My experience of learning English. Self-study of English: my experience - Take everything from life! - LJ. The Most Important Rule

Surely you have already read hundreds of articles on the Internet about how to learn English on your own and for free. Still not able to reach the desired level of knowledge? The thing is that many offer theoretical advice without backing it up with practice. Therefore, we decided to compile a practical guide to self-study. In this article, we will tell you if it is possible to learn English without anyone's help, explain what materials you MUST use when studying on your own and what resources you can use in addition so that you do not get bored learning English at home. You can save yourself a free PDF that lists all 156 resources, and at the end of the article, we'll give you our Editors' Choice - a "best of the best" list.

Is it possible to learn English on your own

Let's first find out whether it is realistic to learn English on your own or if you should not waste time and effort on this activity. Let's say right away that learning English on your own and for free is quite realistic, because there are thousands of learning resources on the Internet that will help you do this. Why is it that not everyone succeeds in mastering the language at the desired level? You probably know people whose self-study has become a waste of time. Or maybe you yourself have repeatedly unsuccessfully tried to learn English?

We can say with confidence that only three factors determine whether you can learn English on your own:

1. Your desire to learn the language.
2. Willingness to work.
3. An effective way to learn a language.

If both the first and the second factors are present, then it is only the third link that matters - the ability to find for yourself the most effective way to learn English on your own. This article is just designed to solve the problem of the third factor: we will tell you how to organize an effective learning process, what materials you will need.

At the same time, we want to immediately warn you: self-learning is an interesting process, but not easy, and it is especially difficult for beginners. We still advise those who study the language "from scratch" to use the services. Under his vigilant supervision and expert guidance, you will move faster than with self-study. Do you want to walk this path without anyone's help? We have already written an article on this topic "", however, it is aimed specifically at beginners. In the same article, we will share resources for all English learners, so for beginners it is better to start by studying the first article and then return to this material.

How to learn English on your own

We have compiled 6 simple recommendations for you on how best to learn English on your own. These tips are based on the experience of our teachers and students. To make self-learning effective for you, follow all the recommendations, then positive results will not keep you waiting.

1. Set a specific goal

It is on your learning goal that all further actions for self-study of the English language depend. Think about whether you want to learn general conversational or business English, want to reach an intermediate level, or want to reach the top. You can look and choose a similar goal for yourself. In addition, a great right goal is to reach the intermediate level, in which case you will lay down a good knowledge base. Find out 8 more reasons to get to this stage from the article "".

2. Schedule your classes

It would seem that the beauty of self-study lies precisely in the fact that your English classes are not tied to any particular moment: you learn the language when it is convenient for you. However, in reality it turns out as in a well-known anecdote. Your conscience torments you: “When will you sit down for English?” And you answered her: “Well, no, today I can’t, I’m so tired. Let's never. Will it ever suit you?" Agree, with this approach, it is impossible to learn English. Therefore, take a tight rein on yourself and make a specific schedule, for example, study for an hour daily or 3-4 times a week for 1.5 hours. Of course, having a schedule will not protect you from procrastination, but you will already know that you didn’t just “legally postpone the class, I’ll teach you later”, but missed it. Gnawing conscience is a good motivator!

3. Select the required resources

As we have already said, we have many sources of knowledge, and such an abundance of useful resources does not always have a positive effect on learning. So, many people decide to learn English and in one day they buy all available textbooks, bookmark 541 English learning sites, install 37 language learning apps. On the one hand, such zeal is commendable. On the other hand, each textbook and each site has its own principles for presenting the material, therefore, if you study on different resources every day, you risk creating a mess in your head and in a week or two you will realize that you don’t know what to take on. Below we offer you a list of good time-tested resources for learning English by English proficiency. Spend a couple of days choosing no more than 1-2 resources for each skill.

