5 Learning Strategies to Jumpstart your English

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how to finally learn language in 2020

your new year’s resolution solution

so january is over but let me ask you a

question have you set a resolution for

this year

if you haven’t it’s understandable most

people end up failing with their

resolutions

you set one you try to do it in january

and by february there’s no progress

doing it is no longer fun or you get

sidelined by something else

so you quit and put it off until next

year or whenever the guilt of quitting

your goals comes back to haunt you

so what’s the problem with setting

resolutions why do we keep failing

first of all regardless of what most

people say about new year’s resolutions

setting goals whether on january 1st or

any other time of the year

is a good thing you have to know where

you’re going and what you want to

achieve

otherwise you’ll be floating around

aimlessly from one language app to

another

and have nothing to show for your time

spent but the problem lies with the

goals that people set

for example most people set goals like i

want to master chinese

or i want to lose weight or i want to be

fluent in japanese

and based on these kinds of goals here

are three reasons why ninety percent of

new year’s resolutions fail

first resolutions fail because they are

not specific

and not measurable take a goal like i

want to master chinese this year

the problem is that’s a very vague goal

what do you mean by

master do you want to speak about the

economy or do you just want to have

everyday conversations

and can you really measure how much

progress you need to master the language

the second reason is they are

unrealistic

you might think but isn’t it good to set

huge goals and aim for the stars

it’s not bad but if you say i want to be

fluent by september

is that realistic for you are you ready

to commit yourself to nothing but

language learning

six to eight hours a day non-stop the

answer is no for most people

the third one is there’s no action plan

the problem is you’ll still fail even

with a specific and realistic goal if

you don’t know when

and how you’re going to do it for

example when will you study

how long will you study every day and

how will you study

so now you know why most people fail

with their new year’s resolutions

then how do we set new year’s

resolutions and actually succeed

here are the three rules for successful

goal setting

remember your goals must be one specific

and measurable

two realistic and three they must have

an action plan

yes the complete opposite of everything

you heard earlier for example

let’s say you’re learning italian this

year instead of saying

my goal is to learn italian this year

set a specific

measurable realistic goal for the month

like speak

three minutes of conversation by

february 28th

and you can also set a yearly goal like

30 minutes of conversation and work

towards that

the whole point is three minutes is

measurable you set a timer

time yourself and know when you reach it

it’s realistic

instead of saying i want to learn the

whole language you’re just aiming for

three minutes for the month and maybe 30

minutes for the year

so ask yourself do i have time to learn

enough of the language to speak for

three minutes

that will vary from learner to learner

but three minutes sounds much more

realistic

than i want to master a language finally

you still need an action plan for your

goal

and for that you need to answer these

questions when will you study

how long will you study every day where

do you plan to study

how will you study what is your study

schedule

this is the most important part because

this tells you when and how to study

if you don’t answer these questions

you’ll have no idea what to do and

you’ll quit because you have no routine

to stick to

so for example when will you study i’ll

study at 9 00 pm on weekdays

how long will you study every day i’ll

study for 20 minutes

where do you plan to study i’ll study at

home in the living room

on my computer how will you study i’ll

listen to one audio lesson a day for

five days

what is your study schedule from monday

to friday with audio lessons

i’ll listen to the lesson then go

through the lesson notes for 20 minutes

each day here are a few more things you

can do to improve your chances of

success

reward yourself after hitting a goal

studies have shown that giving yourself

a reward after reaching a goal

is crucial to creating lasting habits

and continuing to conquer

more goals write down your small

measurable goal

and put it somewhere you’ll see it often

now that you know why new year’s

resolutions fail

and you know what to do differently it’s

time to set your goal

our suggested goal for you for february

2020 is

speak one minute of conversation in your

target language

the deadline is february 28th remember

to set your action plan as well

just answer these five questions leave

us a comment letting us know your

answers

and then you’re ready to go okay today’s

topic

