https://oxfordhousebcn.

com/en/how-smart-goals-can-help-you-improve-your-english/To
help you achieve your objectives, you should make sure your goals are SMART.

What are SMART goals?

A SMART goal can make us focused.
S is for Specific
 First, ask yourself what you want to achieve and write it down. Then, make a
general goal like “improve my listening skills” more specific by breaking it into
specific smaller goals. For example:
“I want to be able to…
 understand interviews with my favourite musician”
 understand international customers at work”
 understand a group conversation”

It’s a good idea to break all your big goals into smaller chunks like this because it helps
you start directing your own learning. To help you do this, come up with some questions
using Wh- words (what, where, when, why and how) and try to answer them in order to
find out exactly what you need to do.
To get you started, here are some useful questions to ask yourself:
 Why do I want to…(improve my listening)?
 What do I need to do to achieve this?
 What materials or resources do I need?

Now make your specific goal specific

I want to be able to improve my listening and vocabulary so that I can understand
customers at work and I can interact with them sing more sophisticated words and
expressions in English.

M is for Measurable
Great work! You have something specific you want to achieve. Now you need to make
sure you can measure your progress. This will keep motivated.
You could draw up a chart or checklist where you can tick off activities as you complete
them.
You can also decide on exact numbers to measure, for example:
 I’m going to listen to and understand 10 minutes of a business podcast
 I’ll learn 15 new words when reading the news
 I’ll learn three new expressions while watching Netflix

Now make your specific goal measurable!

I want to improve my listening skills by listening to TWO podcasts per week, writing THREE new
words each.
 A is for Achievable
It’s essential that your goal is something that you can achieve. That means it shouldn’t
be too difficult – or too easy, either! Also, you should be practical about how much time
you have to practice the goal.
Choose activities that you know you will have time to do.
If you only have a couple of hours a week, you might want to consider small goals such
as:
 Spend ten minutes on Monday to listen to one podcast and writing 3 new words.
 Spend 10 minutes on Tuesday to write the summary in 50 words USING the THREE
new words.
 Spend 10 minutes Saturday listening to another podacst
 Spend 10 minutes Sunday writing…………
Now revise your goal so far, is it achievable?
I want to improve my listening skills and vocabulary by listening to two podcasts for about 10
minutes each and writing the summary of these podcasts in 50 words, preferable using 2-3 new
words from the podcast.

R is for Relevant
How is my goal or goals that I have selected helping me to improve my listening and vocabulary?

By listening to TWO podcasts and summarizing them using THREE new words, , I’m improving my
comprehension and vocabulary.

Now ask yourself, is my goal relevant to my learning needs?

T is for Time-bound
When will your goal begin and end?
Use time phrases like these to help you plan short, medium and long-term SMART
goals:
 By the end of the week, I will have…
 By the end of the month, I will have…
 By the end of the summer, I will have…
 By this time next year, I will have…
Now add a time frame to your goal!

Example SMART Goals

>By the end of November, I want to improve my listening skills so that I can better
understand my colleagues in the kitchen.
By the end of the summer, I will have listened to an entire 30-minute podcast in English
and be able to understand it enough to explain it to my teacher.
Next class, show your teacher your SMART goals and ask them to give you feedback

and advice.

More SMART Goal Tips

While planning, it’s a good idea to create a visual timetable or add what you aim to do to
your calendar. An example week in your calendar could be:
Monday: Listen to a podcast and write a 50-word summary
Wednesday: Read my favourite website in English and write down new vocabulary
Friday: Go to Oxford House’s Happy Friday language exchange and use five new words
This will help you stick to your plan.