I'm working hard but my English is not
improving ever wondered why
hi guys, I'm teacher Prix and I'm going to
help you talk to anyone anywhere
anytime in English ever felt like your
English is stuck like you're not going
to be forward you can improve you can't
remember things, the phrasal verbs you
want to remember: blah! Nothing happens
well I have been there and so many other
people have been there so don't you feel sad
if you are feeling this way right now
what I have noticed from my own
experience and from years of teaching
English to people from all over the
world is that there are specific reasons
to why you are feeling this way to why
you feel like you're not improving
that's why today I want to share with
you five reasons to why I believe you're
not improving. So here we go! Number one
time! there's no secret recipe to
learning not only a language but
everything in life. Time is key. thinks take
time
it takes time to improve. What I noticed is
in the beginning we feel energetic, we feel
pumped
yeah I want to improve, I want to learn
I want to speak, I want to be fluent and as
time goes by we start to feel less
energetic and consequently we dedicate
less time. By the time many students
many students reach intermediate-level
they feel not only they're stuck, but they
also dedicate the less time. They're busy
and they've reached, they've been able to reach
that level when they feel comfortable
enough to have a conversation in English
but they always feel like they don't get
better than that
and one of the reasons one of the
reasons why is time, you dedicate
less time, and the less time you dedicate
the more you feel like you're stuck so
my advice here: don't let time be your
enemy. Use time in your favor and i know
that many students who reach intermediate
level or upper intermediate feel like
they don't need to dedicate as much time
anymore because they get to do what
everybody's looking for which is
communicate but if you are at that level
keep going keep dedicating yourself
because that is the only way you're
gonna improve, especially if you're feeling
stuck use time wisely. Number two: native
language we all need to communicate
right especially if we are studying a
language we need language we need to
speak something
the problem here is that sometimes we
rely too much on our native language in
order to study English and that's my
friend can become a big problem down
the road when you become an intermediate
speaker when you are an upper-intermediate
speaker. Sometimes students try to use
English the same way they would use their
native language, for example I have some
Brazilian students sometimes what I feel
is that they are trying to use Portuguese
where they are speaking English I
have students from other countries sometimes
they are trying to use the Spanish to
use English the same way they would use
Spanish, and this happens pretty much
everywhere it doesn't matter where
you're from. Chances are you will use your
language and try to adapt it and try
to to understand English the way you
understand your native language and this
doesn't work either a language is not
just about the words and grammar rules
it's about history the culture that's
why using your language is not going to
help you and at some point is going to
get in the way. It is gonna stop you from
improving now I'm not saying you can't
use translation i'm not saying you can't
write down the explanation but don't try
to to relate everything you learn in
english to your mother language to your
native language.It is not going to work and
I've seen many, countless cases of people
who do that and at some point they feel stuck
they feel like they're not moving
forward and this could be the reason why
number three focus on mistake guys I I
always rewatch my videos, i like to see
myself and listen to my pretty voice, no, I'm kidding
But, I do watch my videos again just like a
quality check i like to see, pay attention at the
mistakes I made so that at some point
like in a future video I don't make the
mistake that mistake again
but what I realized is that I was
judging myself and I was starting to
feel a little bit insecure
that's when I realized I was like oh ok,
i need to stop doing this
I'm not going to rewatch my videos
just to spot for errors and try to find
what is not good and I started to feel
really bad and this happens to students
I've seen it dozens of times you are
talking to someone and then you make a
mistake the teacher or your friend
corrects you and then there you have it
you feel down, you feel sad, and
consequently the worst part your
confidence, your confidence, you lower your
confidence you feel, you feel
insecure and this is the biggest problem
here insecutiry, the more insecure you
feel, the less you speak, the more
worried you are about making a mistake
the more mistakes you think you will make and the
less you are going to communicate so
accept that you are going to make
mistakes, accept that sometimes you will
forget the "s" at the third person he
she, it, she like he likes you will forget
it happens, accept that sometimes you will
use don't you will not use doesn't
accept that sometimes you will say more
