How to

TRACK YOUR
PROGRESS

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 Hello! Hello!
There's no better way to self motivate than to hear your own
progress. In order to do that, you need to track your activities and
language ability systematically. With the structured format that I
provide in this guide, you will be able to gauge which activities, or
combination of activities, help you achieve the results you're after.

Nobody wants to waste time nor effort, right?

Take a few moments out of your day to track your progress and
you'll become a more self-sufficient and efficient language
learner.

Your Teacher,
Shana
 Setting Goals
Step 1: How many hours do you speak English per week?
Do the math.

Many of the people who I speak to on a weekly basis have the goal
of improving spoken English and yet they only talk in English once
a week, to me. That translates to approximately 45 minutes per
week.

In order to evaluate how to improve, you need to build an

awareness of what you're currently doing.
 Setting Goals
Step 2: Ask yourself, what is my end goal?

What do you want to be able to do in 90 days? Or whatever time

frame you've set for yourself. Keep in mind that 90 days is ideal for
creating a new habit!

Be sure that what you have in mind is specific and achievable.

Perhaps it's speaking to a native speaker non-stop for 15

minutes.
Perhaps it's being able to talk about specific topics in English
(bird biology, love and relationships, etc.).
Whatever it is, be sure it's specific.

Step 3: With your goal in mind, think of a commitment you

can make and achieve.

The ultimate way to long-term success is by creating a routine.

This 90-day period gives you the perfect time frame to do just
that. Think of how much time you'd like to dedicate to language
learning each week.

For example: 4 days a week, 30 minutes each of those days.

 Tracking Progress
Step 1: Decide whether you'd like to track your progress
with audio or video.

I've found it best to stick to one for easier evaluation. Store the
video or audio files in the same place for easy access.

Fortunately most cell phones nowadays come with a voice

recorder. I recommend either "Voice Memos" which comes on
your iPhone or "Voice Recorder," an app.

If you have an Android, consider getting the "Smart Voice

Recorder."
 Tracking Progress
Step 2: Make Your First Recording

In order to start the process of tracking, you need to make an

initial recording with either audio or video. We can also just call
this your first recording, which shows your level at the very
beginning of the tracking progress.

The audio / video should be natural and not staged (not prepared
beforehand!). Make a 3-5 minute recording talking about something
you learned recently or something that happened recently in your
life.

Try to avoid doing your introductory spiel (who you are, where you
work, etc.), unless you elaborate. We want this recording to reveal
your actual level and not what you've practiced many times
before.

Save it! You'll come back to it later on.

 Tracking Progress
Step 3: Consider posting on YouTube ... even if under
"private" or "unlisted"

Many people don’t dare post their progress for others to see, but
there are some perks to it. That's why polyglots do it all the time.

Making language progress videos visible to the public is a

way to make an “official” commitment to improvement.
The world can see this commitment and can help support,
motivate and follow up.

I can say from first-hand experience that posting my poorly

prepared French and Esperanto videos online helped me improve
and stick to my 90-day learning commitments.

Tips: If you post a video, I recommend mentioning your

commitment in the video title (for example, The American
English Podcast: 6 Month English Accent Commitment). This will
help others find you.

If you feel uncomfortable posting your progress to the world, I

still recommend posting it on YouTube or another video
platform and labeling it as private or unlisted, just so that your
progress videos are consolidated in one spot.
 What & When
After the first recording, you should make new recordings once a
month. For this guide, this is when you should record:

Day 1 (Initial Video)

Day 30 (First Progress Video)
Day 60 (Second Progress Video)
Day 90 (Third Progress Video)

Many language challenges work in 30-day chunks, because it's a

long enough period to make significant progress.

In the recording (video or audio). it's important to speak for at

least 3-5 minutes just so that you have a good idea of where you
are in terms of pronunciation, fluency or whatever it is that is your
goal.

You should evaluate your Tracking Form (see below) beforehand

so that you can also mention what you've done that month.
Talking about these in the video will allow you to discern how your
activities affected your progress.

Example:

This month I listened to podcasts for 8.5 hours. I wrote a 3-page paper
on my dream house in English, talked to a language teacher for 2.5
hours. In total, I spend 14 hours studying English.
 Rewards &
Punishment
Social scientists believe that we are more likely to stick to our
commitments when we associate pain or pleasure with the
results.

