4 Steps To Become Fluent In English | 2020 Goals ✅

Hello I'm Emma from mmmEnglish!

If becoming a fluent English speaker is part of your

plan and you want to make it happen next year in 2020,

then you need to keep watching this video.

I'll be sharing four things that you need to do

in the coming year if you're planning to become fluent

in English within twelve months.

And it starts today right now and I'm going to warn you

that there's going to be some tough love happening here

some strong words. Perhaps ones that you don't really

want to hear or ones that you've been

pretending that you can't hear for awhile

but these are words that you need to hear.

If you're going to make English fluency your goal

for the year ahead, you need to change

the way that you're acting.

You need to change your behaviour, do something

differently and that's what we're talking about today.

This lesson is sponsored by The Ladies' Project,

a unique online community for women learning English

as a second language. We help women to transform

their relationship to English,

to become more comfortable,

more courageous English speakers.

Enrollments are open now but they're closing soon.

Membership costs just thirty-four ninety-nine a month

and the link is in the description

if you want to find out more.

If you've been telling yourself that the only way

to become fluent in English is to live

in an English-speaking country,

well, you just need to stop that. It's not true.

It's simply something that you've been telling yourself

to make an excuse for why you're not already fluent.

That's the tough love right here.

Right now, it's completely possible for you to

create an English life for yourself,

no matter where you are in the world

and I'll talk about that a little bit more later on.

Let's get started on the four things that you need to do

to become fluent in English within a year.

Find motivation.

Get really, really clear on why you want to be fluent,

so clear that you can actually see and

feel what it's like to be there.

What are all the awesome amazing things

that you'll be able to do when you become fluent?

Imagine yourself there.

Feel it.

Smell it.

This is your motivation,

the fuel you need to keep practising, to keep learning

and keep reviewing,

to keep putting yourself in situations

that are outside of your comfort zone.

I mean, let's not kid ourselves. There are

and there always will be days when you feel

frustrated with English and you feel like giving up,

you can't be bothered,

you just want to make a new plan, right?

One that doesn't involve English at all.

But this is the reason why so many of us fail at things

that we try or we don't get as far as we want to

because we don't have enough fuel to get there.

Without a really clear motivation, it's

easy to get distracted, to lose focus

and to let your attention be

taken away from your English practice and put onto

something else and that is absolutely fine

as long as you're not bothered about being

fluent by the end of the year.

If you're happy for it to take longer,

for it to be a slower process,

well that's fine

but we're talking about making this happen

in the next twelve months, okay?

So we need to take drastic action.

So I want you to take this opportunity now to declare

your motivation here. Tell me in the comments

what is your fuel that will help you to keep your English

goals as a priority throughout 2020?

Tell me down in the comments.

The second thing you need to do is financially commit

and that means putting some money on the table,

putting some skin in the game.

So in my experience, money is a huge motivator

for me, for my students, for my friends and family.

For some people money is the biggest motivation right?

Putting your hand into your pocket or your wallet

and pulling out some of the money that you worked

so hard for, doing that

almost instantly changes your mindset about

your English practice.

It certainly changed my mindset when I paid for my

Spanish classes with Lingoda. I had to go

because I had paid for them so I did way more practice

during that period because

putting money on the table forces you to commit, right?

It makes you show up.

If you financially commit to your English,

you will probably go much further and you will

get to fluency faster.

Now let's talk about this a little more because I know

what some of you are thinking.

Yes, there are things that you can't afford

but there are options that you can afford.

You can hire a local non-native English teacher,

you can invest in an online English program

that you can take yourself through at your own time,

at your own pace.

This is a much cheaper option

than paying for a teacher's time.

You can financially commit a little or a lot

and what might be a little to some,

might be a lot to others.

But if you do that, if you invest in yourself,

it will help you to get to your goals faster.

Now if you don't have the money now,

make a plan and save for it. Sacrifice something else

in your life to get ahead in your English.

How badly do you want to become fluent?

And I know the other thing that you're thinking too.

Yes, you're right. It's possible for you to learn

on your own but you will have more success

and you will make more progress if you have the

support and guidance of a good English teacher

or a language program.

Now if you really, really, really can't invest any money

in your English training this year,

then you'll need to compensate by investing

more time and more focus in your studies.

You'll need to create a learning plan

and you'll need to keep yourself motivated all the way

throughout the whole year, you need to be active.

