Why Are You Stuck At The Same English Level
so I had a conversation with one of my
students and he was telling me that he
was frustrated because his English
didn’t seem to be improving
he’d been studying English for so long
you know studying books attending
classes even having private tutors but
it seemed like every time he went to
speak to someone in English he would get
stuck and he didn’t know what to do and
as I was listening to this student I
realized that I experienced the same
thing when I was studying Korean you
feel like you kind of reached this the
ceiling right there there’s no way to go
above the ceiling and and you don’t know
what to do you just feel stuck now I’m
sure you’ve felt that way before
you know you’ve studied English for
years probably and you still feel like
you’re not an advanced English speaker
well that’s why I created today’s lesson
because I’m gonna tell you how to get
unstuck and to actually take your
English to the next level I’m teacher
Tiffany let’s jump right in
[Music]
all right so the first reason you feel
stuck is you don’t know what to study
now this is a common issue that many
students come across or face when
they’re studying English so there are
times when you don’t know what
vocabulary word or what expression or
what idiom to study or even what methods
you should be using to study that’s an
issue and it can make you feel stuck so
one of the main issues connected to this
is you have too many options I mean
there are tons of amazing English
teachers on YouTube not just me but many
other English teachers then there are
thousands of books that you can choose
from and there are so many options and
you kind of get a little bit confused
well there are some solutions here are
two solutions first study in groups what
you want to do is think of topics that
you are actually interested in and speak
about regularly then find words
expressions idioms and discussion
questions about those topics now here’s
the reason why I love this solution so
much you see a lot of times when you’re
studying English you’re trying to study
everything I mean everything you want to
know every single word every single
expression but the truth of the matter
is that’s not how it works even in your
own language there are words that you
don’t know however you can speak
confidently about the topics you are
interested in so all you have to do is
think about those topics and then change
them over into English and then study in
groups what you’re gonna do is for
example if you’re a favorite thing to
talk about is let’s say food because you
know I love food well then okay think
about when you’re cooking the food think
about when you are actually eating the
food what are the emotions what are the
thoughts going through your head now try
to translate those thoughts emotions and
ideas into English so the next time you
go to speak about cooking or food you
will have a group of English words and
expression
and ideas that you can properly express
in English and you have much more
confidence
so again focus on what you’re interested
in and study in groups
now another solution to this issue is
what you can do is create goals specific
study plans think about what you want to
accomplish
then find study goals or study plans or
guides that will help you reach those
goals this solution will help you know
exactly what to study and for how long
so let me explain exactly how to do this
now you will notice my voice is a little
bit different today I think I’m getting
a little bit congested all of a sudden
so I’m okay but I think you notice my
voice sounds just a tad bit different
alright so create goals specific study
plans for example let’s say for this
month you want to improve your
pronunciation
okay well then write that down what are
you going to do in order to accomplish
this goal this is gonna help you know
what to study for what period of time I
tell you the truth I am not lying when
you put a goal and you work towards that
goal your brain goes into overdrive to
help you accomplish that goal so again
you don’t have to worry about what to
study because you have one goal in mind
and you’re working towards that goal all
right now the second reason why you feel
stuck in English is right here you don’t
have time to study or in other words
it’s hard to balance work family and
life listen I get it when I was studying
Korean I was working full time and
studying and training my trying to
manage my you know my friendships and my
family life it was difficult so I
understand it’s a little bit hard to
know how to balance all of these things
and actually find time to study in
English but I have some solutions for
you so here’s the first solution first
you want to pick one set time to
each day that’s right one specific time
it could be in the morning it can be in
the evening now you can decide the exact
amount of time but try to select a
specific time that you will study every
single day all right
this may be five minutes in the morning
or 10 minutes at night that’s right I
did say five minutes or ten minutes you
see you need to create a habit and you
don’t have to stress yourself about oh I
need to study for an hour or two hours
every single day you’re busy you don’t
have time to study but think about it
five minutes you can kind of find five
minutes in your day right or maybe even
ten minutes so start off with a small
amount of time but make sure you set
aside that time every day and you stick
to your plan now the other solution to
help you you know when you feel like you
don’t have enough time change up the
style if you change things up you won’t
be as bored instead you will look
forward to studying English in other
words you will make time for something