4. Look for an interlocutor

Some people think that English can be learned "offline" using only books, audio and video materials. However, it is not. You can read Agatha Christie in the original and listen to BBC news, but what's the point if you find it difficult to speak English. You can speak the language you are learning only with the help of an interlocutor. Read on to find out how to find yourself a speaking partner.

5. Track your achievements

This is an important point for those who decide to learn English on their own at home. Be sure to complete test tasks to track your progress. You can do various online tests, such as knowledge level tests. It is important to check your mistakes. This is quite difficult when self-learning, so we wrote an assistant article "" for you. From it you will learn how to control your learning process.

6. Don't Take Long Breaks From Studying

Everyone has days when it seems like there is no time at all to learn English. In this case, we recommend finding literally 5-10 minutes and doing one of the exercises from the article "". If you still had to take a break in learning, try not to drag it out, otherwise the accumulated knowledge will start to fly out of your head and you will completely abandon your studies.

How to learn English for free at home: 156 useful materials

And now we will present you with resources that you will definitely need for effective self-study of English. You will see the entire list of resources in a PDF file that you can save to your computer for free:

Those who learn English on their own often complain that they cannot learn English grammar. In this case, we recommend taking an additional textbook with grammar exercises to the main textbook. When choosing such a book, be guided by our article "". Go through the manual from the first lesson to the last without missing anything, then the material will be easier to understand.

A good vocabulary will allow you to accurately express your thoughts, so try to constantly learn new words. It is advisable to take new vocabulary not only from your main textbook, but also from specialized manuals. A reliable source of the right words will be one of. The practical exercises in these books will teach you how to use the learned words correctly in your speech.

Correct pronunciation is necessary for the interlocutor to understand you, so this skill also needs to be developed. If, when studying English with a teacher, you can do without a special manual, because the teacher will teach you how to pronounce sounds correctly, then when studying English on your own at home, you will need a textbook. You can take one of the following: English Pronunciation in Use , New Headway Pronunciation Course , Tree or Three? , Ship or Sheep? , How Now, Brown Cow? , Elements of Pronunciation . In them you will find many tasks for listening and setting the correct pronunciation.

A good dictionary is an indispensable attribute of an English learner. We recommend that you first use a Russian-English online dictionary, such as multitran.ru or lingvolive.ru. When you reach an intermediate level of knowledge, start using an English-English dictionary, such as macmillandictionary.com or dictionary.cambridge.org.

Would you like to use teaching aids? We recommend reading our article "", in which we talked about the benefits of using aids, and also indicated who can learn English without them.

Additional Resources

The listed textbooks will be enough for you to improve your English skills, but sometimes you want to take a break from books and diversify your learning with some interesting materials. We have compiled a large selection of the best resources for you to help you learn English on your own.

1. We speak English

To learn to communicate in English, you need to try to speak it as often as possible. Where to find a partner for communication? On one of the language exchange sites, such as italki.com or es.coeffee.com. You will find even more ideas and resources for finding an interlocutor in the article "".

2. Learning new words

   New vocabulary can be taught not only by the manual, but also by more modern and exciting methods:

   • Install word learning apps: Anki for Android and iOS, Easy Ten for and iOS or Fun Easy Learn English for Android and iOS. Learning 10 words will take no more than 5-7 minutes, we think that even a busy person will have time to study with applications.
   • Learn words with visual dictionaries like online-languages.info or oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com. An association with a picture is remembered better and faster than a single word.
   • Run tests on englishteststore.net and esl.fis.edu. You can check how well you remember the new vocabulary and see how it is used in speech.
   • Solve crosswords: .
3. Improving listening comprehension in English

   It is quite easy to improve your listening comprehension of English on your own. We recommend the following methods:

   • Listen to audio materials: .
   • Watch the news: . You can first watch the video with subtitles, and then without them.
   • Watch exciting educational videos and video lectures:.
   • Listen to interesting audiobooks: .
   • Listen to music: .
4. Improving grammar knowledge

Remember: without knowing grammar, it is impossible to speak English normally. Therefore, let's see what methods, in addition to the exercises from the textbook, can be used to deal with grammar once and for all.

