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Whether you¡¯re picking up Spanish for travel, Mandarin for business or French just for fun, you¡¯re not only expanding your communication skills, you¡¯re also giving your brain a powerful workout. But what actually happens inside your brain when you learn a language??

The brain¡¯s language centers

Your brain is made up of many parts and two areas are significant for language:

• : Located in the frontal lobe, this region helps you produce speech and form sentences.
• : Found in the temporal lobe, this area helps you understand spoken and written language.

When you start learning a new language, these areas get busy. They work together to help you listen, speak, read and write in your new language (Friederici, 2011).

Anandi Vara was trained in teaching English in Kathmandu, Nepal before teaching at a monastery in Pokhara. There she taught students ranging from six to 10 years of age, both in groups and individually. Here she reveals the lessons she learned during her time there?¨C including how to avoid being perturbed by a cockroach attack.

Whatever you do: don¡¯t freak out

It just makes everything worse. It¡¯s easy for things to get overwhelming ¨C a sense that can be made worse by the feeling of homesickness, especially if it¡¯s your first time living abroad ¨C but thinking rationally, and getting to the source of what¡¯s causing the worry, usually helps. It¡¯s important, as you don't want to share your fear in lessons because you¡¯re the teacher and need to show confidence.

This was, however, tested to the limit when I had a cockroach dangled in front of my face. It took all my strength to stay calm. I gave an unimpressed look, thereby establishing myself as the figure of authority, which seemed to work.

Be aware of cultural traditions

It is important to remember that every country has its own traditions. I was teaching in a monastery, so I made sure to wear respectful clothing, even in the face of soaring temperatures. The more I learned about the Tibetan culture, the more fascinated I became by it. The students taught me how to write my name in Tibetan and the meaning behind it. I learned about Tibetan history and Tibetan culture.

I also found that the more I showed willingness to learn about the Tibetan culture, the more I bonded with the students, so that when it was time to teach, the students were more cooperative in lessons, engaging and participating more.

Teaching is two-way learning

There is so much I learned teaching abroad, both in the classroom and out. Making mistakes as you begin is only natural, but it¡¯s whether you can learn from these mistakes that counts. No two students are ever the same so it¡¯s a constant process of learning as you go. As a result, I learned about the environment I was in ¨C from traditional prayer ceremonies to the Tibetan alphabet?¨C and about myself, notably organizational skills and a renewed curiosity about the English language.

Be Flexible

Sometimes it doesn¡¯t matter if you¡¯ve planned your lesson down to the smallest detail ¨C if it doesn¡¯t take, then it doesn¡¯t take. I was only 10 minutes into a lesson once and I could tell that I was beginning to lose the students¡¯ attention. Not only did it show that they were uninterested, it also distracted me from what I was doing. It was at this point that I threw out my existing plan and tried a whole new lesson: I had the students up on their feet and engaging with each other and, although completely improvised, it was very successful.

Patience is a must

During my one-on-one mentoring session, my student seemed to have no motivation. He wasn¡¯t learning as well as the other students and had therefore given up. No matter what I tried, he refused to cooperate, but I didn¡¯t let it put me off. I kept trying different methods until finally finding one that he responded to. I made sentence structuring into a game. It wasn¡¯t anything fancy and consisted of scraps of paper with words written on them.

Although it took a lot of time to find the right angle, it was worth it because he soon realised that although it might take longer for him to pick things up, he would eventually get there and have a greater sense of accomplishment.

Assessment has the power to change lives, and good assessment can make that change positive and rewarding. To provide good assessments, it¡¯s vital to understand who our young learners ¨C particularly 5¨C8-year-olds ¨C are developmentally. This age group exhibits specific characteristics that can guide the creation of meaningful assessments:

1. They¡¯re often doing something for the first time.
2. Their interest shifts from self to a wider social interest.
3. They tire more from sitting than running.
4. They respond well to stories, gestures, and pictures.
5. They love to play, use fantasy, and have fun.
6. They¡¯re not yet familiar with the alphabet or phonemes.
7. They¡¯re forming beliefs about themselves and their abilities.

(P. McKay, 2006)
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