This is an All Ears English Podcast, Episode 52.
What to do when you can't learn anymore.
Welcome to the All Ears English Podcast where you'll finally get real native English conversation and fluency for business and life.
We believe in connection, not perfection when it comes to learning English.
Now here are your hosts Lindsay McMahon, the English adventurer, and Michelle Kaplan, the New York radio girl, coming to you from Boston and New York City, USA.
Hey.
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Lindsay, how are you?
Hey, I'm feeling good.
I'm feeling good.
But lately, Michelle, I have kind of hit a wall with my Spanish, unfortunately.
When I was traveling in South America, I was feeling good.
I was improving all the time.
But now that I'm back in the States, I'm not traveling as much.
I feel like I've kind of hit a wall.
What does that mean to hit a wall?
Yeah, it just means a brick wall, right?
You can't go past that point.
I feel like I've hit the intermediate level.
And I bet a lot of our listeners feel this way about their English that I just can't seem to move forward to that advanced level where I could have an engaging dinner party and get all the jokes and tell the jokes and just really be myself.
So I'm kind of stuck.
Oh, so yeah, you almost feel like you can't learn anymore, right?
Like you're just like, oh, yeah.
Yeah.
And I'm just using the same phrases over and over.
I think that's what our listeners feel, too.
They know the phrases, they know what they're saying is correct, but they use the same format, like the same constructions, all the time.
They can't go outside of that.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
That's frustrating.
That's tough.
Guys, if this is happening to you, we are here to help you.
We are here to give you some tips on how you can – when you've hit that plateau and you feel like things are just kind of getting stale.
They're just kind of the same –.
And you want to keep growing.
What can you do?
I mean, Lindsay, what do you think is the first tip?
I mean, it's for you too with your Spanish.
Yeah.
I mean.
The point is, we need to make sure that we're not separating ourselves from this new language.
So it's almost like you need to just spend more time around native English.
And I was talking to one of our listeners, Massimo, who actually volunteered.
He went to Boston.
You know Massimo.
I know Massimo.
Of course, he's from Italy and his English is really strong, but he wanted it to be even stronger.
So what did he do?
He moved to Boston.
He volunteered with a soup kitchen, a nonprofit opportunity where he was able to live in the house with the other volunteers, and he served food to the homeless population in Boston for like six months.
And his English really got so much better.
I have to tell you, after talking to him, it was just incredible.
That is amazing.
That is amazing.
Yeah.
So, I mean, he really put himself He immersed himself in English.
Yes, exactly.
So that's the first thing.
And it doesn't mean you have to move to the target country and start volunteering.
We know a lot of you guys are professionals.
You're business people.
You don't have time for that kind of thing.
But maybe it's as simple as finding some new podcasts like this one or others that are just all in English.
They're designed for native speakers, okay?
Mm-hmm.
Right, right, right.
Exactly.
I think that's a really good tip.
So I mean, another thing you can do is really challenge yourself.
You know, choose a more challenging learning method.
Yeah.
Yeah.
What does this mean?
Tell us a little bit more about what this means exactly.
What do you think?
I mean, this is really, you know, choosing things wisely.
Like, for example, get your teacher to really hold you accountable to your goals, right?
So you want to have someone who's going to challenge you, not let you just stay in the same way.
Make you use new phrases and use them in conversations.
So have that kind of challenge there.
Yeah, it's so true Michelle, because there's a big difference between sitting in a class and maybe you have a teacher and maybe you're learning these new phrases, but are you actually using them in a conversation?
Are they coming to mind?
Are you implementing them?
Because if you are not, then you're just, it's just academic, and you're never going to move past that brick wall.
Right, right, right.
So really push yourself.
Really, really push yourself.
I mean, you know, don't push yourself so much to the point of like then you're not interested, because that can get frustrating, right?
But always make sure that you're adding something, right, that interests you, that excites you.
Yeah.
I mean, you know, in the end, find ways that you think of English learning kind of as entertainment.
In a way, this show is kind of entertainment.
It's like edutainment, right?
We are edutaining you guys.
We're having fun.
We're talking about our weird...
Our weird quirks, Michelle likes to dip her popcorn in milk.
If you didn't know that, if you didn't listen to episode one, you wouldn't know that.
But yeah, you're going to have fun with us.
We're going to hang out together, okay?
And that's how we're going to learn.
That's the new way to learn.
That's what you should be doing.
Okay, don't say, now I'm learning English, I'm separating everything.
It's an academic activity.
It's fun.
It's entertainment.
Right, right, right.
Exactly.
It's fun.
Have fun with it.
Yeah.
And I think that's our final tip, Michelle.
What do you think?
I mean, I think that's really what it's all about.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I think just like find a way to make it enjoyable for you, like Lindsay was saying.
And I think that kind of changes your motivation.
So to find something you're excited to do, maybe find a TV show that you're like excited to watch the next episode.
What's going to happen next?
And, you know, make it more about that stuff than about I have to learn.
Yeah.
Yeah.
We need to change the way we think about learning English.
And that's what we're doing here on All Ears English.
We're really shifting things around.
This is a new way to learn.
We're focusing on humans, focusing on relationships, and we're having a great time while we do it.
Awesome.
Yes.
I love it.
Oh, my gosh.
Yeah.
So good.
This is good stuff.
Yeah, I love it.
Guys, so come back for the next episode.
We're going to talk a little bit more about your English goals and why you should overshoot those English goals.
Okay, go further to achieve them.
All right, it's going to be great.
And we'll see you in the next one, Michelle.
Have a good one.
All right, you too.
Bye, guys.
Bye.
Thanks for listening to All Ears English and if you believe in connection, not perfection, follow our show wherever you listen to podcasts to make sure you don't miss anything.
See you next time.
