Episode 45
How to break free from a language learning plateau by breaking free from your course book and english class
How to break free from a language learning plateau by breaking free from your course book and English class
In today's episode:
I hope that I'll be able to help you steer away a little from the traditional course book and classroom setting.
We'll explore the surprising places where real growth occurs and how everyday life can become your most valuable learning resource. I'll share stories from my time running an English teaching company in Mexico—illuminating the pros and cons of relying on structured course materials—and how truly immersing yourself in the language can make all the difference.
Now, whether you're in Canada, Mexico, or anywhere else in the world, there are endless opportunities to absorb and practice English in a way that course books can't prepare you for. And remember, slow and steady wins the race. By staying patient and aware of the English around you, growth is not only possible but inevitable.
So buckle up, and let's get ready to transform the way you approach your English learning journey—right after this quick break.
Breakdown of what we cover today:
00:00 Be patient, keep learning, and break plateau.
05:41 English classes focused on individual student needs.
08:58 Initially excited, switched to course books for structure.
11:18 Coursebooks can give false sense of progress.
15:26 Immigrants in Canada find comfort in community.
18:19 Develop English skills through real-life experiences.
20:37 Encouraging active listening for learning English.
24:30 Victoria bus announcements lead to missed stop.
27:38 Continuous daily effort leads to language growth.
Links Mentioned:
The episode where I talk with my wife, Ana Nelson: Dealing with employment challenges and seasonal depression immigrating to Canada feat. Ana Nelson
My interview with Dozie, where we talk about his immigration journey to Canada from Nigeria - you'll hear him share about the importance of community: How to find work, housing and deal with racisim immigrating to Canada feat. Nnadozie Anyaegbunam
The article by Karen Otavalo I referenced: Here’s what it was like for me to transition from ESL to mainstream classes
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Transcript
If you keep at it, if you're patient, you will
Speaker:begin to see growth happening again and you
Speaker:will begin to see that learning curve begin
Speaker:to go up again. It might be a
Speaker:slow growing, steady slope. It might
Speaker:not be that sharp uptake that you experienced when you
Speaker:first started learning English. But I promise you this,
Speaker:if you will continue listening and paying attention
Speaker:to the English that's going on around you, especially if you're living in
Speaker:an english speaking country like Canada, my friend, I
Speaker:promise you, you're going to be getting new words that you can begin
Speaker:to take on and learn and make a part of your
Speaker:life each day, and you will break that
Speaker:learning plateau that you've been stuck in.
Speaker:Well, hello there and welcome to the speak English
Speaker:fearlessly podcast. This is the podcast for
Speaker:motivated english learners who want to speak English
Speaker:fearlessly and learn practical tips and
Speaker:strategies to conquer the celtip exam. I also
Speaker:love to feature encouraging interviews with regular people,
Speaker:people just like you, who are working towards
Speaker:becoming fluent in English so we can learn from their
Speaker:experiences together. Who am I? My name
Speaker:is Aaron Nelson and I've been an english teacher for over
Speaker:16 years and I now work to help students prepare for
Speaker:the selpip exam through online classes.
Speaker:If you're just joining us, welcome. We're taking a
Speaker:look at something that everyone deals with at some
Speaker:point in their life and learning journey.
Speaker:When all forward learning progress you are making
Speaker:suddenly or even slowly
Speaker:begins to fall and you go from an upward
Speaker:learning curve to a flatline. And no amount
Speaker:of hard work or pushing or endurance
Speaker:seems to help you get started upward again.
Speaker:This is called, aside from being terribly
Speaker:frustrating and demoralizing, it's called a
Speaker:learning plateau. And in our specific situation, since
Speaker:we're talking about learning English and building our english
Speaker:skills, it's called a language learning plateau.
Speaker:And like I said before, it happens to
Speaker:everyone at some point in their language learning journey.
Speaker:It really does. There's just no way to get around
Speaker:it. Everybody will deal with it. Maybe you've already
Speaker:dealt with one, or maybe you find yourself stuck
Speaker:in the desert of one. Right now.
