[Ed.33] 3 short exercises you can do today to get fluent, properly —
— and why a creative approach to language learning will sustain you through the hard times. Olea W4, 2024.
Buongiorno,
This is Oliva Italia speaking - my newfound Italian identity. What’s going on, Olive? I might hear you ask. Well, girls and boys, in 10 days’ time Oliva Italiana has an interview at Cambridge’s Faculty of Education to train as an *MFL teacher. But they don’t offer Mandarin. So voilà, here we are, trying to get fluent in Italian in 10 days.
I’ve approached languages differently from my linguistic peers, mainly because I absolutely loath grammar. I like to breathe a language, to explore right into the cracks and adopt the mindset of the people. I’ll outline exactly what I’m doing in detail later, but essentially, I am taking an entirely creative approach to my Italian journey, and having a ton of fun in the process.
The timing of this MFL interview isn’t amazing; the 33rd cohort of Accelerate Cambridge kicked off at Judge Business School on Thursday so I’m desperately trying to get Olea standing on her feet again. Sales of Private Joke are poop so I’m desperate trying to push Olea Createathons - workshops for schools and companies. Anyway, I’ll get to that later as it’s stressful and makes me sad. Let’s dive in.
*MFL = Modern Foreign Languages.
On ze agenda:
Goals: 22-28 Jan
Olea’s WoW
Get fluent, properly
Upcoming events
Bisous, bye
Goals: 22-28 Jan
1/ Marketing
Recruiting Olea Ambassador Team 2.0!
Over the weekend I interviewed all candidates for Team 2.0, and will make an announcement on Wednesday to show you their wonderful faces. They are all in their final year of university, so I’ve made adjustments to the program to allow for more flexibility. We’ll have Olea teams in: Cambridge, Manchester and Bristol!
I’m still looking for a pair of Ambassadors in both London and Paris, so will keep the Ambassador application form open. If you want to apply, but have burning questions, reach out to me for a chat! Or apply direct here.
Uploading daily Olea content to our Instagram. (@olea.education)
We are at 260 followers, but hey, everyone has to start somewhere. Keep sending us your invented words! I share weekly insights of Accelerate Cambridge ongoings on behind the scenes footage, language learning hacks (in collab with my personal IG) and the value PJ brings.
Twitter (twitter.com/OleaEducation) et al.
An EdTech startup on my JBS cohort told me all the teachers (& nearly all of their workshops) were booked through teachers on Twitter. So, I’m back on Twitter too. Unsure how to manage content across LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. I can use the same content, but adapted.
LinkedIn: Olea Createathons for companies (team building, culture strengthening, intercultural communication, fostering creativity). Personal branding and showcasing knowledge expertise.
Facebook & Twitter: Olea Createathons for schools (deepening language motivation, strengthening confidence, taking a creative approach, careers)
Instagram: Demonstrating the value of PJ to your everyday dudes and dudettes. Personal branding and showcasing language knowledge expertise.
Olea website.
Ouf. Still shit. It looks like I’ll need to find 10k GBP to build the site I want: where you guys can can invent your own words, engage with the community, and some more (secret) ideas I have to facilitate language learning creatively. Anyone want to invest?
2/ Sales
Olea Createathons.
Goal by 28/01: To have contacted 35 companies.
Grrr I want to do at least one of these when I am in Paris 15-17 Feb! Cold sales to the French, ouf. I’m simultaneously pitching these to the founders of companies I meet through Accelerate Cambridge.
3/ ISMLA Conference
On Sat 27th Jan, I will be attending the ISMLA Conference in London. There will be hundreds of MFL departments in attendance and I cannot bloody wait! Next week I finalise the marketing, brochures, and set up a system to funnel schools. Objectives:
To book in 10 calls with schools.
To hand out all 200 stickers & gifted Olea merchandise.
To sell at least 1 PJ schools bundle (5 games for 150 GBP).
To get some great content of the event & go deeper into PJ’s value to MFL departments by eliciting the real problems faced by MFL teachers.
4/ Event Partnerships
We have two twin Galentine’s Day events coming up in Paris and Cambridge. Events include a Girls Night In game, drinks and snacks. I am looking for a sponsor for both of these events, and hope to lock the Cambridge one into place next week.
Date night with the girls, done right. Play Private Joke. Explore languages. Drink wine.
Weds 13 Feb 📍 Cambridge
37.50 GBP | Register here
Fri 16 Feb | 📍 Paris
37.50 GBP | Register here
5/ Settling in Cambridge
So happy to be back I’ve cried happy tears twice. The first was my first night back in Cambridge after unpacking my new bedroom which is so cosy and stuffed with all my books. The second was arriving at Judge Business School for the first day of the Accelerator on Thursday. My cohort is great and I’ve made some pals already. 🥰
Olea’s WoW
WoW: Word of the Week. Send us your invented words and we will display them on the IG for all to see! ❤️
Get fluent, properly
The following three exercises won’t take long. Find yourself a cosy space, carve out an hour or two, get some colourful pens, make a nice oat latte, andddd breathe. These are intended for learners at the very beginning of their language journey. They seek to deepen your relationship with your new language which, in the long run, fosters stronger intrinsic motivation to sustain you through the tough times.
