Working From Home. Is it what it's cracked-up to be ?

That's such a coincidence Michael I thought I was alone in this. Since being a child I've always felt connected to my distant French ancestry ...and drawn more to that country than to the British part of me. My French, I'm sorry to say, is still very poor through lack of exposure to it, but I would like to be fluent one day.

What are your recommendations for learning successfully? I tend to hyperfocus and then burnout on subjects, so I find slow ongoing progression difficult to maintain generally, but then I remain very frustrated that I can't speak it well enough to talk confidently - think it's a part of being ADHD as well.

PS: I work from home as a UI designer and am finding that now we don't have physical meetings to go to, the requirements are workflow have gone to 100% all the time. I'm working much longer hours and am being given continuously more work to do, generally I feel very stressed out now. I hadn't realised how the commute actually gave me a mental detachment from the work day. Now it's all here together and it's much tougher than I expected

That's such a coincidence Michael I thought I was alone in this. Since being a child I've always felt connected to my distant French ancestry ...and drawn more to that country than to the British part of me. My French, I'm sorry to say, is still very poor through lack of exposure to it, but I would like to be fluent one day.

What are your recommendations for learning successfully? I tend to hyperfocus and then burnout on subjects, so I find slow ongoing progression difficult to maintain generally, but then I remain very frustrated that I can't speak it well enough to talk confidently - think it's a part of being ADHD as well.

PS: I work from home as a UI designer and am finding that now we don't have physical meetings to go to, the requirements are workflow have gone to 100% all the time. I'm working much longer hours and am being given continuously more work to do, generally I feel very stressed out now. I hadn't realised how the commute actually gave me a mental detachment from the work day. Now it's all here together and it's much tougher than I expected

Hello JT

Nice to know someone else feels the way I feel about France. I first went to France at the age of 19 and it was one of the most exhilarating experiences of my life and one that changed me irreversibly. Travelling the length and breadth of the country, I'm still in awe of the diversity of geography and climate of each region.

Here's the good news. Language is hard-wired into our DNA. The only requirement for language learning to take place is meaningful exposure  for prolonged periods. By meaningful exposure, I mean total immersion in the spoken language in authentic settings. If you were to relocate to France and never use English, you would naturally and spontaneously start to use French without any effort in a very short space of time. That's how we acquire our first language, and it's the only way to acquire a second or third language.  Alas, because it's not practical for everyone to up sticks and spend time in France, my whole role as a teacher is to simulate being in France by creating authentic target language environments for the duration of our weekly sessions. If you're interested in learning to use French, I would suggest you do not waste either your money or time on any of the ever-increasing glut of commercial language courses. I can say with absolute certitude that they are useless.

That said, there is one I do recommend for adults interested in acquiring another language.

https://youtu.be/O0w_uYPAQic

It is the method created and practiced by Michel Thomas (he has a fascinating personal history too). His method is truly unique. It's the only commercial language learning course I've ever encountered that comes anywhere close to capturing natural language learning. So, when people ask me how they can learn a new language quickly, effortlessly and naturally,  I signpost them to Michel Thomas. If you are a member of Audible, you can find his stuff on there.  The only negative side of his courses is that the content can be quite boring, but his delivery is revolutionary because his focus is not on vocabulary but on acquiring the basic structures of a language. As he says, once you've internalised the structure, decorating it with vocabulary is best left up to you. 

For self-study, I insist upon my learners setting aside a minimum of five-minutes a day (longer if they wish, but not less than five minutes) and ask them to set a timer. For these five-minutes, I tell them to immerse themselves in some aspect of the target spoken language —this could be watching a film, or Youtube video, listening to a song, an audiobook or radio station—anything that resonates with their own interests and which they will enjoy. I emphasise that the aim is not for them to try and learn anything, but to simply immerse themselves in the language at regular intervals during the week. This is the most important activity you can ever do to learn a new language because you are naturally activating the linguistic centres of the brain to prime it to recognise and accept the new sounds of structures of a the language. It's a form of neurological magic. Once you prime your brain, it will start to run the innate linguistic programs it used to acquire your native language and your language learning during sessions will become turbo-charged.

It's not necessary at all, but if you're a language nerd like me, you might want to check out Noam Chomsky (you'll find hundreds of his videos on Youtube). Chomsky is disgustingly intelligent and is often referred to as "the father of modern linguistics".  As well as being an esteemed linguist,  he's also a renowned philosopher, cognitive scientist, historian and social and political activist. His studies of the brain, the mind and the manipulation of societies by politicians and powerful elites is fascinating.