Why do I need to set a goal for learning English? (Conversation 3)
Updated: Sep 22
Why do I need to set a goal for learning English?
A. Conversation:
Next day in an ESL class. Before class, Mike is eager to learn about SMART goals. He and Cathy continue their conversation about SMART goals and different strategies to accomplish them.
Mike: Good morning, Cathy. I'd like to continue our conversation from yesterday. Do you have a few minutes?
Cathy: Of course, Mike! Go ahead.
Mike: You said you'd explain what a SMART goal means after I figured out my learning style.
Cathy: That’s right! Matching your learning strategy to your style makes all the difference. SMART goals are just a formula to keep your goals clear and achievable:
Specific: Don't just say, "I want to improve my English." Pick something focused, like "I want to hold a short conversation with my neighbor."
Measurable: Make sure you can track your progress, like checking your class portfolio or self-assessment forms.
Attainable: Choose a goal that challenges you without being impossible.
Realistic: Keep it relevant to your daily life—like reading emails from your child's school or understanding a phone message.
Time-bound: Set a target date to review your progress.
Mike: Ah, that makes so much sense! So once I set a SMART goal, what's my next step?
Cathy: You pick your learning strategy—that's your action plan. Since your learning style is musical and interpersonal, your strategy could be singing songs to learn new words and then using that vocabulary in daily conversations with others.
Mike: But how will I know if my strategy is actually working?
Cathy: You monitor your progress! Fill out the "Learner's Reflection" form at the end of each module. If you're hitting your goal, move on to the next one. If not, you can simply adjust your plan and keep trying!
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B. Vocabulary:
1. Eager (adjective): Having or showing a strong desire to do or learn something; enthusiastic.
2. Figure out (phrasal verb): To understand, solve, or discover something after thinking about it.
3. Strategy (noun): A plan of action designed to achieve a long-term goal.
4. Specific (adjective): Clearly defined, exact, or detailed—not general.
5. Measurable (adjective): Able to be tracked, counted, or evaluated.
6. Attainable (adjective): Possible to achieve with effort; realistic.
7. Relevant (adjective): Connected to your real-life needs and interests.
8. Time-bound (adjective): Having a fixed end date or target deadline.
9. Assessment (noun): A test or check to evaluate your skills or progress.
10. Portfolio (noun): A collection of your work used to show your progress over time.
11. Monitor (verb): To watch, observe, or check progress over time.
12. Reflection (noun): Serious thought or evaluation of your past performance or actions.
13. Adjust (verb): To change something slightly to make it work better.
14. Accomplish (verb): To complete or achieve a task successfully.
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I. Answer the following questions:
1. Why do you want to learn English?
______________________________________________________________
2. Describe your learning style.
______________________________________________________________
3. What are your learning strategies to achieve your goal?
______________________________________________________________
4. What is a self-assessment?
______________________________________________________________
5. What is a learner’s feedback form?
______________________________________________________________
6. Set one more specific goal under each skill.
a. Listening: ___________________ b. Speaking: ___________________
c. Reading: ____________________ d. Writing: ____________________
Example:
a. Listening: By the end of this month, I will have listened to three phone messages and written down the key details correctly.
b. Speaking: By the end of this week, I will have started a short conversation with a neighbor or classmate using daily greetings.
c. Reading: By the end of this module, I will have read two online movie reviews and decided which movie to watch.
d. Writing: By the end of this term, I will have written a short email to my child's teacher giving an update about their absence.
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Reading:
Examples of goals any learner of a second language would want to achieve:
In Listening:
- Listen to and understand a phone message.
- Follow instructions to find a location
- Listen to your child’s teacher and understand what is expected from your child at school.
- Listen to and understand the weather report and dress well for the weather.
In Speaking:
- Able to greet, open and keep a small conversation with a neighbor or classmate.
- Able to give a recipe to a friend.
- Able to request services.
- Can tell a short story about a typical day in my childhood.
In Reading:
- Read and understand an email from a friend or your child's school.
- Read and follow the instructions on a commercial product.
- Read a memo posted in a workplace or school giving information about a new policy.
- Read 2 or 3 movie reviews online to decide which movie to see.
In Writing:
- Write an email to a friend with a short update on what happened last week.
- Copy definitions from 2 or 3 sources (such as online dictionaries or grammar websites).
- Write an email to the phone company to request information or cancel a service.
- Write to a friend to share information about a new home (house or apartment).
Activity 1: Read the sentences and write True if the statement is correct, or False if it is incorrect.
Saying "I want to improve my English" is an example of a Specific SMART goal. ____
Monitoring your progress helps you know if your learning strategy is working. ____
An attainable goal is something so difficult that you can never finish it. ____
Reading an email from your child's school is an example of a Reading goal. ____
A learning strategy is a plan of action to help you reach your goals. ____
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Activity 2: Rearrange the words to make correct, complete sentences.
message / understand / a / phone / I / to / want
goal / my / term / set / a / SMART / will / I / this
vocabulary / cards / flash / use / learn / to / new / I
email / wrote / school / teacher / an / the / to / parent
progress / end / form / reflect / module / on / your / each / at
Activity 3: Read each scenario and choose the best SMART action plan.
Scenario: You struggle to understand native speakers when they give you directions on the street.
A) Stop asking people for directions and use a map app instead.
B) Listen to local radio station reports for three hours every night.
C) Practice listening to short audio maps online for 10 minutes a day and try asking one person for directions this week.
Scenario: You want to be able to talk with your neighbors, but you feel nervous when you see them outside.
A) Learn 5 new daily greeting phrases this week and say "Good morning" to your neighbor tomorrow.
B) Memorize the entire English dictionary so you never run out of words to say.
C) Wait until your neighbor comes to your door to start a long conversation.