is how remembering your mistakes can

help you learn

faster first take a moment and think of

a time when you made a mistake

maybe you were at work maybe you were at

school maybe you were shopping or in

another public place

we can all probably clearly remember

many mistakes we’ve made

we also remember the reactions of the

people around us some people are

understanding

some people aren’t so understanding but

why do we remember these situations so

clearly

psychologically speaking negative things

tend to impact us more than positive

things

for example if we’re asked to choose

between gaining friends or gaining money

and losing friends or losing money will

choose not to lose friends or lose money

not to gain this is called loss aversion

we tend to avoid losing more than we

work on gaining

we spend time thinking about our

negative past experiences to avoid them

in the future

because of this negative events like

making mistakes

stay in our minds for a very long time

and this happens in language learning

if you make a language mistake while

chatting with a native speaker

it’ll probably be hard to forget yes

it’s true that when we’re learning

another language

we don’t always know when we’ve made a

mistake but when we realize we’ve used

the wrong word

used grammar incorrectly spelled

something wrong or similar

we tend to remember the situation

vividly in some languages

just a tiny change in pronunciation tone

or writing

could make a big difference so mistakes

are a big source of worry for many

learners

but the fact that mistakes are very hard

for us to forget can be a powerful tool

when learning a language

we want to avoid the feeling of

embarrassment that comes after a mistake

so we work hard to correct ourselves

past mistakes can motivate us to try

harder

we can use our mistakes as a tool in our

language learning but we can’t make

these emotionally powerful mistakes by

reading a textbook or even by taking a

lesson with a teacher

the only way you can make these mistakes

is by speaking in real conversations and

messing up

so what can you take away from this

let’s jump into the second part

how to use mistakes in your language

learning we can give advice like go

ahead and make mistakes but that’s

easier said than done

here are three tips to help you make the

most of your mistakes

one speak in your target language as

much as possible

why because part of the learning process

is making mistakes

except that mistakes are going to happen

if you’re not making any mistakes ever

then you’re probably not challenging

yourself

two look for opportunities to speak

many learners have trouble finding

public places to practice the language

they’re studying

see if there are language groups in your

community or at your school

if you have trouble with that look

online and be creative you don’t need to

search for groups specifically for

language learners

see if you can find a hobby discussion

in your target language maybe you’ll

find a news discussion group

think outside the box find somewhere to

practice and make mistakes

when you do mess up you’ll probably

remember it three

build on your experiences think

carefully about your conversations

after you have them and work to make

them longer each time

if you made a mistake in your first

conversation think about how to fix it

if you said only a few sentences in your

first discussion

work to speak for 15 or 30 seconds on

the next discussion

challenge yourself many learners have

trouble finding opportunities to speak

that work with their schedule and their

level

if you’re not sure where else you can

practice you can consider hiring a tutor

if you’re a premium plus member on our

website you can practice with your

teacher

it’s still important where possible to

practice and make mistakes in real life

situations

this will help you to more carefully

reflect on your conversations

and work to improve it isn’t quite the

same as studying with a textbook or a

hired tutor

this strong desire to avoid making a

mistake will help you work to improve

you’ll be motivated to try harder this

can help you learn faster

the easiest way to start writing and

improve on your own

most language learners start with

reading or speaking first

we all want to speak typically most

learners start their studies by reading

textbooks or articles online

but writing not so many practice writing

right away

unless the language has a unique writing

system

there are a few reasons you should

consider writing when you’re learning a

language

let’s jump into part one one why is

writing an easy way to learn a language

so why is writing easy first you don’t

need

anyone to start improving right now when

it comes to language learning we all

want feedback and corrections

and for that we either need a teacher or

a learning program that can quiz us

but if you want to improve on your own

without waiting on anyone else

or if you don’t have access to a teacher

you can start with writing

you’ll find out how in just a minute

second you don’t need to worry about

what to write

