A 4-minute read
You can listen to the text as you read along.
Let's say you go to a shoe store. You find the shoes that you really want. They are expensive, but you buy them anyway. When you pay for them, you are happy that you now finally have the shoes that you want.
When you are leaving the shop, they give you a bag with your shoes. You say politely,
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— “Mmm… no, thank you. I don’t want them.”
— “But you’ve already paid for them. They’re your shoes,” the store clerk says.
— You look at the bag for a few seconds and say as you walk away, “I know, but I don’t want to bring them home.”
Are you confused by this story? You should be because it does not make any sense! That’s exactly the point. I tell this story in my classes when I have students who, even though they paid for the course, do not want to study their lessons, do homework, or participate in class. That is like buying shoes and not wanting to take them home.
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Why Can’t We Just Have Fun?
Learning a language can be fun. You can play word games, act out real-life situations, learn vocabulary through music, use interactive language apps, read funny stories, and so on. However, these activities have limitations. There are times you need to do the work. Learning a language is not always fun, but hard work pays off.
Sometimes, you may need to study grammar rules. You might need to learn new words and use them in your writing. You may need to listen to the same material again and again. You may need to read something over and over again to understand it well. These things are not always exciting, but they are important.
Enjoy learning… always. Enjoy the fun activities, but also spend time and energy on studying seriously and practicing what you learn. You are investing time and money to learn English. Don’t you want to get the most out of your investment? You wouldn’t buy shoes and leave them at the store, would you? Don’t do the same with your learning.