Speaker:If that is the case, then I want to invite you to
Speaker:sit back and enjoy the next episodes over
Speaker:the next three or four weeks, because we're going to be taking a close
Speaker:look at breaking free from learning
Speaker:plateaus. So language learning plateaus can
Speaker:be dangerous creatures. They have the
Speaker:power to make you give up if you don't know what to do
Speaker:with one. And like I said before, during the month
Speaker:of February, we're going to take a look at why language
Speaker:learning plateaus happen and what you can be doing
Speaker:about them if you find yourself in one. And if
Speaker:you're not in one right now, if you are enjoying that upward
Speaker:climb, you might want to file this away in
Speaker:your pocket somewhere and keep it handy. Because at some
Speaker:point, and this isn't to be negative or pessimistic, but
Speaker:at some point you're probably going to find yourself feeling
Speaker:stuck. And if that's the case, you can reach back, pull this
Speaker:episode out, and these episodes out and
Speaker:start listening to find your way forward again.
Speaker:So if you haven't yet, please subscribe to
Speaker:the show and come along with us as we figure
Speaker:out how to get unstuck with your
Speaker:English. Together, we can do this.
Speaker:And again, just in case you're joining us if this is your
Speaker:first episode. Hey, welcome. You can catch the first
Speaker:episode of this series by checking out my show notes today. I'll
Speaker:link to it there. It's actually the previous
Speaker:episode to this one. So this week we're
Speaker:going to be talking all about how you can break free
Speaker:from a language learning plateau by pulling away
Speaker:from your course book and your English
Speaker:classes. To get us started, I want to share
Speaker:with you a little story that happened to
Speaker:me when I lived in Mexico, my
Speaker:wife and I, who you met a couple of episodes ago.
Speaker:I'll link to that in the show notes too, if you want, so you can
Speaker:hear her talking, but
Speaker:not a couple. When we used to live in Mexico, my wife and
Speaker:I ran an English teaching company, and our focus
Speaker:was on helping companies. We worked with
Speaker:employees of international companies who
Speaker:had like, head offices in the United States or
Speaker:in Europe, and they needed to use English to
Speaker:conduct business. And I will never
Speaker:forget this one company.
Speaker:Our first company that we got started with, my vision
Speaker:for teaching English was to be English
Speaker:that is built around you, not
Speaker:something that has nothing to do with you. Before
Speaker:running my own company, I worked for several other schools,
Speaker:and one of the most annoying things that I found being a
Speaker:teacher and working with course material was that
Speaker:very frequently what we were studying in class had
Speaker:little to nothing to do with what the student
Speaker:was needing to do in English outside of class.
Speaker:There was just no connection and the poor student was
Speaker:maybe doing great in class. But once they got out of class
Speaker:into their real world, they were struggling big time
Speaker:with the English that they needed to use. So one of
Speaker:the reasons why I started my own company was I wanted to
Speaker:try to solve that problem. I wanted to build english classes
Speaker:that were focused on the student and
Speaker:what they really needed to do in English every
Speaker:day. And what I found was that there just
Speaker:weren't any course books out there that were that
Speaker:focused. They were very general, right? They were very
Speaker:general English. And, I mean, you could get business english
Speaker:books that were pretty good. They weren't so
Speaker:bad, but really, they didn't come
Speaker:close to helping students deal with the
Speaker:English that the real English that they had to use once they
Speaker:got outside of class. So my idea was to build
Speaker:english classes that were built around each
Speaker:student and what they needed to do with English every
Speaker:day. So that involved me getting to know my students really well
Speaker:and then designing courses that would help them
Speaker:directly with what they did with English. So we didn't use
Speaker:coursebooks at the beginning. We used the students life.
Speaker:But something strange happened as we were getting
Speaker:going, we started getting feedback from our students
Speaker:saying we kind of miss having
Speaker:a course book. What?
Speaker:I was shocked and puzzled by this, and I couldn't figure it
Speaker:out. I mean, this was a great idea that I was trying to get them
Speaker:to do. Tell me about your day to day life,
Speaker:what you use English for, and I'll build something that will help you
Speaker:use the English that you'll need to do your life,
Speaker:basically. But they started asking, not one,
Speaker:but many students just started asking for course
Speaker:books. And the main reasons why they were
Speaker:wanting the course book was that feeling of making
Speaker:progression from going from chapter one, chapter two,
Speaker:chapter three, and so on. For many of my
Speaker:students, they have had a long
Speaker:career of taking english classes. In Mexico, where
Speaker:we lived. Learning English is a very regular part
Speaker:of everyday life for many people. And so
Speaker:students are often very used to using
Speaker:coursebooks. So having this class where
Speaker:there was no coursebook at first was an exciting idea.
