I've made some poor decisions in my language learning journey. These decisions have slowed down my process. I'm fixing them to get a decent level of English. Today, I want to show you them and hope that you will not make the same mistakes as me.
1, Ignoring grammar
Grammar was my nightmare, and It was so dull. I used to make basic grammar mistakes when I wrote or spoke English. At first, I thought grammar was unimportant because people still understood me even though I made some grammar errors. But now, I feel making many grammar mistakes is unprofessional, and I can't reach the advanced level if my grammar remains weak. I've started taking grammar lessons on Skillshare. I wouldn't say I like it, but I must do it to bring myself to the next level. It's the right thing to do. As you know, success is when we do the right things, not the easy stuff.
2, Spend less time practicing active English
Learning active English, such as speaking and writing, hurts my brain. That's why I was too lazy to learn active English. I did English immersion a lot, but I mainly focused on listening to music or watching TV shows in English. When I read books and saw a new word, I ignored them because I was tired to write it down. It was one of the reasons why I was stuck in a slum for years. Now I'm changing. I schedule my time to learn speaking and writing. It's hard, but I see myself making faster progress than in the past.
3, Don't measure my English level
I used to take the TOEIC test when I was in my final year of university. Since then, I hadn't done any test to measure my English level until now. It made me feel lost with no direction in my English. These days, online tests are free and popular on the internet. I recently took IELTS & CEFR mock tests to know my English level. After that, my English learning picture has become more apparent with clear goals.
To sum up, learning English is not a fixed process. I ought to observe myself a lot and change my methods if I see something go wrong. I think I will make many unwise decisions in the future on this journey, but I will fix them. It's okay to make mistakes. I always have a formula in my mind when I approach English. It's "learn, execute, fix, and improve it."
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