I’ve spent the past 10 years teaching in the Czech Republic, Peru and China - and I’ve come away with a handful of phrases in each language.

In Czech, I can apologise for my lack of Czech; after two years of banging my head against the Chinese language, I can just about count to six; my Spanish is proficient enough to navigate transport situations.

This is perhaps no surprise, though. Learning a language is not easy, especially when you’re also starting a new job - as, no doubt, other international teachers will confirm.

However, over the years I have picked up some quick and easy ways to make the process of learning a new language a little easier that other international teachers - especially those just starting a new posting - may benefit from.

How international teachers can learn the language

1. Watch children’s television

At 6.45pm every weekday, I sit down and watch Czech children’s television. Language addressed to children is more clearly enunciated and often deals quite repetitively with basic concepts like “high” and “low” or “left” and “right”. You’ll also quite quickly learn the Czech for hedgehog, deer, mushroom and tree!

2. Learn the language that helps you learn the language

Many language courses begin with what they think are the basics: “What is your name?” and “My name is Mark, I am 12 years old and I live in Shepperton.” I don’t know about you, but I have yet to break any ice in a supermarket, train station or immigration office with “My name is Mark, I am 12 years old and I live in Shepperton.” (It’s not even true any more.)

I have, however, found it useful to say: “How do you say this [pointing] in Czech?” or “Can you say that more slowly?” Learn to say, “I’m sorry, I’m still learning Czech. Please can you speak more slowly.” Rather than “I don’t understand. I don’t speak Czech.”

That way, you keep the communication channel open in the target language for as long as possible.

3. Read the room

Everywhere you go there is a chance to learn simple but fundamental words that are often easy to decipher from the context.

For example, if you’re at the checkout in a supermarket and the salesperson asks “Maš klubkartu?”, you can join the dots between word and context to figure out that you are being asked for your Clubcard!

4. Switch your operating system

Yes, this is a bold one and potentially disastrous if your target language is written in a completely different script, but if you choose a relatively harmless application on one of your devices (a phone, tablet or PC) that you can safely switch to the target language without getting lost, it’s a quick way of building up a bank of practical vocabulary associated with work: verbs like “save”, “cut”, “paste” and “print” quickly become embedded into your working memory.

I’ve also installed the extension TransOver into my Chrome browser, which allows me to hover the cursor over words or highlight whole sentences and paragraphs to get a quick translation.

I’ve found this really useful for reading news websites in the target language and staying with a single news article for as long as possible without drifting back to a UK news site.

5. Learn from your local colleagues

During breaks and lunches, it can be all too easy to drift into social groups that allow you to relax back into your native language.

It can be initially awkward but make time to sit with your local colleagues and just listen to their interactions in the target language.

Use the generative language that you’ve acquired from Tip 2 to ask a few questions about particular words, but take care to allow your colleagues to continue to enjoy the restorative conversations that they need to have during their breaks!

6. Watch your thoughts as you listen

For the past two years, I’ve been learning to meditate. One of the effects of this practice is that I’m better able to see my own thoughts in real time.

As a result, I’ve noticed that when someone speaks to me in a foreign language, instead of patiently listening to them and reading their gestures for visual cues, I’m actually screaming to myself: “I don’t know what you’re saying!”, “I don’t understand!” and “Oh, my God! I’m going to have to reply.”

Let yourself not understand. Let these thoughts run their course over days. Soon, you’ll be open to the actual words said.

7. Take cold showers - not literally 

Like most people, during lockdown I spent a larger portion of time than I’d care to admit to watching YouTube videos with titles like “I took a cold shower every day for 30 days and here’s what happened”.

I have indeed been taking cold showers ever since and find them a perfect metaphor for all my problems with immersion.

To learn a language, you have to be open to an initial unpleasantness: making a mistake, feeling less than intelligent, anticipating ridicule. The feeling of inserting yourself into a foreign language conversation is exactly analogous to immersing yourself under freezing cold water.

Mark Aston is an English teacher who has taught in the UK, China, Estonia, Lithuania and Peru, and is currently teaching in the Czech Republic