How To Improve Your English & Speak With Confidence
The 80/20 Rule for English Language Learners
The problem is you’ve been studying English for some time now and you still don’t feel confident.
You want to be able to impress your boss with your knowledge of English, you want that promotion, you want to be the one who keeps their job. You’re praying you don’t get furloughed in the recession so you really need to impress with your English skills.
Above all you want a bright future and you know that your English skills will play a huge part in securing it.
The trouble is when someone starts to talk to you in English somehow your brain freezes, you stop listening, you start to panic and before you know it you’re giving out a really stupid answer and everyone is looking at you wondering what you are talking about.
So what can you do about it?
Maybe it’s time to take two steps back and apply the Pareto Principle also known as the 80/20 rule to help you improve your English.
The rule states that 80% of your results will come from 20% of your inputs. So how can you apply it?
Follow these 7 useful steps to improve your skills.
- Choose some content to study.
It could be an article, a passage from a book, podcast, movie, drama series, etc. Anything is ok as long as it interests you.
- The material must be interesting to you. If it’s boring you won’t be motivated to study.
- Easy to understand. You need to be able to understand 80% or more. Why? Because you are going back to basics, building your confidence and rebuilding your foundations, your mindset and language memory.
2. Read it/ listen to it.
Make sure you understand 80% or more of it. If you don’t understand it choose an easier material.
3. Make a written summary of it.
Then imagine you have to tell a work colleague about the article/movie etc. Verbally summarise it. This sounds easy but it is in fact hard, however, it’s a really good way to check your communication skills and to understand what you need to work on. If you can’t do this choose an easier material.
4. Check your understanding.
Go back and reread or listen again. This time focus on the 20% of content you didn’t understand.
Why was it difficult?
Was it vocabulary? Were they speaking too quickly? Did you get bored or lose concentration part way through?
Does the 20% you didn’t understand change the meaning of the content? If yes, do another summary and rehearse summarising it.
5. Get an opinion.
Now you are familiar with the facts it’s time to get an opinion. Many student’s find this part really difficult. But remember there is no right or wrong answer it is YOUR OPINION.
If you think the writer made some good points you can say so, if you think the drama was rubbish you can say that. Write your opinion and then practice speaking it aloud.
6. Upgrade your skills.
The Counter Argument: Now it’s time to think of the opposite point of view. This is a good way to improve your creativity. Write it, then speak it out loud.
7. Time to go public.
Once you are happy with your opinion it’s time to actually share it. You can do this by discussing it with your English teacher, English speaking friends, colleagues or posting on forums.
Now give yourself a pat on the back. You’ve just taken a big step towards upgrading your English!