hey there Michelle how you doing hey guys coming off of episode 2000 which was amazing that was
great um so great hearing from our listeners guys if you haven't checked out 2000 yet
definitely listen to that I can't believe we're now we're on our uh second 2000 we are starting
the I know Michelle it's insane we're gonna be podcasting until we're old ladies I mean
easy we just love it so much so we just keep going you know that's right why stop something yeah I
love it so good well Michelle I have a question to start off today's episode for you all right let's
hear it what do you think is the number one reason that students like our listeners for example don't
improve their English they're having problems they're not seeing Improvement what is it what's
that number one reason um I would say that it's uh fear of failure and uh therefore not I would say
not putting in the work as far as applying English to the daily life so I would say if somebody I
mean frequently I've spoken to students oh that they oh how do you practice English outside of the
classroom outside of whatever um and they say oh that they that they don't really uh yeah and that
they maybe they live with um roommates of who are also learning English and right they don't speak
English with them and I understand to a certain extent like you you're tired you don't want to
speak English you know and yeah it is exhausting and you just want to relax at home um but I would
say like putting in that 10 minutes just 10 minutes you know having certain goals like that
outside of the classroom putting you got to put in the work outside of class yeah so that's really
the number one thing is not I think I think you're right I think it's it manifests differently for
intermediate Advanced students what they should be doing versus what beginners do students should be
doing right I think intermediate Advanced outside of the class they should actually be using the
language maybe we're reading an English newspaper we're starting a conversation but beginner it's
the same thing it's just that maybe we're working on flash cards like I have my quizlet app here
for my Arabic the reason I'm bringing this up is Michelle I am hitting a wall with my Arabic
studies oh yeah this episode I think is coming out after I come back so we'll see how I did but right
now it's before and I've hit a wall and I realize there's one single reason why I've hit a wall why
it comes down to one thing I'm not putting in the time outside of class so we've had students
come to us I remember one of our students one of our loyal students amazing students and listeners
asked me in one of our live group classes about six months ago he said you know I come to all
these classes why am I not getting better and I said it's because I I said how much are you
doing outside of the class because the reality is guys your live classes are not the time in which
you're improving that's kind of like the test let's let's use that word it's the checking it's
the check of what you have learned outside of the class Michelle you know right right right exactly
that's kind of like setting you off like yeah here we go like Fly Fly Birdie fly yeah right you can't
you know you're it's just like um lighting the match basically it's letting the match it's a
chance for you to get a reward and we are we are we're animals in the end we need rewards
dopamine hits and there is a reward when my Arabic teacher asks me a question and I can answer that I
know exactly what he asked me and I can answer it back in Arabic that is so rewarding So today we're
talking about the difference between a virtuous cycle and a vicious cycle right what do you think
yeah what do you think is the difference when it comes to learning what could be what would
a virtuous cycle look like in your mind Michelle well uh gosh I'm trying to think I mean a vicious
cycle I'm thinking would be something that just like doesn't get any better you you like you get
yourself into this uh just like way of like you're not doing work you're not improving you get upset
you're not doing work you're not improving you're getting upset works so you get it so you don't do
the work you don't improve and you get it it's like yeah and that's where that I have been
experiencing a little bit of that to be honest because what's been happening is I'm booking a
lot of lessons so I get that dopamine hit when I book my lesson I say okay next Wednesday Friday
and Sunday I'm gonna book 30 minute lessons I'm doing the work actually I'm not doing the
work just booking those lessons and showing up is not the work okay the work is is my quizlet app I
I'm using Quizlet as my key uh study tool and I haven't been doing that as much as I should
because that's where I prepare for the show the show is the class right the show is the class the
show is where I get tested on what I've learned and so that makes that means I come away from
the class feeling a little bad a little scared of the language a little bit like oh maybe I
can't do this and then I feel less motivated study versus what would a virtuous cycle look like what
if I actually spent more time prepping right you spend more time you get I think I guess it's like
you get the ball rolling and more positive things keep on happening and then you just keep improving
exactly exactly that's it so Michelle how much time I'm going a little bit of out of order in our
notes here but how much time do you think that we what do we recommend you know I've realized that
there is a metric that I think we can recommend to our students how much actual time should we
spend outside of class preparing for that class like what would be a ratio no class time to study
time okay well I'm looking at our notes of what we were oh yeah I would say two to three times the
time to study outside of class right Lindsay exactly yeah I I really think you know maybe
before I would have thought oh that sounds like a lot but now that I'm especially as a beginner
you really need to you know I don't think too many of our listeners are beginners but maybe some of
you guys are intermediate lower intermediate you need a lot of time and we need to also involve a
lot of Senses I'm not doing enough listening but I also if I do a 30 minute class after that class
I should spend 60 to 9 90 minutes studying what I practiced in class or the new things that were
introduced to me in class because especially if I learn new things in that class if I don't spend
