Do you think of the ingredients, the utensils?

• flour
• butter
• milk
• mixing bowl
• sponge tins

Or do you go straight to the finished result - the fragrant smell; the butter cream and raspberry filling oozing from between the two golden-light sponges? The perfect Victoria sponge just waiting to be consumed!

And what springs to your mind when you think about learning a language. (Some of you may have said pain, boredom, a depressing sense of failure. Sorry! I didn't mean to leap to the negative but language learning does bring back bad memories for some of us - usually associated with school days.)

Do you think of:

• grammar?
• lists of irregular verbs?
• lists of words organized in topics?
• snippets of the language presented in written dialogues?

Or do you go straight to the finished result - you ordering your meal in Spanish, asking questions about items on the menu and joking with the waiter; you falling into conversation with the Spanish couple at the next table; you speaking comfortably, if not faultlessly, in your desired language?

What makes learning a language like baking a cake?

The parts as opposed to the whole!

Language courses traditionally emphasize the process - they deconstruct the language, break it into bits, grade them for difficulty and serve them up as part of a process that, by default, suggests that the content of chapter 24 is hard, whilst the content of chapter 1 is easier.

"So what!" you may say. When you bake a cake you have to start with the components and you combine them in a certain order. But do you?

Who says any one ingredient is more crucial than another? And you may well just chuck them all in the blender together and still get an excellent result.

In fact the proof of the pudding (the cake) is in the eating.

But is the same true for language learning?

Do we, at the end of our Spanish course, attain that wonderful sense of fulfilment? Do we go forth and confidently speak?

Not as often as we should.

And why? Because we're too caught up in the process, we focus on the parts and not the whole and have we got each part right.

This is the legacy of the way the language was presented to us.

So how can you bake your cake and eat it over and over again with total satisfaction?

Lose the bit by bit - this bit is harder than that bit - mentality.

Chuck all the ingredients into the mixing bowl and give them a good stir.

"But I can't!" you cry in horror. "There's all that grammar stuff to get to grips with." Relax! The moment you ask for something and say "I would like…" you've engaged with that grammar stuff.

And I bet you got used to that little phrase really quickly and quite painlessly. So see the finished result - you in the restaurant ordering and asking questions about local dishes.

Go straight for the cake and don't get hung up on the ingredients!

ASSUMPTION CHECKER

So what are your assumptions about learning a language? You may not even realize you had made any - that's the thing about assumptions, they're sneaky!

Consider the following questions. They may help you identify unhelpful assumptions.

[ ] There are easy and hard things within a language.

[ ] You should start with the easier things and work your way up to the harder things.

[ ] You need to understand grammar before you can make progress.

[ ] If you're not okay with grammar you won't get far with the language.

[ ] Some people are just no good at languages.

If none of these points apply, but the activity has got you thinking why not make your own ASSUMPTION CHECKER?

If you would like to share your views and experiences about learning a language, or ask for help and advice then visit: http://learningcurveforlanguages.co.uk and listen to Barbara's message.