The Biggest Mistake English Learners Make

(And what to do about it!)

Learning English is hard work, isn’t it? For many people it can take well over a year to begin feeling confident and like you are able to engage in everyday activities using your English skills.

But you might be needlessly adding many more years of hard work and frustration to your journey of learning English if you are making this one mistake!

The mistake is this: Compartmentalization. In other words: putting your English learning or development into a box called English Class.

Here’s what I mean:

When I taught English in Mexico, I saw this happening ALL THE TIME with my adult students. The only time they worked on their English skills, listened to English, spoke in English, read in English, and wrote in English was when they went to my English classes. That’s it!

Sure, they might have had to suffer their way through an e-mail in English while at work, or a conference call to their head office, or a presentation from someone visiting who spoke English – but most of their time, 90% of their days and nights, were spent in Spanish.

Now, I totally get that. Mexico is a Spanish speaking country. Most everyone around you in Mexico is going to be speaking in English.

But if you’re working to develop your English skills, the biggest mistake you can make is to have your only contact with English be from your English classes!

My friend, if this is your only connection with English, you are going to have to be studying English for many….MANY more years than you need to in order to develop the fluency and confidence you want. Your English classes are good – at least I hope they are – but they alone are not enough!

You need to make English a part of what you do each day.

But this problem isn’ t just a problem if you are studying English in a non-English speaking country like Mexico. I have friends here in Canada, an English speaking country, who are also falling into this mistake!

They only work on their English when they go to English class.

Some of those friends have been living here in Canada for decades! (And their English still isn’t strong enough!)

The Solution: You, and only you, can decide to fix this problem! That’s good news because you don’t need to wait for an English teacher or a class to make it happen. You can start doing it completely on your own.

All you need to do is this: look for ways to make English a part of your day to day life. Listen to English songs a few times during your day. Watch TV or movies in English whenever you decide to sit down to watch tv or movies!

Focus on making friends who speak English, and begin talking with them. This one is a biggie! The more people you have in your life who only speak English, the better! You’ll be forcing yourself to use whatever English skills you have, and that’s vital!

Now don’t be rolling your eyes and think: that’s it? That’s your solution to this big mistake? It sounds simple. I agree with you. Making English a part of what you do each day IS a simple thing to do if you want to do it. But it isn’t easy! It isn’t easy to do it on a regular, everyday basis! It isn’t easy when you feel like you’re not understanding everything that you are watching or listening to.

No. The solution isn’t an easy one….but it is simple to begin doing.

So here’s the bottom line: If you are serious about developing your English skills, you absolutely need to make sure you’re not making this mistake! Look for every opportunity to make English a part of your life each day. Repeat this every day. Every week… and you will begin to see your skills improve. That is a promise!