2 quick, simple, motivational graphs

For years now, I have been battling the common student belief that by simply turning up to an English class, they’ll learn English.

I’ve delivered countless sessions on the importance of good note taking, doing homework, seeking out online self-study apps, finding someone to practise with outside the classroom, setting weekly goals for vocabulary learning (etc, etc) and yet, still this myth seems to somehow live on.

I finally found a simple way to explain this need for self study to my beginner learners. It looks like this. When I drew it, I could hear the lightbulbs switching on.

[graph 1] [graph 2]

TBF, I haven’t actually seen a marked increase in homework submissions, but I do at least know for sure that they’ve understood the need to study by themselves.