Challenges of Learning from Home and How to Face Them

Learning from home can have really awesome benefits. It can be inexpensive to not pay for courses, and you can practice on your own time. If you’re catching on quickly, you can go at a more accelerated rate. On the other hand, if you need more time and practice, you can go slower. However, there are certainly challenges of learning from home that can be frustrating. If you’ve noticed yourself hitting a speed bump on your road to bilingualism, check out our tips to overcoming these challenges of learning from home.

Forgetting to practice

When you’re in an in-person class, there’s someone making sure that you practice. You go to school at a scheduled time, so you can’t forget to practice. At home, there are tons of demands and distractions that can make it easy for Spanish to slip your mind. All of a sudden, the day is over and you haven’t touched your Spanish books or activities. It can become difficult to make learning from home a habit and fit it in to your busy day.

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A good way to work on this is by scheduling this time into your calendar. That way, instead of telling yourself “I’ll do it when I feel like it later”, it’s a scheduled part of your day, just like other tasks and appointments. By having a scheduled time that you’ve set aside to practice, you will notice that you’ve been more diligent with it.

Not knowing if you’re pronouncing a word correctly

If you aren’t around many native speakers, it can make it much harder to practice speaking. If you’re reading and come across a new word, you might not be sure how to pronounce it. Even worse, you might feel silly if you say it wrong when you get a chance to use it.

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When you come across a new word that you aren’t sure how to say, you can put it into a translator and have your phone or computer play it for you. This way, you can hear a native speaker pronounce the word, and you won’t have to wonder if you’re mispronouncing it anymore. Listen to the voice say the word, and repeat it out loud a few times. You’ll feel much more confident when you get to say it in a conversation!

Other challenges with learning from home

Some other common challenges include losing motivation, feeling frustrated that you aren’t making enough progress, and being overwhelmed with how much you still have to learn. Next time you feel this way, take a few minutes to practice mindfulness. Spending a few minutes grounding yourself and reflecting on the present can definitely help you feel more confident and relaxed. When in doubt, spend a few minutes to reset before tackling your next task.