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Letter #3: Do you feel your English isn’t improving anymore? This can be the reason why

Hi Peter,

today I have a very important topic to talk about – it’s called learning plateau. Have you heard of it? If not, read on. 🙂

When you start learning something new – doesn’t matter if you are acquiring a new language or training a new sport – you can see immediate progress of your improvement and learning.

It is not surprising because when we know nothing about something and then start learning it, every new little information or a skill we learn makes a huge difference and we see immediate results. Our motivation to learn is usually high at this time.

Unfortunately, when you reach a certain point in your learning process, it starts to feel like you are not making any progress. We call this state the learning plateau. It is the time when It seems like you are not improving anymore even you are still putting consistent effort and investing time into learning.

As you probably noticed in the previous sentence I underlined the word seems. Although it may look like that we are not improving during a plateau period, we are actually improving. We just can’t see the results immediately.

That is the reason why learning plateaus are so frustrating. We learn and learn, read, listen, write in English and we don’t see any real improvement. It can hurt our motivation too.

Now, you may ask, ok Ivan, and what can we do about it?

I like AJ Hoge’s suggestion from Power English program:

“You have to trust the plateaus. If you use the correct methods […] subconsciously you will be learning very quickly, you will be understanding more and more, but there will be a gap. There will be a delay between your subconscious learning and your speaking improvement. You must enjoy the process of learning, not just the final goal.

So, during the plateau period keep up with your learning Peter. Enjoy English even you can’t see immediate results and be patient. The improvement will come soon! 🙂

Have a nice week and I am looking forward to sending you the next tip. 🙂
Ivan

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