• Learn grammar from understandable articles in Russian: engblog.ru.
• Run tests: . Doing at least one debriefing test every day will help you gradually eradicate your mistakes.
• Watch instructional videos: . Also visit the wonderful resource engvid.com. Pay attention to the videos with the teacher Ronnie: even those who hate grammar will like her incendiary sense of humor and exciting lessons.
• Use the grammar learning apps: Johnny Grammar for and iOS or Learn English Grammar for Android and LearnEnglish Grammar for iOS. These simple gadget programs will diversify the way to work or a trip to the country.

Reading is the easiest skill to work on your own. How to do it:

• Read adapted literature: . Such books can be read by people with a Beginner level and above.
• Read books in the original: .
• Read fascinating articles: . A small interesting article - the optimal "dose" for those who want to learn English at home on their own.
• Read the news: install the Yahoo News Digest or BBC News app on your smartphone or tablet, then you will be in the know and will be able to improve your English daily.
• Read magazines: .

Improving pronunciation with self-study is not very easy: in order to analyze your speech and find errors in it, you need to have experience in learning English and know perfectly HOW all sounds should sound. But this difficulty can be overcome by using the following tricks:

• Learn to pronounce sounds correctly: .
• Practice speaking tongue twisters: download-esl.com has tongue twisters voiced by native speakers. Say at least a couple of them every day, and your pronunciation will improve in a couple of months, and it will become much easier to pronounce difficult sounds of English.

You can learn to write in English without the help of a teacher. The catch is that if you decide to learn English on your own, there will be no one to check your written work. There are services for communicating with foreigners, these sites offer something like a language exchange: you check the text in Russian, and a native English speaker checks your written work in English. However, keep in mind that illiterate people can also sit on such sites, so no one can guarantee the reliability of the check. In addition, your reviewer will at best just correct your mistakes, but not explain them. Therefore, if it is important for you to learn how to write well in English, you should think about lessons with a teacher. In addition, the following will help you:

• Learn to spell correctly...
• Work on pronunciation - .
• Online dictations - dictationsonline.com.

We have provided you with a detailed practical guide on how to learn English on your own and for free, and pointed out the best resources to help you succeed in this field. Now it's up to you. At first, this path can be difficult, because learning something new is never easy. Remember, when you first got on a bike, you probably fell more than once before learning how to ride. Driving English will also be difficult, but gradually you will be able to pick up speed and masterfully handle it. We wish you success in your studies!

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Learning languages ​​on your own is quite realistic, especially if you are interested in English. I started to use it little by little after about 8 months of homework without a teacher. Now my experience in English is more than two years, and evening fuss with books gives me quite appetizing results: what is worth at least the opportunity to read Shakespeare in the original!

I will share my experience (something, but I learned to learn during this period).

What sources to use?

First of all, you need to find material. There are a lot of convenient services on the Internet that help you learn English online through game exercises. Offhand I'll call Puzzle English and LinguaLeo.

These resources should not be ignored. It even makes sense to pay for additional features that help train knowledge of new words. You will have to constantly replenish your vocabulary, and memorizing words, staring blankly at a piece of paper, is the last century. By collecting letters and solving crosswords, you will remember much more (and at the same time - the most important thing! - do not hate English after the first attempts to understand it).

You will also be offered grammar simulators with an explanation of the rules. They are also useful, but I would not advise choosing them as a launching pad when learning English grammar from scratch.

At first, a clear system is needed - you need to follow the rules not at random, but sequentially, from simple to complex. A good tutorial will help you decide on the system.

Textbooks for independent study of English

After reading the forums, you will find at least a couple of confident recommendations to immediately study according to 100% English textbooks - that is, to perceive the rules in a foreign language adapted for a beginner. Such a recommendation is appropriate if you already have strong basic knowledge - for example, you once passed an English exam, and still remember the basics.

