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7 Habits of Highly Effective English Language Learners PDF
7 Habits of Highly Effective English Language Learners PDF
oes i t t ake t o b
What d ecome f luent a
nd c
onfident w
hen s
peaking
English?
an you g
How c et the m
ost out of y our time studying and practising
English? In this book I will give you 7 habits that you can use in your life to
make your learning journey easier.
1. Be Proactive
2. Set Goals
3. Look Ahead
4. Create a Plan
5. Communicate
6. Join a Community
7. Relax
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Habit 1: Be Proactive
Congratulations! You already started the first habit when you downloaded
this ebook.
The path to fluency takes time and effort and what you put in you will get
out. It will not be easy and there is no magic formula. Somedays you
may wake up feeling motivated and some days studying English will feel
like a chore.
This is the thing about motivation is it comes and goes in waves.
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To maintain motivation with language learning you can use the Goldilocks
Principle by James Clear. Clear’s principle is based on the children’s story
“Goldilocks and the Three Bears”. If you aren’t familiar with this story you
can read it here.
In the story Goldilocks is a little girl, she doesn’t like her porridge too hot or
too cold, or her bed too hard or too soft. She likes these things “just right”.
You need to find your “just right” spot with your study material too. If
the material is too easy, you’ll get bored. If it is too hard then you’ll get
frustrated and not want to study anymore. If you find yourself feeling
unmotivated you might need to calibrate your material and study plan to
better suit your level.
Bonus tip:
Never forget that English is your language too! There are around 350
million native English speakers and almost 1 billion people who speak
English as a second, third, fourth, or even fifth language.
You’re actually part of the majority of the English speaking
community. Don’t worry about your slip ups and mistakes. There are
millions and millions of other people out there just like you. They have the
same frustrations and roadblocks that you do.
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Habit 2: Set Goals
What is goal setting? Goal setting is when you make a decision about
something you would like to accomplish. A goal is the place you see
yourself when all the work is done. Since you downloaded this book your
goal is probably to speak English more confidently and fluently. This is a
pretty broad statement, so let’s dig a little bit deeper.
Why are you learning English? To have more career options? To move
to another country? To understand all the English media on the internet
and in film?
Try and identify three or four areas that you want to focus on and be
specific.
4
Here are some examples:
“I want to participate in a conference call in English with little difficulty.”
“I want to watch television shows in English without subtitles.”
“I want to be able to hold a 20 minute conversation with someone in
English.”
These are your end goals. Now you need to make mini goals. These are
small goals that will help your achieve your overall goal.
“I want to participate in a conference call in English with little difficulty.”
For this goal you need listening, comprehension, and speaking skills.
What activities do you need to do to improve these skills?
Your mini goals help you get to your overall goal.
5
Habit 3: Look Ahead
You identified your reasons for learning English in habit number 3. If you
need any further inspiration, the benefits you gain from learning English are
almost limitless. Let’s make it easy and break them into into four
categories:
1. Intelligence
Bilingual brains are different from monolingual ones. How cool is
that? The bilingual brain has strengthened areas for linguistic tasks
which results in more brain substance, ie. grey and white matter.
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You will develop better memory, attention, and multitasking abilities.
Students who study a second for four years outperform their peers
and people who speak two or more languages are 4 times less likely
to develop a cognitive impairment.
2. Travel
Speaking English opens you up to many travel opportunities. In
almost all countries in the world English is used at all major tourist
spots. If you speak English you will have much more freedom and get
more out of your travels.
3. Love
How can English improve your love life? It’s easy, just think about the
numbers! If you speak English you open up your possibility of
communicating with more people, therefore increase your dating
pool.
Speaking more than one language is also considered an attractive
quality. The language app Babbel surveyed British and Americans
and their results found that 61% of Britons and 71% of Americans
think speaking more than one language is attractive.
You will also pass on the benefits of being bilingual to your children.
The children of bilingual adults have a better memory and higher
overall intelligence.
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4. Money
If you think speaking English will have a positive impact on your
career you’re not alone. Almost 100% of students surveyed by
Kaplan College think so too. Speaking English fluently will have a
positive impact in almost all career sectors. Those who speak more
than one language (English included) can expect to earn as much as
20% more than their monolingual colleagues.
