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Hi, it's Alfredo. For language learning, motivation is extremely important. Without motivation,
there will be no progress. Some of you have been trying to learn English for a long time.
Months ago or years ago, you thought that by now, you would be fluent. You may be tired;
you may be frustrated; you may have lost a lot of your motivation. Today, I want to tell
you, don't give up. Don't quit!
I'm excited to present another part of my interview with Matthew Weathers, an English
teacher in Asia. In the first part of the interview, Matthew and I talked about getting
the confidence to talk with a native English speaker. As you watch this video, write down
the reasons that Matthew and I give for not giving up. Watch the entire video, because
at the end, I have a question for you to answer.
Many of these English learners have spent years studying English. And it may be that
there at the point that they're just frustrated. They're perhaps tired of studying English.
They've been doing it all their lives, or as much of their lives and they can remember.
And so the motivation might get lower and lower. What do you recommend for someone who
needs to be reminded about why they're studying English? What can help to increase their motivation?
For students--and both of us have been students in the past, and we realized a long hard process
of going to class, of studying, of working hard--sometimes it's easy to get lost in the
details of learning and keep our focus off of the end goal. And I would encourage my
students with learning English that one day they will need to stop being a student and
to join the workforce in whatever country that may be. Usually, that will be in China
for my students who are Chinese. But many of them desire to go abroad or to work in
an international company. And so even English is a very useful and valuable tool for them
to find a job. I know today studying grammar is not very fun, but tomorrow speaking English
on the job is very beneficial.
Do you have any other suggestions for someone to increase his or her motivation for learning
English?
I did mention about jobs and how learning English will help you usually find a better
job, whether in your native country or abroad, but learning English also helps you to expand
your friendships and your relationships. I have many friends who are Chinese, but if
they did not know English and I did not know a little bit of Chinese, we could not be friends
very easily. But since they have learned English relatively well, we can be friends. And if
I need something or if they need something, we can communicate, and we're able to help
one another. And with a student who knows English, when they help me or if they help
another native English speaker, who does not know Chinese very well, that gives them a
big feeling of satisfaction and joy in helping other people.
So I would say that learning English is good not only to have a job but also to help other
people in whatever field or in whatever location you are.
Yeah, and I think that there's a difference between internal motivation and external motivation.
A lot of times when we do something for a job or we do something for some kind of reward,
some kind of external reward like a pay increase or a better job, that might not actually be
as motivating as something that's coming from internal motivation. We do it because we want
it, we see the value of it, we love it, and it just becomes a passion for us.
In this part of the interview, you heard Matthew and I give some reasons for not giving up,
reasons for not quitting. Why are you learning English? Are you learning English because
it's part of your academics? Because you need it for your current job or your future job?
Because you want to improve relationships or make new relationships? Or are you learning
English because you just enjoy learning English? Is learning the English language a hobby for
you? Add a comment below this video, and give us your motivation, your main reason for wanting
to improve your English skills. I look forward to reading your comment.