”My English isn’t improving. What should I do?”

Hey, everyone. I'm Alex from EngVid. And if  you are someone who is trying to improve their  

English, but you feel stuck and you feel  frustrated, I want you to know that you're  

not alone. And today, I want to give you six  suggestions to help you get back on the path  

so that you can start feeling good about your  language learning again. Now, before I start, I  

want to let you know, this is a very common thing  that happens to anyone who is trying to master  

a new skill. Whether you are a musician, or a  writer, a painter, or an English language learner,  

or a learner of any language, really, it's normal  to reach a point, which is called a plateau.  

And to feel like, "where do I go from here"?  I'm not improving. What do I do next?  

So why don't we start with six practical  suggestions. So the first thing I want to  

tell you guys to do is to ask yourself, what have  I already learned? This is a very useful question,  

because you have learned a lot already. Ask  yourself, has my speaking improved? Has my  

listening improved? Has my reading improved? Has  my writing improved? Since I have started studying  

English? The answer is probably yes, yes, it  has. So just acknowledging that you have already  

made progress is one thing you can do to kind of  make you feel better, and to encourage yourself  

that, hey, you know what, I have gotten to  this point already. Okay, I can keep going.  

I'm going to keep learning because I know  this is a process. I know, this is a journey.  

And I know, I have already learned things in  the past. So let's continue moving forward.  

The second thing that I want to tell you guys to  do is to get an assessment. Now, you could get  

an IELTS, a TOEFL, or like a Cambridge exam. But  those are not really good at telling you what you  

specifically need to improve with your English,  they will just kind of let you know that, "oh,  

my speaking needs to be better". Whatever that  means. When I say get an assessment, I mean, find  

a language school in your area, or inexperienced  teacher or evaluator who can test your grammar,  

test your speaking, and tell you some specific  things that you need to work on in order to,  

you know, get to the next level, it's much  more useful to have someone who can tell you,  

"you need to work on present simple questions", or  "you need to work on how to use much and many", or  

"you need to work on speaking more fluently when  you're having a conversation" than it is to have  

someone tell you, you just need to improve your  speaking or you need to improve your reading. So  

find someone who can assess your level accurately  and tell you what you have to do next.  

Number three, find level appropriate materials  to help you take the next step. Now, this means  

that you know you are not using things that are  too easy, you are not using materials that are too  

hard. Our brains grow. And our brains learn best  when we experience some tension, okay, so they  

need to be challenged. Because if you are just  going back and reading beginner level materials,  

and you are an intermediate student, this is not  going to help you grow. It's okay to make you feel  

comfortable. It's okay to make you feel confident  that you know how to order from a restaurant for  

example, but it's not going to help you to get to  that next level you want to get to. So if you are  

a beginner, of course, you should use beginner  materials English as a second language learning  

materials, resources like EngVid, for example.  And if you are an advanced student, you know, you  

should be reading the BBC websites or CBC or NBC  or using novels, for example, to take that next  

step. Again, our brains grow when they experience  tension. So maybe try to have like 30% to 40% new  

material and 60% to 70% that you're comfortable  with, so that you are taking the next step without  

the road feeling too weird or too alien, because  you're still comfortable enough to understand  

what's going on in the materials you're using. So the fourth thing I want to tell you to do  

is to be honest with yourself. Now what I mean  by this is really how much effort are you putting  

into your studies? This is a tough question  to ask. This is a tough question I ask myself  

when I'm learning French, I can be frustrated. And  I can say, I'm not learning. I want to be fluent.  

But then I asked myself, How much have you studied  this week? How much have you actually tried to  

improve your French this week? And if the answer  is, well, I did 10 minutes of homework yesterday,  

or yeah, I looked at an article for five minutes  today, that's not good enough. So be honest with  

yourself. The other thing about being honest with  yourself is maybe you are being too hyper-critical  

of yourself, maybe you are being too hard on  yourself, by expecting things that are not  

realistic. So you need to be realistic, be honest  with how much effort you're actually putting in.  

And that's, that's what I can say about that. Number five, take a break. It's totally normal  

to feel frustrated, it's totally normal to  feel tired and to throw your books, you know,  

on the couch, because you don't want to study  today. And that's fine. As long as you, you know,  

step away from your studies, re-energize yourself,  recharge your batteries. And when you're ready to  

come back, you come back with a healthy mind, and  renewed energy. And finally, remember that it is  

a process, you're not going to learn English  in 30 days, you're not going to learn all the  

tenses in 60 minutes. So if you see promotional  material on the internet promising a quick fix,  

promising that you will learn English in a  month, or learn all the tenses in 60 minutes.  

No. It's something that takes a long, a long,  a long, a long time. It's a lifelong journey.  

Like I'm... you know, English is my first  language. But I'm still learning new words.  

I can still open a novel and not know what  something means. So it is a lifelong journey.  

And you need to remember that it does take time,  and that it is a process. And you need to commit  

to the process and just make sure that you  keeps taking things one step at a time.  

So those are my six suggestions to help you  take the next step in your English learning  

journey. And if you like this video, make sure  to give me a thumbs up, subscribe to the channel,  

turn on notifications, and leave a comment below.  Tell me what do you do when you feel frustrated  

during your learning journey? And have  you already used some of the steps that  

I've indicated in this video? Until next time,  thanks for watching guys. Thanks for clicking,  

and I wish you nothing but success and  all of your studies. Take care.