A Unique Challenge with a unique prize

Get better at your target language and have a chance to win a prize!

Welcome, aspiring polyglot! Are you a language learner and a gym enjoyer? Do you love to work out your muscles and your brain? If so, this is the challenge for you! Later this week I will post a “rubric” of sorts outlining some rules for a workout program. Your challenge, if you accept it, is to create a workout program, following the rubric, in your target language.

Generally speaking, the rubric is going to outline how many exercises, how many days, and a few special pieces that go into building the perfect workout routine. Other than that, you have free reign to make it the perfect workout program for you.

Since we are creating workout plans, the prize for first place will be a one year subscription to My Lift Log from our friend Isaac who is a bilingual as well. Our goal is to promote longevity through physical and mental fitness and this was the perfect opportunity to work together towards that end. Second and third place will receive a 1 year paid subscription to the Second Language Strategies website so they can use all of our material to propel themselves forward in language acquisition and beyond.

All you have to do is this:

1. Be subscribed to this publication

2. Follow the rubric to create a workout plan in your target language (this can be any language. If I don’t know the language, I know someone I trust who does and they will help me judge)

3. Reply to this or any future email you receive from me with your workout plan

4. Wait for the results

This contest will take place over the next 3 weeks and will end on Monday, September 16th, Mexico’s independence day. I’ll spend that week reading through submissions and announce the winner and the runners up on Friday, September 20th. If you are reading this now, you have a head start. Even if you do not know exactly how you will set things up based on the rubric, you can at least start thinking of your options and learning the names of body parts before we get rolling!

Expect more details on this to roll out this week and start brainstorming! The winner will not be the person whose plan has the fewest mistakes. That will be one criteria, but not the most important one. Don’t be afraid to push yourself and make some mistakes. Our goal is to expand your competencies. What we don’t want to see is someone playing it safe out of fear of making mistakes. We all know that mistakes are part of the game and if you aren’t making them you aren’t pushing yourself enough.

It is going to be difficult, but you can do difficult things and become great. I am very much looking forward to seeing how you all embody this sentiment and how great you will become. This should be fun, if you aren’t enjoying it you are doing it wrong. So have some fun and put together a killer workout routine! I look forward to seeing them.