PILAT Day 1

Maybe I can do this after all! Today was our first day of PILAT at Mission Training International. This is a two week language acquisition course designed to help your mind and mouth get ready to learn a new language. My brain is full from the first day but I feel like my perspective on language learning is starting to change just a bit. I remember when I was taking violin lessons and my instructor was trying to help me learn pitch by playing different notes and having me pay attention to the distinctions. I never could hear as well as he wanted me to which was really frustrating. I have tended to have the same fear for language learning: I wouldn’t be very good at it because I don’t have a good ear and I don’t remember things as quickly or as well as others. I have just had apprehensions about the whole process. One of the big things that has started to be built by this time at MTI is the confidence that I can learn a new language. It is part of being human, and I am human therefore I can do it! Perhaps not right away or as quickly as some people. But God has put inside each of us the brain and the mouth and the ears to learn language. I have a long ways to go, but that is why I am here!