For a person who was a loser at school or studied another language, it is better to start with grammar in Russian.

My top 3 tutorials for beginners looks like that:

• Anastasia Petrova, “The New English Language Tutorial” (excellent presentation of the rules in terms of accessibility, a clear structure of the lessons, an informal selection of phrases and texts for working out the material);
• Natalia Bonk, "English step by step" (wide coverage of topics, the textbook gives a chance to gradually get from zero to Intermediate and even a little higher);
• Raymond Murphy, Essential Grammar in Use

The only serious drawback of Petrova's textbook is the lack of a disk. Learning pronunciation only from descriptions and transcriptions is not the best solution. The textbook is ideal for people who dream of reading specialized literature in English.

The disadvantages of the classic Bonk tutorial are the presentation of material in large heterogeneous blocks and the lifelessness of individual examples: sometimes you read the text and feel that it is deliberately modeled for learning. The CD with the textbook is coming, all the words from the rules have been read professionally.

The manuals, the authors of which promise to load English into your head in 15, 10 or 5 hours, are more suitable for refreshing your memory than for primary self-study. Sometimes they are good for tourists who need to memorize elementary travel phrases without understanding their construction.

Alas, it is impossible to truly learn English from scratch in a matter of days.

Suitable audio and video materials

Whether you will take audio courses in parallel with the textbook is up to you.

For a general acquaintance with English, I can advise "Small jump" Dragunkin— the Russian-speaking author, for advertising purposes, presents his teaching methodology, but at the same time gives the listener an idea of ​​the principles of the language, of its very essence.

In parallel with grammar, it is convenient to listen Pimsleur courses. They do not contain much theory, all training is based on dialogues that the listener remembers and repeats after the announcer.

You can stock up on audiobooks almost immediately. The sooner you start listening to simple stories in proper pronunciation, the better. Wonderful libraries for the beginner prepared Oxford Bookworms Library and Penguin Readers.

I share my own find.

Your smartphone most likely has a voice recorder function. Read on it lists of exceptions, indigestible rules, and generally any difficult cases. The player will provide you with time for classes, which is so lacking for adults. You must go somewhere and drive. Let English be your constant companion.

From the video materials, at first, short children's cartoons with subtitles will suffice for your eyes. Translating entire films, constantly clicking on the pause and flipping through the dictionary - that's another job.

You can also watch video courses if you wish. I don't particularly recommend them because you can't look at them on the go. At home, if you have free time and energy, it is more useful to study from a textbook.

A long-promised post :) Let's start from November 2009. At this time I came to Goa for 6 months to live and work. 6 years at school and 5 years at university I studied German (or rather, tried to do it), as a result, in my English vocabulary there were only a few words: ok, good, bad, fuck off and once one of my girlfriends before, how to send me to a meeting with a virtual friend who now lives in the USA taught me the word satisfaction:) That was the end of my English vocabulary...

Before flying to Goa, on the recommendation of friends, I bought a pocket phrase book, put an English tutorial in my suitcase, pumped up audio and other books in English and learned a phrase for annoying Indians at the airport: I don "t understand English! The word don" t I I successfully forgot already in Mumbai, so when the Indians pestered me with something (who now knows what?), I proudly answered: I understand English! Then it was a mystery to me why they continued to talk to me, but I attributed it to their cultural characteristics :)
Once upon a time, back in Minsk, I bought (yes, I had such unusual acquisitions) an English language tutorial. I don't even remember the authors, but it was the most ordinary hardcover tutorial with exercises inside. It was from him that I began to study English. I have to be honest: I tried to do this every day, but sometimes I just fell asleep over a book and gave up on it. Nevertheless, I acquired a certain base in the form of pronouns, the most common verbs and sentence construction.

