You're spot on. When I think of the stories I tell of my most recent trip they involve missed flights, an unplanned ferry trip with an ex, hostel nightmares, etc. Often these stories sucked in the moment but make the best, funniest stories.
Great piece, and I couldn't agree more. Travel is a popular topic in the EFL classroom and students inevitably want to share their best stories, but I always encourage them to think of the more negative ones. As you've articulated so beautifully, they make the most memorable stories and are often the best learning experiences. I truly remember the disasters more than anything else and they are far more fun to tell than the happy clappy 'yay, we sat on the beach!' nonsense 😂
Interestingly, there's a correlation between good language learners and those willing to embrace this idea. The good ones love the challenge and stretching themselves and I would always share some of my horrible stories (a trip to Ireland featuring scabies and days of cancelled flights because of air traffic control outages is one of the highlights...or lowlights?).
My favourite story from a student, and one I share with my classes to inspire them - she took a trip to the mountains in western Ukraine one August and it rained for the entire week so they couldn't do any hiking at all. She was with her best friend and her boyfriend, and the boyfriend's friend. They sat inside playing cards and chit-chatting all week. Long story short - she ended up marrying the boyfriend's friend! (not on that actual trip, though)
Glad you enjoyed it, Daniel. I did not know of the correlation between good language learners and those willing to embrace the challenge of things going awry. I'm going to have to take a deeper look at that.
Your Ireland trip has definitely piqued my interest as I love a good travel tale, but that story from one of your students is a perfect example of the benefit of plans falling apart. Maybe they would have connected on the hike, but honestly, likely not as much as enduring the shared misery and increased one-on-one time.
I have a few unorthodox observations about the correlation between good language learners and things like a tolerance towards swearing, being considerate with things like opening the windows in the classroom and the way they answer the question 'what's your favourite kind of cheese?' when I first meet them (I can't say much more because I'll spoil it - it's in my book 😉)
I've got plenty of travelling tales and it's one of about 17 lingering book ideas that I may or may not get to. I did consider at one point rebranding my Substack and focusing more on travel stuff, but I can't limit myself. Every now and again I share a story here.
You're spot on. When I think of the stories I tell of my most recent trip they involve missed flights, an unplanned ferry trip with an ex, hostel nightmares, etc. Often these stories sucked in the moment but make the best, funniest stories.
Great piece, and I couldn't agree more. Travel is a popular topic in the EFL classroom and students inevitably want to share their best stories, but I always encourage them to think of the more negative ones. As you've articulated so beautifully, they make the most memorable stories and are often the best learning experiences. I truly remember the disasters more than anything else and they are far more fun to tell than the happy clappy 'yay, we sat on the beach!' nonsense 😂
Interestingly, there's a correlation between good language learners and those willing to embrace this idea. The good ones love the challenge and stretching themselves and I would always share some of my horrible stories (a trip to Ireland featuring scabies and days of cancelled flights because of air traffic control outages is one of the highlights...or lowlights?).
My favourite story from a student, and one I share with my classes to inspire them - she took a trip to the mountains in western Ukraine one August and it rained for the entire week so they couldn't do any hiking at all. She was with her best friend and her boyfriend, and the boyfriend's friend. They sat inside playing cards and chit-chatting all week. Long story short - she ended up marrying the boyfriend's friend! (not on that actual trip, though)
Excited to get to that point in Kyiv now. I’m here for all the stories even if it’s only a travel interspersed.
Glad you enjoyed it, Daniel. I did not know of the correlation between good language learners and those willing to embrace the challenge of things going awry. I'm going to have to take a deeper look at that.
Your Ireland trip has definitely piqued my interest as I love a good travel tale, but that story from one of your students is a perfect example of the benefit of plans falling apart. Maybe they would have connected on the hike, but honestly, likely not as much as enduring the shared misery and increased one-on-one time.
I have a few unorthodox observations about the correlation between good language learners and things like a tolerance towards swearing, being considerate with things like opening the windows in the classroom and the way they answer the question 'what's your favourite kind of cheese?' when I first meet them (I can't say much more because I'll spoil it - it's in my book 😉)
I've got plenty of travelling tales and it's one of about 17 lingering book ideas that I may or may not get to. I did consider at one point rebranding my Substack and focusing more on travel stuff, but I can't limit myself. Every now and again I share a story here.