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Learning English online is very different from studying in a physical classroom, and there is not always a teacher looking over your shoulder. And more often than not, you have to motivate yourself and keep yourself on track.

In this blog, we’ll share seven tips to help you learn English online – including how to set goals, create a study schedule, and stay focused. Let’s explore:

1. Set SMART goals

Lots of students wonder how to learn English online. And we know getting started is often the most challenging part. So before you begin studying English online, we recommend setting some SMART goals. These are goals that are:

• Specific
• Measurable
• Achievable
• Relevant
• Time-bound

Let's say you:

• Have an ultimate goal to get a high score in an English language exam (like ), so you can study abroad.

You’ll need to plan how to reach this. An excellent way to start is to begin planning your short and medium-term goals. For example:

• Short-term goal: Learn ten words each day
• Medium-term goal: Improve practice test scores by 5% over the next month
  

2. Make a study schedule

Creating a well-thought-out schedule will help you to study English online and stay organized. It’ll also mean you dedicate enough time to each language skill – speaking, reading, writing and listening:

• Pick times that work best for you – You may prefer studying at certain times of the day when you have more energy, or after doing something energizing like working out.
• Stick to it – Once you’ve set a regular fixed time, stay with it to ensure it becomes a routine habit.
  
• Make time – Give yourself as much time as possible to finish each task (especially in case life gets in the way) and some time to relax.

3. Create a comfortable learning space

Where you study . For example, sunlight can lead to better learning outcomes. Temperature and noise can also affect the way you learn. If you can, make sure that your learning space is:

• well-lit
• temperate
• quiet (and private if possible!)
• relaxing
• organized

You might also want to decorate your study space, perhaps with an indoor plant – they can !

Also, before you start, do you have everything at hand? Do you have water? Is your coursebook close by? And is your computer fully charged? Having all your supplies on hand will help you stay focused – and learn English online faster.

4. Eliminate distractions

To learn English online, you need to eliminate distractions. Logging off your social media accounts and anything else distracting you until you’re done studying is good practice. If you find yourself logging back in, you might want to use a focus app (like , which can block up to thirty websites).
If you can, turn off your phone altogether and put it away and out of sight. If you’re tempted to pick it up again, ask yourself why. Sometimes, there’s no good reason, and it’s best to keep studying.

5. Try the Pomodoro Technique

The Pomodoro Technique is a great way to break your studying into manageable chunks, which will also help you stay focused.

The technique:

• Set a timer for 20 minutes
• Each time the timer goes off, write a tick on a piece of paper
• Take a five-minute break
• Continue to set the timer for 20-minute intervals
• When you've got four ticks, take a 20-minute break

This time management system works well because it gives you frequent breaks to look forward to and helps you concentrate. You can use this time to stretch, have a snack, take a walk – or do anything that gives your mind a rest.

6. Use self-study resources

There are lots of English learning materials available online – including worksheets, mock tests, games and grammar exercises. There are also various games and quizzes available online.

7. Find a study partner

We all know studying online can get lonely! That’s why we recommend you find a study partner. With a partner to work with, you can practice speaking and listening. You’ll have someone to check over your work. But most importantly – you’ll have someone to hold you accountable and help you stay motivated. Perhaps you know a friend or family member who is also studying English, and you can work with them. You can sometimes find local study groups or clubs depending on your location.

If you're unable to find a local study group or an in-person partner, there are many places to find a study partner online – for example, or dedicated social media groups. You might also want to try out silent Zoom meetings; students and professionals keep each other focused by simply working together on mute.

“We are all creative, but by the time we are three or four years old, someone has knocked the creativity out of us. Some people shut up the kids who start to tell stories. Kids dance in their cribs, but someone will insist they sit still. By the time the creative people are ten or twelve, they want to be like everyone else.” — Maya Angelou.

We want our kids to excel in everything they do. This is partly down to the media, which has fostered the idea of celebrity kids and football leagues that encourage kids to become professional athletes at the age of eight or younger.

However, we have missed the most crucial thing in their education – and that is to build their character through everyday creative activities which encourage the formation of human connections.

