This episode is for you if you have been feeling stuck with your English. Like no matter how hard you push or try, you can't seem to make progress anymore.

By listening in today, you'll learn 3 practical things you can begin doing today to help you create momentum with your English.

I want to begin by sharing a quote from a great article I read a few weeks ago. It's by Karen Otavalo, a young immigrant from Ecuador who immigrated to the United States.

During those initial months of transition, words eluded me. When they did surface, that all-too-familiar fear rippled through me. Speech used to be one of the things I was strongest at, and seeing myself fail at something so essential — not only to get my ideas across but also to be taken seriously — was disheartening. It didn’t help that despite hours of practice sometimes it seemed like I wasn’t getting better.

I learned quickly that impatience doesn’t help things along. Language acquisition is rarely a linear path. More effort doesn’t always translate into more progress. Instead, I had to learn to be patient, and that isn’t an overnight transformation either. 

I love that quote, and enjoyed reading the article. (I suggest you give it a read.) Karen highlights something that everyone experiences in their English learning journey, and that maybe you are experiencing now: A language learning plateau.

A fast beginning, and then all of a sudden, everything slows down and it feels like no matter how hard you push, you just can't seem to make progress anymore.

If that feels like you today, then this episode, and the following episodes in through February, will be for you. We'll be talking all about language learning plateaus and what you can do to break through them.

Today: Getting momentum back.

First things first: Let's get real.

• No instant fixes.
• No language hacks.
• No 'Ah-ha' moment will come to your rescue.

But this is what we often look for. A silver bullet. To repeat myself, there isn't one.

Here are 3 things you can do today to begin building momentum again:

1. Realize where you are. You are experiencing a normal part of learning and language learning. (You're not broken!)
2. Don't look for those instant fixes. You need to put in the work. But it doesn't have to hurt! Look for and engage with, English that you enjoy. (Movies, TV shows, Books, Friends etc.)
3. Who are you connecting with in English every day. Make a point of building a relationship with someone who you can talk to in English beyond, "Hi, how are you doing?"

Next week: Breaking free from depending on class, course book, and safe vocabulary.

Links:

Here's what it was like for me to transition from ESL to mainstream classes.

There's no instant fixes for this. I'm sorry to have to

tell you that there's no instant fixes. There are no

language hacks that you can download off the Internet,

no cheat codes. There's nothing that you can find that

will instantly get you moving again. There's not

like some special aha. Moment where

you will have it and then all of a sudden your English will start moving

again. None of that, unfortunately, is going to happen.

Well, not sadly, but kind of normally

for us humans, we tend to look for those quick fixes, don't

we? I know I do. We want to find something that will

get us moving quickly. But unfortunately,

in this circumstance, there are no quick fixes. There are no silver

bullets. So we just need to have that

in mind.

Well, hello there and welcome to the speak English

fearlessly podcast. This is the podcast

for motivated english learners who want to speak English

fearlessly and learn practical tips and

strategies to conquer the selfup exam. I also

love to feature encouraging interviews with regular people,

people just like you who are working towards

becoming fluent in English so we can learn from their

experiences together. Who am I? Well,

my name is Aaron Nelson and I've been an english teacher

for over 16 years and I now work to help students

prepare for the CELPIP exam through online classes.

Two weeks ago, we had a

snowstorm. It wasn't anything serious, but

it was enough to cancel school for a day and

turn our roads into a challenging place to drive.

It also blocked my van in. I did a little bit

of shoveling to get my van moving and I tried to get

out the normal way I normally do,

and I moved a few inches and then

I heard the awful sound of tires

spinning and no amount of turning the wheel this

way or that backing up and trying again

could get me through, I was

stuck. And it took me a better part of 30

minutes of digging and shoveling and pushing and

lifting snow out of the way to finally break

free. Getting stuck, it's a

terrible thing to have happen, isn't it? Have you ever been

stuck in the snow before? It can happen to your car, your

van, your truck, but it can also happen in your

life. You can get stuck in your life. I bet you know

exactly what I'm talking about. Getting stuck

can happen to anyone, and getting stuck can

also happen in your English learning journey.

