I’ve read that when the Zen master Dogen was asked how he achieved enlightenment he said it was easy,
It was just one mistake after another.
Yes! And that’s why I love Duolingo (paid version). There are no tests or penalties for mistakes, all one needs is persistence. If you make a lot of mistakes in one session it simply congratulates you for powering through. The teacher of The Great Courses Plus program on Spanish says there are two ways of learning another language: (1) memorizing vocabulary and rules, or (2) the “that sounds about right” method. Duolingo lets me do it the second way. It gradually exposes us to new vocabulary and grammar with very little explanation. Then it has interactive exercises for us to do. If we don’t know the answer we can even write it down when they tell us and repeat it back when they ask the question again later. Sooner or later a lot of it sinks in. It’s the way we learned our first language as a kid, and there’s absolutely no pressure, except to keep our daily streak going.
It turns out pushing through to the end of Section 8 was a good thing for me to do. I can now go back to any of the previous lessons and repeat them… before we could only repeat the ones in our current section. I’m weak on verb tenses so now I can find the relevant lessons and review them as much as I like until they become natural. Just one mistake after another until it sinks in.
June 9, 2024
That’s my way of learning.
Kindred spirits!
love mistakes
that’s how I found that I love tearing up paper and then gluing it back down on other paper 🙂 It really helps this maker who has a lot of trouble with her hands/steadying objects including rulers!
Yes. 🙂
Learning by mistakes comes make us remember better.
Yes!
this sounds a lot like me banging on garage band. we all have to find the thing we like to do.. like tearing paper in pieces and pasting it on other paper. I do that in picmonkey
Yes!
…I use the “that sounds about right” method.
I love that description. And I love this way of learning a lot more than the way Spanish was taught in high school.
Keep it up!
Thanks!
That is a good motto. When I was teaching, I could never understand why so many of my colleagues gave grades on homework for right or wrong. As a math teacher, the purpose of homework for me was to see if the students understood what was taught that day. It was for their benefit and mine. A completion grade – yes, but no deduction for getting something wrong that was actually attempted even if not correctly.
Good for you! I wish more teachers did that.
Misteaks help us learn … sorry … mistakes.
God bless.
😀
This reminds me of a sign that resonates: “Everything is hard before it becomes easy.”
🙂
Here’s to mistakes, I’ve sure made my share!
Yes, a toast to all of them!