Three Obstacles Preventing you from Improving in English

I recently performed a market research survey about learning English.

You know what I learned? 

Most of the people that filled out my survey actually truly enjoy speaking English! 

And what’s not to love?

It makes them feel good to connect with others from different cultures, travel abroad more comfortably, or open doors to better career opportunities.

(**Bonus- being able to watch shows and films in the original version, and enjoy it!)

But, those same people also shared that there are three main obstacles preventing them from improving their English.  

What obstacles are you struggling to overcome on your English learning journey?

Yep, you guessed it:

1. Time

2. Money

3. Opportunities to practice

When you feel the need to improve your English because you’ve seen that it’s stunting your progress, I mean truly FEEL the need, you start to look for solutions, and these obstacles that once seemed big, start to feel like something you can work around.

Let’s look at “opportunities to practice”. 

Wouldn’t it be great to spend a long period of time in an English speaking country to improve? But that’s impossible for your life in sports, between training, competitions, your family, and other responsibilities. 

So that’s off the table. 

Other options to speak more: There are many language schools, conversation partners, and social conversation “meet ups” to help you “improve your English” in a general sense. 

While they sound like great tools, let’s be honest- they really don’t seem attractive to you.

A lot of times conversations with untrained people can be unproductive as you don’t get corrected or practice the things that are difficult for you.  And language schools end up teaching you the same things you’ve always studied with little relevance to your life in sports. 

And on top of that, you really don’t feel like traveling to a language school, couldn’t it just be online? 

Moving on to the next obstacle: Your time is precious! 

Between back-to-back, and sometimes double, training sessions, a full competition schedule, meal preparation, and just the basic responsibilities of being a HUMAN, you 

1. Need to optimize the little free time you have, and 

2. Don’t want to waste your time on unproductive approaches.

And regarding the “money” aspect- when your lack of skills in English becomes so great that you realize it’s holding you back in your experiences or sports career, you’ll find a way to pay for a course that will help you improve. (Trust me, I’ve been there!)

So, considering these things, what you want (and need!) is a targeted approach that optimizes your time and helps you develop communication skills- speaking AND listening- in a way that’s relevant to your life in sports with a trained teacher and coach who can guide you through your errors and help you become more confident. 

If this sounds like a solution you’re happy with, I’ve got great news- I can help you! 

In my online sports specific English course for athletes and sports professionals, The Breakaway, a small group of other athletes and people in sports like you work to build practical and relevant communication skills in English over the course of 12 weeks with just 1 hour/ week of classes plus a one-on-one consultation with me to review your specific needs. 

Enrollment is opening soon and I’d love to work with you!  You can find more details here, or comment below and ask me anything you’d like to know about “The Breakaway”. 

No matter what your “obstacle” is, as a language coach I’m here to help you find your way around it so you can improve your English to communicate and connect confidently in the sports world.