Mistakes people make when learning English and how to avoid them
name is alicia and in this week’s lesson
we are going to talk about mistakes that
learners make with their studies and how
to avoid them i have chosen a bunch of
problems study and learning related
problems and we’re going to talk about
them in today’s lesson
we’re also going to talk about how to
avoid these problems too so i hope that
everybody gets some ideas for how to
study not just what to study okay so as
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okay i think facebook is just getting
rolling
today we are talking about how
to avoid some common mistakes how to
avoid some common mistakes uh and we’re
going to talk this is not grammar
mistakes but we’re going to talk about
study mistakes so problems people have
in their studies like studying in
different ways yeah okay so let’s take a
look at today’s lesson boards then yeah
okay so this is going to be the flow for
today’s lesson here we go so
we’re going to talk about goal setting
and reviewing active learning and
passive learning and study planning and
then we’re gonna talk about uh how often
you study and how much you study as well
so i hope that everybody gets kind of
some ideas of how they can improve their
study sessions to be more efficient okay
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okay cool
i’m done i will start the lesson now
okay let’s begin i’m i want to start
today with the
biggest problem well
i guess maybe it’s the biggest problem
but i see it as a big problem uh based
on your comments uh and feedback
so
uh let’s start with this one the
one of the biggest mistakes i see among
learners is
not setting good goals not setting good
goals so
uh
what does this mean
it means that people set goals that are
too big or they’re hard to understand or
it’s hard to know when you reached the
goal so those aren’t good goals
what you should do is set smart goals
smart goals i have talked about many
times on this channel but smart goals
are specific
s specific
measurable
m measurable so that means we can
measure
how much or how long we did something
they are achievable so we can achieve
them we can do them
they are realistic
so not a crazy goal
and they are time-bound so we have a
deadline for it yeah so we need to set
smart goals right okay
so what’s a really good example i see
this in youtube comments in the chat in
messages all the time people write to me
and they say my goal is to be fluent my
goal is to be fluent i want to be fluent
i want to
speak perfect english or something like
that of course like we all want that we
all have that language goal for our
studies
but
for a study goal this is a really hard
goal to understand why because how do
you know when you’re fluent how do you
know you reached that it’s really hard
to say i’m blue no
right so we need to set different goals
for example my goal is to learn 300
vocabulary words this month right so
this goal is good because it’s specific
300 vocabulary words
it’s measurable we can measure did i
finish this or not
it’s achievable we can do this in one
month it’s realistic not a crazy goal
and time bound it’s one month okay
so this is a good goal this goal my goal
is to be fluent this is not a good goal
so lots of you all some of you are
writing in the chat my goal is to be
fluent yes all of us want to be fluent
but for your studies this is not a good
goal to set for yourself because you
don’t know
if that’s your only goal that makes it
really really difficult for you to move
forward in your studies you need to set
lots and lots and lots of very small
goals to help yourself move forward okay
so
update your goals as you make progress
update your goals as you make progress
so that doesn’t mean you have one goal
forever
all right so you have like a weekly goal
or maybe a goal for your study session
or a goal for your month right so you
have lots and lots of different little
goals inside your big goal okay
so this is a really big mistake i see
people don’t set good goals for
themselves i want to be fluent is not a
good goal
honestly yes i underst i understand i
understand your goal of course you want
to be fluent
so but think about the steps you need to
take to get there
okay let’s go to the next mistake i see
the next mistake i see is not reviewing
not reviewing so that means i see people
for example when they use a textbook
they just go through the textbook but
they never go back to old topics they
learn and you should you you should
review reviewing is super important so
go back to old lessons go back to old
vocabulary study topics and so on and
review them so there are some um like
flashcards like on our website we have
uh flashcards that automatically review
they help you to review so that’s super
cool but if you use a textbook or if you
use video lessons or audio lessons make
sure you review that information every
once in a while you can’t watch
something or read something or listen to
it one time and remember forever right
so go back to old lessons go back to old
vocabulary make sure you review it
review it to refresh your mind yeah okay
and then another point check your
progress with old material you can see
your growth
you can see your growth so that means
you can see how far you leveled up right
if you go back to check old material you
can also find new spots to study so for
example if you
read a textbook or you read a book
a few months ago it was super super
difficult for you and then you studied
some grammar you studied some vocabulary
and now you go back and you read it and
you’re like oh i can read this now
that’s a marker so you know you leveled
up right you know you made some progress
review helps you to do that so by
reviewing something you understand oh i
learned something i improved so this can
be super super motivating
also when you review if you go back and
you think oh i still don’t know this
word or i still don’t understand this
