Hi! It’s Shayna from EspressoEnglish.net, and in today’s video I’m sharing my tenth and final tip for how to stay motivated to learn English. This one is really interesting and fun, and it can really help you keep up your motivation and desire to make more progress in your English. Tip #10 is:
Challenge Yourself, Then Reward Yourself When You Reach Goals
Sometimes when you’re studying English by yourself, it can be discouraging because there’s nobody to say “Nice work!” or celebrate your successes. But if you give yourself challenges and rewards, it can give you the motivation to keep going and not quit.
Of course your main goal is to be fluent in English, but you can set smaller goals in the process. For example:
- Read an entire book in English
- Learn 10 new words every day for one month
- Be able to talk for 5 minutes straight in English (try talking for 1 minute, then 2 minutes, and work your way up to 5)
- Start a blog in English and write one post every week for a year
Choose goals that you think will be difficult, but not impossible.
For example, if you’re a beginner, don’t choose to “understand an entire movie on the first try” – that will be too hard for your current level. You want the goal to help you improve, but still be something you are able to reach.
When you reach your goals, celebrate!
Tell a friend, family member, teacher, or English-learning partner. Do something nice for yourself – eat a special meal, buy a small gift for yourself, etc. You will feel proud of yourself because you’ve accomplished your goal – and ready to take on the next challenge on your journey to fluency in English.
I hope these tips have been helpful. But don’t just listen to me talk about them – put them into practice!
Sometimes you can also lose your motivation because you don’t know what to study, where to start, what to learn next, etc.
My courses and e-books can help you with that. They have structured lessons to teach you things in a logical order, and some of my courses include exercises where you can send in your speaking/writing and get feedback from a teacher, which is also very motivating.
Thanks for watching, and let me know if you enjoyed this series of ten tips for staying motivated when learning English.
I wish you all the best in your journey to improve your English!