Tip 1
You need a foundation that will help you understand how English works in general. By the way, English, compared to Russian, is very simple - I declare this to you responsibly as a philologist of higher education! :)

In addition, thanks to torrent files, I downloaded audio English for myself using the method of Dr. Pimsleur. I want to tell you that I was able to listen to it to the end only a few weeks ago - then the doctor's audio lessons seemed too complicated to me ... Nevertheless, I just switched to Dragunkin and his Reader - everything was much simpler! Now I continue to listen to audio English every day, and I do it while cleaning the house and taking care of animals (my daily routine), I spend 30 minutes on it every day and I am very proud of myself! :)

Tip 2
Choose an audio course that suits you - there are a lot of them on the net now - and listen to it every day if possible (or at least 5 times a week). To make it easier to make time for this activity, think: doing something (at home, at work or ...) mechanically, can you occupy your ears with English?

The most important plus in learning English in Goa was that almost everyone here spoke English, so I tried to use every opportunity to talk: I went to the store on my own, having previously memorized how “flour-eggs-vinegar, etc.” would be in English. "; spoke with foreigners on the topics of "Ha-var-yu" and "Du-yu-like-Goa"; answered on facebook and vkontakte to all Indians who wanted friendship and corresponded with them in English.

Tip 3
Use every opportunity to speak in English: be it a "live" conversation or a virtual one! And get that nonsense about the language barrier out of your head! Just speak! Because many foreigners are very fond of new interlocutors and they will do everything in their power to understand your story about corruption in Russia, food in Belarus and life in the Soviet Union. And if you forgot this or that word - tell the interlocutor about it, describe the forgotten word - and he will remind you of it! And then he will also say that your English is excellent! :) And don't be discouraged when you meet Scots, Irish or other people who don't understand English! I remember once a friend from England came to our friends, from a conversation with him I understood only geographical names (and not all of them!), I was very upset about this, complained to Brian, to which he said that he himself, as a native speaker understands only 70% of what Nigel (a friend from England) is talking about :)

Then I decided that it would be time for me to read in English (otherwise!) So I went to our large supermarket and bought children's fairy tales in English. To be honest, I only read a couple then ... But just recently I finished reading my first book in English in 150 pages! I am very proud of this! As I later realized, the problem with my NOT reading was this: I really disliked the slow process of looking up a word in a paper dictionary! As a result, Brian from the Nokia website downloaded an English-Russian dictionary for free to his new phone, which really inspired me to read books in English! Now I have started reading my second, already "adult" book in English!

Tip 4
Read books in English! Start with children and then move on to more complex ones - adults! :) In addition, I recently found such a thing on the net: you download a book-program, open a book and read it from the laptop screen, and if the word is not clear, you hover over it with the mouse, and its translation immediately pops up! Brilliantly simple! :)

The famous Murphy did not work for me then, at the beginning of my English career. Therefore, in Moscow, my friend gave me the second part of the Happy English textbook, the first one I found in Minsk in a second-hand bookstore. So I started learning Happy-English with my notebook. The first part of the textbook went to someone in Kathmandu (I left it there in connection with the end of the study), the second part will go to someone in Goa (Dasha, I'd better buy a new textbook for you, because I have covered yours with a pencil!) - so welcome! I exchange for a fiction book of Russian classical literature in Russian! :)

Tip 5
Choose your favorite textbook (not a tutorial, but a textbook!) and go through it from beginning to end, despite the fact that it will seem to you that you are already familiar with this grammatical topic. Just be consistent! :)

Then I decided that it was time to watch films in English! :) I started with English films with subtitles. It is much easier to read subtitles and understand the movie than to try to understand the English, Scottish, Irish or American accent of each actor :) In addition, friends, I must tell you that if you do not understand this or that phrase in the film, you will certainly guess what did they mean: execute or pardon :) I also highly recommend watching all sorts of programs. Personally, I hung out on culinary and tourist. Especially in the first ones, the presenters try to pronounce the words separately and they do not speak so quickly, because this is important for the recipe!