Speaker:But they began to ask for that structure,
Speaker:that safety, that sense of going from one page to the other page
Speaker:and making progress in that way. So we eventually
Speaker:decided to listen to their request, and we
Speaker:found the best business focused books that we could
Speaker:find that was closest as possible to what they were doing in
Speaker:English, even though it wasn't exactly the same,
Speaker:and they were happy to do it in that way. And
Speaker:I do get where they're coming from. There are benefits
Speaker:to using course books, aren't there? For one? Like
Speaker:I just mentioned, what my students were looking for was that
Speaker:structure, that sense of predictability.
Speaker:The second thing that coursebooks are really good at doing is helping you
Speaker:notice and highlighting important
Speaker:vocabulary. They're really good at that, and they're also
Speaker:really good at helping you notice and learn and
Speaker:practice grammar. But there are
Speaker:also some problems when you rely on course books.
Speaker:And the first one, I've already kind of told you about it in that little
Speaker:story that I told. Course books, at best,
Speaker:are artificial. They're not real
Speaker:world English. They're contained
Speaker:English. And it's not what you're going to experience
Speaker:day in and day out in the real world outside of
Speaker:your english class. And two, while
Speaker:the initial structure and safety they provide can be very
Speaker:helpful, they don't do well to prepare you for the hard
Speaker:and fast and very unstructured english world
Speaker:that you will encounter the moment you pick up the telephone
Speaker:and you're talking to someone who is a native english speaker on the
Speaker:other end, or the moment you get pulled or pushed
Speaker:into a business meeting with your coworkers who only
Speaker:speak English. It's a very different and
Speaker:wild world when you step out of the safety
Speaker:of the course book. And if you're not used to doing that,
Speaker:it can be a very rough ride. And three, the
Speaker:third thing, and this is really, really dangerous about
Speaker:course books, is that they can give you the false idea
Speaker:that finishing, for example, an intermediate level
Speaker:coursebook means that your English is now ready
Speaker:for upper intermediate level, like your English
Speaker:somehow grew from being a
Speaker:beginner intermediate to a more advanced
Speaker:intermediate in the span of, I don't know, like
Speaker:15 or 20 chapters in a course book.
Speaker:If you've ever worked through a coursebook like I have,
Speaker:I've taken students through coursebooks, many of them in
Speaker:my career as an english teacher. And I can promise you this,
Speaker:finishing a course book does not mean your English has
Speaker:leveled up. No, it just, sadly,
Speaker:does not mean that you've gained a lot of great supports.
Speaker:You've gained a lot of great vocabulary. You've gained a lot
Speaker:of, hopefully, useful grammar tools that
Speaker:will help you communicate. But unfortunately, finishing
Speaker:a course book does not mean your English has leveled up.
Speaker:The other thing that's dangerous about course books is that they
Speaker:can become a crutch, something that you depend on
Speaker:and something that you kind of if you don't have one. Like what my
Speaker:students were telling me at the very beginning
Speaker:with the story that I was sharing with you. They were
Speaker:dependent on those course books. They depended on it to feel like they
Speaker:were moving forward. And again, I understand where they're coming from.
Speaker:If you're used to that kind of a thing all your life,
Speaker:if that's what you grew up with, it's hard to
Speaker:take on an alternative or a different approach.
Speaker:But we must beware of crutches. Right? We can
Speaker:become dependent on them. And then there's english class.
Speaker:English class. They can be
Speaker:trouble. They can be great, but they can also
Speaker:be trouble. And the biggest mistake, and I've talked about
Speaker:this in previous episodes, but the biggest mistake that
Speaker:I see students making all the time
Speaker:is this. And this is like a mindset
Speaker:statement. I only work on my English
Speaker:or my selpit prep when I'm in class.
Speaker:I'll say that again. Maybe this is you. I only
Speaker:work on my English or my selpit preparation when I'm in
Speaker:my English or my selpit prep class. Outside
Speaker:of class. I do my life in my first language. I
Speaker:don't even care about English. I avoid it if I can. All my
Speaker:friends speak my first language. It's just
Speaker:easier that way. My friend, my friend,
Speaker:if this is you, this is a surefire cause
Speaker:of the learning plateau you might be experiencing right now.
