Entertainment

Tuesday, 12 May, 2015 - 20:16

Lists and learning

by KatB

Most of us are familiar with the concept of a list. 

A list can be long or short, hurriedly hand-written on a torn piece of scrap paper or typed, printed and laminated. And as for the contents of a list, the possibilities are endless! From the humble shopping list, to the procrastinator's best friend, the 'To Do' list, there's even a whole film dedicated to the most ambitious type of list - namely, The Bucket List. (Starring Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson, it's well worth a watch.) 

I, too, have a list. This particular list is around as long as my arm, and still growing. It's a list of all the things I would like to learn, given the opportunity. The list includes scuba-diving, roller skating, sign language and how to play the saxophone - to name but a few! 

There is no rhyme nor reason to this list; it's just a completely random selection of skills which I currently lack. And sometimes, looking at the list makes me feel somewhat useless. I don't know first aid, I can't sew or knit and I wouldn't have a clue how to change a tyre. 

But over the course of my time as a teaching assistant in Germany, I appear to have accidentally picked up some skills I otherwise never would have practised: learning how to plan and lead lessons, speaking more German than I ever have in my entire life and finally understanding the finer technicalities of English grammar. Well, almost. 

So maybe it's time to start another list, one of all the things I have learnt how to do; after all, it's important to have goals, but it's just as important to appreciate what you are already good at, especially on the days where you lose sight of how far you've come.

Plus, there's still plenty of time to learn the saxophone. Or maybe I'll start with the triangle and build up from there ... Watch this space!

Language level
Discussion

Do you write lists? What do you want to learn how to do? 

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