that time there's no way I can come back next time and I know my teacher is going to ask me the
question I can't do it I well there's no way I can do it I have no context for this language okay so
well well here's the question do you think that's 60 to 90 minutes should be all at once or split
up or does it matter that's a great question I think it would be smart to split it up I think it
depends on you how you study I know that I learn best by moving and taking in information so I need
podcasts I haven't found a great podcast yet but how would you do it Michelle I mean I would split
it up as well it depends on how much time you have but I I mean we've talked a lot about on
on this show about not overwhelming yourself so like if you see oh I should do a 60 to 90 minutes
outside of class after it's like that can sound a little bit overwhelming but if you think about
it as 10 20 minutes a day that's more manageable and you can break it down and kind of reinforce
things in a better way and let your brain and let your brain adapt to what you're learning
um rather than just doing it all at once and kind of flooding your flooding all your senses
and getting off oh yeah 100 agree Michelle it's really about how do we take our study tool and
integrate it into our when we're waiting in the doctor's office I can easily pull out my app and
look at my flash cards I can play a matching game right I can take a little test in my app
uh when I am walking my dog and the dog's playing with other dogs I could play with my I play with
the app and Quizlet like what can it's it's a how do we Let It Bleed into our lives to remember to
pick that up and actually do that right right right right right exactly it can be it can be
anything like you said it can be Quizlet it can be you you listen to a radio show for 10 minutes
um you know it can be you talk with a friend um but yeah you you have to put in that time
um be most effective for you yeah there's no substitute for the time and that was my answer
to our student who said why am I not getting better yeah you're coming to the classes but
these are 30 minute classes where you're learning new things this is not studying
English this is kind of the performance moment where we see how much setting you've done yeah
that's the real that's the reality right that is the the balance between class and study guys and
you know that feeling Michelle where I think a lot of our listeners struggle with this where
when they're learning a new language and if your teacher asks you a question in class the
first thing that comes to mind if you don't feel confident is that filter goes up and you
say oh my gosh I don't know the answer do you know what I mean it blocks your mind right yeah
right so so part of what I've noticed and why I think this is so important for our listeners to
keep in mind of a study time is that reduces that filter that brings that down so it actually makes
you lead with I do know it I think I know this and now I have Clarity of mind to find the word
right right and then when you go to the next class uh you won't you won't be so nervous
you will say okay no I know this I've I've worked for this um and I can do this yeah I mean I think
it is so important to be in the right headspace when you are when it's time to perform with the
language and the thing that's gonna get you there guys is that practice so there's no substitute no
you can hire you can hire a tutor for every day of the week but if you're not spending
time outside of that class it's not going to work especially at the lower levels and then
you might and then you might like almost like blame you might start to place blame where it
shouldn't be placed like you might start to place blame on the teacher like speaker isn't good and
it's like no the teacher is giving you what you need to exceed to succeed and matters what you do
with it I mean two different students can get two completely different things out of the same class
oh my gosh and we see this a lot with our IELTS of course of course right some students are in our
basic plan for three keys IELTS in 30 days they have gotten their seven and they are ready to
immigrate they're moving on and then others don't necessarily put in the time on their own which
is totally required that Independence and they they maybe don't quite get there right so it's
it's there's so much of ourselves that's involved like self-driven learning as adults because we're
not sitting in a classroom as kids so 90 of your work is outside of class that I think is the key
takeaway for today Michelle I think so too yeah absolutely just really you gotta put you got to
put in the work you got to put in the work yeah so guys this is you know what I've learned through
the last you know six or eight weeks of Arabic classes and you know my trip to Egypt will be
the true test of how well it worked but I know how to get myself out of the Vicious Cycle right so
now you guys know what to do you know how to get yourself out of it you know how to get away from
the effect effective filter coming up and saying I don't know I don't know the Panic you know how
to get out of it so go and do it right that's it yeah I love it today I love it guys yes you you
will be able to do it you got to get yourself in that healthy mindset you're gonna put in the work
um and I think that you'll start to very quickly uh notice a difference
um in your motivation and your progress I think it's I I think it's almost immediate honestly
yeah 100 Michelle so good so good so guys we mentioned IELTS in this episode Michelle where
can our listeners go to get a taste of IELTS what podcast could they listen to listen to the IELTS
energy podcast with Jessica and Aubry it is an amazing podcast you will learn you will laugh you
will have fun and you will feel prepared for the IELTS exam yeah I mean in this it's amazing what
we can learn when our brains relax it's kind of what we were just saying with that Panic
that we're trying to reduce by spending time studying outside of class when we relax like
when we consume Isles energy aller's English our brains come down and it's almost like I'm
having fun here right right I'm having fun I'm laughing and we just learn and we don't know
we're learning it's incredible so that's that's why we do it that's why we do it the way we do
it you got it Michelle thanks for hanging out with me today and talking about this such a key
topic thank you this is awesome Lindsay and good luck with Arabic on your trip oh thank you it's
all right take care talk soon all right [Music]