January is a great time to talk to your learner about goals. A common way
to think about goals is that they should be SMART.
S - Specific
M - Measurable
A - Attainable
R -
Relevant
T - Timely
'Specific' means 'exact'. Not "I want to learn
English," but "I want to improve my written communication in
English."
'Measurable'
means you can measure your success. For example, "My writing will be CLB 4 by
December and CLB 5 by June," is a measurable goal.
'Attainable'
means you can succeed in meeting your goal. For example, "I will write emails to
my teacher with good formatting and no punctuation errors," is an attainable
goal. "I will write English with perfect grammar," may not be an attainable
goal.
'Relevant'
means that your goal is suitable for your life at this time. For example, "I
will write an English essay," may not be a relevant goal if you have no academic
plans.
'Timely'
means it's a good time for you to do this, and you set a time schedule to
complete the goal. "In June I will pass the ELSA 6 test," is a
time-sensitive goal.
You can
learn English (or anything!) one step at a time by setting SMART goals
