Study English Better in 2019 ⚡️5 Simple Steps

Well hey there! I'm Emma from mmmEnglish!

Can you believe that we've made it to the end

of another year?

2018 is almost over!

Time flies when you're having fun, doesn't it?

Well I hope that you've been having fun here at

mmmEnglish and that you've been learning a few

new things along the way.

But before we finish up the year,

I want you to tell me which was your favourite lesson

of this year

and also tell me

what lessons do you want me to teach you in 2019.

I've had lots of requests for conditionals

and relative clauses which will be fun but necessary

and also lots of requests for more

common English expressions too.

So let me know in the comments

what you want me to teach you in 2019.

And while you're thinking about the year ahead,

let's talk about your study habits because I think

that we can improve a few things to make 2019 the year

that your English leaps to the next level.

We'll set clear goals in this lesson, we'll optimise

your study time and find out if it's your mindset

that's been holding you back.

Today I'm going to share some English-learning hacks

with you, ones that will help you to make huge progress

in the new year. But before we do that, let's spend

a few moments looking back at the progress

that you've made this year.

Try to be kind to yourself here. What's one thing

that you've done in English this year that you couldn't do

at the same time last year in 2017?

Perhaps you couldn't watch an English movie

without subtitles or maybe you couldn't understand

a whole lesson of mine.

Perhaps you spent the entire year saving enough money

to enrol in a language school and now you're planning

to start at the end of January. Perhaps you've spoken

with an English native speaker

and you've never done that before.

Maybe you took your IELTS from a seven to an eight.

Just tell me one thing that you're proud of about your

English. What progress did you make throughout 2018?

It doesn't matter how tiny or insignificant it might seem.

Write it down now. You could also add something

that's been quite difficult for you this year,

something that you want to keep working on in 2019.

And if it's something that I can help you with,

then let me know.

Now my year has been full of ups and downs,

highs and lows and I'm sure that yours has too.

But I'm really excited about what's coming

and I hope that you're feeling really positive about

the year ahead. Now make sure you have subscribed

to my channel so that you can find out what's changing,

what new things we'll be trying in 2019.

Just click that red button down there.

I've already been having some conversations with my

community here on YouTube to talk about

what those things are so come and join us there!

Let's kick off the new year with five steps that you can

take to improve your English and your study habits.

The first one is: maximise your learning time.

What does that even mean?

It means make the most of the time that you have.

Take advantage of the time available in your week

and get the most out of your study time.

We all have different amounts of time to spend

on learning a language, right?

We all have different priorities so when it comes to

studying English, you need to focus on

the time that you have available,

what do you have available to you.

The realistic amount of time that you have.

Don't go telling yourself that you're going to do

twenty hours of study a week

when you have a really demanding job

and you've got young children to care for,

it just won't happen.

What time do you actually have to study English?

Whatever that amount is, we need to maximise it,

make the most of that time.

So to do this, I highly, highly recommend writing your

own study plan. Now that sounds serious, right?

Well it is!

If you haven't been making the progress

that you wanted to make with your English this year

or maybe you're feeling a little lost about

what you should be studying,

chances are you're not spending enough time on it

or you're not studying the right things

or you're not doing it in the most effective way.

You're not maximising the time that you have to study.

Now a study plan is going to help you with that.

It's going to help you practise the right stuff

and make your practice more consistent.

So it becomes a habit, make it part of your daily routine.

Here's a super quick hint. If you watch through until the

end of this lesson, in the bonus section,

I'll show you exactly how to create your own

personalised study plan.

Now if the best that you can manage is thirty minutes

of study each day, that's okay.

In fact, that's great! It's really good!

But make sure that you commit to it and that it's in

your schedule. It's scheduled study time. But what about

incidental study time? Extra time that you might have

where you could study.

Maybe passing time on a bus, for example.

So what can you do?

You can practise in your head constantly.

If you haven't been training yourself to think in English

this year, then 2019 is the year to do it.

Now if you're watching this video and you understand

most of it without subtitles,

your English level is probably at least intermediate level

and that means you have the words and vocabulary

to express your ideas in English, you just need to

get more comfortable using them.

And while it's not always easy and practical to speak

out loud, you are under pressure,

you can regularly practise thinking in English.

And you can do this on your own, at any time.

It doesn't matter.

Now I'll admit that thinking in another language all day

takes a lot of hard work and determination.

So start small, start with an hour then two.

Make sure you take a break.

I'm still learning to speak Spanish, so for me,

this task is painful! It's slow, it's frustrating,

it's really tiring. I always end up finishing the day

feeling like my head has exploded and I start mixing up

English and Spanish and then some other random

languages I've learned in the past too.

By the end of the day, you'll feel like your brain has been

fried.

At least I do.

But this is exactly how you need to feel.

Exhaustion and confusion and feeling like you've

reached your learning limit each day

means that you've been doing an amazing job.

Okay so compare it to going to the gym.

Have you ever felt really fit after going to the gym

every day for six weeks?

You feel fantastic and you look great.

But then you have a bit of blowout.

You go on holiday, maybe you stop working out because

you've injured yourself, whatever.

You put on a few pounds and the thought of going

back to the gym is suddenly terrifying.

You know that it's going to hurt, right?

Because you haven't been practising every day,

it's been a while and this is exactly the same

when you're learning English. So that brings me back

to my earlier point about consistency.

Creating a routine to make sure that you spend

regular times practising English.

It matters less how much time you have

and it matters more how consistent you are

when you study. And although it takes a lot of work

and self-motivation to start thinking

throughout the day in English,

pretty soon it's going to feel like a habit.

