How to Stay Motivated When Studying English Online
Keep you eyes on the prize
Why are you learning English? Do you have a passion for its harsh Germanic sounds? Are you a total masochist? I hope not!
Like most people, you are probably learning English for a specific reason (or two! or three!). Maybe you want to study in the U.S. eventually. Maybe you’re looking for a better job that requires English.
You know your reasons, but it can be really helpful to regularly remind yourself. Write it down and post it above your desk. Close your eyes and imagine yourself as an English speaker. Where are you? Who are you talking to? What are you talking about? Do this every few months to refocus and re-energize yourself.
use materials that interest you
Studying English doesn’t need to be a constant struggle! In fact, it is a bad idea to be constantly reading the most difficult things you can find. Extensive reading and extensive listening are really important to language learning. Extensive reading is reading easy, interesting materials without focusing on the language. This can be comic books, novels, newspapers. If you’re not an advanced student, graded materials can be a great way to get your extensive reading. Extensive listening is the same but with movies or podcasts or the radio.
A lot of important developments in our language happen when we are relaxing and just taking in the language. So enjoy your English!
Join an English-speaking community
People are such an important factor in motivation. You will get frustrated and discouraged with English at some point. If you are studying alone without a community to support you, you might give up at those difficult times. But if you have a community around you with similar goals and similar struggles, you can talk to them and they can support you when things get hard! Sometimes this community can be a class in your city. It could also mean moving to an English-speaking community and making friends there. If these options aren’t possible, thankfully we have the internet now to connect us with millions of English learners around the world. Did you know that there will be 2 billion English speakers in the world by 2020? That’s a huge community! Join a study group on Facebook or group English classes online!
Pause and review your progress
It is important to keep your eyes on your future as an English speaker, but sometimes it is also important to look back and really see how much progress you have made. You will learn little by little, and you may not see that progress from day to day, but if you stop and look back at where you were a year ago, you’ll see that all your hard work is paying off!
This post was written by Rob Sheppard, founder of Ginseng English.