One of the first things I tell my students is precisely what the title of this post is trying to say: “These are not magic classes”.

It shocks them at first but I keep telling them. Then they realise what I mean. Sometimes they get frustrated by this statement. The truth hurts sometimes.

What is a magic class anyway? It’s what most of us think classes are. In reality, though, it is nothing more than a fairytale.

You turn up to class, the teacher waves a magic wand in your face, and you suddenly have new knowledge in your head.

We need to stop thinking like this.

Results are directly proportional to the effort and work you put in. Nothing more, nothing less.

If you put in a lot of work, you learn and progress lots. If you make less of an effort, you learn less.[thrive_leads id=’1049′]

When I say this to my students they all say the same thing: “ Yeah, I know. It’s not rocket science, Adam! That’s obvious”. But then they still approach the classes in the same way, the wrong way, thinking that learning comes from an external source: the teacher.

All learning comes from within.

I think I’ll write that again and put it in bold!

All learning comes from within.

Somebody can “teach” you something, but it’s only when YOUR brain puts two and two together that you actually learn something. And this process is 100% internal, not external.

The teacher may guide you along the path, but you must do the walking. Or better put, you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make it drink.

Again, I say this but people still don’t really get it.

All the best progress will come when you – the learner – take control of the learning, and start to make the most of the contact you have with the language and the practice you choose to do.

You only need to look at Anton and Mohammed to see what I mean.

The perfect kind of practice is the kind after which your brain hurts. Just like the gym, you want your muscles to ache or you make little progress.

The brain is no different.

I heard a great quote the other day; I forget who said it.

“All the magic happens outside your comfort zone”.

I love it when my students finish a class almost dizzy and disoriented. It means their brains have had a good workout.

Aim for that.

Not sure what it feels like when your brain has had a good workout?

Try this.

Find one full page of text in English, preferably a newspaper article as there will generally be a variety of tenses in it.

Now read the text aloud.

When you finish, read it again, identifying the tense that each verb is in, saying the tense aloud.

Now read it again; look at each clause (subject + verb (+ object)), and change the form of the sentence from affirmative, to negative, to interrogative. Again, say them aloud.

Example:

The financial crisis started in 2008.

The financial crisis didn’t start in 2008.

Did the financial crisis start in 2008? or When did the financial crisis start?

Say them aloud, being careful with third person singular, past simple -ed, etc.

This should take around 15 minutes, and your brain should feel pretty tired afterwards. That’s because it’s been working, thinking, questioning, practising, and solving problems.

It’s a great exercise, and couldn’t be easier.

This exercise can be extended to include all manner of things, and I’ll include the full exercise in another post.

This is good for starters.

For people learning English whose level is B1 or above (these are the people I’m writing this blog for), you really should be dedicating the vast majority of your time practising English, not studying.

Stop studying. Start practising.

Then you’ll make real progress.

Now go and do something uncomfortable today.

No. Go and do something uncomfortable right now.

Get out of your comfort zone, and watch the magic happen.[thrive_leads id=’1049′]