It seems so strange on the surface. Of course you want to get better at English, especially after you’ve paid for your lessons this term. Yet a few people avoid or delay coming to class – and may not even be aware of how they’re ‘avoiding’ English.
“I’m really sorry, I haven’t had much time to prepare for today’s lesson,” Jitka says apologetically as she walks in the door. I’ve never been quite sure if Czech students really mean to use the word ‘prepare’ when referring to their English lessons, or whether it’s a mistranslation. In any case, whenever a student hasn’t done the homework, they’ve said this.
Jitka* has been learning English for quite a few years now. She really wants to learn and speak much better, but there are a few things which are stopping her from achieving her potential. The first thing is that at school she was told that mistakes were bad, and as she didn’t really get much practice at developing her communication skills, she was quite shy and not as confident as she could be at speaking English.
Added to this, she is a perfectionist. Her schooling probably didn’t help her in this matter – making mistakes are a natural and positive part of the learning process, but her teachers didn’t tell her this. On the contrary her marks for English at school and university were sometimes given out on the basis of how many mistakes she made. Last year she got a ‘C’ on an English exam because she made 3 mistakes, even though her essay was very well organised and she answered the question well. Her best friend, who didn’t write as well, still got a ‘B’ as she only made 2 mistakes.
Fast-forward to today. Sometimes Jitka gets nervous before class because she doesn’t want to make ‘simple mistakes’ in front of the others or the teacher, especially if everyone else has done the homework and she feels like she’s falling behind the others.
It’s a bit like top athletes before a major championship or when you have an important meeting at work. Some people are anxious about performing and being vulnerable in front of others.
When it comes to Jitka, if the anxiety is too much, on occasion she may come later in the lesson (hopefully after the homework has been corrected) or she may even cancel the lesson if it’s a one-to-one class or simply not attend if it’s a group lesson.
“I’ll come next week after I’ve done all the homework. I’ll feel better then,” she reassures herself.
But avoiding things is not the answer, and deep down she knows it.
Some learners who miss class are simply busy and have too much to do. Sometimes I wonder if English really is a priority for them. In Jitka’s case, it’s more complicated because the same action of ‘avoiding’ English is due to a completely different reason.
What to do next
Do you relate a little to Jitka’s story? Here’s some questions to ask yourself:
- Do you get nervous before your English class? If so, why do you think this is?
- Do you sometimes come late to class or miss a lesson because you are feeling nervous?
- Is English a priority for you?
- If you answered ‘yes’, what can you do to tackle this problem?
The first step is simply to be aware of this issue, and to accept that you’re not alone, that there are many others who feel the same as you. The second step is to make sure you come to class, especially when you’re feeling nervous or anxious. When you do come to class on a ‘bad day’, you’ll feel so much better about yourself!
Beyond this, if you are motivated to improve your English but occasionally avoid coming to class, you’re likely to be doing the same thing in other areas of your life. What can you do here?
Finally, become a doer, and take full responsibility of your own learning. It’s related to confidence, and the best way to deal with not feeling as comfortable or as confident at doing something is not to avoid it, but to embrace it – to do it again and again until you feel you CAN do it. As they say, confidence is competence.
*Jitka is a mix of a few students I’ve met
Credits
image: Courtney Camody [courtneycamody.com] Licence: CC by 2.0
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David Sweetnam
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David Sweetnam
English Teacher and Trainer
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david [at] GetIntoEnglish [dot] com
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
Hello, David
As usual, very nice post!
Definitely I can relate to that… but just one thing.
I do get nervous, but not when I’m going to take my English classes, but when I’m going to talk with native speakers of English. Oh boy… when I have to speak with them, I feel anxious or nervous for fear of making mistakes or simply by not understanding what they are saying! That’s the only thing I sometimes avoid to do
I love American English, I’d love to keep talking with them for long hours without fear of making mistakes and being able to understand everything
Bye!
… it was too long without reading a new post on your blog David
Hi Marcelo!
I’m not sure if this helps, but quite often Aussies, Americans and Brits travelling abroad really admire and appreciate how others speak English, and sometimes we feel a little sheepish for not knowing their language!
I remember once watching a presentation in Switzerland, and the main presenter spoke in French and German (among their official languages) as well as English. One American told her: “Wow, I’m amazed!”
I felt the same when I first came to Europe.
But I can relate to this post myself – I got a bit trepid before I went to zouk class, as the other ‘beginners’ had been doing salsa for years, while I was completely new to dance.
Hi Bérengère
Not to worry, I’ll have some shorter posts too coming soon
And feel free to check out my ‘postcards from Melbourne’ here: https://www.facebook.com/GetIntoEnglish
David
David, I’m not totally convinced of that, from my point of view and unhappy experience (twice), sometimes, they (Americans) seem to be self-confident a lot and don’t give a care about you, it seems to me that you have an obligation to speak well-enough, of course I’m not generalizing the situation, I think just a few of them and probably I had no luck on that day because I’ve already talked with nice Americans who congratulated me on my effort to speak English, in any case, I’m still a little skeptical hehe. As you well know I’m a fan of American English, if you know some of them who may chat with me, please let me know!
Bye!
Hi Marcelo
Thought I’d thank you here for today’s Tweet! I actually just thought of a simple model for ‘small talk’ which I’ll write about next time.
Also it’s interesting that you mention one or two negatives above about speaking with Americans on occasion (eg you feel they don’t care) and yet you like American English. It’s an interesting paradox.
Personally I deliberately avoid the whole US v UK English debate, though as it comes up quite a bit I probably will write my take here one day.
I’m sorry to hear you’ve had one or two negative experiences with speaking English. Though I wouldn’t be surprised, for example, if someone isn’t so polite to you, they’re probably like that with other people as well.
I occasionally come across the odd stroppy person here but I battle on and try to think more ‘that person’s having a bad day’ rather than letting it worry me.