From B1 to B2 in ENGLISH: How to WIN this game 🏆

Moving to an upper intermediate level my friend is just like going from walking to climbing a staircase. All you have to do is to change the way you walk. So let's imagine your progress like this. This is basically your level of confidence. And this line here represents how much time it takes to reach a very good level. I know we all want it to grow like this, right? A nice straight line that goes all the way up to the maximum level of confidence. Unfortunately my friend, that's not the way it works. Because there's a much bigger chance that your progress, just like mine, looks more like this line here, right? Keep this line in mind because I'll get back to it. Now let me show you where you are. If your current level is B1, then you are pretty much here. And if you're not familiar with the European system, B1 is your intermediate level. You already passed the A1 and A2 levels which are the beginner levels. And your next step is B2. Now beyond B2 there's the heaven of English, C1 and C2 levels. These are the advanced English levels every English learner wants to achieve. Anyway, let's focus on your very next step because this is when things really get interesting. There's only a couple of things that change from a B1 level to a B2 level. At this stage you are able to understand me, but probably you struggle a lot when you're listening to a native speaker, especially if it goes at full speed. Now reaching the B2 level means you're gonna feel comfortable speaking with native speakers, you're gonna have a broader vocabulary and you're gonna speak with a more precise grammar. Also, of course, you'll speak faster and you'll consider this speech too slow for you. To reach this stage you actually have to change the way you approach this language. This means, my friend, this is your perfect time to set your why. Why am I learning English? What am I going to do once I reach this level? Are you going to move abroad to an English-speaking country? Or maybe you want to find a job related with the English language. Everything that you're going to learn now has to be related to your goal. Earlier in your journey your study routine most likely consisted of grammar exercises, some reading and possibly some writing. Now you want to change your focus entirely onto listening and speaking. I'm not saying that grammar doesn't matter anymore. Actually, you will need to fortify your grammar, but you'll have to change the means. Right now you need to learn how to form entire phrases. This means your routine has to change. You want to create a daily schedule, a daily routine, that involves at least, at the very least, 10 minutes of English listening. It may be a podcast, it may be some English lessons like this one, it may be a movie you're watching, a TV series, anything actually that gets you to listen to this language. Also, the way you listen needs to change as you want to start biting more than you can chew. Find something that challenges you. You want to start watching videos you can't really understand right now with new vocabulary, with new ways to say things. Another 10 minutes need also to be spent speaking English daily. But how can you speak English every day if you don't live in an English-speaking country? I've got another thing that is probably even better than my previous suggestions, if I dare to say so. You want to keep a voice journal, basically a diary, and instead of writing your diary, you want to have it vocally. You want to voice out what happened in your day. Once you're done recording, spend another 2 to 3 minutes writing down what you actually said. This part is very important because it gives you a real idea of where you are in your journey, on what you feel confident and where you need to grow a little more. And you do that every single day. Now, if what I'm telling you is really helping you move into your B2 level, make sure to press that like button. This may be a very small thing for you, but it's a gigantic help for my channel. I'm making videos weekly on this topic. Every week I'm also hosting a live streaming session where I answer every question you have. So my friend, if you want to move to B2, well, this is the place to be. And now back to us. Another tool super important at this stage is shadowing. Shadowing means to copy somebody else's speech, somebody that pronounces words very clearly. I'm sure that you're going to find some English speaker around you, somebody that knows a bit more than you, and try to follow that person, copy that person. Everything that he's doing, you do it. You can get this as a habit as you are doing your daily listening routine. You just listen to something you're interested in. You press pause and you repeat. That's it, done. It needs to be very simple. You do that until you feel comfortable with that phrase. Now let me get to some common pitfalls. First of all, you don't want to think it's easy. Let me show you why actually. You'll be surprised. Now let's say that you're here, for example. This is the same part, just zoomed in. As you can see, it's not a straight path as you may expect. There are ups and there are downs. During your up moments, you think you're doing things right. You see your improvements. You see things are going in the right direction and you're super excited. Enjoy that moment, don't get me wrong. But when you think it's easy, this is when you relax. You stop doing your daily routine and you get down. You don't want that because then you have to get back up. The less time you spend down here, the more time you spend up here. And of course, you grow faster. So your speaking routine, your listening routine, these things need to be done daily. Daily, every single day, my friend. I'm doing the same myself. Every single day, I make sure to speak English. The very reason why I chose to start teaching this language was for this reason. I wanted to make sure I wouldn't lose this language. Don't say it's easy. Just be happy for your progress and then move forward. Also, be patient, my friend. I know how difficult it is because you still see very little progress. If you look at this line, you see that yes, you're improving, but you're improving just a little faster than before. And it's normal, but you have to be patient. Now, do you remember in the beginning of this video, I told you to pay attention to this line? Now, look at it again. The closer you are to the C2 level, the faster your progress. So the more you learn, the easier it gets, the more you start enjoying this language. So you need to be patient because following these recommendations, you will get to your B2 level and beyond. Alright, now you have everything you need to know to move from your B1 level to your B2 level. There's just one thing that's missing. Only one little piece that will change completely the way you approach this language. Understanding your real English level. So for this reason, my friend, I prepared a video right on this topic that gets you to understand how to check your real English level. So thank you so much for watching and I'll meet you in this video. Cheers!