Scenario: You need to read an important memo posted at your workplace about a new holiday schedule.
A) Ignore the memo and ask a coworker to explain everything to you in your native language.
B) Read the memo, highlight dates or key words you don't know, and check their meanings in a dictionary.
C) Guess the schedule changes without reading the paper.
Scenario: You receive a bill from your phone company with an unexpected charge, and you want to write an email to fix it.
A) Write a 5-page letter complaining about all your bad experiences with the company.
B) Send a 1-sentence email saying "Your service is bad."
C) Write a short, clear email stating your account number, the incorrect fee, and a request to remove it.
Scenario: You complete a self-assessment form at the end of the month and notice you did not reach your reading goal.
A) Give up on setting goals because they do not work for you.
B) Keep using the exact same strategy without changing anything.
C) Review what went wrong, adjust your reading strategy, and try a slightly simpler goal for next month.
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Activity 4: Fill in the blanks using words from the box below:
specific / reflection / schedule / strategy / monitor
Writing definitions in a vocabulary notebook is a good learning ____________.
A ____________ goal clearly states what you want to achieve instead of being general.
Checking the weather report helps you choose the right clothes for your ____________.
Filling out a learner's ____________ form helps you monitor your learning progress.
You should ____________ your progress regularly to see if your plan is working.
Activity 5: Read the definitions and write the correct word from the target vocabulary list.
A collection of your work used to show your learning progress over time.
Word: ______________________
Having or showing a strong desire or enthusiasm to do or learn something.
Word: ______________________
To watch, check, or track your progress over a period of time.
Word: ______________________
To understand, solve, or discover something after thinking about it.
Word (phrasal verb): ______________________
Something that is possible to achieve with effort and work.
Word: ______________________
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Grammar Lesson: The Future Perfect Tense
What is the Future Perfect Tense?
We use the Future Perfect to talk about an action that will be completed before a specific time in the future or before another future action happens.
Think of it as looking back from a point in the future:
"When that future time arrives, the action will already be finished."
1. How to Form the Future Perfect
The structure of the Future Perfect is the same for all subjects (I, You, He, She, It, We, They):
{Subject} + {will have}} + {Past Participle (V3)}
Sentence Structures
Type | Formula | Example |
Affirmative (+) | Subject + will have + Past Participle | By 5:00 PM, I will have finished my homework. |
Negative (-) | Subject + will not (won't) have + Past Participle | By Friday, she won't have received her test results. |
Question (?) | Will + Subject + have + Past Participle? | Will you have completed your goal by next month? |
2. Common Time Expressions
The Future Perfect is almost always used with time expressions that set a deadline in the future:
By... (by tomorrow, by 9:00 AM, by next week, by December)
By the time + Present Simple... (by the time class starts, by the time you arrive)
In [number] weeks / months / years... (in two weeks, in three years)
3. Real-Life Examples in Goal Setting
In ESL learning, we use the Future Perfect when setting SMART goals and target deadlines:
By the end of this term, I will have written three formal emails to my teacher.
By next month, Mike will have learned 50 new vocabulary words.
By the time class ends, we will have completed all five practice activities.
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Activity 1:
Fill in the blanks with the correct Future Perfect form of the verb in parentheses ({will have} + {Past Participle}).
By the end of this month, I ________________________ (learn) 20 new vocabulary words.
By 5:00 PM today, Cathy ________________________ (finish) her reading assignment.
By the time class starts, Mike ________________________ (write) his SMART goal statement.
In three weeks, we ________________________ (complete) Module 2 of our ESL course.
By tomorrow morning, the teacher ________________________ (check) all the portfolio assessments.
By the end of the term, you ________________________ (not / forget) your learning strategies.
By next Friday, my friend ________________________ (send) the email to the phone company.
________________________ (you / adjust) your learning plan by the end of this week?
By December, they ________________________ (practise) speaking English in their community for six months.
By the time the meeting begins, I ________________________ (read) all the workplace memos.
Activity 2:
Each sentence has ONE error in the Future Perfect tense. Rewrite the sentence correctly.
By next week, I will has written an email to my child's teacher.
__________________________________________________________________
By the end of the day, Mike will have finish his reflection form.
__________________________________________________________________
She will completed her listening task by 3:00 PM.
__________________________________________________________________
By next month, we will had learned how to use new vocabulary strategies.
__________________________________________________________________
Will you have achieve your SMART goal by the deadline?
__________________________________________________________________
By Friday, the students will have not submitted their portfolios.
__________________________________________________________________
In two years, Cathy will have improve her English pronunciation significantly.
__________________________________________________________________
By the time you call, I will have go to my English class.
__________________________________________________________________
By next term, he will have take all the required assessments.
__________________________________________________________________
They will have find a new learning strategy by next week.
__________________________________________________________________
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Writing:
Complete the following paragraph:
In order to improve my English, I need to set a goal and create a plan to achieve it. I set a SMART goal to improve my English proficiency. My goal statement is: "By the ____________________, I will have ____________________." It is specific because by that date, I will have focused on ____________________ rather than a general skill. I can measure my progress toward my goal because by the deadline, I will have tracked ____________________ and I will have taken all the assessments in my ESL class. I want to be able to achieve my goal, so by the end of this term, I will have practised ____________________ regularly. My goal shouldn’t be too easy or too difficult. However, I know that with hard work and effort, I will have achieved it by my target date. I am also making sure my goal is realistic and relevant to my life. That’s why by the deadline, I will have applied this skill to real-life situations like ____________________. Finally, the time limit for my goal is ____________________. By this time, I will have assessed my progress and I will have adjusted my plan if I faced any challenges or obstacles. My learning style is ____________________. Accordingly, by following my strategy, I will have used ____________________ to reach my target. Once I achieve this goal, I will set another SMART goal.
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