moved many viewers to tears.”
spread bad vibes – (idiom) to project, communicate, or pass on a negative, pessimistic, or hostile emotional energy to the people around you, “Complaining loudly about the workload all morning will only spread bad vibes throughout the entire office.”
including yourself – containing or taking into account the specific person being spoken to; not leaving anyone out of the group, “This mandatory safety rule applies to everyone entering the laboratory, including yourself.”