And over the next five weeks, we're going to take a look

at some practical ways to help you get unstuck

with your English learning. So if you've been feeling

like no matter what you do, you just can't move your English

forward. Then follow along with me. We're going to be working

together to get you moving again. And I want

to begin today's episode by sharing a quote from a

really great article I read a few weeks ago. It's

by Karen Otavelo, and she is a young

immigrant from Ecuador who immigrated to the United States.

And I'm just going to read this quote to

those. And in the article, she shares her personal

experiences of what it was like to be in an ESL

classroom, learning together with a group of people

who are in the same situation as her, not from the same countries,

but in the same situation. And what it was like to eventually

transition outside of the safety of the ESL

classroom and into regular, everyday class.

And where we pick up in this quote is her

just beginning to talk about what those first few days

and weeks were like being in that regular classroom

after being in the relative safety of an

ESL classroom. And even though it was relatively safe,

as you'll see if you read the articles, even there in the ESL

classroom where she was learning English with a group of other people,

there were definitely moments where she experienced fear and

challenge and like she was having to push through

a lot of obstacles. But this is what she

says. The first weeks, the first

few days, the first few months were like in

regular school. So she says, during those

initial months of transition, words

eluded me. When they did surface, that all

too familiar, fear rippled through me.

Speech used to be one of the things I was strongest at,

and seeing myself fail at something so essential not

only to get my ideas across, but also to be taken seriously,

was disheartening. It didn't help that despite

hours of practice, sometimes it seemed like I wasn't

getting better. Oh boy, I can sure identify with

that. But anyway, it keeps going. I learned

quickly that impatience doesn't help things

along. Language acquisition is rarely a

linear path. More effort doesn't always

translate into more progress. Instead, I had

to learn to be patient. And that isn't an over

transformation, an overnight sorry, an overnight

transformation either. Oh, I just love that

quote. And I bet if you take the time to read

that article, you'll really identify with a lot of things that

Karen shares. So I encourage you give it a

read. I've put a link to it in my show notes,

but yeah, you'll totally identify with some of the things that

she shares. But Karen

highlights something that everyone experiences in their English

learning journey and that maybe you are experiencing

now. And it's called a learning plateau.

Specifically a language learning plateau.

And what that means or what a language learning plateau

is when you have a fast beginning where

you are feeling like you're making lots of progress, which

normally happens when you're just getting started with something,

when you're just learning a new skill, when

you're just learning English for the first time, the very

beginning feels like you're making quick progress, you're learning new words,

you're having new experiences. And because of that

newness, things feel like you're

learning things a lot faster. But then

as you go along, everything begins to slow down.

And it feels like no matter how hard you push, just like what Karen

shared in that quote, no matter how hard you push, you

just can't seem to make progress anymore. If

that feels like you today, then this episode and the

following episodes all through February will be for

you. We're going to be talking about language learning plateaus and

what you can do to break through them. We're going to go

practical. Like when you are done listening to one of these

episodes, you are going to have a tool, a thing that

you can try, something that you can do to

begin breaking through that plateau. If that's where

you feel you are right now, these

next episodes are going to help you. Now I'm going to have to pause and

get something to drink because I am battling

the leftovers of COVID My whole family got

sick over the Christmas break and I got sick with

COVID It was rough. It stole my

voice and I still have this lingering cough.

I probably will be coughing partway through this because it seems

like the more I talk, the more my voice gets agitated and I

start coughing. So I'm taking drinks every so

often just to try to make sure I don't start coughing.

It keeps my throat and my mouth

wet and hopefully not drying out,

which is when I start the cough. So fingers crossed. I

hope I can make it through this. But today's episode is

all about getting momentum back. Like what we said

before, when you first start learning English, it

feels like you're making immense progress. Like you're

going quickly. I remember what it was like when I was learning

Spanish. Those first few weeks and months felt

like I was learning new things every hour, every

couple of hours. I just felt like I was making so

much progress and quickly, and I was.

But reality quickly sets in, doesn't it?

So what you need to have in

mind is this, first things

first. If you are experiencing

that plateau where the learning curve is no longer

going up, but it just feels like it's going flat.

The first things that you need to realize are

one, there's no instant fixes for this.

