How to Improve Your English Daily
Back in action, I see! Isn’t it just the right era for us to pursue continuous self-development? With all of the tools and resources available just a few clicks away, any goal is only depending on oneself to achieve.
It’s also widely known that being able to speak in English (at least at a very basic level) is of utmost importance. Of course, depending in which industry you’re working or pursuing to work, how valuable it becomes relatively to other skills you’ll need in order to be more than just a standard performer.
It’s not that being a standard performer is negative, that’s a whole lot better than being a below standard one. But let’s be honest, if you want to improve your current situation to get a promotion at your current company, either for the money or just for self-assurance, only by aiming to improve yourself will you be able to achieve it.
So, let’s dive right into it and get the path towards Improving Your English Daily started!
Index
1 — Face Reality, Take Ownership
2 — Group activity
3 — Solo activity
I do encourage you to jump straight to the point you find the most attractive rather than reading everything out of behavioral habit.
Face Reality, Take Ownership
It’s a fact that I love to read, I truly enjoy mixing up this rather relaxing activity with learning something new, or even just to refresh old concepts that I’ve may have forgotten about.
Recently, I chose to read the book “Extreme Ownership” by authors Jocko Willink and Leif Babin and let me tell you, I’m amazed. It’s just extraordinary how the authors explain in such a straightforward manner the importance of each individual’s decision to own their role, in pretty much every aspect of life.
“I’ve just decided I was no longer taking any bs from anyone, even me, in the path to conquer greatness.”
While this book has being my daily companion for the last couple weeks (and haven’t read a lot yet), I’ve chosen this path to owning my future and holding myself accountable for a decent amount of time now. It’s not that I’m anything special, or that I’m better than anyone else, I’ve just decided I was no longer taking any bs from anyone, even me, in the path to conquer greatness. Most of all, it’s relevant to highlight the fact that I solely deserve it based on how much work I put on each and every day in order to fight my fears, improve myself, and finally, diving right into my growth zone.
Facing the fact that you are the only true person responsible for your own success is key. You shall never again be under water by your own excuses. Is lack of time your current excuse? Or living situation not that comfortable? Personally, I’d suggest switching from staying up late to find that peace, to going to bed sooner and waking up a whole lot earlier in order to learn, improve, exercise, whatever you know at heart is what you’re in need of.
“Facing the fact that you are the only true person responsible for your own success is key.”
If your current situation is far from what you’ve expected of life, or maybe not as drastic as that, but it’s not where your dreams live, stop all of those unnecessary behavioral patterns, “but I’ve always done it this way”, just stop, choose to stop, choose to become better and put yourself first.
Group Activity — Being the guide
Today I’m bringing an exciting activity to do in groups! First off, it’s of outstanding importance to remember that this activity is a fusion between learning English, having a good time with your team and getting to know each other. So, let’s keep it simple and fun!
You’ll need:
- A Map — just a simple one is okay, however, feel free to be creative!
- A Pawn for each player — you may just grab a coin, if you have anything else that might be a little more fun, grab it!
- A Blindfold — or anything that can work like so
Here I added 2 options just in case you weren’t inspired to created yours, but I do encourage you to go to Canva’s website and get that creativity going!
The How To
Yes, everything’s nice and colorful, but how’s this gonna help me learn English? Bear with me.
You’ll need to start by breaking the large group into pairs, in this way, it’ll be much easier to take turns and play. Once that’s done, each pair should flip a coin and see who’s going in first.
There’s the guide and the blindfolded walker, while one is blindfolded, the other is guiding. You may be getting the idea by now haha. Here’s some language suggestions to help the guide, guide:
That’s it! Hope this game gives your group a few laughs, and the most important part: getting to know your team while learning something as useful as English skills are nowadays.
Solo Activity — Less preparing, more doing
Quite an interesting title, isn’t it? Why would the author suggest preparing less, and diving into doing straight away? Well, the answer is: experience wins.
“it’s experience the one that truly embraces learning the language”
Never have I prefered doing instead of preparing before doing, it’s a fact. I’m a reader, I’m a person who loves to get well prepared before starting. However, it’s experience the one that truly embraces learning the language.
It’s well known that when people travel to country where the official language is other than their mother tongue, in no time they start getting the hang of it. That’s because they’re doing, not just preparing.
Don’t get me wrong; while it’s positive to prepare by reading, doing grammar exercises, and even some listening tasks, it’s just not enough in this context.
When pursuing your studies in order to get that amazing degree you always dreamt off, so you can get that job, it is indeed amazing, that’s because there's a roadmap for you to follow. Whereas, when looking to be able to speak the English language short term, personally, you’re wasting your time.
“don’t fall behind the whiteboard just to ignore and blame the teacher for not learning fast enough”
Get yourself a tutor who is interested in teaching you by speaking, not only leaving you to do exercises, practice, do, don’t fall behind the whiteboard just to ignore and blame the teacher for not learning fast enough.
“remember that you have a wealth of resources available to you online”
If you’re on a tight budget and can’t afford a tutor, don’t fret. While having a tutor can be a valuable asset, remember that you have a wealth of resources available to you online.
Point is, start losing that nervousness, as well as all those feelings of embarrassment, they’re just. not. helping. Additionally, the only way for you to get better is to pursue improvement, to make it happen. The future is in your hands now.
All in all,
this has been quite an assertive post haha, I’m so in love with this concept of ownership and grabbing the bull by the horns that I want all of you to acknowledge the existence of this practice. Because yes, it’s something “obvious”, but at the same time it is not. We may forget about it, or even ignore it on purpose, because believing ourselves a victim is far easier that having to take ownership for our own lives.
Regarding the frequency of my posts, I’ve received a couple messages suggesting to going back and writing twice a month, as well as some comments. I get your point and love that my articles are being well received, I’m truly surprised and grateful for that. I’ll see what I can do on my end to make it happen.
Hopefully, I’ll be posting once a month. Next post: end of September 2023.
Follow me on GitHub here. Also, here’s my LinkedIn just in case.
