Learn English - How to set goals

To learn English with or without a teacher, you must set goals. The goals are your targets, and it is important to make long and short term goals. How to learn English - setting goals will help you learn english.

A long term goal might be to study at University in a Western country. If that is so, you might need a long term goal of IELTS 6 or 7 depending on the course and the country. Decide how long that will take. Maybe 2 or 3 years.

Then make short term goals for the next 2 months, then the next 6 months then the next year. So you might say. I will finish Headway Elementary in the next 2 months. When you finish, you might say I will finish Headway Pre-Intermediate in the next 3 months. Gradually you will make your way to Headway Advanced.

You need a place where you can study. Some people need a desk in a quiet place. Other people like noisy places.

Some people like to lay on the floor, while others lay on their bed. In Singapore a lot of students go to the airport to study because it is air-conditioned and cool. In Adelaide a lot of students like the state library because it has a lot of reference books. Maybe you like to work in the library. I am lucky I have my own room with a desk, chair and computer. I like working in my room.

It doesn't matter where you study as long as you like that place. So plan where you will study.

Now that you have a place, you must plan when you will study.

Are you a morning person?   This means you like getting up early in the morning to study before you go to work or school. Early morning is a good time to study because your mind is fresh and ready to learn new things.

Are you an afternoon person?  This means that some time after lunch, your brain wakes up and you are ready to learn.

Are you a night person?   Some people learn best at night time, and can study into the small hours of the morning.

It doesn't matter if you are a morning, afternoon or night person. What does matter is that you plan your time to suit your learning time.

Plan to go to your study place when you think you can learn the best.

Some linguists are now saying that it takes about 2,000 hours of lessons to become fairly fluent in the language. That gives you some idea of how much study you will need with a teacher. You will need more if you study by yourself.

Some people have work or school or other things that make their life busy. But, if you really want to learn English, you will have to make time. Decide that it is important, and make time.

If you put aside 10 hours each week, that is 500 hours a year, which is 4 years to reach 2,000 hours.

Now, you decide. How many hours each week will you study English?

Finally, you will need some books to learn from. The first thing to decide is your level.

Most English learning books come in

• Starter
• Elementary
• Pre-Intermediate
• Intermediate
• Upper Intermediate
• Advanced