how does this work the easiest way to

start writing is to copy text from

somewhere else

that way you don’t have to worry about

what to write or how to spell things

just get a piece of paper and a pen and

copy things from a resource you’re using

you can even try doing this with your

favorite quotes or ideas

copy them word by word third it can help

you build a strong routine

imagine you copy two sentences per day

it’s simple

and it just takes a minute or two that

means you can stick to it on a daily

basis

and if you can learn to stick with that

you can stick to other learning routines

in the future

and fourth you’ll end up improving all

areas of the language

how well if you’re copying out a few

sentences a day

you’ll end up indirectly learning a lot

of words grammar rules and lines you can

actually use

simply because you’re exposed to them

and if you read what you write you’ll

improve your reading and comprehension

skills too

so how can you actually start writing in

practice let’s move on to part two

part two how to practice writing with

our lessons on your own time

number one if you’re taking our lessons

write out the phrases sentences and

conversations by hand

this means writing every phrase and

sentence that you learn in the lessons

by hand in a notebook

you can also write out the conversations

in the dialogue study tool

example sentences from the lesson notes

words and phrases from our vocabulary

lists

and words and sentences from the daily

dose app and the word of the day

number two write short sentences to your

premium plus teacher

if you’re a premium plus member write a

message and send it to your premium plus

teacher for review

in fact as a first step all new premium

plus

users have to write a self-introduction

and send it to their teachers

your teacher will review your work send

feedback corrections

and help you improve your writing skills

fast you can even write something out by

hand

take a picture of it and send it to your

teacher number three

leave a comment on the lessons after

you’re done with a lesson

be sure to use what you’ve learned

whether a new word or a grammar point

leave a comment in the comment section

and our teachers will review it and give

you feedback

number four dictation this may be best

for advanced learners

dictation is a study method where you

write down what you hear as a way to

test your writing and listening skills

you can do this with any one of our

audio or video lessons

number five create sentences using newly

learned words

you can learn new words with our lessons

the word of the day the vocab lists and

the core

2000 word list which gives you the 2000

most frequently used words

and as mentioned before you can also

leave comments for our teachers to

review

number six take the writing quizzes with

every lesson you’ll get review quizzes

to help you master what you’ve learned

just scroll down to the vocabulary

section or click on vocabulary

then click on take a quiz and that’s it

now you know how to improve your target

language on your own just copy things

out

if you’re having a hard time sticking

with language learning you’ll find out

how to fix it now

let’s jump into the first part one

how to map your routine and set your

schedule first

here’s a quick question for you which of

these would you rather have

a the world’s most comprehensive

language learning resources

but a weak study routine or b

a strong study routine and average

resources leave your answer in the

comments

but there is a correct answer here you

want a strong study routine

why you can have the best app or

textbook in the world

but if you don’t use it because you

don’t have a learning routine or a habit

you won’t learn anything if you have a

strong routine and work ethic

and just a dictionary and internet

access you’ll learn more than someone

with the best program and

no routine the point is we are creatures

of routines and habits

and our habits can be used for good or

bad they make us

or break us for example if you have a

bad habit like going to bed at 4am

you’ll always feel tired when you wake

up for work or school in the morning

if you have a good habit like exercising

regularly you’ll have energy

and good health once we have a routine

we tend to stick to it

if it’s a bad routine it can do a lot of

damage but

if it’s a good routine it can help us

enjoy incredible results

we can also use routines to our

advantage by applying them to work

toward our goals

like language learning how do you create

a strong language learning routine

here’s one way to do it first write down

your current daily schedule

for example 7 am i wake up 8 am

i leave the house 8 20 to 8 50 i’m on

the train

9 10 am i arrive at work 1 pm i go to

lunch

and so on write out your daily schedule

for the whole week

make it detailed if you write out your

schedule you can see your existing daily

routine

you can see where you can fit language

learning into your existing routine

the routine that you’re used to instead

of trying to create a new routine

why does this matter for example some