Moving from kindergarten to elementary school

Consider how nervous a first grader must feel after leaving the safe kindergarten playground and entering a strange new 'grown-up' world. The playgrounds are bigger, the kids are older, they have to line up to buy their first meal at the school cafeteria. The classroom has changed too: the desks look different, the books are bigger, and there are new challenges too.

Some are thrilled to feel part of the older kids’ environment. Others, of course, are frightened and insecure. They have to understand and accept all the new rules and regulations, which now apply to them too.

High expectations from parents must be met

We also have moms, dads and caregivers worried for their little ones. They have high hopes for them. They want their children to become successful learners, multi-medal athletes, excellent readers, mathematicians or perhaps scientists…

Professor David Healy, director of the North Wales Department of Psychological Medicine, said:��“We want kids to conform to ideals based often on parental insecurities and ambitions.”

Elementary school has therefore become something resembling a battlefield, where children must thrive in spite of (and not because of) their interests. Only top grades and excellence in everything will make parents proud.

But what if a child is not successful? What if their reading skills are below average? What if their daydreaming about a trip to the moon doesn’t allow them to concentrate?

Then we have two lists of kids, the thriving kids with excellent grades and the other ones.

So how can we take the pressure off and help all kids to thrive? Here are some simple creative activities to help.

Reaching out to your students with a simple hello

When did we forget that education is about promoting playfulness, imagination, and creativity to build up confidence?

My very first and most important recommendation would be this:

Before you start a class, give yourself a moment to say��"Hello"��to each individual in your class. Take that moment to make eye contact with every student and see how they are doing that day.

Make this an important part of your routine. Then have them do the same with their classmates. You could even introduce phrases such as:

• "How was your day yesterday?"
• "How are you feeling today?"
• "What did you have for breakfast this morning?"
• "I notice you look nice today!"

You can also try another creative activity. Ask your students to say good morning to the new day and think of something they are grateful for or someone they are grateful to. For example:

• "Thank you mom, for my breakfast."
• "I am grateful because all my classmates are here."
• "Thank you moon, for your light every night."

These are just a few simple creative activities. But the most important thing to consider, if you want to introduce creativity in the classroom, is that every student needs to feel in a secure and welcoming environment, free of criticism or judgment of their ideas. If you achieve this in your classroom, you will be well on your way to exploring your students’ creativity and building new connections with them.

The first class with a new group of young learners can be a nerve-wracking experience for teachers old and new. Many of us spend the night before thinking about how to make a positive start to the year, with a mixture of nerves, excitement, and a desire to get started. However, sometimes things don’t always go as expected, and it is important to set a few ground rules in those early lessons to ensure a positive classroom experience for all, throughout the academic year.

Let’s look at a few common problems that can come up, and how best to deal with them at the start of the school year.

1. Students are not ready to start the class

How the first few minutes of the class are spent can greatly influence how the lesson goes. Students can be slow to get out their equipment and this can cause a lot of time wasting. To discourage this, start lessons with a timed challenge.

1. Tell students what you want them to do when they come into class, e.g. sit down, take out their books and pencil cases, sit quietly ready for the lesson to start.
2. Time how long it takes for everyone to do this and make a note. Each day do the same.
3. Challenge students to do this faster every day. You could provide a goal and offer a prize at the end of the trimester if they reach it, e.g. be ready in less than a minute every day.

2. Students speak their first language (L1) in class

One of primary teachers' most common classroom management issues is getting them to speak English. However, young learners may need to speak their mother tongue occasionally, and a complete ban on L1 is often not the best solution. But how can we encourage students to use English wherever possible?

Tell students they have to ask permission to speak in L1, if they really need to.

• 3 word rule — tell students that they can use a maximum of three words in L1 if they don’t know them in English.
• Write ENGLISH on the board in large letters. Each time someone speaks in L1, erase a letter. Tell students each letter represents time (e.g. 1 minute) to play a game or do another fun activity at the end of the lesson. If the whole word remains they can choose a game.

