Creating Your Own Personalized Learning Plan

Consistency is what we hear the most when it comes to roadblocks to language learning consistency. There’s no right or wrong way to learn a language, but the process has to work for you in a way that engages and motivates you as a learner. Let’s take a look at some ways we can turn language learning into a personalized experience for you with the following questions.

What does your daily routine look like?

From the time you wake up to the time you go to bed, we all have some unspoken form of a routine. When integrating the habit of learning a language into your everyday life, you need to evaluate your habits and routines to see where the integrations can be made.

What activities do you enjoy or look forward to you?

The next thing is looking at what you actually like to do on a regular or even occasional basis. What are some activities you enjoy doing to relax or for pure pleasure? If you really enjoy doing yoga then find some YouTube channels with videos in your target language. If you like listening to music or podcasts while working out or running, then it’s to your benefit to integrate foreign music and podcasts into your fitness routine, making it into a 2-for-1 experience.

How do you use technology every day?

There are simple ways to integrate technology into your language learning process to encourage you to be more consistent and this doesn’t have to mean downloading another app you have to use. If you have Spotify, it’s easy to find music and podcasts that you’ll enjoy. If you have a VPN, this can make it easier for you to not only find music, but the ads you’ll hear (if you don’t pay for a premium subscription) will be in the language of the selected country for a full immersion experience. If you can find YouTubers around the world with content that interests you, that can add value to your learning experience. I think there’s a lot of room to be creative here because we use technology every day for so many things and we may not realize how someone else in another country is using that same technology for the same uses but in another language.

How can you create tangible evidence of progress?

The goal is consistency by getting you to associate language learning with everyday things you’re already doing. We’re likely going to stop being consistent if we don’t see any sign of progress, that’s a fact. Incorporate language learning into incentivized activities to obtain that visual proof. For example, the #plantyourprogress spring challenge this year is all about planting actual seeds, and caring for that plant while doing something relating to language learning simultaneously. The purpose of the project is for you to create some form of tangible evidence to prove that you’ve been making consistent progress. You don’t have to do something as literal as gardening to make progress, but create some form of tangible evidence that you’re making progress.

These are some questions that you can think about when creating your own routine and habits around mastering your target language. We can’t tell you that any method or learning plan will work for you because everyone’s lifestyle and interests are different. The best advice we can give is to ask yourself these questions and make language learning work for you so it’s a subconscious habit, but also enjoyable without feeling like work. We hope this helps you and good luck on your path to mastering your target language!