grammar point that’s a new spot to study
so that shows you ah i have to study
this thing right here
okay so review is super super important
and it’s good for your motivation
final point give your brain the chance
to try to recall the information give
your brain the chance to try to recall
the information recall means like
remember you’re trying to like push your
brain to remember something
so this is really really helpful for
long-term learning so
make sure you have some time you study
once you have a little break and then
you study again right the same thing
that space having that space that gap is
really really good for long-term
learning and try to recall the
information if you’re wrong that’s okay
making a mistake is okay but trying to
force your brain trying to push your
brain to remember is extremely helpful
for long-term learning
so make sure you give yourself a chance
to do this by reviewing don’t forget
review i talk about this all the time
okay so review so the first two mistakes
are goals set good goals and review
review okay so this is part one for
today’s live lesson all right uh i’m
looking at your comments not so many
questions today but i’m checking your
comments people are writing useful tips
thanks okay great thanks ina on facebook
for writing that
uh okay so we’ll take a quick break and
then we’ll get to part two so if you
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okay
let’s go to part two part two mistakes
okay
the next one is very important for those
of you i think all of you who use
youtube facebook audio podcasts and so
on this next tip is maybe for you so the
next tip is or the next mistake rather
is no active learning no active learning
what does this mean let’s talk about
these two active learning and passive
learning so active learning is
practicing speaking writing in a diary
reading a book
focusing
on a video taking notes these very
active things we’re using our brain
we’re focusing our energy focusing our
attention on the topic yeah this is
active learning
passive learning on the other hand
passive learning for example is playing
music or videos or a podcast while you
do other things right so with passive
learning you’re not focusing your
attention on it it’s just there in the
background just playing somewhere so the
problem i see lots of people online seem
to use only passive learning they don’t
do active learning much a lot of people
write comments to say they listen to
like a long video on the youtube channel
in the background while they clean the
house or something or they play it while
they’re doing their homework that’s
passive learning yeah make sure you also
have active learning in your study plan
in your study schedule so you need to
make sure you’re using your brain to
create something you’re focusing your
attention on understanding and getting
new information so passive learning is
fun for sure like listening to music or
whatever passive learning is super fun
it’s great to do that
but make sure you also do active
learning too
okay
all right
okay i don’t see any questions yet just
lots of people saying hi so hello
everyone okay
let’s go uh to let’s go to the next
point then
uh so yes make sure to do active and
passive learning not just passive
so next point no study session plan no
study session plan this is a mistake
uh that i think all of us have
experienced sometimes for sure i do it
too you feel lazy you have no plan for
your studies so what does this mean
no study session plan means you think
okay i’m going to study now but
i don’t know what i’m going to study
i’ll just do a bunch of stuff
so of course like everybody i think has
had this experience what should you do
instead you should choose a goal for
your study session so start your studies
with a plan okay so for example this x
is something you should not do like
don’t start your study session and just
watch a bunch of random youtube videos
about language right don’t just sit
there and go okay i’ll watch this and
this and this okay i spent one hour
watching grammar videos great i studied
that’s not super great it’s better than
nothing it’s better than nothing but
instead watch youtube videos about your
study session topic yeah so if you make
a study plan assess a session study plan
you say okay today i’m going to focus on
i don’t know present perfect tense then
you can go watch youtube videos about
present perfect tense as part of your
study plan after that you make some
sentences with the grammar point you
practice speaking out loud with the
grammar point whatever so make your
study session plan and make a goal for
it so that way you have targeted
practice yeah so sit down with a plan
for your time for your studies okay
yeah it happens for sure we get
distracted easily on the internet right
there’s so much available but make a
plan for yourself what do i want to
achieve this goes back to problem number
one not setting good goals yeah make
sure you set a good goal for your study
session so you can achieve it and move
on
okay
jiren owari da on youtube says i have an
app which has a bunch of english
conversations i listen to them and pay
attention to every word is that an
effective way to learn english it’s one
way you say you’re listening right so
you are improving your listening skills
by doing that right that’s one skill you
have reading writing speaking listening
communication yeah we have lots of
skills to develop so you’re working on
one skill by doing that by listening
yeah make sure to work on the other
skills too
okay
[Music]
edwin says should we only speak with
phrasal verbs
no
you should use you should use the verb
that is best for the situation
don’t don’t speak only in phrasal verbs
i can’t imagine what that would be like
okay
all right cool so my my key point here
make a study session plan yeah for every
study session it doesn’t have to be huge
just pick a pic something to focus on
okay all right this is part two we are
