How to Make English a Part of Your Life: Lesson 1

Relating English to Your Life

Welcome to Lesson 1 of the How to Make English a Part of Your Life mini-course!

Congratulations, you’ve taken the first step towards not just learning English, but LIVING IT!

We’re really excited that you’ve made it to the first lesson, and are really ready to take your learning into your own hands. Learning a language is not something that you can do by taking classes a few times a week for several months. You can’t study out of a textbook and hope that one day you’ll have learned enough to become fluent.

What you can do is make learning English a habit, and something that you look forward to doing.

In this short, five-minute video we’re going to look at the following:

• How to do what you already love, but in English
• How to make learning a more fun, natural part of your life
• The importance of goals for learning

As with the introduction, below you can find both the video lesson AND transcript for complete understanding!

Transcript:

Hey guys, this is Ethan from RealLife English, and I want to welcome you to lesson one of Make English a part of Your Life.

I want to start out by sharing one of my favorite quotes with you:

“To have another language is to possess a second soul.” –Charlemagne

You’re on a journey to better understand and speak the English language. This is not easy, but there are ways to make the process simpler, and we’re here to help you do this.

I’m going to ask you some questions about yourself. This is a good chance for you to reflect, and I recommend that you even pause the video and write down your answers.

Here we go:

1. What do you do? What’s your job or field of study?

• Does your job or your studies require English? How can you integrate it?
• If you’re a student, then perhaps your university offers some classes taught in English. Or you can do part or all of your research in English.
• Do you have the potential to study abroad or work abroad?

2. Why are you learning English?

• Having good motivation is one of the key components to success in language learning (and practically anything else).
• Bad forms of motivation would be, “I need it to get a good job,” “I’m required to learn it,” “Someone, like my parents/society, expects me to.”
• To motivate yourself, all you have to do is find ways to make learning English fun. You can’t just learn by studying a textbook. You have to live English. We’re going to talk a lot more about this in lesson two.

3. What are your goals with your English?

• It’s important to take your goals beyond getting a good job or passing an exam.
• Make it about YOU. Try to imagine a future version of yourself speaking English. What would that be like? Why do you seek fluency?

4. What problems do you have that you want to focus on overcoming?

• Everyone learns differently. That is why most exams aren’t a good show of your level of English.
• It’s good to reflect on your learning in the past. What problems have you repetitively had?

5. How much time per week outside of class can you dedicate to improving your English?

• So, how much time are you willing to spend learning English?
• We hope to prove to you that you have more time than you think to improve your English, and that it can be more fun than you’ve imagined.

6. How much time do you currently spend per week “in English”

• Do you watch, listen, speak, read, or write things in English at all already?

7. What things do you enjoy doing in your free time?

• Do you enjoy watching TV or movies, playing video games, reading, going out with friends, playing an instrument or singing?
• How many of them do you do in English?

Alright, I hope you’ve thought out some good responses to those seven questions, as it will help you with the next part, which is setting goals.

Setting goals

A goal without a plan is just a wish –Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

You’re much more likely to achieve your goals by writing them down and putting them somewhere where you see them every day, for example by your bed, so that you see them in the morning and at night. This will motivate you to keep working towards accomplishing them.

Deadlines also make you much more likely to achieve your goals. When you were younger, did you often leave homework or projects until the last minute, or did you turn them in early?

You probably didn’t turn them in until the day they were due, and not much changes when you’re an adult. This is why it’s important to set and keep hard deadlines.  Keep in mind Parkinson’s Law, which says that your work will expand to fit the time available.  So by reducing the time you have to accomplish each goal, you will improve your English faster.

Remember, there are seven days in the week, and “someday” isn’t one of them .

Any questions? Just send us an email!

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