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  • Hi, Bob the Canadian here.

  • I have a carrot, and I have a stick here with me today

  • because I want to talk about motivation.

  • Apparently, a long time ago, if you had a donkey

  • and you wanted the donkey to move forward,

  • you could use the carrot as a reward.

  • You would hold the carrot up in front of the donkey,

  • and the donkey would step forward

  • to get the carrot as a reward.

  • And if that didn't work, you could use a stick,

  • which is a lot meaner and I think if I had a donkey

  • I wouldn't use the stick, I would use the carrot more.

  • But we're not here to talk about donkeys,

  • we're here to talk about how you can stay motivated

  • when you are learning English.

  • So in this video, I am gonna give you 10 tips.

  • I'm going to tell you about 10 things that you can do

  • to stay motivated when you are learning English.

  • (bright music)

  • Number 10, keep track of your learning.

  • At the end of every day, if you have a calendar,

  • put a check mark on the calendar to indicate

  • that you learned some English that day.

  • If you would like to write a few sentences in a notebook,

  • put down the date and write down a few sentences

  • about what you learned that day.

  • The reason you would want to do this is so that

  • in the future, you can look back and see a record,

  • see a visual reminder of all the work that you have done.

  • It's really exciting to look at a calendar

  • and to see three months work of check marks

  • on every single day, indicating that you learned

  • a little bit of English on that day.

  • It can be highly motivating.

  • So, number 10, keep track of your learning.

  • Number nine, reward yourself.

  • This works in exactly the same way

  • as the carrot I talked about earlier.

  • Decide that if you study English that day,

  • you can have a small piece of chocolate

  • at the end of the day, or decide that if you study English

  • for five days straight, you are allowed to go out

  • and have a yummy, tasty, expensive cup of coffee.

  • Knowing that there is a reward for doing good work

  • will motivate you to do the good work.

  • And, you can kind of flip this

  • the other way as well, where you can deny yourself

  • the reward if you don't do the work.

  • So you can always think, if I don't study English today,

  • I don't get that yummy piece of chocolate.

  • If I don't study English this week,

  • I don't get to go have that yummy, expensive cup of coffee.

  • So, either reward yourself, or deny yourself

  • the reward to motivate yourself.

  • Number eight, measure your progress.

  • I am a big believer in measuring what you have learned.

  • I am a big believer in testing yourself

  • to make sure that you know it.

  • So, if you can, design little tests

  • that you can give to yourself and that

  • you can grade yourself to measure your progress.

  • Maybe use Quizlet or another online testing

  • platform and look at your results.

  • If you get seven out of 10 one day,

  • try to get eight out of 10 the next day.

  • If you can find ways to measure your progress,

  • it helps you to really know what you know.

  • Sometimes in our minds, we can think

  • we know something, but until you measure it,

  • until you test yourself, you will not know.

  • So, design little vocabulary tests, maybe design

  • little fill in the blanks listening tests,

  • and do them, and do them until you can get 10 out of 10,

  • and then create a new test to measure your progress.

  • Number seven, turn it into a competition.

  • If you are learning English, and you know someone else

  • who is learning English, try to become competitive

  • with that person if they would like to do that.

  • Try to see who can learn the most

  • vocabulary words in one day.

  • See who can learn the most new English phrases in a week.

  • So, turn it into a competition.

  • If you use an app like Duolingo, this is built in.

  • You can actually compete with other people

  • to see who can get the most experience points each day.

  • So, excellent way to motivate yourself

  • by having a competition with one or two other people.

  • You can also use other people in a couple more ways.

  • You can learn English to impress someone.

  • So maybe there's someone who you would really like

  • to impress, you could learn English and then show them

  • that you have learned more English to impress them.

  • Or maybe you could just say to someone,

  • like your mom or a relative, just say I am learning English.

  • And then just the fact that you've told someone

  • that you're learning English might actually

  • motivate you to learn it more everyday.

  • Number six, create a routine.

  • This doesn't work for everybody, but this

  • is highly motivating for most people.

  • If you decide that you are going to have a daily routine,

  • and a weekly routine for learning English,

  • you are more likely to be motivated

  • to learn English on those days.

  • When you say to yourself, on Mondays I'm going

  • to do some English reading, every single Monday,

  • it will, in your mind, create this desire,

  • and you will be motivated to read on that Monday.

  • Again, this doesn't work for everyone,

  • but some people really like routines,

  • and this can be a really good motivator.

  • I did a video on this a while ago.

  • I'll put a link up here where you can establish

  • what type of English learning you're going to do

  • on each day of the week, but I certainly

  • highly recommend that you create a routine.

