Hello ladies and gentlemen.

I want to share my thoughts with you about overcoming the Intermediate Plateau

I have been struggling with this problem for 6 months. The way of reaching B1 level was so smoothly for me. I had been learning new words and improving my comprehension skills, but one day I felt completely stuck. I could lead a basic conversation even though I didn't speak at all. My comprehension skill was not that bad and I could watch movies and tv-series with subtitles without any problems.

I was kind of concerned about the fact that whatever I did It didn't refine the situation. So I had watched a lot of videos about Intermediate Plateau and to be honest every video that I watched was similar.

I put the learning English off for a while during the summer because I'd been trying to find a job and I even had interviews in English. I realized that I had to know English way better than I would've know by that time because of these interviews.

I'd started my mission of overcoming the plateau in September 2020. I actually didn't think about overcoming the plateau. I just wanted to get fluency. So the main goal was getting fluency. However it wasn't that easy to find anyone to talk with. I explored the Facebook exchange groups and I'd been trying to find a partner there before I found my lifeline so to speak. I found a girl who wanted to learn Russian. I was so greatfull and excited that I found someone, but we only had 2 conversations I don't why, but It is what it is.

Now I'm going to tell you about my daily routine.

Usually I try focusing on each part of English: listening, vocabulary, speaking , reading, grammar, writing

Reading

I've bought a Kindle recently because I think It's cheaper than buy a new book every time. Moreover sometime the book that you've bought could be not your level of English or boring for you.

I read for 30-40 minutes every day. I prefer extensive reading than intensive reading. Both ways are useful. I just don't like reading a book for two or more months. Also reading out loud improves your speaking skills. When you read out loud meanwhile your tongue getting used to specific positions that aren't common for your native language.

Vocabulary

I think my weakness is vocabulary. I'm not actually good at learning new words. I've heard in videos that for overcoming the intermediate plateau I need to learn more phrasal verbs, idioms and collocations. It's exactly what I'm trying to do at this moment. I've learned 50 phrasal verbs however I need to use them for not forgetting.

Every day I learn 2 words (I know it's not so much, but in my case it's perfect) and in order to remember them I make up 3 sentences for each word meanwhile I repeat my grammar due to this method. I choose what grammar structure I need to brush up on and make up my sentences.

Listening

I've reached the comprehension level of English when I don't listen attentively. In my case it has become like a joy. I watch tv-series and movies, listen podcasts when I go somewhere and I have some time for this.

I assume that listening might be one of the main part of learning. I would improve listening skills more than anything else.

Grammar

There isn't something special with learning grammar in my case. Whenever I learn a new structure I try to use it everywhere to getting stuck in my brain. I choose the each week a new grammar structure and learn during a week.

Speaking

Speaking has a big impact on overcoming intermediate plateau. Since I started to talk every day for 30 minutes I feel that my English is improving way better than I learn with no speaking practice. I've found the best way for talking. There's one app that helped me. The name of the app - Speak Peak. There're only people who want to talk in English and you have 15 minutes to talk with anyone.

At the beginning it was so hard to talk. Everything in my brain was mixed up and I couldn't talk freely. After my first conversation I was even sweating, I'm not going to lie hah. After a while I have been feeling better and better and after one week I can express myself without any problems. There're mistakes, maybe a lot of mistakes, but I get better every day and I'm consequently closer to get this dearest fluency. So I extremely recommend you this app if you struggle with speaking skills.

Writing

I've found the best way to refine writing skills and it is "Journaly". I'm going to write a new post every day. So I'll see all my mistakes and what isn't correct

Ending

Eventually I just want to tell you that you need to make your own plan of learning because everyone is different. Something might works for me, but won't for you and do what you like to do.

The essential advice is not to be afraid of mistakes. The more you make mistakes the faster you'll be better because you wouldn't do this mistake again after the failure.

Thanks for your patience.

Marco