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Habit 4: Create a Plan
When creating a new habit structure is important. You need to create a
study plan that works for you.
If you want to reach fluency you need to invest your time. Take a look at
your week, where can you fit hours of study into your schedule? Be
realistic, if you only have 5 hours a week don’t try and plan for 8 hours of
study. Your plan must be achievable and realistic.
What is deliberate study? Deliberate study is when your study activities
are purposeful and systematic-meaning they follow a set out plan with an
end goal in mind. To study deliberately you need to break your plan into
“bite size” pieces.
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If you’re just beginning, don’t make it a goal to study for one hour each day.
It is likely that this will be too much and you’ll end up becoming frustrated.
Start small with 10 minutes of deliberate study a day. This is when you’re
giving 100% of your attention to the activity. This can be listening to
English, reading from a book, or completing exercises.
Don’t take on more than you can. There is power in small successes.
Let’s talk about continuous improvement. What is continuous
improvement? This is the idea that by making small improvements each
day will eventually add up to significant progress. In other words, even
small amounts of progress will eventually lead to huge results.
“If you get one percent better each day for one year,
you'll end up thirty-seven times better by the time
you’re done.”
- James Clear
To keep your studying interesting use material that you find interesting.
What do you like to do in your free time? Base your learning around
activities that you enjoy so you don’t get bored. I once had a student
tell me that he bought the TV series Friends because he was told it was
good for learning English. He had a problem though, he didn’t like the show
so he never watched it. In this case the TV show Friends wasn’t good
material for him to learn English.
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Habit 5: Communicate
To be an effective language learner you have to use
the language you’re learning.
This is the scariest part for almost everyone. It is completely normal to
worry that you won’t know what to say or that you might not understand
someone. Everyone who has ever learned a language has been through
this before.
To really see improvements in your language ability you need to use active
learning. When you create language this is active learning. You can do
this through writing and speaking. You should do this as much as possible.
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Speak as much as you can with others in English. Writing in English is also
important. You don’t need to write an essay. Begin with 5 or 7 sentences
each day and work your way up from there.
Learning Resources
● italki.com
● Superprof.com
● Preply.com
Mobile apps:
● HiNative
● HelloTalk
● Tadem-Language Exchange
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Habit 6: Join a Community
When you think about your education much of it was spent in the presence
of others. From the time your started school to the time you finished, you
were surrounded by classmates.
You learn a great deal by explaining what you know to
others and listening to the ideas of others.
Connecting with other English language learners also helps you stay
motivated. You can connect with other people online in Facebook groups or
on the apps mentioned under Learning Resources. You can also find
English speaking groups in your city by using meetup.com or
internations.org. Your local library may also have an English study group
that you can partake in.
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7. Relax
If you want to speak English fluently and confidently you need to relax.
Learning a language takes time. You wouldn’t expect to become a
marathon runner overnight, so don’t expect to become fluent in just two
weeks.
Make mistakes and make them often. Don’t be fearful of your mistakes
as they are there to teach you. Many English language learners will avoid
using parts of the language that they are uncomfortable with. This will
inhibit your progress because you will never learn through making
mistakes. For example, if you’re not strong in using irregular verbs use the
verb anyway.
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Many native English speaking children don’t know irregular verbs so they
might say. “Mommy buyed that for me.”. An adult will correct them and say
“Yes, mommy bought that for you.”. Then the next time the child goes to
use this word they might remember how to use the verb correctly. Or they
may need to make the mistake 10 more times. The point is that by making
the mistake they are able to learn.
You should do the same! If you use an irregular verb incorrectly your
teacher will correct you. Even if you use this with someone who isn’t your
teacher they will understand what you meant.
Over time, with your mistakes, you will learn to become more
confident in your abilities.
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References
https://www.stephencovey.com/7habits/7habits.php
http://www.jamesclear.com
https://www.myenglishteacher.eu/blog/the-shocking-benefits-of-learning-en
glish-infographic/
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/life-bilingual/201606/what-is-differe
nt-in-the-bilingual-brain
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