Tip 6
Watch movies, series and programs in English. Start watching them with subtitles, then switch to pure English viewing! I don’t know about you, but many satellite TV channels have options for setting subtitles when watching a particular channel.

The most difficult thing for me was learning words. That is, I already had a certain reserve, thanks to their frequent consumption in communication, textbooks, books, films, but I would like to operate not only with "everyday" words. I tried several ways to learn words: at first I stupidly taught them, covering the Russian translation with a piece of paper; then I decided that I needed to learn words "by doing something in parallel", so in Stolin I took a bath and studied new words from a piece of paper. Now I have chosen the following two methods, which I really like: I downloaded an audio for learning new words - I listen to it while doing my chores + I installed the BX Language acquisition program, devoting 30 minutes a day to it at breakfast, which I am very happy with!

Tip 7
Learn new words in your favorite ways, but never stop there!

So, now I "m sometimes thinking on English...
The last time I spoke Russian "live" was on 06/12/2011... Apart from talking with my mother on the phone :) And I continue to learn English on my own, using the tips listed above :)

I wish you patience, perseverance and desire! After that, knowledge of English will come! :) If you have any questions, welcome!

Pain is temporary. It may last a minute, or an hour, or a day, or a year, but eventually it will subside and something else will take its place. If I quit, however, it lasts forever.

Pain is temporary. It may last a minute, an hour, a day or a year, but eventually it will pass and something else will take its place. But if I give up, it will last forever.

Lance Armstrong

“You know five languages,” many people are surprised when they meet me. “But I can’t even learn English for a year.” At this moment, it seems to people that one fine day I carefully put several textbooks under my pillow, fell asleep on them, and when I woke up, I spoke in Greek, sometimes inserting quotes in Slovak.

In fact, I really love languages, and grammar is easy for me, but I can’t say that learning a new language is such an easy task for me. I really like the very idea. I think a lot of people are similar in this. We are all delighted to buy a new book that smells so delicious of printing ink. We examine the pictures, read the dialogues, perform the exercises until we encounter the first difficulties. For some, these are irregular verbs, for others, they are forms of the word “to be” or the first attempts to speak a new language. And here it is very difficult not to stop, not to go off the intended path and still bring the matter to the end. The question is how?

This is where omnipotent motivation comes to the rescue. Usually it is a trip (or relocation) to another country or a career opportunity. American composer Leonard Berstein said that in order to accomplish something great, you need two things: a plan and not enough time ( to achieve great things, two things are needed; a plan, and not quite enough time). But what if there is enough time, you are not one of those who like planning, but you want to learn the language just like that, for yourself?

I have some advice for you. All of them are based solely on personal experience. In the programs they say: “Attention! Don't try these tricks at home." And I say: "Be sure to try these tricks at home, it can lead to the transformation of learning English into a habit."

In a healthy body healthy mind

I confess that all my life I have been potato couch(lazy person) who didn't know how to get things done. Everything that I undertook, whether it was playing the piano, promising not to eat sweets or learning Spanish, ended as soon as the first difficulties waved around the corner, smiling sweetly. But two years ago I realized that in a few months I gained ten kilograms. I reluctantly started exercising three times a week, eliminating from the diet everything that could harm the figure. I confess that I was rather pessimistic.

But this time it was different, as a reality show came to my rescue “ The Biggest Loser”(lit. “Lost the most”), in which overweight people lose weight for four months with the help of proper nutrition and sports activities. All this happens under the supervision of "Big Brother" - a team of experienced trainers and nutritionists. As soon as I wanted to give up and eat a piece of cake, I reminded myself how in the next episode of the show a man weighing 200 kg spent an hour sweating in the gym and eating boiled chicken breast with vegetables. “If he can, then I can,” I told myself.