3. Students don’t get on with each other

It is only natural that students will want to sit with their friends, but it is important that students learn to work with different people. Most students will react reasonably if asked to work with someone new, but occasionally conflicts can arise. To help avoid uncomfortable situations, do team building activities, such as those below, at the beginning of the school year, and do them again whenever you feel that they would be beneficial:

• Give students an icebreaker activity such as 'find a friend bingo' to help students find out more about each other.
• Help students learn more about each other by finding out what they have in common.
• Balloon race. Have two or more teams with an equal number of students stand in lines. Give each team a balloon to pass to the next student without using their hands. The first team to pass the balloon to the end of the line wins.
• Team letter/word building. Call out a letter of the alphabet and have pairs of students form it with their bodies, lying on the floor. When students can do this easily, call out short words, e.g. cat, and have the pairs join up (e.g. three pairs = group of six) and form the letters to make the word.

4. Students don’t know what to do

When the instructions are given in English, there will inevitably be a few students who don’t understand what they have to do. It is essential to give clear, concise instructions and to model the activity before you ask students to start. To check students know what to do and clarify any problems:

• Have one or more students demonstrate using an example.
• Have one student explain the task in L1.
• Monitor the task closely in the first few minutes and check individual students are on the right track.

5. A student refuses to participate/do the task

This is a frequent problem that can have many different causes. In the first few lessons, this may simply be shyness, but it is important to identify the cause early to devise an effective strategy. A few other causes might include:

• Lack of language required to respond or do the task. Provide differentiation tasks or scaffolding to help students with a lower level complete the task or have them respond in a non-oral way.
• Low self-confidence in their ability to speak English. Again, differentiation and scaffolding can help here. Have students work in small groups or pairs first, before being asked to speak in front of the whole class.
• Lack of interest or engagement in the topic. If students aren’t interested, they won’t have anything to say. Adapt the topic or task, or just move on.
• External issues e.g. a bad day, a fight with a friend, physical problems (tiredness/hunger/thirst). Talk to the student privately to find out if they are experiencing any problems. Allow them to 'pass' on a task if necessary, and give them something less challenging to do.

It is important not to force students to do something they don’t want to do, as this will cause a negative atmosphere and can affect the whole class. Ultimately, if a student skips one or two tasks, it won’t affect their achievement in the long run.

6. Students ask for repeated restroom/water breaks

It only takes one student to ask to go to the restroom before the whole class suddenly needs to go! This can cause disruption and stops the flow of the lesson. To avoid this, make sure you have rules in place concerning restroom breaks:

• Make sure students know to go to the restroom before the lesson.
• Have students bring in their own water bottles. You can provide a space for them to keep their bottles (label them with student names) in the classroom and have students fill them daily at the drinking fountain or faucet.
• Find out if anyone has any special requirements that may require going to the restroom.
• Provide 'brain breaks' at strategic points in the lesson when you see students becoming restless.

7. Students don’t have the required materials

• Provide parents with a list of materials students will need on the first day.
• If special materials are required in a lesson, give students a note to take home or post a message on the school platform several days before.
• Don’t blame the student - whether they have a good reason or not for turning up to class empty-handed, making a child feel guilty will not help.
• Write a note for parents explaining why bringing materials to class is important.

8. Students are not listening/talking

Getting their attention can be challenging if you have a boisterous class. Set up a signal you will use when you want them to pay attention to you. When they hear or see the signal, students should stop what they are doing and look at you. Some common signals are:

• Raising your hand��- When students see you raise your hand, they should raise their hands and stop talking. Wait until everyone is sitting in silence with their hands raised. This works well with older children and teenagers.
• Call and response attention-getters - These are short phrases that prompt students to respond in a certain way, for example: Teacher: "1 2 3, eyes on me!"��Students: "1 2 3, eyes on you!". Introduce a new attention-getter every few weeks to keep it fun. You can even have your students think up their own phrases to use.
• Countdowns -��Tell students what you want them to do and count backwards from ten to zero, e.g. "When I get to zero, I need you all to be quiet and look at me. 10, 9, 8 …"
• Keep your voice low and speak calmly -��This will encourage students to stop talking and bring down excitement levels.
• A short song or clapping rhythm -��With younger children, it is effective to use music or songs for transitions between lesson stages so they know what to do at each stage. For primary-aged children, clap out a rhythm and have them repeat it. Start with a simple rhythm, then gradually make it longer, faster, or more complex.