people will look at their schedule

and see that they wake up at 8 a.m they

think that if they wake up at 7 00 am

they can have an extra hour for language

learning but for many of us

that approach usually doesn’t work

because it’s not something we’re used to

you’re trying to wake up early so you

can learn a language you’re trying to

implement

two brand new routines that you’re not

used to

for many people this results in failure

even if you do wake up at 7 a.m

will you get out of bed immediately and

jump straight to learning every day

or will you lose motivation after a few

days because you miss that hour of sleep

so map out your weekly schedule once you

understand where your time goes

find an existing part of your routine

that you can fit language learning into

for example if you take the train in the

morning you can use that existing

routine and learn some language during

that time

if you always eat lunch at 1pm watch a

video lesson during your break

if you always cook at 8pm play some

audio lessons in the background

if at first you have to start with

multitasking it’s better than nothing

you can at least get used to being

exposed to the language while you work

on dedicating more time and attention to

it

now let’s jump into part two two

how to choose the learning medium that’s

right for you

before you begin learning it’s important

to understand what kind of learner you

are

are you a visual learner or do you learn

by reading

there’s something called the vark model

and it’s an acronym for four learning

styles

visual auditory or listening reading

writing and kinesthetic

meaning hands-on or actual practice and

trial and error

you need to understand what kind of

learning resources are best for you

so how do you determine what kind of

learner you are

this depends on you do you like watching

videos

listening reading or writing or do you

prefer more hands-on practice

there’s no wrong answer it depends on

what kind of learner you

are and what you like also think about

your past language study experience

did you remember vocabulary words better

when you read them from a book

or was listening to a podcast more

helpful for you

how do you usually remember information

best this helps you choose the learning

medium

or study tools that are right for you

we’ll talk more about this in a few

minutes

for now determine what kind of learner

you are leave us a comment and let us

know

the last thing you need to keep in mind

is your study ratio

your study ratio is how much time you

spend absorbing information

input and how much time you spend

producing language

output what you want to strive for is

about 50 input and 50

practice or production producing that

language

so if you read for 30 minutes then you

want to practice for 30 minutes

you can’t just consume you must practice

otherwise it’s not going to stick as

fast alright

we’ve covered routines and learning

types let’s move on to part three

three the language tools you’ll want for

your learning style

in this last part we’re going to cover

all the resources that you can take

advantage of based on your learning

style

but remember if you’re a visual learner

that doesn’t mean you should shun

resources that don’t fit that style

sometimes it’s not practical to watch a

video for example

if you’re driving audio is a much better

choice so let’s jump

in if you’re a visual learner take

advantage of our video lessons in the

lesson library

we have them across all levels from

absolute beginner to advanced

these will be your main source of

learning use the vocab slideshows

you’ll find these on every lesson page

and vocab list

the slideshows make it super easy to

learn and review words

just press play and watch you can put it

on a loop and watch for as long as you

want

next if you’re an auditory learner then

take advantage of our audio lessons

you can also use dialog audio tracks

these give you just the conversation

from that lesson

and you can use these tracks to immerse

yourself in conversations

next if you prefer reading and writing

we include lesson notes and transcripts

for every audio and video lesson

so if you’re taking a lesson read along

the lesson notes include

extra grammar explanations vocab lists

and cultural insights that are not

available in the lesson

you can also check out our extensive

reading books in the lesson library

these are simple one line per page books

that will build you into a confident

reader

if you prefer writing you can copy out

the lesson dialogue into your notebook

you can leave comments on our lessons

with sample sentences

you can keep a daily journal in your

target language plus

you can send messages to your premium

plus teacher and practice writing

they’ll correct your mistakes tell you

how to express yourself in a natural way

and help you improve fast and finally if

you’re a kinesthetic learner and prefer

hands-on experience and trial and error

definitely use our premium plus teachers

and practice with them

you can do that via the my teacher

messenger on the site or in the app