you enjoy here’s the fact if you study
vocabulary every single day good not bad
at all
but you’re going to start feeling a
little bit bored if you do the same
thing every single day so you have to
change it up maybe you can say hey
Monday’s our vocabulary days Tuesday’s
our YouTube video days where you go and
you watch an entertaining video and just
enjoy it
maybe Wednesday’s our new expression
days so change it up and I guarantee you
won’t feel as bored and suddenly you
will look forward to the time when you
have to study English okay now the next
reason why you feel so stuck in your
English and you feel like you’re not
improving is because you don’t have a
way to practice or in other words you
don’t have anyone to practice with I
hear this all the time
this is why I wanted to show you these
solutions alright so here’s the deal you
need to join an online group the
Internet
is amazing it’s connected all of us even
though we live on different sides of the
world so there are tons of online groups
where you can practice your English but
remember to look for groups related to
your interests remember earlier we
talked about if you like cooking or if
you like food find a group related to
that interest all right join them and
start participating I know you may feel
nervous but being online maybe you’ll
get a little bit more confidence because
they can’t see you so slowly you’ll
start to practice even more and then
you’ll see wait a minute this is not as
hard as I thought it was as you learn a
new expression start using it in the
group that you joined in the comment
section even in this video underneath
this video in the comment section try as
much as possible to comment every single
video to practice alright now the other
solution is what you can do you can
roleplay
scenes now role-playing will help you
get more comfortable and also understand
the importance of body language when you
speak in English you can also shadow
videos you see online now you guys know
that when I speak to you when I teach
you I always use my hands I use a lot of
body language when I speak so when
you’re role-playing it’s very important
to think about your body language but
let’s say for example you want to
roleplay or act out a scene or a
situation where someone is meeting their
boyfriend or girlfriend for the first
time well not the first time let’s say
it’s the first date first date right
they already know each other but it’s
the first official date well roleplay
that scene
how do you think you’d feel in that
situation try to say it in English ah
wow you really look great today ah thank
you so much would you like to sit right
here
start acting it out and again this will
create triggers in your mind connecting
the emotions with the words that you’re
using and I guarantee it will make your
English language journey a lot more
interesting alright so again roleplay
this will help you practice even when
you’re on your own ok all right now
here’s the neck
reason reason number four you are tired
and burnt out in other words you feel
overwhelmed and tired now I had a
conversation with one of my students
this past week and he was telling me
that he’s just busy he’s a lot of things
going on at work and he’s kind of tired
and not really feeling like studying
English and I understood what he was
saying because you know after a while
you get a little bit bored which we
talked about earlier but if you’re so
busy at work you really are too tired to
study English but don’t worry like I
said I have a solution for this problem
here’s the solution and it may shock you
take a scheduled break every two weeks
that’s right
I want you to not study English once
every two weeks and let me explain why
your body needs physical rest but your
mind also needs mental rest so schedule
a mental break every two weeks study
hard for two weeks and then select a
full day or two to simply do nothing at
all
related to English you see what’s gonna
happen is you’re gonna start to miss
English but your brain is also going to
start to relax a little bit and start
reviewing what you learned over the
previous two weeks I guarantee that
taking this break is gonna make you more
excited when you start back again now
don’t take too long of a break some
students say well I’ll take about two
weeks
don’t take a two-week break take one day
or two days and then jump right back in
but again it is important to take a
break and give your mind a mental rest
but remember to come back immediately
after that rest all right now here’s the
fifth reason why you feel stuck you keep
comparing yourself to others basically
you feel like other people are better
than you now I’ll be very honest with
you I did this as well when I was
studying Korean because in my class
there were some amazing students I mean
they could speak Korean it was another
and I was always impressed by the way
they spoke in Korean and I also would
start comparing myself like I’m studying
so hard but why can I speak like them
why don’t I sound like them and slowly I
started to be very discouraged and I
started thinking about them instead of
my own journey this is why I want to
tell you to stop doing that don’t do
that because it actually can break you
down and really discourage you so here
are the solutions that worked alright
so instead of comparing yourself you
need to stop looking at other people you
have to stop worrying about other people
and their English skills focusing on
other people only brings stress and
discouragement instead analyze yourself
you should take time to analyze your
personal progress and see where you need
to improve then periodically go back and
see how you have improved so basically
instead of focusing on Tom Dick Harry
