Have you ever written a shitty draft? You’d probably say: “Of course, I’ve written many shitty drafts” 😅. But I’m actually asking if you’ve done it on purpose. Last month I was taking a class at the university, and because summer classes are only six weeks long, the workflow is heavy, to put it mildly. […]
How to keep going when the task lasts forever
“Why should I keep going? I will never be able to learn English well. I will never feel fluent.” I’ve heard these words from many English learners who, with frustration in their voice, tell me that they’ve started learning English a long time ago, but still don’t feel confident in their abilities to speak the […]
Biting off more than you can chew
“If you’re always biting off more than you can chew, you’ll never end up swallowing.” This quote by Marie Forleo caught my attention because when it comes to my life, it’s true – literally and metaphorically. When I was a little girl and going to preschool back in my native Bulgaria, I had a hard time […]
What do you do when you get stuck in English?
The power of body language
When we study a new language, we usually think about using correct grammar, memorizing vocabulary, and learning how to pronounce words correctly. But there is a very important aspect to mastering a foreign language that has been a little neglected – body language. I remember once talking to an American guy; actually he was talking […]
Unproductiveness of productive procrastination
The other day I heard about productive procrastination and the term sparked my curiosity. It is the act of being busy while still procrastinating. Whaaat??? I hear you; I was confused too. This is the less obvious sister of the procrastination we all are painfully familiar with. But while we are aware that we procrastinate […]
You in a new culture: to blend in or to stand out?
Is it better to blend in or to stand out? As a little child growing up in communistic Bulgaria, I always wanted to blend in. Not that there were many opportunities to stand out anyway. Everyone was wearing almost the same clothes, watching the same TV programs (no wonder, we only had two TV channels […]
Cultural difference or misused punctuation mark?
“Thank you for being such a ‘good’ friend,” she wrote and, although I knew what she’d meant, I was a bit taken aback. Was it a cultural difference or a misused punctuation mark? My friend had written this sentence on the beautiful card she’d given me before going back to her country. To her, putting […]
Mistakes in English: embrace fear, start speaking
“Stop worrying about mistakes and start speaking. Be confident.” I’ve seen this advice so many times. I’ve even given it myself. But the truth is that it rarely works. Most non-native speakers that I know are afraid of making mistakes when they speak English and just telling them not to be fearful is of no help. Fear […]
