hey everyone welcome to the monthly
review the monthly show on language
learning
where you discover new learning
strategies motivational tips
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okay today's topic is the first step in
your language learning journey that will
guarantee your success if you have
trouble sticking with your language
learning goals
it's probably because you're skipping
one specific step
it's the step you need to take before
you even start any learning
and doing it will help you stick with
the language not get overwhelmed and
reach your language goals
so today you'll learn one what solo
language learners need to succeed
and two how to do self-assessment and
set yourself up for success
[Music]
but first listen up here are this
month's new lessons and resources
be sure to download these now before we
take them down in a few days
first the giving directions conversation
cheat sheet
do you know how to tell a taxi driver
where to go in your target language
you'll be able to with this pdf cheat
sheet you'll learn must know words and
phrases for giving directions
second the most common verbs pdf ebook
you'll learn over 90 common verbs with
this bonus pdf picture ebook
download and review on any device third
how to talk about what you do in your
free time learn how to save
video games fishing and much more you'll
pick up over 25 words for leisure
activities with this vocab bonus
fourth how to learn from home learning
strategies
want to learn the language from the
comfort of your home this one minute
lesson will give you all the best
tactics for learning languages
fifth the top 35 adjective for
personalities
can you describe your personality this
next bonus teaches you the 35
must-know adjectives for personalities
so you can talk about yourself in your
target language
to get your free resources click the
link in the description below right now
they're yours to keep forever okay let's
jump into today's topic
the first step in your language learning
journey that will guarantee your success
here's a question for you when you want
to learn a language how do you usually
get started with that goal
you might say the inspiration comes
first and that motivates you to start
then you get a textbook or an app and go
from there right
that's a pretty standard answer but how
does that tend to work out
most people end up falling off a week or
a month later
why do you think that happens leave a
comment with why you think people tend
to lose inspiration quickly
more often than not it happens because
you pick a goal a learning routine or a
resource that overwhelms you and just
isn't right for you
here's a typical example let's say you
work an 8 hour day and you want to try
to start learning
most people would try to squeeze in
learning for one or two hours at night
or you could try and wake up an hour
early and usually that doesn't work out
because you're trying to do things that
you're not used to
wake up earlier and study earlier it
doesn't fit your current lifestyle
so what should you do differently well
let's take an example from language
schools
before you start learning language
schools force you to take an assessment
test on the first day
why so that they make sure the language
lessons
fit your level and put you in the proper
class the goal of an assessment test is
to find out where you are and meet you
there
that's something most solo learners
don't do
and the problem is if you're a solo
learner no one assesses you
and you yourself don't know what routine
works best for you how much time you can
set aside and how much studying you can
comfortably do
we all imagine we can do an hour a day
but realistically speaking it'll be a
lot less than that
so that's where self-assessment comes in
before you start learning a language or
do any goal for that matter
it's important to know where you are in
life what your daily schedule is like
when you're busy and when you're free so
you can set your expectations
know how much time you can put in and so
you can start learning at a pace that
works for you
now how do you actually assess yourself
there are three assessments you can do
one a life assessment
two a routine assessment and three
language assessment
language assessment will only be helpful
if you already have some experience
if you're brand new you won't need this
first
life assessment here the goal is to see
how the language will fit into your life
and how you generally deal with goals as
in if you succeeded with a goal before
what helped you succeed you could take
that and apply it here
if you failed before find out why so you
can avoid it this time
so you'll need to answer the following
questions why are you learning this
language
how will it help your life what current
connections do you have to this language
for example listening to music watching
tv you have a relative you have
neighbors or friends that speak it
what have you been doing so far to learn
have you learned languages before
have you failed any goals before how or
why
have you succeeded with any goals before
how or why
write these questions out and answer
them next the routine assessment
write out your daily routine for a whole
week for example
wake up at 7 00 am breakfast at 8 a.m
commute to work at 8 30 am arrive at
work at 9 30 am
lunch at 1 pm and so on do this for
every day of the week the goal here is
to see what your daily routine is like
so you know when you're free when you're
busy and where you can fit in language
learning
that way if you're super busy on mondays
and five minutes is all you can do then
that's good enough
you won't feel bad about doing only five
minutes if you see that you spend 30
minutes on commuting
add language learning on top of that
existing routine
if you take walks or go for a jog play
an audio lesson there
or even if you're cooking at a certain
time play an audio lesson in the
background
remember look for an existing routine
that you already stick with like
commuting
and where you can multitask don't try to
create new routines
for example waking up at 7am to learn
will set you up for failure
if you usually wake up at 8am waking up
at 7am will be even harder
and then actually trying to learn a
language at 7am makes it even harder
this is where new learners start having
trouble you're trying to do two things
at once
trying to learn the language and trying
to stick to a new routine
one is hard enough trying to do two can
overwhelm you
so piggyback off of your existing
routines first so you can build momentum
and finally there's language assessment
if you're an absolute beginner you won't
need much of an assessment
just start with our absolute beginner
recommended learning pathway
but if you have experience and want to
assess yourself there are two things you
can do
first if you're a premium plus user then
you're asked to do an assessment test
when you join
but you can always request it again from
your teacher and second if you're a
premium user
check our recommended pathways we assign
these pathways level 1 to level 5
based on your learning level from
absolute beginner to advanced
at the start of each pathway there's a
diagnostic test you can take that to
assess yourself
so thank you for watching this episode
of monthly review
next time we'll talk about when routines
grow stale
how to learn more language with a new
routine if you enjoyed these tips hit
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you next time bye