Speaker:You will be stuck at your current level
Speaker:for years, maybe even decades, if you
Speaker:have that mindset where the only time
Speaker:you work on your English is when you're in your english
Speaker:class. Please, if you don't get anything out
Speaker:of today's episode other than this, don't
Speaker:embrace that mindset. It is the worst
Speaker:mistake you can make with regards to your english
Speaker:class. Don't depend on it to be the only
Speaker:source of english practice that you get. When I
Speaker:lived in Mexico, I saw students doing this all
Speaker:the time. The only time that they'd work on English and be in
Speaker:contact with English was the hour and a half
Speaker:period of time where they were in class with me.
Speaker:Outside of that class, they surrounded themselves with the rest
Speaker:of, well, with Spanish, because that was the world
Speaker:that they lived were. They were living in a spanish speaking country.
Speaker:But even here in Canada, where I live, we have very
Speaker:good friends, and I've spoken about this so many times on this podcast, but
Speaker:it's something that needs to be repeated because
Speaker:it's just such a hard truth, and it's something that we
Speaker:do naturally. But I have so many
Speaker:friends who build around themselves a
Speaker:bull in their first language, and they do not step out of
Speaker:it. They stay inside that safety
Speaker:of their first language. They have friendships with people.
Speaker:They somehow manage to find people in Canada
Speaker:around them, in their little world where they live, in the community
Speaker:where they live, they find people who also speak their first
Speaker:language, and they stick like glue to them.
Speaker:And I totally get that stickiness, like,
Speaker:you want to stick close to your people, right? You feel alone, you
Speaker:feel left out. Sometimes you feel
Speaker:frustrated sometimes with how hard life can be
Speaker:when you're just moving to a new country, when
Speaker:you're just struggling to get by. Sometimes all you want to do is
Speaker:find someone who speaks the same language as you, and
Speaker:you don't want to go through the struggle of trying to communicate in
Speaker:Spanish. I totally get that. If that's something that you are dealing
Speaker:with, my friend, I get you. I feel that pain. I
Speaker:feel that frustration of not wanting to do
Speaker:another thing in English. I just want
Speaker:to talk to my friends in my first language.
Speaker:So, yeah, that whole community piece that we heard
Speaker:in that episode with my friend Dozy, where he shares the
Speaker:importance of finding community
Speaker:in order to make it in Canada. When you are immigrating here,
Speaker:that is vitally important. And your community can be
Speaker:with people who speak the same language as you, your first language.
Speaker:In fact, you should have some friends who speak the same language as
Speaker:you. But it shouldn't be your only
Speaker:circle. The members of your community
Speaker:should not only speak your first language. You need to have
Speaker:friends who are native english speakers if you want
Speaker:to not fall into that trap of building a
Speaker:bubble around you in your first language. So,
Speaker:yeah, you must realize this important truth.
Speaker:Real english development and growth
Speaker:happens outside of your class and in
Speaker:the rest of your life. The more you make English a regular part
Speaker:of your life, day in and day out, the
Speaker:more you will learn and grow.
Speaker:I'm going to repeat that again because it's really true. And I really hope you
Speaker:hear this. Real english development and growth
Speaker:happens outside of your english class and
Speaker:in the rest of your life, where the rest of your life happens.
Speaker:The more you make English a regular part of who you
Speaker:are day in and day out, the more
Speaker:you will learn and grow. Do you remember that article that
Speaker:I referenced last week? I'm going to link to
Speaker:it again, but that girl, that
Speaker:young immigrant, she shared this
Speaker:experience. She shared how
Speaker:she found it difficult and challenging to be in her english
Speaker:class. But as time went on, that english
Speaker:class began to be her community. It
Speaker:began to be her safety zone. But when the time
Speaker:came for her to step out of that safety zone and move into the
Speaker:public school system, that was when she
Speaker:really found the challenges and the difficulties
Speaker:and the struggles with her english skills, because she had
Speaker:to face life outside of that bubble
Speaker:that she was living in, even though she was working on her English, even though
Speaker:she was facing her fears. In that story that she
Speaker:shares, she says that the biggest struggles
Speaker:came when she stepped out. She even says
Speaker:that it felt like everything came to a standstill when
Speaker:she stepped out of that, out of that class. She felt
Speaker:like she was pushing hard and just not making progress anymore.