And when I saw the first changes for the better in the mirror, and also heard the compliments of my colleagues, I realized that I simply could not return to my usual unsportsmanlike state. It was my first step towards increasing motivation and improving the quality of my life.

Here is one that helped me set myself up properly to achieve my goal. The beauty is that it can be used to learn English. It is published in many countries, including England, USA and Australia. You can choose to view the version of English that you prefer.

List of words and expressions

In a month, in a year

Though " The Biggest Loser” and helped me get in shape, I didn’t become a new person in six months. But I really enjoyed working on myself. And without motivation it is difficult to do it. I started looking for new ways to improve it. The now popular site came to the rescue , which I highly recommend, both for personal self-development and for learning English, especially if your level is above Pre-Intermediate. The site has subtitles and full text for each video.

I came across an interesting speech by a company employee Google. He tells that each of us should definitely try to do something for 30 days. This is just enough time to start a new habit or get rid of an old one.

List of words and expressions

Well, inspired? I successfully completed the 30 day yoga challenge and also taught myself to carry a notebook with German words and repeat them in my spare time. But the idea to completely abandon coffee did not take root. It is too associated with a pleasant start to the day.

Faster, higher, stronger

I must say that, despite all my self-development and striving for excellence, I am still an avid computer gamer. As soon as I manage to find some time for myself, I do not hesitate to spend it on my favorite “Zombies vs. Plants” or “ Sims 3". Fortunately, computer games can also be used to your advantage. For example, with the recently released application SuperBetter, which helps both increase motivation and learn English.

In order to understand what its essence is, you need to read the following TED- a speech in which the creator of the application, Jane, talks about the benefits of computer games. The video is a must-see, because attention, spoilers, Jane promises that by the end of her performance, she will increase the life expectancy of each viewer by 7.5 minutes. Let's see how she does it?

List of words and expressions

Super better!

Now let's talk about the application itself. . As Jane said SB designed to help you achieve your goals by improving your personal resilience(here - "fortitude"). Resilience, in this case, means the ability to stay positive, curious and motivated even in incredibly difficult situations.

There are four types of "fortitude": physical (resilience and the body's ability to recover), mental (focus, determination, and perseverance), emotional (the ability to stay positive when it matters most), and social (the support of family and friends that makes us stronger).

Register for SB can be absolutely free. The site is equipped with a nice interface and video explanations of Jane, already familiar to us, for each section. The application is based on quite interesting scientific research, which can be read on the same site.

First, we choose what we need to improve ( I'm getting superbetter at) and for what purpose ( so I can). My first goal was to increase the motivation to learn German.

On the SB no one sits under a real name. Everyone chooses their secret identity(secret identity). Usually it becomes a person who, with his actions and lifestyle, motivates us to accomplish great things. For language learners, this might be Kato Lomb, a Hungarian translator who spoke 16 languages. Literally a few years before her death, this wonderful woman began to learn Hebrew. But she died at the age of 90, retaining clarity of mind.

• Read more about Kato Lomb and her method of learning languages ​​on our school's blog in the article "Learning English Easily: Tips from a Polyglot Kato Lomb".

So, the goals are defined, the personality is chosen. We start working on ourselves. Every day you can complete tasks from ("to-do list").

I'll tell you more. The first column is called Activate power-ups("Activate bonuses"). A bonus is a quick and fairly simple action that helps us become stronger or feel better. In addition, each of them helps us increase a certain type of stamina. There is a set of standard bonuses - drink a glass of water, write to a friend how much you appreciate him, hug your beloved cat, but you can also create your own. For example, learn one new word. Do you remember, do you? I created a set of my bonuses for learning a foreign language.

In order to get the most out of this app, the creators advise doing three in a day.

Also, every day you need to defeat one "enemy" ( Battle bad boys). "Enemies" we call any obstacles on the way to achieving goals. The point is not to avoid them or pretend they don't exist, but rather, to figure out and overcome them. There are a few standard ones on the site, such as "Sticky chair" that prevents us from getting up and doing things, or "Self-criticism", which is very often completely unjustified.