and Sally you now will focus on yourself
you will see hey what are you good at
what do you need to improve what you
need to work on and then work on those
things and you will feel more confident
because again you have a goal and you
know what you’re improving and also how
to continue improving so listen I really
hope this encouraged you I hope it
helped you see that even though you feel
stuck there is a way out there is a way
for you to take your English to the next
level alright now remember if you want
to watch part 2 of this lesson all you
have to do is click the link in the
description all my Academy students can
watch part 2 I really enjoy preparing
this lesson just for you and I will talk
to you next week but as always remember
to speak English
[Music]
you know what time it is it is story
time story time story time a a story
time alright okay guys so today’s story
is it’s kind of serious
um but it was a really big lesson that I
learned in my life and it’s kind of
connected to feeling stuck so when I
graduated from university I had a maid I
majored in computer science and also
commercial art so I was a web developer
at NASA like I told you about before um
but during that time I also started my
own business and I was developing
websites for companies you know after
work when I go home so I had a side job
now one time a gentleman contacted me
and he wanted me to actually create a
website for him for his business so we
had an official meeting I gave him the
proposal I told him how much it would be
and everything seemed fine I told him
okay it’s gonna be three thousand
dollars and you need to pay half up
front and then half upon completion
everything was perfect he was a really
nice gentleman shook hands gave me the
money immediately the first payment and
I started working now I was running my
own business and I had a contractor so
who was actually my coworker at my
actual job and then we would work
together on the side and he and I are
still very close actually his wife is
Korean and they are really close to me
I’m so close to them now and they were
one of the reasons I also wanted to go
to Korea so anyways he and I were
working together and he had the job of
working for on the database so the
database aspect of the website and
everything was going smoothly and we got
to the end of the project the website
was running perfectly and it was time
for me to go back to the client and say
hey everything is done can I have your
final payment after you’ve checked
everything and I was gonna also pay my
contractor so I called the gentleman and
there was no answer
but that was okay because all right you
know one time it’s not a problem
I call them every day almost for a full
two weeks then I send them an email and
I never got a response now remember I
said I had a contractor working for me
and I owed him a thousand dollars
because of the work that he did and I
hadn’t paid him yet so I was getting a
little bit worried because the client
wasn’t responding to my messages or my
calls and I stood to pay this contractor
now I remember I was very young I think
I was about 23 or 24 and I was stuck I
didn’t know what to do I was concerned
because I was thinking about my
contractor that was my responsibility to
pay my contractor but my client wasn’t
paying me so I called my parents and I
said this is the situation what do I do
do I take the person to collections
collections refers to if someone doesn’t
pay you you can actually go the official
route and get collections to get the
money for you from the person and if the
person doesn’t pay there are legal
ramifications they could possibly you
know have to pay a huge fine to the
state so I didn’t really want to do that
I didn’t want to sue him I just wanted
him to pay me for the work that was done
but again I said I felt stuck but when I
felt stuck I went to my parents for
advice and they said you know what TIFF
my nickname you guys can comment if
you’d like
your responsibility is for your
contractor even though your client
hasn’t paid you he’s your responsibility
and after that conversation I realized
that I had to take out a loan in order
to pay my contractor and when I told him
I was gonna pay him he was worried about
me he said TIFF no $1,000 is a lot of
money for you to take out as a loan just
because your clients not paying that
I’ll wait I said no you are my
responsibility I’m gonna pay you and
then whatever happens with this client
I’ll just have to face the consequences
so I paid my contractor and when I
called the client back and I said hey
you’re not responding to me but I had to
send this issue to the collections
agency he suddenly responded
he said why are you doing this to me and
he was very rude so I was a little bit
shocked remember I was young and he was
a lot older than me
and I was a little shocked because I
thought that he was more professional
long story short he never paid me ever
and I just lost that money and I had to
pay that $1,000 loan off because of my
client didn’t pay me but I learned a
valuable lesson always pay your people
first so moving forward whenever I had a
job or I had a client I always paid my
contractor’s first and I also learned
that when I get stuck in a situation I
need words of wisdom and my parents gave
me those words of wisdom in that moment
so today we talked about being stuck in
your English journey and I was hoping
that my words were words of wisdom for
you don’t worry I know sometimes it gets
difficult and you feel like you can’t
get above a certain level watch this
video again follow the ideas and the
plans that I gave you and the solutions
and use them as words of wisdom I hope
you enjoyed today’s storytime and I’ll
see you next week