And this is a much bigger challenge

than finding some money to invest in your training.

That's my take on the situation.

If you want serious change and serious results

in the year ahead, decide what

serious action you're going to do now

and get ready for it.

The third thing you should do is create a learning plan.

Even if you're going to regular classes or you're meeting

your tutor often, you still need to create your own

learning plan

to help you practise outside of your lessons.

You might think this sounds boring

but it doesn't have to be.

Your formal classes are just part of your learning plan

and you need to make sure that you're developing

all four language skills, right?

You need to spend a little bit of time on each of those

skills each week.

Like you need to read to broaden your vocabulary.

Learn and experience

how new words are used in context.

Become familiar with the different use of

phrasal verbs, learn common collocations

and informal language by reading.

You need to write.

You need to practise expressing your thoughts and

your ideas in a controlled way.

If you create a habit around writing in English,

it will start revealing where there are gaps

in your knowledge and that will allow you

to build your vocabulary further.

And here's the thing about writing,

when you write your own experiences and your own

opinions and ideas, it increases retention.

It helps you to remember new words and expressions

because you're associating them with your own ideas

and experiences.

Starting and then committing to a daily journal practice

is going to do amazing things for your language skills.

You need to listen to different accents,

you need to study the way that native speakers

link words together and they reduce sounds.

Watch movies, listen to podcasts and audiobooks,

all of those things.

I've left some recommendations in the description

below if you're interested.

But try to give yourself some of the real listening

practice as well, you know,

in real conversations.

And of course, you need to speak as much as you can

to yourself, you can read aloud to your classmates,

your teacher, your online friends,

your colleagues,

but make sure you're constantly pushing your

comfort zone further.

Chatting on Whatsapp doesn't count here okay?

You need to create the space and the opportunity

to practise your speaking skills in real conversations.

A community like The Ladies' Project

is the perfect place to get regular

informal speaking practice.

There are group conversations almost every day

and unlimited one-to-one chats that you can have with

other members.

Lastly, you got to do it every day.

You've got to do something every day to practise.

And this is not really something that you can question

okay?

It's just something that you need to do

if you want to create change in your English

and create it quickly.

Doing fifteen minutes of practice every day is

much better than doing four hours of solid

English practice on a Sunday afternoon.

Doing it daily allows you to build a great habit

and it brings English into your life every day.

Now this doesn't mean that you need to sit down

and study every day right because

there's always going to be days where you just

can't be bothered and you don't feel like it.

What it means is you need to expose yourself

to an English activity every day, listen to something

in English, read something in English,

watch something in English, write or speak

or sing in English. Anything, right?

To become fluent within a year,

you need to do something daily.

Now it could be simple and mundane like writing an

email or writing in your daily journal

but on Sundays it could be completely wild.

It could be exhausting, it could be like

attending an international conference

where you listened and network to people in English

all day.

But your daily practice does need to be balanced.

If you're going to make it through a whole year,

it needs to be balanced.

Burying yourself inside a grammar book

for fifteen minutes every day for a year

is not going to make you fluent.

it's going to make you awesome at grammar.

Your learning plan really should be a combination of

fun and passive English experiences with

active and deliberate practice.

So a good example of active practice is writing.

Okay you sit down and you spend some time creating

sentences and expressing your own ideas.

And maybe the following day you review your work.

You use a thesaurus to upgrade some of the words

that you used or maybe check some of the grammar

in a little bit more detail.

Now this is not as fun or as easy as watching

an English movie right?

But you need to do this type of practice too

so you can reward yourself the next day by watching

the movie, right?

This is the balance that I'm talking about.

You do some grammar practice and some writing

practice and then reward yourself with a podcast

or a movie.

So now it's up to you.

What are you going to do to put your

plan in action for 2020?

I want you to tell me about it in the comments below.

I'd love you to set your intention for the year ahead

because I truly, truly believe that you can do this.

And if there's a lesson

that you need me to help you with,

let me know that in the comments as well.

If you want me to be with you all the way through

next year, make sure you've subscribed to the channel

just down here. Turn on the notifications so that you

find out whenever there's a new lesson waiting for you

and to keep practising with me right now,

check out this lesson here.

I've picked it especially for you.

Have a wonderful end to 2019 and I'm so excited to see

where your English takes you in 2020.

Best of luck!