CONSISTENCY IN YOUR LEARNING: START THE YEAR OFF RIGHT

Hello everybody and welcome back to the Daily Vitamin! I'm so happy to be starting our 21st academic year in Ziggurat, and our 21st year of the Daily Vitamin. 

I hope everyone had a good summer and that you were able to stay cool. I am sure that some of you are still on holiday, and I hope you are enjoying yourself. I also hope that all of you were able to somehow include English practice in your summer activities.

Over the years, I have repeated an idea over and over again. That is, the most difficult thing about learning a language is maintaining what you have already learned. So, if you are not doing something with English every day (or almost every day) then it's going to be difficult to advance, because any improvement will be lost over the months/years of no contact with the language. So, it's not just improving your English, it's maintaining what you have already learned. So you must incorporate English into your daily routine, or you may never get to your desired level of English. The trick is to make English a daily habit, like getting dressed, eating breakfast or brushing your teeth.

I have spoken about making English a part of your daily routine many times, but I don't think it can be said too much. There is no magic formula to learning a language. If you are consistent and constant, you will advance. So why am I saying this again? Because now that we are beginning a new academic year, my wish is for all of you to make English a part of your daily routine.

THE 30-DAY CHALLENGE
There is an idea that comes from psychology that says that it takes 21 days to form a habit. The truth is, it depends on the habit you are trying to form, and the person that is trying to form the habit. In some cases, it might be 30 days, 60 days, 90 days or even more; and in other cases, it might be just two weeks. In any case, as a way to start off the 2023-2024 academic year right, I want to challenge you to create a streak of 30 days (starting today) where you do something with English at least 15 minutes each day. It could be activities of reading, writing, speaking, listening, vocabulary, grammar, or pronunciation. Whatever you prefer. The key is to be consistent.

If you are going to follow the 30-day Challenge, let us know on our Facebook or X (formerly Twitter) pages. You can also give us updates on your progress.

And if you are serious about improving your English, you may want to join me for the Autumn English Challenge, which starts this Wednesday (September 20th) at 18:00 on Zoom.

You can join the group here: https://ziggurat-es.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZwkceugqDwqHdUsMdwpIdZ8qat5w_e11cDF

Also, starting tomorrow, and for the rest of the week, we're going to look at famous inspiring quotes we've heard from different leaders over the years. Hopefully, these quotes will help you to become inspired to take your English to the next level... to get the level of English that you truly desire. :-)

I'll see you tomorrow with the first quote. 

All the best!