Hello, my name is Rosi. I am a language tutor and development manager at Lingo Flamingo. Today I'm going to talk to you about the very first class that we run with a new group of learners in a care setting. 

00:18 

Over the years we have developed and, you know, offered a lot of taster sessions, which are the very first class that people take in a foreign language with us. These sessions are, for many, something really completely new, because they perhaps have never had the opportunity to, you know, travel abroad, or be exposed to a different language, or have never had the opportunity to learn a second language before. 

00:52 

For some others that maybe have done some French or German in school, these experience of a foreign language workshop, might still sound quite daunting, because maybe they have memories from school that are not so positive, due to the fact that the methods used in the past were not as nurturing as they are in schools today. 

01:18 

So it is important to be aware that it's very common to come across an initial fear and anxiety in senior learners towards this type of activity, or any activity that might be different from what they know, or they are accustomed to.

01:37

Now, how do we overcome this fear and anxiety? The first thing to do is just simply to clarify that the activity is not a school type or back-to-school type of activity. It's just something new and different that we offer to have some fun together. 

02:02

It's like a cultural trip where we come together and share information about a different culture and a different language, but in a fun, interactive way, so it's really just an opportunity to enjoy ourselves together while we learn something new.

Return to Activity 7.0, Audio 1: Overcoming Anxiety