765. Their success? Because they work hard

Today I’ve translated, in case it’d be useful to someone, an email I sent to Álex’s dad and mom a couple years ago. Like you may guess, I’ve changed the names and few detais. “Álex” was a student of one of my English classes. Then he could be 12 through 14. He got many fails in his school subjects in the first Evaluation – I think this could be right before Christmas. We had to solve Álex study problems as quick as possible! The original email was in Spanish. / Photo from: universitypost dk. German student at Heidelberg

The email was:

Antonio [Álex’s dad], I’d appreciate you would pass this email to Álex. Un abrazo, Antonio [we in Spain use this expression to say bye on an email; Abrazo is a hug. I wish you a Merry Christmas. Call on our school to see the Nativity scene. I’ll be out. You might keep talking with Baby Jesus, his mom and dad; you can ask them questions and tell about the things that concern you.

Álex, here you have some suggestions for next days.

1. Right now I begin to begin! You should think now. Consider
what happened in this term, and make up realistic resolutions for Christmas vacation days. Think of what happened, and then think of how you can improve as a student, making specific resolutions, enjoy the hours you’re going to stay in your bedroom, maybe you’ll feel like you were “in prison”. Relish what you’re learning.

2. You will enjoy more and more as you put away and reject any lapse of concentration. When you catch yourself absent-minded, go back again to work. You’ll reckon you’re getting the good habit of rejecting stayning in the clouds... and plunge again into the book.

3. Before you start to work, stop to see what you are going to do that morning. Just dedicate 2 minutes to this planning.

4. Don’t be me lazybones, Álex. Sorry, it’s no insult, as you
know. Get a move on! You will go up on the Premier Soccer League.


5. [...] When you understand hardly anything from an English text, read and read and read it, over and over, with the aid of your dictionary. It’s like finding out who “the bad guy” is. Each time you read, each minute you study means managing to squeeze decimals in a test, it’s like the decimals of a second athletes struggle to squeeze: 4.25 [5 is pass in Spain; 10 is the highest grade]; 4.75; 5.75; 7.75... as far as
you can.

[…]

Fernando



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