Hey there! This is TOP 353. Before You Start Learning English Again This Autumn, Listen to This
**You read English. You understand English. You’ve been learning for years, but when it’s time to speak your mind just freezes, and the words don’t come out. If that sounds familiar, you’re not alone. My name’s Ola, and this is Teacher Ola Podcast. I’m here to help you finally speak out loud. This isn’t about perfect grammar or fancy vocabulary. This is about your voice. Your words. Your real English.
**September is a good time for a reset. The summer is over, we’re getting back into our routines, and perhaps you’re thinking about your English too. That’s why I’ve created Autumn English Reset, a webinar where we’ll take a fresh look at your English, your habits and what might help you make real progress this autumn. You can find out more and sign up at teacherola.com/reset. The webinar is on Sunday 27 September 2026. Teacherola.com/reset, it’s free.
And today, I’d like to explore one idea from that bigger conversation, something I think is particularly important when you’re trying to make a change and actually stick with it. Let’s get into it.
**September has a particular energy. After the summer, we start thinking about what we’d like to change. We make plans, organise our calendars and decide that this time things are going to be different.
And for many many people, improving their English is somewhere on that list.
Perhaps you’ve been thinking about it for months. Perhaps you’ve already started learning English several times before. You know it’s important. You know you’d feel better if you could speak more confidently.
And yet, somehow, you keep losing momentum.
You start with good intentions. For a while, everything goes well. Then work gets busy, you have less time, you miss a few days, and before you know it, English has disappeared from your routine again.
I’d like you to consider a slightly different question this autumn.
Perhaps the problem isn’t that you aren’t disciplined enough. Perhaps you don’t need to find more motivation. Perhaps there’s something missing from the way you’re approaching English, something that can make it easier to keep going when the initial enthusiasm disappears.
Interestingly, researchers have been looking at exactly this kind of question: what role do other people play in our motivation to learn and achieve our goals?
And the answer is worth paying attention to.
Because learning a language may be much less of a solitary activity than we sometimes make it.
***So before you buy another vocabulary notebook, download another app or promise yourself that you’ll study for an hour every evening, stop for a moment and think about the people around your English.
Who are you going to speak to?
Who will encourage you when you don’t feel like doing anything?
Who will notice that you’ve made progress?
Who will expect you to show up?
You might even want to think of these people as your own English Avengers.
Not necessarily a group of people sitting around a table doing grammar exercises together. Your team can be much more ordinary and much more useful.
It could be a friend who agrees to speak English with you for twenty minutes every Sunday.
It could be your partner, who knows that you’re trying to become more confident.
It could be a family member who watches an English-language film with you.
It could be a colleague who is also trying to improve their English, so you decide to have your coffee break in English once a week.
It could even be someone you’ve never met in person an online study partner who sends you a voice message, has a conversation with you.
And this is one of the reasons I created my Voice Loop groups. They give you that social element of learning English: you can exchange voice messages, practise speaking, have conversations online and get feedback from me. It’s not about studying alone and hoping you’ll eventually feel ready to speak. You actually use the language with other people.
If you’d like to see how it works, you can find out more at teacherola.com/test.
But whether you join a group, find a colleague, ask a friend to practise with you or simply make English part of your conversations with your family, the principle is the same.
Your English stops being something that exists only between you and your notebook. And there is a very practical reason for this. When somebody else knows about your goal, you’re no longer relying entirely on how you feel that day.
You have another reason to follow through. You’re expected somewhere. Someone is waiting for you. Someone might notice if you disappear. That small sense of accountability can make a surprisingly big difference. So here’s something you could actually do this week.
Don’t make another enormous English-learning plan. Instead, choose one person. Think about who could become part of your English team. You don’t need someone with perfect English. In fact, they don’t even have to be learning English themselves. Then make one small agreement.
“Let’s speak English for 15 minutes every Wednesday.”
“Let’s send each other one interesting English article a week.”
“Let’s watch one episode in English and talk about it afterwards.”
“Let’s check in with each other every Friday and say what we’ve done.”
Or, if you don’t have anyone suitable in your immediate circle, find an online community where people are working towards a similar goal.
The point isn’t to create another obligation that makes learning English feel like homework. It’s to create a small social structure around something that matters to you. Because when the September motivation disappears, and it probably will, at least occasionally, you won’t have to rely on motivation alone. You’ll have people. And sometimes, that’s what makes the difference between another September resolution and something you actually continue doing.
Time to practice!!! We do speak English here, and today it’s not gonna be different. Listen and repeat out loud. I’ll say each sentence twice for you, ok? Let’s start:
Everything goes well.
September has a particular energy.
That’s what makes the difference.
You start with good intentions.
Who are you going to speak to?
You don’t need someone with perfect English.
The point isn’t to create another obligation.
We’re getting back into our routines
Someone is waiting for you.
Someone might notice if you disappear.
Well done! You made it to the end of the episode.
Before you go, if you’re ready to give your English a proper reset this autumn, join me for my Autumn English Reset webinar. We’ll take a fresh look at your English, your habits and what you can do to make real progress this season.
Go to teacherola.com/reset to find out more and sign up.
And if you’d like to practise English with other people, you can also check out my Voice Loop groups at teacherola.com/test. They’re five-week programmes where you exchange voice messages, practise speaking regularly, have conversations online and get feedback from me.
But first, make sure you join me for the Autumn English Reset at teacherola.com/reset.
Thank you so much for listening. Please rate and review the podcast, subscribe if you haven’t already, and above all: stay fearless, take care, and say it out loud.
I love you, I believe in you, and I know you’re ready to speak English.
I’m your teacher, Teacher Ola. Bye for now.