finished yeah
someone on youtube says i always watch
random videos i know it happens right on
youtube or whatever we choose the next
thing you know all the time i completely
understand
okay let’s go now to part three we’ll
take a super quick break and go to part
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okay let’s get to part three and if you
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to part three part three is about study
schedules really okay so the first
problem i want to talk about here is
inconsistent study
inconsistent study so in this prefix
means not or no so consistent consistent
means regular yeah always at the same
time are always at the same place or
always in the same way that’s consistent
something that is consistent
inconsistent means not that so not
consistent
inconsistent study so for example maybe
studying for two hours twice a month
that’s it or watching youtube videos
sometimes when you feel like it
these are examples of inconsistent study
no good right
then
something that’s good to do make time
every day or every week for targeted
study so
of course everybody is different maybe
in my case a few years ago i like to do
15 minutes vocabulary study on my way to
work and on my way home from work so
that was for me 30 minutes a day five
days a week that was super super great
for my vocabulary building so for me
that was my consistent study strategy to
improve my vocabulary it was awesome for
me my vocabulary went
so
make sure you have a consistent study
schedule if you want to focus on grammar
maybe that means 30 minutes three times
a week you study grammar so make sure
you have a regular study schedule don’t
just say i’ll do it when i feel like it
right because it’s hard to find
motivation when we’re tired and busy
right
so
make sure you have a more consistent
study schedule okay
jaffar says how can i change my level
study you need to study and work to
improve it to change your level
okay cool so the last point then
the last point is related to this
actually this mistake
cramming cramming is a big mistake for
long-term learning what is cramming
cramming is for example the night before
a test
you
panic oh no i have a test and you study
study study study study like five hours
eight hours to get all the information
in your head and then take the test so
what’s the problem
so studying for five hours like once a
month before a test or maybe you have a
long intensive language lesson once a
week the problem with these is that
these strategies are helpful yeah in
short term thinking yeah so for the test
tomorrow great maybe you learn
everything you need to know with this
strategy
but long term this is not helpful
so
intensive study can be helpful
like an intensive language course if you
can take an intensive language course
that’s awesome that’s super great but
like just once a week maybe is i don’t
know if it’s the only thing you’re doing
maybe not so helpful so intensive study
can be helpful so intensive means super
super focused like many many hours
intensive study can be helpful but
cramming doesn’t help with long-term
learning you get the information in your
head for a short time only with cramming
yeah
so cramming can also lead to burnout
what is burnout so burnout is when you
lose motivation you feel tired you hate
it you quit yeah no good so you need to
pace yourself like here making a
consistent schedule pace yourself so you
don’t get burned out even if you’re
excited about something you can get
burned out just because you don’t make a
good plan for yourself so make sure
you’re good to yourself and make sure
you help yourself reach your goals
by creating a good study plan for
yourself that fits your life okay
so don’t cram don’t cram i saw
uh at this
some students at the school i used to
teach at they would come to the school
like just one day a week and spend the
whole day there and that was it that was
their only study
so i thought wow it would be better to
have of course it’s great to come to the
school to study and practice but make
sure you have time throughout your week
to do that as well right okay
so don’t burn out don’t run out so
cramming
cramming so don’t cram cramming is
putting all of that information into
your head at one time no good
you get tired and it’s hard to remember
it all we learn language our own
language over time as little kids right
by listening to other people and
learning patterns so you need to give
your brain time to do that too okay
all right good so those are a few
mistakes that i see uh learners make
with their studies of course all of us
struggle with these from time to time i
definitely do too but just think about
it just be aware of it so that you can
make a better study plan for yourself
okay i will study i will study i will
share uh the
lesson boards if you want to take a
screenshot do so now
all right so here are the topics we
discussed today we talked about not
setting good goals and not reviewing we
talked about active learning and passive
learning and setting a study session
plan we also talked about inconsistent
study and cramming okay so
i hope that everybody found something
they can maybe change a little bit in
their study session or thought oh i do
that
for me i’m definitely i’m very
inconsistent lately i study kind of
randomly my studies aren’t very good
lately so i need to i need to pick up my
motivation
okay so that is it for this week but i
will be back next week so next week’s
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i’ll wrap up today’s lesson there
um
let’s see i’m looking at your questions
i see lots of thanks and people talking
about their uh
their study plan that’s awesome so
thanks very much uh for joining me today
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you again next time okay so thanks very
much for joining me for this week’s
lesson uh have a good day have a good
week and i will see you again next time