One of the most coming reactions to mistakes is, “Ugh, that was silly” or “@#$%” or some such thing. Most of the time this comes from our training in school where mistakes are regarded as something really bad and to be avoided. Â In fact, if we made them too often people would start to call us things we rather not be called. So most adults are left with this sense about mistakes. This following audio record was made whilst I was talking to a group of language learners about how mistakes need to be embraced. They are the signposts for us telling us which way not to go! Â So listen to a talk I gave about this and see how it adds something to your understanding that could transform how you work more productively on your language learning.
In case you are still wondering about the value of mistakes, check out this really interesting post about how mistakes guided this boy to success!