  • It is a great way to stay motivated

  • when you are learning English.

  • Number five, make your future self happy.

  • This is one of my favorite ways to motivate myself

  • to do almost anything, and I think it will work

  • really well for learning a language like English.

  • Think about how you could make yourself happy in the future.

  • How will your future self feel if you don't

  • work hard everyday learning English?

  • Think about yourself a year from now.

  • A year from now, your future self would be super happy

  • if you spent some time today studying English.

  • So, one way that I like to motivate myself, and I think

  • this is a great way for you to motivate yourself,

  • is to think about how can I make my future self happy?

  • And the way to make your future

  • self happy is to study today.

  • Number four, plan a trip to an English speaking country.

  • I know this one isn't possible for everyone

  • because it does cost money, but knowing that

  • you will be going to a country, either for a trip,

  • or maybe even for school or some

  • other activity, can be highly motivating.

  • I know for myself, if Jen and I planned a trip

  • to the province of Quebec where they speak French,

  • I would be highly motivated to practice my French a lot

  • before I went to that province.

  • So, if you can in some way get to an English speaking

  • country for a vacation, or for a short visit

  • to people you know there, I highly recommend it.

  • Knowing that you will be going to an English speaking

  • country will motivate you to practice and learn

  • as much English as you can before you go.

  • Number three, take an English class.

  • If you can register for and take an English class

  • in your city, or even take an online English class,

  • this will motivate you to learn English,

  • not just in class, but outside of class as well.

  • Knowing that you are going to be with other people

  • who are also learning English will motivate you

  • to impress them, it will motivate you to study

  • outside of class because you will want the teacher

  • to see that you are making progress,

  • and you will want your classmates to see

  • that you are making progress as well.

  • So, if you can find an English class to take, register

  • for that class, go every week if it's a weekly class.

  • Just knowing you have a class every Thursday night,

  • or every Saturday morning, will motivate you

  • to read more in English, to listen to more music

  • in English, and to just improve your English skills.

  • So, if you can, take a class.

  • Number two, hire an English tutor.

  • If you know that you are going to be meeting

  • with an English tutor once a week in your city,

  • or maybe you are meeting with an English tutor

  • once a week online via Skype or Facetime or Zoom,

  • you will be more likely to study English before you meet.

  • Because, when you meet with someone,

  • you need things to talk about, and if you're going

  • to meet with someone and you're going to need

  • to speak English, you're going to need to be able

  • to talk about things in English.

  • So, you will be more likely to read

  • the news in English so that when you meet

  • with your tutor, you can talk about the news.

  • You will be more likely to read another chapter in your book

  • in English because you'll want to be able to talk

  • to your tutor about the things that happened in your book.

  • Again, you'll be more likely to watch more English

  • television because you'll want to be able

  • to talk to your tutor about the televisions shows

  • that you watched the week before.

  • So, if you can, and if you are able to, find an English

  • tutor, meet with them once a week,

  • even if it's just for 30 minutes, and this

  • will highly motivate you to learn English.

  • Number one, book an English test.

  • To me, if you want to be motivated to learn

  • the English language, you should book a test,

  • maybe six months in the future.

  • Decide to yourself, I really want to take

  • an official English language test.

  • I'm going to do it in six months.

  • Go online, pay your money, and register for that test.

  • I think you will be motivated.

  • I think most people would be highly

  • motivated when they do that.

  • You would get up everyday and think, okay,

  • in six months I have an English test.

  • As you get closer to the date, you will start to study more

  • because you will want to do really, really well.

  • Booking a test will actually

  • help you do other things as well.

  • If you book a test, you are more

  • likely to hire an English tutor.

  • If you book a test, you are more likely

  • to read that book that you were planning to read in English.

  • If you book a test, you are more likely

  • to learn a lot of vocabulary in the time between

  • when you book the test and when

  • you actually need to take the test.

  • So, number one, my number one thing

  • that you can do to motivate yourself

  • is book an English test and then study like crazy.

  • And here's one more tip before I go.

  • Make sure you get a good night's sleep every night.

  • Sleep is really important for learning,

  • and a good night's sleep goes a long way

  • to helping you remember new things that you have learned.

  • Anyways, Bob the Canadian here.

  • I hope you enjoyed this English lesson

  • on how to stay motivated when learning English.

  • If you are new here, don't forget to click

  • that red subscribe button over there

  • and give me a thumbs up if this video

  • helped you learn just a little bit more English.

  • And if you have the time, why don't you

  • stick around and watch another video?

  • (bright music)

Hi, Bob the Canadian here.

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