It's going to happen naturally and constantly.

My students are always thrilled when they start

dreaming in English. Have you had this yet?

Speaking of which, here is another item on our list.

Get a good night's sleep.

If you're going to bed every night with your brain

feeling like mush because you've been practising

English all day, then getting a good night's sleep

is so important. It helps your brain to work effectively.

Now this sounds kind of basic, right?

But it's simple. A good night's sleep will improve

your concentration and your ability to think clearly.

In fact, eating a clean, healthy diet

is also going to help.

If you wake up feeling hungover because you've been

out drinking and dancing all night.

You're probably not going to be leaping out of bed

to practise English, right?

New Year's Eve is an exception though, you can take me

as day off to celebrate.

But can you honestly say that you regularly get

a good night's sleep?

If you don't get enough sleep then your brain feels

kind of fuzzy, right?

You have a hard time thinking about

problems and concentrating.

Not to mention, you just look like a zombie.

Plus, there's another more serious reason

why sleep is important.

Memory consolidation happens while you're sleeping.

Yeah.

What does that mean? While we're awake, we acquire

memories or we make new memories.

We learn things, we see things, we study things.

Sometimes we'll forget those things in an instant

and others will become cemented in our mind

permanently.

Now it's believed that that process happens

while we're sleeping.

So memories - the things that we learn,

become stabilised or more permanent in our brain

so that we can access and use

that information in the future sometime.

So all the new words and the grammar that you've been

learning in English every day,

it gets stabilised in your brain, while you're sleeping.

So if you don't get a good night's sleep, there's a good

chance that you won't remember all of the new things

that you've learned throughout the day.

So my main point here is don't let your hard work

and your study go to waste, right? Make it a priority

to get a good night's sleep as often as you can.

Another thing I want you to focus on in 2019 is

asking for help. Now I get it, it can be awkward,

embarrassing, uncomfortable to make a mistake

while you're trying to communicate in English, right?

It's hard to admit that you need help.

I wish that I didn't have to ask for help with Spanish

and that I just knew it. But I don't.

But you know what? Getting help from someone

at the moment that you are in the middle of a

conversation having trouble is the perfect time to ask.

Most people are happy to help you

improve your English.

If you're in an English-speaking country

and you aren't really sure about

something that's on the menu or what

something's called in a shop, then ask.

Make this part of your plan in 2019.

Ask for help. Now part of the problem and what

maybe you feel nervous about is actually knowing

the phrases that you need to ask for help.

In fact, I made a lesson about asking for help in English,

right here.

But really what you need to do is just learn

a handful of phrases like..

or

Practise these questions so that they come out naturally

Most people are going to be happy to help you out

and if they're not, then move along.

You don't need that in your life, put it behind you

and keep going, keep focused on your goal.

There are grouchy people all around us unfortunately.

There are grouchy people right here writing comments

under my lessons on YouTube.

Do I let it stop me from showing up here

every week to teach you? Not at all.

They're not going to stop me!

They ain't getting in my way.

Now after you've learned all of these new words

and expressions, the next thing you need to do is use

what you've learnt.

Maximising your study time,

thinking constantly in English,

getting a good night's sleep

and asking other people for help,

these are all really great ways to improve

and advance your English but most importantly of all

is taking what you've learned and actually

using it yourself.

Passive learning, memorising,

all of these things could be great ways to learn

new vocabulary. You can do this by reading books

and watching movies.

Thinking in English is a great way to practise

fluency on your own but memorising and thinking

for yourself can only take you so far.

What we really, really want to do in 2019 is find a way

to help you practise and make that practice

part of your routine.

If you're not living in an English-speaking country

and you don't have many people around you

that you can practise with, don't worry.

There are still so many different ways that you can

practise using your English on a daily basis.

So you can look for an online community where

non-native speakers practise with each other.

Remember what I said in an earlier lesson? This one

about finding the right group and the right speaking

partner and how important that is?

I've also mentioned The Ladies' Project before

which is an online membership community for women

which I run to help women develop their English

speaking skills together and there are so many groups

like this online. Most cities have weekly meet-ups.

Maybe at the local cafe where people meet to practise

their English skills. Even if you're in a non-English

speaking country, there are still others around you

who are trying to learn English.

So finding them just takes a quick Google search.

You might want to hire a tutor either online or in-person

to practise your speaking skills and pronunciation with.

One of my favourites that's so easy to do is

to write a journal, keep track of everything that you did

during your day in English.

So practise writing sentences using the new words

that you've come across throughout the day.

You'll see so much progress in your language

if you practise regularly, habitually. Make it a priority.

Now I know that out of all of these steps

that I've shared today, this one is probably

the most challenging. It requires the most

thought and energy. It might be difficult to imagine

how this will happen but don't let it stop you.

This is what a new year is all about, right?

Setting new goals for yourself, pushing yourself

a little further outside of your comfort zone.

I've got a feeling that 2019 is going to be an excellent

year for us and I hope that I can be here with you

throughout the next twelve months

teaching new lessons and sharing new pronunciation

tips with you.

If you're looking to make progress with your English

and maximise your study time this year then,

these areas that I mentioned during this lesson

are a great place to start.

And if you have any other tips and tricks of your own

that you'd like to share with everyone watching

then please add them in the comments below.

If you're keen to get some new ideas about how to

take your English to the next level, then make sure you

check out that lesson right there.

And if you stick around now for a few more minutes,

I'll share my tips to help you create a killer study plan

to improve your English in 2019.

Let's do it!