cheap not cheaper it's better to accept
that you will make these mistakes and not feel
so bad so guilty about making
these mistakes. Of course that if you are taking
classes
the idea is that the teacher helps you
and corrects you so this will happen but
in real life conversation don't feel down
so don't let mistakes get the best of you
and many intermediate students get so
worried about mistakes that they get
stuck, they stop making progress
because they're too worried about the
mistakes they make. Number 4: no context
oh this is my fight with all my students
context i always talk about this in all
videos, if you pay attention I'm always
talking about context. I have so many
students who tell me when they start
studying with me and they come and they say
Priscila, I hate Present Perfect, i don't
understand it's too hard
I never remember to use it and they all
know the rules
you know, the rules are there you have it
I know how to use it but because they
have no real context they they don't
really use it and that's the problem
here you will get stuck if you don't
contextualize the things you study
that's why as much as I appreciate
grammar books and all kinds of
vocabulary books if you don't bring it
to your life you're not going to learn
it you're not going to actually you
will learn, but you will not remember and the
truth is that if you don't learn, if you don't remember
something you don't remember something
as much as you know it it useless it
is useless knowledge, if you don't put it into
practice
that's why i always tell whoever asks me
that context is key and this is one of the
reasons to why you are not improving
your English consistently at some point
in your journey in your studies
ok, but Priscila, how, how do I
contextualize? Bring examples to your life
things that actually happened to you
things that have some meaning to you ok
so when I'm teaching
present perfect i like to think about
things that the person i has actually
done, places this person has actually
visited and with these examples this
story these real stories i'm able to
explain how to use present perfect for
example and this happens to everything
you're going to study not just grammar points
but vocabulary. I've seen so many
students struggle to use phrasal verbs for
example. By the way there is a new video about
phrasal verbs coming soon.
probably next week, so stay tuned. So,
and well, going back to the..
yeah, I got lost, alright, oh ok,
and this could be the reason why. I learn a phrasal verb
I have like a list of a hundred phrasal verbs
that I can use but I don't really use
I never make myself use it, I never push it
I never work hard to use them
consequently you're not going to rememeber
So, context is key
ok. Find situations to, find situations when you
can really use those words and you will
see improvement you'll feel improvement
and the last reason: focus on grammar
Yes guys old but gold! right?grammar
is important but up to a certain level
ok, we need grammar you will study
grammar, you will use grammar whether you
like it or not
however what I feel that some students
do some students struggle is to use it
too much to rely on it too much to
depend on it too much
some people believe that only through
grammar they will have the best English
ever and when this doesn't happen they
get frustrated that's the problem
that's something that you have to stop
doing ok maybe I don't know you I don't
know what's happening to you but maybe
that could be the case so when I say focus
on grammar i'm not, I'm not trying to say
that you should completely ignore grammar
No, you have to use it but you have to
balance grammar with other aspects
of the language: listening, vocabulary
speaking. Put that grammar into practice
just like I said in the previous reason
context. Grammar with no context is
useless
it's just a bunch of exercises that you
do to kill time.
ok and we have so little time today so
be productive and just using grammar
is not gonna get you there if you're
learning a grammar point try to
contextualize it, bring real examples
real cases of things that are happening
to you things that you usually do in
order for you to learn that grammar
point now are there more reasons to why
you are not improving
yes for sure. I picked five, I didn't want to
make this video long, I think it is already a
little bit long, so I'm sorry, but the
idea here is to show you that there are specific
reasons and for each of these reasons
there's something you can do to change
that and when you start changing your
habits your old habits you will notice
improvements sooner than you
believe
so now I'd like to know, are you
improving your English do you feel like
you're not improving your English I'd
love to see in the comments let me know
what's happening to you how you are
studying right now and maybe I can help
you maybe i can give you some
suggestions so i'll be reading the
comments leave your answer
tell me what's going on with you, if you're studying
if you're not what your level is pre
intermediate, beginner, advanced, and i'm
definitely going to read it and give you
tips and suggestions
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