use our space repetition flash cards

these cards quiz you on words and

phrases and help you master them fast

they sort the words for you and quiz you

accordingly so

if you don’t know a word you’ll keep

seeing it over and over until you get it

right

and if you do know it you’ll see it

again in a few days it’ll pop up every

now and then just to refresh your memory

also take advantage of our lesson

quizzes you’ll find these in every audio

lesson

and these test you on the words and

phrases you learned in the lessons

you can also practice speaking with our

voice recorder you’ll find this inside

the dialog tool

you can record yourself and compare with

native speakers

you can keep practicing until you can

say the lesson dialogue at a native

level there are tools for every learning

style

so today you learned one how to map your

routine and set your schedule

two how to choose the learning medium

that’s right for you

and three the language tools you’ll want

for your learning style

how to improve your language and speak

more through preparation

okay let’s get into part one why you

should prepare for conversations ahead

of time

if you’re a beginner you can probably

relate to this when it comes to speaking

you tend to run out of things to say and

that’s because you don’t know enough of

the language to express yourself

and that’s where preparation comes in

you may think that the conversations we

have in our daily lives are spontaneous

that you can’t prepare for them you’re

right to an extent

but imagine meeting someone for the

first time both of you will go through

some common questions and phrases

like what’s your name my name is where

are you from

and how long have you been studying the

language as a language learner

you’ll have these kinds of conversations

with almost every native you meet

guaranteed they’ll always ask you about

how long and how you’ve been learning

and even with your friends some

conversations start the same way

for example you say things like hey how

are you

how are things how was your weekend my

weekend was good

and you let’s say you went to a

restaurant this weekend

and now you want to talk about it well

that allows you to prepare

and learn some phrases like i went to a

restaurant

the restaurant had delicious food the

point is

some questions and phrases come up often

in conversations

so it makes total sense to master them

ahead of time

and you can always plan ahead and

prepare for things you want to talk

about

when it comes time to speak you know

what to say how to respond and you don’t

run out of talking points as quickly

so how do you prepare let’s jump into

part two

the first thing you can do to prepare is

check out our 25

questions you need to know lesson series

this series is specifically designed to

help you with the first time

conversations you’ll have with native

speakers

you’ll learn the 25 most common

questions and answers used in

conversations

just listen to the lessons repeat out

loud then

put what you learned to use these will

serve as talking points so you can keep

your conversations going

number two print out the curriculum for

this lesson series so you can review

all of the lessons at once the

curriculum gives you the lines and

vocabulary used in all lessons up front

so you can use this to review key

questions and responses

this will allow you to control

conversations and ask questions

instead of just having the native

speaker ask you all the questions

in other words you’ll sound like a fluid

confident and experienced speaker

number three check out our printable

conversation cheat sheets

this is another free resource that gives

you lines and words for all kinds of

topics

for example talking about hobbies your

family and much more

number four ask yourself what do you

want to talk about

come up with some topics and for each

topic write out potential questions and

phrases that would come up in a

conversation

for example if you want to talk about

restaurants you can have lines like

my favorite restaurant is my favorite

food is

what’s your favorite restaurant and then

run these lines through a translation

app

it won’t be perfect but it’ll give you

lines to use that you can correct later

number five look for lessons that are

related to your topics with our lesson

library

on our site we have hundreds of lessons

that teach you conversations

so if you’re looking for lessons related

to restaurants and food

you’ll get all kinds of conversations

that you can use for yourself

and number six if you’re a premium plus

user

get in touch with your teacher be a my

teacher and try a conversation with them

they’ll help you every step of the way

correct your writing and give you the

lines to use in a conversation

that way you can prepare ahead of time

and when it comes time to speak

you’ll know what to say want to speed up

your language learning

take your very first lesson with us

you’ll start speaking in minutes

and master real conversations sign up

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