About English and Butterflies

When a caterpillar becomes a butterfly, it must work very hard. First, it must make its cocoon. Then it must break the cocoon when it is ready to come out as a butterfly. If it does not make the cocoon, it will not have a safe place to make the change from caterpillar to butterfly. If it does not break the cocoon, it will come out weak and probably die. It will not have a chance to live as a beautiful butterfly, making the world lovely and helping to spread pollen.

If we have the chance to watch the process, we want to help the butterfly come out of the cocoon. We do not want to watch the butterfly suffer. We want it to succeed. But if we help it, we will not allow it to develop strength in its wings and this means no flying. No flying means no finding food. This means death for the butterfly.

So you ask me: “Teacher, why tell us all this?” Because becoming a butterfly is like learning a language. It is hard work. But the hard work produces something beautiful. When we learn a language, it is challenging. Sometimes we want to quit. But if we quit, we lose the chance to know the beauty of the new language and the happiness of new friendships. We may also lose the chance to do many other things, like getting a better job.

I am an English teacher, and I often want to find a magic formula for my students. I want to make things easy, so my students do not have to work so hard and worry about their mistakes. But if I could do this, I think this magic formula would steal from my students. It would steal their feelings of accomplishment when they learn a new tense in English, or their joy when they can communicate well with a native speaker for the first time. It would steal the new strength they receive from the long journey to fluency.

So please, my students, and you who are not my students, think of the butterfly. When you want to stop learning English because it is hard, think of the new experiences you will have. When you are embarrassed because you make a lot of mistakes, remember the strong beautiful butterfly that makes the world a little more wonderful. You will be able to do this for a native speaker of English some day, or maybe today. Because simple words can be beautiful too. I hope this little article has inspired you to continue learning and soaring.