Speaker:But that's the thing. It's important to not depend
Speaker:only on your english class for your english development.
Speaker:You need to step into the English that's happening all
Speaker:around you, especially if you're living in an english speaking country
Speaker:like Canada. English is happening
Speaker:everywhere around you all the time. But if you are not
Speaker:connecting with it, if you are focused only on building that first
Speaker:language bubble around you and staying inside of that safety
Speaker:zone, you're not going to experience the richness
Speaker:of learning English out there
Speaker:where real life happens.
Speaker:So what can you do with the
Speaker:information that I am sharing with you today? Well,
Speaker:number one, I want to encourage you, if you
Speaker:use a coursebook, if you rely on a course book, I want to
Speaker:encourage you to make your life your course
Speaker:book. Practice noticing the way
Speaker:english speakers around you say things
Speaker:like, listen in if you're riding the bus, even if
Speaker:you're not talking to someone who's a native english speaker,
Speaker:if you're listening to music or something like that, I encourage you to take out
Speaker:your earbuds if that's the thing that you do when you're riding on the
Speaker:bus and listen to the conversations
Speaker:that people are having around you. I bet
Speaker:you if you start doing this, you're going to pick up phrases and
Speaker:words and ideas that maybe you've never heard
Speaker:before and you think, hey, that's kind of an interesting thing to
Speaker:say. That's an interesting word. Where I work,
Speaker:for example, I have the privilege
Speaker:of running a coffee time for a group of
Speaker:seniors who live in an independent living facility.
Speaker:And there's a group of about 15 seniors who come down every
Speaker:Tuesday and Thursday to the little cafeteria where I work.
Speaker:And we sit around this big table. I pour everyone
Speaker:coffee, and I keep their coffee cups full. And
Speaker:one of the things that happens every single time is that people
Speaker:just start talking with each other. And I've got people
Speaker:around that table who are not from Canada, but who are our native english
Speaker:speakers. One of them is from England, and every so
Speaker:often she will come up with a word or an
Speaker:expression and say it because she has a strong
Speaker:english accent when she's speaking. She's a lovely
Speaker:lady. And when she's sharing her ideas, she'll
Speaker:often say words or phrases that come from her growing
Speaker:up years in England. So it's not normal English
Speaker:here in Canada. I've learned
Speaker:words and phrases from her just from listening to
Speaker:her say things and thinking, oh, that's an interesting
Speaker:word, and asking her, hey, what does that mean? And she would explain
Speaker:it to me, and then I would start to use it. And you know what?
Speaker:That's how you make your course book.
Speaker:That's how you make your life your coursebook, by paying
Speaker:attention to the English happening around you. And when you
Speaker:hear a word or a phrase that you like or that you think
Speaker:is unusual or interesting, and you will, if you start to
Speaker:pay attention for it, then you need
Speaker:to capture it as soon as you hear it, see if you
Speaker:can write it down. Or as soon as you hear it. If
Speaker:you've got a cell phone handy, make yourself a voice memo. Hey,
Speaker:I just heard this word. And then record yourself saying
Speaker:that word. Or a phrase. If you
Speaker:hear an interesting phrase that you've never heard of before,
Speaker:make a note of it. Somehow write it down. Make a text note for
Speaker:yourself, or leave a voice memo to yourself, or
Speaker:simply make a mental note. Like that time when I was sitting around the
Speaker:table. I'll actually give you the word that my friend used. She used
Speaker:the word cacophony. Now, I had
Speaker:never heard that word before, cacophony. Have you
Speaker:heard that word before? It means, like, a bunch
Speaker:of loud noise happening all at once. And she
Speaker:was saying that there was such a cacophony on the bus
Speaker:that she didn't hear when the little announcement came
Speaker:on, telling her when the bus stop was going to be that she was
Speaker:listening for. Because probably where you live, too,
Speaker:but here in Canada, in Victoria, whenever the bus is driving
Speaker:along, it announces each stop.
Speaker:So if you're listening for a specific stop, you'll
Speaker:be able to know when it's time to get off. But she was saying that
Speaker:there was such a cacophony on the bus that she missed
Speaker:her bus stop and ended up riding much
Speaker:farther into town than what she intended to.
