Anxiety vs. English: How to Deal with Them?

Having Anxiety can be difficult when it comes to preparing for exams. You feel as if your body is going into overdrive, and you go into the “fight or flight” mode. I understand how that feels, but most importantly, I can help you overcome it as I have.

When I was still in school, I struggled a lot with English because of my anxieties. As it is the core language in the United Kingdom's national curriculum, a lot of pressure was put on me and my fellow peers to succeed. This caused me to have symptoms of anxiety; I would get anxious before presentations to the point I would physically be sick and cry. I knew this was not okay, and something needed to change.

After researching to find a suitable method for me, I created this five-step plan:

1. Relax

Everything will be okay. You need to be in a calm state of mind before learning anything new.

2. Set yourself a goal to achieve

Start small and work your way up. There is no need to rush. Good things take time. Setting smaller goals each time will help you achieve them instead of setting the big goal, “learning English quickly.”

3. Watch YouTube videos

Whether you are completely new to English or understand it to a certain degree, YouTube is extremely helpful in regards to learning another language. These videos show you how to pronounce the words using phonics and tell you what they mean. The best part is that you can always go back to them to watch again!

4. Keep a journal

Start writing about your daily activities in a journal, ONLY IN ENGLISH. This will help you to become more acquainted with the English language and allows you to practice and familiarise yourself with English vocabulary—after all, practice is key!

5. Enjoy it

One of the most important things that I found was that you need to enjoy it in order for it to work.

I hope these five steps I have laid out for you help to calm your anxiety and nerves as it helps to elevate your confidence when learning English.

If you think that you prefer learning through an actual teacher so you can engage with them and ask upfront questions, then I suggest that you book a private tutor, like myself, to help you learn English.