Retired-teacher student makes some mistakes in her putting together a sentence in Chinese, saying she was doing it on the bus, trying to respond to a text (in Chinese) of mine.
I replied saying, “Multi-tasking and Chinese don’t seem to work well together,” in an attempt to comfort her — that she was making those mistakes (which were minor) only because her attention was divided. She came back saying, “Not for me anyway.”
So, I tried a new approach. Below is my response to her (and it applies to all students who might think they won’t get to the point of fluency [just purely not confident enough]).
Think driving: same thing.
At first, there'll seem to be an overwhelming range of things to touch/press/tread/look at, e.g., mirrors (rear view; wing); levers (gear stick for manual; indicator; windscreen wipers); pedals (accelerator; brake; clutch). All while the car is moving.
Once you've reached the right point, you won't be aware of controlling all those things. You could even be chatting to your passenger(s)!