1/ Create a persona.
Identity is overlooked in the school curriculum. (Petit digression: When I become an MFL teacher I am going to shake things the f*ck up.) Creating an identity in your target language is SO IMPORTANT. The only thing I knew in Italian before I started was “tutti fruiti”. I have no idea where it came from, but it sounds great. I Google translated how to say Italian Olive, and it came back Oliva Italiana. To me, that also sounds great. Very musical, very passionate, very Olivey. 🫒 And hence, Tutti Fruiti with Oliva Italiana was born. See my personal IG for more on this.
Buy a new notepad & design the cover with your new persona.
Persona brainstorming: create a new name for yourself using inspiration from your target language.
Imagine yourself speaking that language. This persona seeks to enrich who you are; the new language will elicit parts of yourself that you didn’t know existed.
2/ Breathe the language.
Now that you have created your new persona, you can start to explore the soul of the language. I rave about chunking: learning entire sentences of a language (derived from songs, idiomatic expressions, Netflix series etc). With Italian, I learned 5 expressions that resonate with me, and 12 words that do not exist in English.
By doing this, it allowed me to start understanding Italian culture (feels like pasta is at the heart of everything lol) and how Italians think. As my language skills develop, I can adopt this mindset (as Oliva Italiana) and I’ll speak like an Italian, not a Brit who is learning Italian. These first initial words can be found here.
Search idioms / common expressions and learn 5 by heart.
Search words in “x” language that do not exist in “x” (English) and learn 12.
Reinforce vocab retention through Quizlet, or writing small notes around the house. I might get the below tattooed on me somewhere I love it that much.
🇮🇹 Veni, vidi, vici.
🏴 I came, I saw, I conquered.
3/ Visualise. Manifest.
My favourite thing to do when starting a new language journey is sketching a multilingual timeline. The timeline allows you to visualise the time it takes to integrate a new language into your life, and to accept that it can be a long, yet beautiful process.
But such is life that we do not know what is around the corner. The timeline allows you to manifest this motivation - if you see the language journey sustained over the long run, and refer back to your timeline, it will help motivate you towards reaching your end goal, whatever that might be.
For me, learning a language looks like the growth of a tree. I sketched my languages in the following colours: English ⬛️ | French 🟦 | Mandarin 🟥 | Italian 🟩 .
⬛️ English is the core, and will always be the foundation of my soul.
🟦 As I become evermore emotionally involved in France, the language, its people, and way of life, I feel my roots becoming French. Overtime, I imagine French protecting and cushioning my soul; I like being Queen of Franglais and the side of me that the French language brings out.
🟥 Mandarin. Hmm, well those who know me personally know that my love-hate relationship with China is volatile. I walked away from this language, but expect to come back to it at some point in my life - likely for work. Financially, China enabled me to stand on my two feel and granted me flexibility, so I owe it that.
🟩 Oliva Italianaaaa!! Starting Italian aged 28 is proving FUN. If Cambridge accept me onto the PGCE course, then I will likely have to reach at least B1 by September (I think). That’s enough motivation in itself. The use of Italian? Beauty. Enjoying the way of life, the food, and bringing Olea to Italian education.
As these languages collide at the end of the timeline, they become a big mix. Ultimately, that is my soul, blended by all these beautiful languages and the parts of me they draw out.
Upcoming events
Sun 28th Jan @ Fort St George, Cambridge 📍🇬🇧
First Cambridge Language Corner in Cambridge at Fort St George from 7-9pm. All are welcome whether you speak one language or ten. The idea of these is to inspire others to learn your favourite language, and share the language luv. Register here!
Thurs 15th Feb @ La Felicita, Paris 📍🇫🇷
Following the success of last week’s language corner, we’ll be having another in February as I head back to Paris from 15-17 Feb. Register here.
Galentine’s Day
Tues 13th Feb 📍🇬🇧 Cambridge
Fri 16th Feb 📍🇫🇷 Paris
Suffice to say I cannot bloody wait for Galentine’s Day. There will be two sister events in both Cambridge in Paris during which participants will get a Girls Night In Private Joke game. Tickets are available via Eventbrite.
Bisous, bye
Christ on a bike I am knackered. You can help relieve my exhaustion by helping Olea’s mission in the following ways …
MFL Teachers: Check out our school package deal here. We trialled PJ in a number of schools across the UK in December with enormous success; on our site you’ll be able to see teacher and student testimonials.
Companies: Invest in an Olea Createathon for your team and I’ll help strengthen intercultural communication and collaboration as well as your creative edge. Reach out to me at olivia@oleaeducation.com to book!
Engage with our Instagram! So Gen Z, I know. But this is the best way to show PJ games in action, send in your invented words, and get people excited about (foreign) languages! Instagram is here.
That’s all from me this week.
Bisous, ciao, byeeee & 拜拜
❤️, 🫒