There are four stages of learning English – and each one is an important stage in the journey.
Where are you on your English journey? Do you feel that you are at the beginning, where you only use certain, “sure” phrases or vocabulary?
Or are you in a learning stage, where you’re happy to experiment, make mistakes, and leave your “comfort” zone?
This (adapted) image helps you see where you are on your journey – and shows you the next steps to fluency and confidence.
The 4 Zones Of Learning English
There are many ways to measure your English, such as tests and exams. But it’s also helpful to measure how you feel about learning English. The “4 Zones” idea shows how your attitude to English changes as you become more confident.
Comfort Zone
In the Comfort Zone, you’re happy with what you know, such as simple grammar and a few memorised phrases. You don’t want to make mistakes, so you don’t experiment with English.
But then, something changes. Perhaps your boss tells you that you need to learn English for your job, or you realise you need to pass an English exam. Or perhaps you decide that you want to continue with English yourself. At this point you get to the Fear Zone.
Fear Zone
In this zone, you find out that English is more difficult than you thought. You make a lot of mistakes because you’re learning more. Mistakes make you lose your self-confidence and you think that you’ll never master English. You’re worried about what other people think about you and your English. Maybe you’re so angry with English that you make excuses not to study or you say that you can’t learn because you’re too old, or that you were never good at languages.
Learning Zone
But when you keep going, you can get to the Learning Zone. This is when it becomes easier. You can start to see patterns in English and you start to experiment with English, using new grammar and vocabulary. It becomes easier to deal with new situations in English because you have more English language skills. As you improve your English skills, your confidence grows.
Growth Zone
This is where anything in English is possible for you. You can set yourself even bigger challenges, and you can see your future with English. Maybe a job where you speak English every day, or where you have frequent contact with English. You know what you want to do in English, and you follow your dreams. Of course, you still make mistakes, but you see these as normal in your journey to master new skills.
Step-By-Step Progress
This image helps you become more confident in English because it shows you what you need to do to progress to the next level. It also shows you how you feel about English at every step. So if you’re feeling bad because it’s too difficult, don’t worry. You can see where you are on the journey, and you’ll know what you need to do to get to the next level.
Let me help you be more confident with English
I believe that confidence is the #1 thing that helps you improve your English. When you feel confident, you can experiment with English, try new things, make mistakes – and learn.
But you need to do this in a safe place, where you get support and encouragement.
That’s why I started The English Fluency Club – to give you lots of ways to practise your English, and to get personal feedback and encouragement from me and the other club members.
Find out how the English Fluency Club can help you be fluent in English – click the button below!