10 Mistakes that English Learners Make and How To Fix Them

- Hi, Bob the Canadian here.

Today I wanted to talk to you about 10 mistakes

that I think language learners make.

10 mistakes that I think English learners make

when they're learning the English language.

You may not make any of these mistakes.

But I think it's worthwhile for me to talk about them

and to give you some suggestions about how to avoid them.

The very first mistake that I think English learners make

is to not keep a journal, or to not take notes.

This isn't an exciting thing to do.

But I think after you have an English conversation,

it's worth sitting down, and in a journal or notebook,

writing down some of the things that you talked about.

I think when you learn some new English vocabulary words,

it's worth sitting down and writing down in a journal

the words that you have learned.

I think after you watch an English television show,

it's worthwhile to sit down and to write down

what you thought about the show.

It's just a good thing to do.

Many people don't do it, but I highly recommend it.

The second mistake that English learners sometimes make

is to not use spaced repetition in their learning.

Spaced repetition refers to when you learn something

on one day and then you plan to practice it again

a day or two later.

And then you plan to practice it again a week later.

So if you learn a vocabulary word on a Monday,

you should plan to review that word

on a Tuesday or Wednesday,

and then try to use it in a conversation

or in some writing a week later.

When you learn something and then you plan to review it

a couple of times afterwards,

and you space out that review,

if you space out that repetition,

it's really good for your brain,

and it really helps you remember what you've learned.

The third mistake that English learners sometimes make

is that they stay in their comfort zone.

When you are in your comfort zone,

it means you only do things that you like doing.

Let's think about movies.

Maybe you really like watching science fiction movies

but you don't like watching romantic movies.

When you watch a lot of science fiction movies

you are in your comfort zone,

but you shouldn't stay in your comfort zone

when you're learning a language.

You should plan to watch movies from all different genres.

You should watch romantic movies.

You should watch police movies.

You should watch science fiction movies.

You should make sure that you're watching

a wide variety of things.

Maybe you only like reading the news from your own country.

Maybe that's your comfort zone,

but you should get out of your comfort zone

and you should read the news from other countries as well.

This will help to broaden the amount of vocabulary

that you are learning and it will just expose you

to a lot more different ways

of expressing yourself in English.

A fourth mistake that English learners often make

is that they only study at night when they're tired

and crabby and in a bad mood.

I know this is when most of you have time to study.

Most of you are in school all day or you're at work all day.

And the evening is really the only time when you can study,

but you should build a little bit of time in

to each morning so that you can study when you're fresh

and just able to learn better,

even if it's only five minutes.

Remember the first point I made is

that you should keep a journal.

Maybe every morning when you get up, you should look

at what you wrote in your journal the day before

as a way of just thinking a little bit

about the English learning that you've done

and thinking a little bit about English for the day.

Another great thing to do is to simply listen

to English music first thing in the morning,

when your mind is fresh

and you're able to learn things really well.

The fifth mistake that English learners sometimes make

is they forget to take a break.

If you have been studying English for five days straight,

maybe take a day off.

If you've just finished a 30-day English learning challenge,

maybe take a day or two off.

The mind isn't made to learn things non-stop.

It can be very difficult to learn every day

if you're studying something like the English language.

It can make you very tired

and it can make you mentally fatigue.

So if you plan to learn English,

I would make sure you plan to learn on certain days,

but also plan to give yourself a little bit of a break

once in a while.

The sixth mistake that English speakers sometimes make

is that they allow fear to stop them from making progress.

It can be a little bit scary

to have an English conversation.

You might be afraid to take an English test

and this might stop you from doing those things.

But it's kind of a mistake.

I know that sounds a little harsh,

but you shouldn't allow fear to stop you from doing things

that will be really good for your English learning.

So try to find ways to be calm and to overcome fear

so that you can do things that will just help you progress

in learning the English language.

The seventh mistake that English learners often make

is that they don't set goals.

Even if your goal is a really simple goal,

maybe your goal

is to learn five English vocabulary words every day,

this goal will help you make progress

while you're learning English.

And if you remember, the very first thing I mentioned

is that you should keep a journal.

Having goals and writing those goals

in your journal is just a really good idea.

You could write in your journal, my goal this week

is to learn five vocabulary words every day.

And then every day when you learn those words,

you could write them in your journal.

So one of the mistakes that English learners make

is to not set goals, small goals, large goals,

long range goals.

Any kind of goals that you set will really help you

when you're learning English.

The eighth mistake that English learners sometimes make

is that they find a method

for learning the English language

and then they only use that method.

Finding a method is an excellent thing to do,

but you shouldn't use just one method

when you're learning a language.

Maybe use the method that you think is awesome

for about six months,

but then you should do some research and you should look

for other methods for learning the English language.

English language learning is changing all the time.

Methods that we thought were a good idea 10 years ago,

maybe aren't anymore.

There might be new ideas

that will really help you make progress

when you're learning the English language.

So find a method, use it for a while,

but then reevaluate after for a few months and maybe look

at other methods for learning the language as well.

The ninth mistake that English learners sometimes make

is that they don't find somebody to talk to

who's also learning the English language.

It can be really helpful to know a fellow student

who's going through the same challenges as you.

When you decide to do something difficult

like learning English, it's always nice

to have someone to talk to about it.

You can complain a little bit.

You can ask questions.

You can give advice.

Certainly having someone to talk to

about the learning process, having someone to talk to

about how difficult it is to learn English

can just really help you and motivate you

and maybe it will motivate them as well.

So another mistake that people make

is not finding someone to talk to

who's also learning this crazy language.

A 10th mistake that people sometimes make

when learning the English language

is that they spend a lot of time doing the things they like

and they avoid doing the things that they don't like.

This is a mistake when you're learning a language.

If you are someone that really likes reading in English

or loves listening to music in English,

don't forget that you should also be doing some writing.

You should be having some English conversations.

You should be learning some vocabulary

and studying a little bit of grammar as well.

So it's a mistake to only do the things you like.

Anyways, Bob the Canadian here.

Thank you so much for watching this video.

I hope you were able to learn a little bit

from my description of 10 common mistakes

that language learners make.

And it was a lot of fun to make this video.

I hope you enjoyed it.

By the way, if you are new here,

don't forget to click that red subscribe button over there.

And if everyone could give me a thumbs up,

that would be awesome.

And if you have a little bit more time,

why don't you stick around and watch another English lesson?