I've done some math tutoring, and word problems are really boring, so I decided to spice them up a bit with monsters and mayhem. Scroll down on the home page to see all the problems (this site is new and a little unorganized right now).
The hope is to eventually write enough problems that they could be part of a real curriculum.
I've been learning Spanish using Comprehensible Input and it's been a complete game-changer for me. Oversimplified, it's learning a language by watching videos where you understand about 80% of what's going on without trying to analyze the vocabulary or grammar. No studying, no memorization. Your subconscious does the heavy lifting. Part of the goal is take conscious translation out of the picture. For example, if you hear "manzana," the ideal is that word directly connects to your image of what an apple is, not to the English world "apple."
It takes hundreds of hours, but for me, it's working, and I'm enjoying it. I'm using Dreaming Spanish [0] which is free for a while, and then pretty cheap if you want to keep going. Strongly recommended.
As someone who learned the language in about 4 months, my advice is to saturate yourself with conversation as much as possible without worrying about grammatical or structural correctness at first, just learn to talk and use as many words as possible for essential conversation without worrying how well you say everything. Immerse yourself in doing this as much as possible.
Ideally, if you work remotely, move to latin america for a few months. Otherwise, find a digital (app-based maybe) or social way of doing the same where you are. Also, suppress all embarrassment about saying anything incorrectly, just get the essential ability to communicate ideas across first while you converse as much as possible. Refinement can come later, the first thing is to learn the broad strokes rapidly.
My two cents from experience learning two additional languages fluently.
I did web development and graphic design for a couple decades, and wrote a few technology books (one of them was on DHTML, so this was a while ago). I'm now writing fiction, mostly fantasy. The $$ isn't quite where I'd like it to be, but it's getting better, and I'm 100x happier. My brain works with stories much more easily than it does with programming, in a much more satisfying way, and it took a long time to learn this. It's crazy to make this switch in my 50s, but it'd be crazier not to.
This sounds kinda like me except i’m you when i’m 30, coding full-time and writing fiction on the side because it doesn’t pay. I’m hoping to turn writing fiction and non-fiction into a part-time job eventually, and maybe write some technical books along the way. Before working as a dev, i worked for a media company writing a bunch of shit and i hated it/felt like high school writing assignments with no autonomy, so i decided to protect that passion and turn my coding hobby into a full-time job. My goal is to have the freedom one day to write what i want and make some money doing. It makes sense to me to get good at writing and coding, and combine those things eventually. Just gotta be careful not to spend too much time coding.
I've actually found this to be useful, especially in the evenings when I'm tired. It's helped me stay focused (I haven't used the meditation much and the sleep not at all). It feels like gentle assistance, not a adrenaline shot to the heart.
After looking at a ton of youtube videos, taking art classes, and even an in-person atelier (drawing in a studio while being guided by a "master"), by far the best art teaching I've come across is Evolve Artist[0]. It focuses on taking small steps to get the fundamentals down solid. I expect it'll take me a few years to get through the whole course, but I can already tell my ability to draw from life and handle brushes and paint has improved dramatically. There's a lot of personal feedback based on what you do, and I've found that to be a really effective way to improve with art.
I'll put my pom-poms down now. I'm not affiliated with Evolve other than being a student. And my goal after 20 years of web dev work is to be a professional writer/illustrator, so I'm taking this art thing pretty seriously.
I've done some math tutoring, and word problems are really boring, so I decided to spice them up a bit with monsters and mayhem. Scroll down on the home page to see all the problems (this site is new and a little unorganized right now).
The hope is to eventually write enough problems that they could be part of a real curriculum.