- Hello, this is Jack from tofluency.com
and welcome to this English lesson
on how you can set a goal for learning English
and why this is important.
So we're going to talk about goals.
Now, I made a video recently where I went
through my 5-Step Plan for English Fluency.
So if you want to go through the entire five steps,
be sure to watch that, and also, get my book,
"The 5-Step Plan for English Fluency."
There'll be a link in the description
for you to click, and so you can download it.
But we're gonna focus on step two of the 5-Step Plan
and this is setting a goal.
This is such an important part of learning English.
Now, if you're watching this video
and if you are learning English,
then you might already have a goal.
You probably already do.
Something like, I want to speak English with confidence,
or I want to improve my English.
Both of those things are goals, but today,
we're going to get very specific with this,
and also talk about the power of deadlines.
Okay, now let's talk about levels.
You can test your level by watching
the video that I made recently,
but I'll just go over this very briefly.
Most of you watching this will have
between an A2 and a B2 level of English.
So, this is like a higher elementary level,
and that's a higher intermediate level, so A2 to B2.
And many of you will say things like,
"I feel comfortable reading or when I watch videos,
"but when I speak, I'm not as good.
"This is where I have problems.
"On my reading and listening, I have a higher level
"with these than I do with my speaking."
So know that you can have different levels
for the different skills in English.
That's important to know.
And most of you want to be able to speak better,
that is your focus.
So think about what level you have for your speaking,
and definitely watch that video
to find out what level you have,
because once you know your level,
then you can think about your goal.
Having a goal of a level here is definitely more specific
than just saying, "I want to learn English."
Because then you have an actual level of English to aim for,
and once you have that level to aim for,
then you can start creating your own plan of action
and your own learning strategy.
So let's just say you have
a B1 level of English speaking.
Your goal should be
to have a C1 level, a C1 level of English,
and I think this is a fantastic level to have.
Once you get to this level,
then everything else is so much easier,
and I'm going to just read what this level actually means.
It means that you can express yourself fluently
without searching for the right expression,
so you can speak fluently and you don't really have
to think about the expression to use.
It also means that you can use language
flexibly and effectively for social,
academic, and professional purposes.
So you can use the language in a flexible way,
and you can use it in those different types of areas.
So you can use it when you're just chatting with friends,
when you're at work, and when you're studying at university.
So that's really a fantastic level to have.
You can speak fluently,
you don't have to think about what you need to say,
and you can use your English
in a variety of different circumstances.
That is why C1 is fantastic.
C2 is where people think, okay, this person is fluent.
They never make mistakes,
so they don't make the obvious mistakes
that English learners make,
and that they can just do anything in English, really.
That takes a lot more time to get to,
but C1, this is a great level to have.
So if you have an A2 level,
your goal should be to get to a C1.
If you have a B1 and a B2, again,
your goal should be to get to a C1 level.
So now you have this goal,
and now you can create a strategy,
but there's one more thing to think about.
I want you to complete this sentence.
I will have a C1 level of English by,
enter the date, okay?
Enter the date, or you can say,
in six months, or in eight months,
something like that.
And the date that you enter, this is your deadline.
This is actually going to make you do it,
and it's going to help you create a plan
in order to reach that goal by that certain date.
Now, think about when a teacher gives you homework
or when a teacher gave you homework
when you went to school or university.
If they said, "You need to do this by tomorrow morning,"
you did it by tomorrow morning.
If they said, "You need to do this by next month,"
the vast majority of people will wait until that final day
and do it the day before it is due.
What I'm trying to say here
is that if you choose a deadline
that is both a little bit scary,
where you think, oh, this is going to be quite difficult,
but also something that is attainable,
then you're going to get fluent in English faster.
That is the key to getting fluent in English faster,
it's choosing a deadline that is in the immediate future,
but is still attainable.
So if you have a B2 level,
and you can study for four hours a day,
then maybe you can do it in three months or less.
If you have an A2 level, and you're studying an hour a day,
then maybe this is going to be nine months to a year.
So think about the level you have now,
how much time you can spend studying
and acquiring English a day,
and then choose a deadline based on that.
Let me know in the comments section below
if you have any questions about doing that.
So, goals, this is such an important
first part of learning English.
I want you to be specific about it.
You say this is my level now,
this is the level I want to have.
I want to be able to speak fluently.
I want to be able to do this without thinking about grammar.
I want to be able to do this in professional
and social and academic settings,
and then say, okay,
I want to have that level by, enter your date.
Or in so many months or maybe a year.
Once you have done that, then you need to think
about the reason why this is important,
to motivate you, but also as important as that,
you also need to think about, how am I going to do this?
What methods do I need to use?
And also, when am I going to do this?
Can I do it in the morning?
Can I do it in the afternoon, in the evening?
How many hours a day can I study?
What exactly is it I'm going to do
in order to reach this level?
Well, to learn about that, definitely get my book,
"The 5-Step Plan for English Fluency."
It is free to download, just go in the description,
click that link, and go download that now.
And then stay tuned, subscribe to this channel,
and turn on notifications, because very soon,
I'm going to be talking about the number one method
in order to reach this level.
Something that you can do five, 10, 15 minutes a day,
so that you can reach this amazing level of English,
this C1 level of English.
Okay, so if you have enjoyed this,
please press the like button, share it with your friends.
Again, if you are new, subscribe to this channel
and turn on the notification bell
so that you get an email when I upload videos.
Thanks again for watching,
and I'll see you in the next video.
Bye for now. (upbeat music)