Speaker:But I had never heard of that word before, cacophony. So I asked her to
Speaker:explain it to me. And once I figured out what it meant, I started
Speaker:to try to use it on a daily basis. I made it a
Speaker:game with her, actually, where I would try to use that word
Speaker:around her. And she thought it was great fun. I thought it was fun, too.
Speaker:Other people in the group were also trying to use the word with
Speaker:us. And so that's how cacophony
Speaker:became a part of my vocabulary. And interestingly
Speaker:enough, actually, maybe you'll notice this happening to you,
Speaker:too, once you understand what a new word means or a
Speaker:new phrase means. All of a sudden, it's almost as if by
Speaker:magic, you will start to hear that word or phrase
Speaker:popping around you all the time. And I kid
Speaker:you not. Like a day or two after I learned what cacophony
Speaker:meant, I was listening to the radio, and guess
Speaker:what word? One of the announcers said, you got
Speaker:it, cacophony. And I was very proud of myself. I
Speaker:listened to it with a big smile, and I said, I know what cacophony means
Speaker:because I learned it at work the other day.
Speaker:So that's the next part. I was just telling you the next thing
Speaker:that you need to do. Once you understand what that word or
Speaker:phrase means, you need to use the heck out of it.
Speaker:Make a point of using that phrase or that word as
Speaker:often as you possibly can on a daily basis.
Speaker:You don't need to memorize it. You need to focus on
Speaker:using it. And when you use it, something really cool
Speaker:happens. The word becomes a part of your
Speaker:vocabulary, and you don't have to worry about memorizing it because
Speaker:you've assimilated it. You've owned it. You own that word.
Speaker:I own the word cacophony now. I mean, it's not mine in
Speaker:the sense that I created it, but it's a part of my vocabulary to the
Speaker:point that I can use it whenever I want.
Speaker:That's what you are looking for, too. And my
Speaker:friend, you don't need a course book to do
Speaker:that. You don't need an english class to do that. You don't
Speaker:even need a teacher to do that. I used my friend. I used
Speaker:my friend to teach me what cacophony meant. You
Speaker:don't need an english teacher. You don't need a course book. You don't need an
Speaker:english class to begin building your english skills in this
Speaker:way. You just need to take the initiative to begin
Speaker:doing it. But here's the promise that I will
Speaker:give to you today, and it is 100% guaranteed or your
Speaker:money back. If you do this on a
Speaker:regular daily basis, I promise you something.
Speaker:If you keep at it, if you're patient, you will
Speaker:begin to see growth happening again, and you
Speaker:will begin to see that learning curve begin
Speaker:to go up again. It might be a
Speaker:slow growing, steady slope. It
Speaker:might not be that sharp uptake that you experienced when you
Speaker:first started learning English. But I promise you this,
Speaker:if you will continue listening and paying attention
Speaker:to the English that's going on around you, especially if you're living in
Speaker:an english speaking country like Canada, my friend, I
Speaker:promise you, you're going to be getting new words that you can begin
Speaker:to take on and learn and make a part of your
Speaker:life each day. And you will break that
Speaker:learning plateau that you've been stuck in. So don't
Speaker:give up. You can do this. Be patient,
Speaker:be perseverant, and pay attention to the
Speaker:English that's happening around you.
Speaker:Next week we are going to talk about our
Speaker:routines and how they can work against
Speaker:and for you when you're trying to break out of a
Speaker:language learning routine. So please, if you
Speaker:haven't already, follow and subscribe to this
Speaker:podcast so you can catch the next episode when it goes out.
Speaker:And if you liked today's podcast episode, you can get even more
Speaker:information about what I'm talking about right now by becoming
Speaker:a free subscriber of my weekly newsletter. Every
Speaker:Tuesday I send out a new edition that will help you take your
Speaker:english skills and your selpip prep to the next level.
Speaker:Totally free. To find out more, please go
Speaker:to selpipsuccess.com forward Slash
Speaker:subscribe. That's
Speaker:celpipsuccess.com
Speaker:subscribe. That's it for today's episode. Thank you
Speaker:so much for listening and I will see you and talk to you
Speaker:again next Tuesday. Bye.
