How Resting Can Help You Learn English.

Rest is a necessary part of development of any kind. Take, for example, a newborn baby. When a child first arrives in the world, he spends around 20 hours a day sleeping. It’s remarkable to observe. As a mom, you can start to think, “Is my child sleeping too much? Shouldn’t he be awake more, smiling and kicking and taking in the world?” The truth is, though, that the baby is developing, and that development takes a lot of rest.

Research shows that by the time a child reaches the age of 2, her brain is about 80% of the size of an adult brain. That is a substantial amount of growth that takes place in a relatively short amount of time. Despite the fact that the most prolific brain development we experience in life is before we reach the age of 2, children that age usually spend about half of their day sleeping. It seems counter-intuitive that rapid development would need that much rest.

What does this have to do with language learning? A great deal, actually. Many of you are in intensive langue learning environments. These are positive, overall. Language immersion programs are designed to submerge you in language so acquisition comes quickly and naturally. One downfall of this environment, however, is that some programs push their students to the point where there is no rest time. Some programs have their students studying and doing homework up to 18 hours a day. This gives no time for the individual to bounce back and rest so they can face another day of language learning with vigor.

If you sense that you are not getting enough “down time” in the midst of language learning, it might be a positive move for you to make time for rest. Take a day or two and completely rest from language learning. This will help establish a rhythm of growth that will actually push you forward.