If you need to punish yourself or create a reward for yourself, do

it! Just be sure someone else is able to hold you accountable.
With that in mind, it may be smart to tell someone else.

Reward example:

As a reward for being able to achieve my language specific goal

90- days studying French for 30 minutes a day, 4 days a week, I'll get
to book a trip to France.
 What to Study
Many of us are able to improve drastically simply by adding time
to the amount of time we practice.

And practicing doesn't necessarily need to be speaking all of the

time. By reading, listening or writing we can impact our ability to
speak articulately, more elaborately and with ease.

You should experiment with your learning process:

Transcribe a podcast episode.

Write your opinion about the topic.
Use 10 new words from an episode in your own original
sentences.
Watch TV shows in English, but be sure to make this passive
activity an active one. Did you hear new words? Write them
down and look them up! You can even use them in your own
story.

Get creative; the most important thing is to have fun!

 Example
Goal: 30 minutes a day, 4 days a week
Speaking Focus

Mon. Tues. Wed. Thurs. Fri. Sat. Sun.

read 30 min. read 20 min. spoke to watched Friends

listened to
wrote about did lesson on English in English. Wrote
the podcast
podcast 20 website 30 teacher for 1 sentences with
30 minutes
min. min. hour new words.

Meanings

Every day that you meet your 30-minute goal, mark the day. I
use a checkmark.

Since my goal is 30 minutes a day, 4 times a week,, 4 checks is

a successful week.

Month 1 At the end of the month, after filling out your document, total
Mon. Tues. Wed. Thurs. Fri. Sat. Sun.
the amount of hours you worked on each activity.

Mon. Tues. Wed. Thurs. Fri. Sat. Sun.

For example: Read 3 hours, Wrote 4 hours, Spoke 3 hours,
Listened 4 hours.
Mon. Tues. Wed. Thurs. Fri. Sat. Sun.

Now that the month is over it's time to make your progress
Mon. Tues. Wed. Thurs. Fri. Sat. Sun.
video. Be sure to mention the hours you worked on each
activity. Film or record.
NOW COMPARE
THIS MONTH'S
RECORDING TO
YOUR LAST.
EVALUATE, AND
ADJUST YOUR
ACTIVITIES BASED
ON THE PROGRESS
MADE.
 Month 1
Goal:

Mon. Tues. Wed. Thurs. Fri. Sat. Sun.

Mon. Tues. Wed. Thurs. Fri. Sat. Sun.

Mon. Tues. Wed. Thurs. Fri. Sat. Sun.

Mon. Tues. Wed. Thurs. Fri. Sat. Sun.

 Month 2
Goal:

Mon. Tues. Wed. Thurs. Fri. Sat. Sun.

Mon. Tues. Wed. Thurs. Fri. Sat. Sun.

Mon. Tues. Wed. Thurs. Fri. Sat. Sun.

Mon. Tues. Wed. Thurs. Fri. Sat. Sun.

 Month 3
Goal:

Mon. Tues. Wed. Thurs. Fri. Sat. Sun.

Mon. Tues. Wed. Thurs. Fri. Sat. Sun.

Mon. Tues. Wed. Thurs. Fri. Sat. Sun.

Mon. Tues. Wed. Thurs. Fri. Sat. Sun.

 Month 4
Goal:

Mon. Tues. Wed. Thurs. Fri. Sat. Sun.

90 -Day
Evaluation:
 Evaluation
We can learn a lot from ourselves, just by creating a system
to evaluate our progress.

You may notice in your video that you got quicker, you seem more
fluent that the last video, but that your vocabulary didn't improve
so much. How can you build your vocabulary? Well, plenty of ways.
I recommend selecting 10 words / phrases per episode (no more,
no less) and writing original sentences or a story with them. This
Then, I recommend getting your sentences or story reviewed by a
teacher. If you have access to premium content? Feel free to post
your sentences in the comments section for that episode.

Did your speaking skills improve?

If not, check to see how many hours you spoke and used that skill.
Adjust. Next month increase the number of hours that you speak
either to yourself, a language partner or teacher.

It's not rocket science. It takes minimal effort on a daily basis and
in the end, if done well, tracking your progress should help you
reach your goals and develop healthy learning habits.
 Thanks for
reading!

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