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While plastic refuse littering beaches and oceans draws high-profile attention, the Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO) Assessment of agricultural plastics and their sustainability: a call for action suggests that the land we use to grow our food is contaminated with even larger quantities of plastic pollutants. “Soils are one of the main receptors of agricultural plastics and are known to contain larger quantities of microplastics than oceans”, FAO Deputy Director-General Maria Helena Semedo said in the report’s foreword.

According to data collated by FAO experts, agricultural value chains each year use 12.5 million tonnes of plastic products while another 37.3 million are used in food packaging. Crop production and livestock accounted for 10.2 million tonnes per year collectively, followed by fisheries and aquaculture with 2.1 million, and forestry with 0.2 million tonnes. Asia was estimated to be the largest user of plastics in agricultural production, accounting for almost half of global usage. Moreover, without viable alternatives, plastic demand in agriculture is only set to increase. As the demand for agricultural plastic continues surge, Ms. Semedo underscored the need to better monitor the quantities that “leak into the environment from agriculture”.

Since their widespread introduction in the 1950s, plastics have become ubiquitous. In agriculture, plastic products greatly help productivity, such as in covering soil to reduce weeds; nets to protect and boost plant growth, extend cropping seasons and increase yields; and tree guards, which protect young plants and trees from animals and help provide a growth-enhancing microclimate. However, of the estimated 6.3 billion tonnes of plastics produced before 2015, almost 80 per cent had never been properly disposed of. While the effects of large plastic items on marine fauna have been well documented, the impacts unleashed during their disintegration potentially affect entire ecosystems.

(https://news.un.org,07.12.2021. Adaptado.)

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So what languages do I know? I speak English, Spanish, Portuguese, a little French, and a little in a few others. But I would be a bit uncomfortable to say that I ‘know’ all of these languages. The reason for my discomfort is that language learning is such a slow, piece-by-piece process that it is hard to tell when someone has finally ‘arrived’.

In fact, this idea of ‘arriving’ in language is misguided. Language, you see, is more of a journey than a destination, and most learners never feel comfortable saying they have arrived when asked about how much they know. This is especially true because, as in all educational pursuits, the more you learn, the more you are aware of what you do not know.

To illustrate, many of my Asian English learning students studying here in Arizona, U.S., are quite proficient in English. However, when people ask them if they speak English, here are the answers I most often hear:

“I speak okay.”

“I’m not so good.”

“I don’t know.”

The truth is that even these excellent English speakers often feel the distance between them and native-like proficiency. They have accents, they do not know certain words, and they constantly second-guess their grammar. The question “Do you speak a language?” comes out sounding, in their ears, a lot like “Have you mastered the language?”

So how can my foreign students, who by all accounts are doing amazing things in the United States, still feel like they have not arrived? The truth is this: when we focus on mastering a language - perfect pronunciation, complete command of the vocabulary, ability to speak in any and every possible situation -, we are always going to feel insufficient, because by that measure, we all fall short. This way of learning a language is exhausting. A better question than “Do you know the language?” is this: “In the language you are learning, are you creating friendships and experiences?” What I am suggesting is that learners reframe their perspectives. If they are fueled by meeting others, trying new things, and making memories and friendships for themselves, they have a great shot.

I believe that language learning is, at its core, about relationships and experiences – about connecting and learning from those connections. It is my belief that every story (even those who fail) can teach us something about language learning.

(DIXON, S. The language learner guidebook: powerful tools to help you conquer any language. [S.l.]: Wayzgoose,2018. Adaptado)