When we learn English, there are such "enemies" as The I'm-not-ready Guy("I'm not ready yet") and The Dedicated Student("Dedicated Student"). The first means that you should not neglect practice, especially speaking, even if you are a beginner. Do not think - I will reach this level, and then I will start writing and talking. A “Student” is a person who paid the teacher and decided that now you can do nothing on your own.

There are other interesting categories on the site. In section Complete today's quests("Complete today's tasks") you can create your own goals. If your main dream is to "reach an A2 level in English", it can be broken down into several mini-goals or quests. There is no standard set of tasks here, because everything is quite individual. But you can always peek at what quests are created by other users of the application. The site has a forum for communication and inspiration. And this is another opportunity to practice written English.

Whatever we do, it is very important to rest. In section Future Boosts(“Future incentives”) we write events that are planned for the coming days or weeks. They don't have to be related to our goals, but they are what help us regain energy and give us the strength to move forward. It could be a meeting with a friend you haven't seen for a long time, a trip to another country, going to the cinema, or just a day off to sleep off.

Now you know my way to increase motivation and self-improvement. I hope that this article will give you strength and help you cope with the difficulties that prevent you from turning learning English into a habit. We are all different. Perhaps the same methods of language learning as me will suit you. Try it! Suddenly it will be possible to develop a new interesting habit or get rid of the old one. After all, the most important victory in life is over yourself. Do you agree? What helps you motivate yourself? Be sure to write to me in the comments. I would be happy to answer any questions or listen to your story.

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Not so long ago, I faced a new task: to quickly improve the level of English. Yes, I knew him before (approximately at the level of Upper Intermediate), but this was not enough. And after all, I guessed that sooner or later I would need English, but for some reason the meeting with the roasted rooster had not happened yet.

And so I began to look for all possible ways to improve my level of English, and many of these ways involved self-study.

1. The most obvious thing is to sign up with a teacher. I knew the teacher, as she used to teach courses at one of my previous jobs, and I specifically tried to enroll with her. Unfortunately, she was quite busy, but she found 2-3 classes a week for me. True, she had to travel far.

2. Read books in English (I chose Hemingway), as well as professional literature (IFRS standards).

3. Watched the series (I chose "Clinic"; maybe not the best choice, but I like this series). At first I watched each episode in Russian (with English subtitles), the second time in English (with English subtitles). But after my post in odin_my_den many kind people unanimously advised to start with the English version, and it was right. Soon I switched to the "4 views" scheme:
1. English audio, no subtitles.
2. Russian sound, English subtitles.
3. English audio, English subtitles.
4. English audio, no subtitles.
Options 1 and 4 are identical, but the fourth time it looks (listens) is not at all the same as the first time.

4. Together with a partner Any we decided to study Stephen Covey's book together, and to make it more useful, we decided to discuss each chapter, preparing questions for each other in English and discussing them on Skype (also in English). It also gave me good speaking practice, and I am very grateful to Lyuba.

These measures helped me a lot in a short time to restore and improve my English on my own, but I did not stop there. In the future, my process of learning English has changed, and now it looks like this.

1. At work, I have the opportunity to study English English First and I use it.

2. Watching the series has not gone away, I still watch it.

3. I ordered a book on Amazon in English - "Postcapitalism" by Paul Mason and read as much as possible. If I'm not mistaken, it has not been translated into Russian.

4. In the already mentioned post in "One of my days" I was advised by the service Lingvaleo(website and smartphone app). I installed it for myself, but I don't use it very much: I only repeat words and watch TED talks. The service is convenient, and quite a lot of functionality is available in the free version.

5. I recently opened an online English school and am very pleased with it. Now once a week I study with a teacher at this school. The service is very interesting and convenient.