hey everyone welcome to the monthly
review the monthly show on language
learning where you discover new learning
strategies motivational tips new study
tools and discover new resources by the
way you can download all the lessons and
bonuses you're about to see right now on
the website so click the link in the
description to sign up for your free
lifetime account and start speaking in
minutes okay today's topic is a brutally
honest way to improve your language
you're going to learn one why tests are
actually crucial for language progress
into how you can put yourself to the
test so if you're learning on your own
and feel like you're not making any
learning progress it's likely you're
taking it too easy you're not reaching
your full potential so an outside
motivator like a test can and will fire
you up and help you get better you'll
discover how in just a second
but first listen up here are this
month's new lessons and resources first
can you talk about your home with the
brand new my house PDF cheat sheet
you'll be able to talk about your home
and everything inside furniture the
different kinds of rooms and much more
download it for free right now second if
you love travel then you'll love this
the brand new travel words and phrases
PDF learn all the must know travel
phrases with this ebook download it for
free right now
3rd useful Bank vocabulary this
one-minute lesson gives you all the must
note bank vocabulary so you can start
talking about money in your target
language and 4th school vocabulary can
you talk about your school and the
degree you have this one-minute lesson
will teach you to do just that to get
these free resources click the link in
the description below right now okay
let's jump into today's topic a brutally
honest way to improve your language so
if you're learning a language on your
own do you ever feel like you're just
coasting through without making real
progress then it's possible that you're
taking it a bit too easy so what should
you do part 1 why tests are crucial for
language progress the quick answers are
1 tests give you an honest assessment of
your language skills and 2 motivation
but let's break these down in full if
you've ever enrolled in a language
school or taken a language class you've
probably taken a placement test based on
your results the teachers place you into
an appropriate class so tests can help
you learn what's appropriate for your
level tests also allow for ongoing
assessment through things like weekly
quizzes and tests every month so what's
the big deal with tests and quizzes even
though some of us don't like tests tests
can give you honest assessments of your
language skills and specific ways for
example if you fail the listening part
of a test you know your weakness is
there if you forget a grammar pattern
you know you need to practice it more
but if you're learning alone you might
not get
many testing opportunities and you may
not be aware of mistakes you're making
in your studies right now you don't know
what pieces you might be missing tests
can give you opportunities to check your
actual language skills and sometimes
they give you a brutal reality check now
the second benefit of tests is
motivation think about it as a self
learner no one else is going to push you
to do your best and most people like to
take it easy so if you're wondering why
you're not fluent yet but you've been
coasting along learning words here and
there without actually testing your
limits consider that it might be because
you haven't actually been testing and
pushing yourself at all tests can give
you that push that challenge that
urgency to improve that motivation
there's a specific date and time for the
test
you have to be ready by that deadline
just think back to the night before it
test you felt the urgency back then you
were motivated to pass so this is
exactly why a lot of self learners take
proficiency tests it gives them
something to aim for something to be
motivated about something to achieve now
tests are not the complete answer to
language learning but they do give you a
way to assess yourself and they give you
a challenge so what can you do as a self
learner part 2 how you can put yourself
to the test before you worry about
failing recognize that it's not about
passing or failing it's about getting an
honest assessment of your progress the
first and most obvious thing you can do
is sign up for a language proficiency
test there are many kinds of proficiency
tests available so you can pick the
right one for you signing up will put
you under added pressure and give you
extra motivation to improve this is
something that's hard to do on your own
second if you're a Premium Plus member
on our website then you can get weekly
assignments that put you to the test
these assignments are graded and you get
feedback from your teacher so you know
what to do to improve and help the third
thing you can do is come back and review
once you're done with a lesson our
pathway download the dialogue tracks and
review them at a later date see how much
you can understand this test your
listening plus your vocab and grammar
for speaking record yourself with our
voice recorder
tool and compare yourself to the native
pronunciation remember you can always
self-test by coming back and seeing how
much you understand the fourth thing you
can do is test yourself with a harder
lesson think of it as trying to lift a
heavier weight at the gym to see if you
can do it you can do this for reading
speaking and listening simply go to a
higher level like intermediate or
advanced and try a lesson with reading
you can also try our higher level
extensive reading books again remember
with all of this the goal here is not a
pass or fail result the goal is to get
an honest assessment of your language
skills what you know and what you don't
know if you realize that you're
mispronouncing a certain word you'll
know how to correct it if you can
understand only 50% of a lesson well
that means you should review it until
you get to 100% if you don't understand
the lesson dialogue at all which is
where most people get intimidated make
it a goal to master the dialogue give
yourself a goal to aim for and if you
can't read as smoothly as you had hoped
all it means is that you should give it
a few more tries until you're better
I'll write everyone in the last monthly
review we asked you to submit a video or
audio file of yourself speaking the
language introducing yourself or talking
about your country in the language so
thank you to all of you that sentence
submissions you've all received a
Premium Plus subscription as a reward
now let's take a look at some of the
submissions
okay so now I'm gonna listen to some
submissions that you have sent in for
this month I'm super excited let's get
started hi Alicia
my name is rostislav and I'm from
Turkmenistan but now I'm starting in
Russia in sitacles Belgorod I'm 23 years
old and I'm studying English because of
if I like this language it's a very
interesting language for me I can use it
to with my friends when I speak with my
friends and I can use this language all
around the world so I want to improve
English and thanks for your channel
thanks for your videos I can do it so
after watching your videos I open for
myself something new something
interesting and useful thank you very
much for your channel for your videos
thank you very much my bye wow that's so
cool so he explained that he is using it
with his friends like he's able to use
it when he used English when he talks
with his friends I think that's really
cool and that he's found something new
as a result of watching our channel that
was awesome thank you so much for
sharing and good luck with your
continued studies that's so cool thank
you okay let's go on to the next one
every whined hi Alicia hi I'm Vienna and
I'm from Malaysia see hi I have been
learning English since my schooling
years however I always felt that I
wasn't very good at grammar oh well not
until I sign up for an English class
101.com
okay so thank you for making this
helpful videos and I can feel my
progression in learning grammar right
now cool thank you so much and I will
always be glad to learn more from you
thank you and bye bye wow that was such
a cheerful message that was awesome
thank you so much for sending this your
pronunciation was very clear and you
sounded so positive in your message
that's great that you have that specific
goal of improving your grammar I think
that's probably really helpful and it's
really cool that you said that you can
tell you're progressing and moving
forward so that's awesome good luck I
hope that we can continue making more
stuff that can help you as you try to
work on improving your English thank you
for sending this that's a really cool
all right
that's everything that we have for this
month so that was awesome thank you to
everybody who sent messages this month
and I look forward as always to your
messages for next month too
so which entry did you like the best
leave a comment below or do you think
you can do better here's the challenge
for you
yes everyone watching this record a 30
second to 1-minute video or audio clip
tell us about where you're from and
you'll win a one-month Premium Plus
subscription to submit click on the link
in the description sign up for your free
lifetime account then fill out the form
attach the audio or video file and press
submit we may feature you in next
month's episode so a lot of learners
will see you and your progress and will
hopefully get inspired to improve and
master the language to submit a
recording click the link in the
description and follow the instructions
on the page so thank you for watching
this episode of monthly review next time
we'll talk about a 7 minute 7 second
rule for language learning success if
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time bye