I'm sorry to have to tell you that there's no instant fixes.

There are no language hacks that you can download off the

Internet, no cheat codes. There's nothing that you can

find that will instantly get you moving again.

There's not like some special aha. Moment

where you will have it and then all of a sudden your English will

start moving again. None of that, unfortunately, is going to

happen.

Well, not sadly, but kind of normally

for us humans, we tend to look for those quick fixes, don't

we? I know I do. We want to find something that will

get us moving quickly. But unfortunately,

in this circumstance, there are no quick fixes. There are no silver

bullets. So we just need to have that

in mind. There's not a quick fix for this. Instead,

here are three things that I want to leave you with today.

Three things that you can do that will help you to get

moving and create that momentum again. First of

all, realize where you are. Realize

where you are. If this is you, you need

to realize that you're experiencing something that's normal. It's

a normal part of learning anything new.

Learning a language is not excluded from this.

You're experiencing a learning plateau. It

happens to everybody. And that should encourage

you, because when you are stuck in a learning

plateau, you're going to be feeling discouraged. You're going to be feeling

like giving up. You're going to be feeling like,

I don't know what I've gotten into, but I just can't do this anymore. I

don't know what's wrong with me, but keep in mind,

you're not broken. You're not doing things wrong.

This is a normal part of learning something new.

So number one, I want you to tell yourself today,

this is normal. Everybody experiences this when they

try to learn something new. And when your thoughts try

to tell you that you're a loser or that you suck at learning English,

or I'm never going to get this. You need to remind

yourself of that. Maybe you need to write this down and put it on

a postit note and stick it on your mirror every day. Or write a

note on your cell phone that every time you turn on your cell phone, you

see this note that says, it's a normal part

of learning to experience that flat line

that no matter how hard you push, you just can't seem to make

progress. Number two, stop looking

for those instant fixes, remember? There are none.

The only way to push through a learning curve

plateau is to put in the work, to be

patient. Just like what Karen was talking about at the beginning in that

quote that I shared with you. Patience is everything

when you are working through a learning

plateau. But as you are putting in

the work, it doesn't have to hurt. You need to tell yourself this.

You need to look for and engage with English that you enjoy.

And we've talked about this before in other episodes, haven't we? Do you remember?

Be looking for things that you actually like, but make sure that

you are looking for movies that you like, tv shows that you

enjoy, books that you actually enjoy reading,

spending time with friends that you actually

enjoy being around who speak English.

The point is, look for ways to connect with English in

ways that you like, because that's the

only way that you're going to break through this learning

plateau, by doing things that you enjoy

and putting in the work. Finally, point

number three. And this is kind of related to that friends

part, who are you connecting with in

English every day? Ask yourself this. Who am

I connecting with in English every day? And you need

to be making a point of building a relationship with someone who you

can talk with in English that goes beyond. Hi, how are you

doing? I'm fine, thank you. How are you? Yeah, it needs to

go beyond that. It needs to go deeper. Like maybe

a coworker, someone that you can discuss work situations

with in English, or a buddy to go watch a movie

with, for example. And then after the movie, you can talk about it, or

someone that you can talk with that will take you beyond

the surface level. English conversations of hi, how's

it going? How are you? You need to go beyond that. You need to

have someone who will actually talk with you in English

about everyday things. So

three things that I want to leave you with today that you can

take and use today. One, realize

where you are. You're not broken. You are

experiencing something normal. Number two, don't look

for instant fixes. Stop doing that. It's

normal to want to find an instant fix, but there isn't one to this. You

just need to put in the work, and you can put in the work

by doing things you actually enjoy. Are you

and number three, who are you connecting with in English every

day? Make a point of building friendships

with people that will help you talk about things that are beyond the

weather, beyond. Hi, how are you doing? And talking

about your life. Talking about things that you are doing on a day

to day basis. Your family, your kids work

situations. You need to have those conversations happening

with you and with a person who is also an english

speaker on a regular, everyday basis.

That's what I want to leave you with today. Next week,

we're going to be taking a look at breaking free from

your english classes, your course books and

safe vocabulary. So join

me next week and thank you for listening today.