3 ways English learners shoot themselves in the foot!

0:00 Don't shoot yourself in the foot!

0:03 Set yourself up for success!

0:05 I'm Emma from mmmEnglish and this video is for English learners, specifically,

0:12 those who want to speak in English more,

0:16 who want to perform better in English conversations.

0:20 Even if you're not interested in the three

0:23 ways to be a successful English speaker,

0:26 you will definitely learn about this interesting idiom and how

0:30 to use it at the end of this video.

0:38 The first way that English learners shoot themselves in the foot

0:43 is when they say that they'll do something but then they don't.

0:47 They don't follow through.

0:49 And maybe you think Emma, that's no big deal.

0:53 But it is.

0:54 You're adding to this huge,

0:58 potentially overwhelming pile of things that you have not done,

1:03 that you haven't ticked off and all of these little things are sitting there,

1:10 they're waiting for you to take action.

1:12 I know from personal experience that that huge pile of things creates guilt,

1:19 it creates shame, it creates a whole lot of negative self-talk.

1:25 See Emma, you never follow through.

1:29 How will you succeed if you can't even complete a course that you got for free?

1:36 To put this into context, think about learning English online.

1:40 There is so much material out there that you can access.

1:44 You can practise with online websites, you can download free worksheets,

1:48 you can watch YouTube videos, you can sign up for free courses and challenges.

1:54 You can even pay for courses.

1:57 There is no shortage of information.

1:59 In fact, Everything that you need to learn grammar and vocabulary already

2:04 exists online and a lot of it is completely free to access.

2:08 So how come you're not fluent yet?

2:11 The problem is that most students run around

2:15 grabbing all of these free resources and stashing

2:18 them away somewhere so that next week

2:22 they can start but they're not staying focused,

2:25 they're not getting it done and even more importantly,

2:29 not putting those learnings into practice which is actually the hard part.

2:34 You can collect as many resources as you

2:37 like but unless you do something with them,

2:41 complete the workbook, finish the course and even better,

2:45 use what you were studying in real conversations so

2:50 that you can make mistakes and you can get stuck

2:53 and find your way out of trouble and try out

2:57 all these new phrases and expressions that you've been memorising.

3:01 Without all of that, well what's the point?

3:05 Another way to shoot yourself in the foot,

3:07 set yourself a huge, really general goal.

3:12 If you do that, you will never notice your progress.

3:15 You will never feel success.

3:17 What is your goal?

3:19 To speak English better?

3:22 If this is your goal, you're shooting yourself in the foot.

3:26 Goals need clear time frames,

3:29 measurable outcomes and they need to be achievable.

3:34 For example, speaking with someone in English once a week throughout October,

3:40 November and December.

3:42 This is a fantastic, achievable, measurable goal.

3:48 You can tick this off your list of things to do, right?

3:51 It doesn't matter if this conversation is for ten minutes or if

3:55 it's for an hour but to make sure this happens every week,

4:00 you need to spend a little bit of time planning your English speaking practice,

4:05 making sure it happens.

4:07 So if you're lucky enough to be attending regular English classes,

4:12 you might be thinking I don't need to plan and organise anything,

4:17 I'm just going to show up to my class.

4:19 But you might still be shooting yourself in the foot.

4:23 Do you come to class with questions about your homework?

4:27 Do you raise your hand and ask questions during the class and most importantly,

4:33 how are you putting what you learn in those classes into practice,

4:39 into speaking practice?

4:41 And if you're not going to regular English classes then where

4:45 and how and when are you going to practise your speaking skills?

4:52 You especially need to spend some time planning this ahead

4:57 of time so that you don't shoot yourself in the foot.

5:01 Number three, comparing yourself to others.

5:05 If you compare yourself to someone who has more time, has more money than you,

5:12 has a quiet place to study from when you don't,

5:16 who doesn't have kids when you do,

5:19 someone who has the support of their manager at work when you don't or someone

5:24 who has a supportive group of friends who encourage them to speak in English.

5:30 If you're comparing yourself to others, you are shooting yourself in the foot.

5:35 Now if you do or you don't have these things,

5:39 it doesn't mean that you can't reach the same place as someone else.

5:44 Absolutely you can!

5:46 But you will probably need to take a slightly different path to get there.

5:50 You need to spend time planning your journey marking out the path

5:56 that you need to take to get there and you of course,

6:00 need to be taking each of those steps.

6:05 Okay, okay, so what does "shoot yourself in the foot" actually mean?

6:11 Can you guess after I was using it

6:13 to talk about all of those different situations?

6:16 Can you guess the meaning from the context?

6:19 Pause for a minute if you want to get your thoughts in order and think

6:23 about your answer to this question and maybe

6:25 write it down in the comments below.

6:27 To shoot oneself in the foot means to make

6:31 a situation worse for oneself without meaning to, without intending to.

6:38 In the examples that I gave you earlier in the video,

6:41 what was the situation that I'm referring to?

6:48 You wanting to improve your English especially your spoken English.

6:53 When I use this idiom to talk about that situation,

6:57 I'm suggesting that you are making your situation of wanting

7:03 to speak more in English worse by not following through,

7:09 not having specific goals or by comparing yourself to others.

7:14 So if any of these things sound like you or something that you sometimes

7:20 or always do I hope that you've taken this video in the right way.

7:27 It might seem a little like tough love, I know,

7:31 but I hope that you know that my message

7:34 to you today comes from a place of love, it comes from my heart.

7:38 I do not want you to shoot yourself in the foot.

7:42 By the way, you can't shoot anyone else in the foot.

7:47 When you use this idiom,

7:49 the subject can only make the situation worse for themselves.

7:55 We shot ourselves in the foot by bringing the dog on our road trip.

7:59 Now we can't get into any of the national parks.

8:01 Mary really shot herself in the foot when she lost her licence!

8:05 Now she can't work.

8:07 The Prime Minister shot himself in the foot by saying

8:10 that healthcare was not going to be prioritised in this year's budget.

8:14 Can you think of a time when you shot yourself in the foot?

8:17 Tell me down in the comments, I'm keen to hear these stories.

8:21 And then come along and join me in the next lesson!