Comparing your English
plus how to find what you're looking for
Hello and welcome to “Learn English with Katie” on Substack!
1. Don’t compare yourself with others
Do you compare your English with other people’s?
“She speaks more fluently than me. I wish I had her confidence!”
“Her grammar is much better than mine.”
“She never gets stuck for words like I do. She must know more vocabulary.”
The problem with comparing yourself to other people is that it makes you lose confidence and it can keep you stuck and too nervous to speak up.
Maybe it’s true that the other person’s English is better than yours. But remember that they were once at your level. And you can get to their level!
Or maybe it’s not true. Maybe they just seem more confident on the outside but inside, they have the same fears and anxieties about their English as you do.
Or maybe they’re better at grammar but you’re better at vocabulary.
Instead of comparing your English with other people’s, just focus on what you need to do to improve your own skills over the next few weeks.
If you want to compare yourself to someone else, you can compare yourself now to your past self. Compare your English today with your English last month or last year. See your progress and boost your confidence.
👉 For more confidence-boosting tips, try my free mini course, written for professional women: https://subscribepage.io/5-steps-to-confidence
2. What would you like me to write about?
Is there a particular topic you’d like me to write about in a future post?
If so, there are three things you can do.
i) Reply to this email and tell me what you’d like me to write about. If you suggest something I can talk about and if it fits my general plan for this Substack, you might see an answer in a future post!
ii) Instead of an email, you can leave a comment.
iii) Check if I’ve already written about it. Searching through the archive isn’t that easy, I know. Here’s an easier way. Click one of the following links:
Speaking: https://learnenglishwithkatie.substack.com/t/speaking
Pronunciation: https://learnenglishwithkatie.substack.com/t/pronunciation
Reading: https://learnenglishwithkatie.substack.com/t/reading
Listening: https://learnenglishwithkatie.substack.com/t/listening
Writing: https://learnenglishwithkatie.substack.com/t/writing
Grammar: https://learnenglishwithkatie.substack.com/t/grammar
Vocabulary: https://learnenglishwithkatie.substack.com/t/vocabulary
Confidence: https://learnenglishwithkatie.substack.com/t/confidence
Learning tips: https://learnenglishwithkatie.substack.com/t/learning-tips
3. Payments
If you’ve clicked on the above links, you might have noticed that some of the older posts are locked. That’s because I used to have an extra weekly email for paying subscribers.
I turned payments off because I didn’t have time to write all the extra posts every week! The posts I wrote for my paying subscribers are still locked because I don’t think it would be fair to make them available for free now.
I’m thinking about bringing the paid option back. My weekly Substack posts/emails will continue to be free but I could add something extra for people who pay.
I don’t want to do the same thing as before. Instead of offering an extra lesson with a PDF every week, I’m thinking about what else I could offer instead. But only if enough people want it and are willing to pay.
So, what might you be willing to pay for?!
Here are some of my ideas:
Access to all the old locked posts plus a new locked lesson once a month.
An invitation to a group Zoom call once a month where you can practise your English and ask me any questions you may have.
A private Facebook or Slack group.
A Telegram group. (This is similar to WhatsApp.)
None of the above. It’s completely fine if you say you just want the free stuff! I understand!
Please vote!
See you next week!
Katie