Smith’s School of English Soap Box

Students often ask me how they can improve their English…while there are shortcuts to learning anything the true secret to learning anything is simple - desire. Obviously talent, hardwork, practice, tests, friends, traveling all help but in the end desire is the one thing that keeps us going when things get tough. Desire isn’t something can really be taught but a good teacher knows how to inspire each student. What works for one person might not work for another.
When I was young I studied Spanish for 8 years and never really got that good simply because I believed I had no talent for languages. I thought it ran in the Shepherd family as my parents both were useless at languages. But in college I did a study abroad program and it changed my life - I could actually speak a foreign language. I simply wanted to learn so I spent time and energy to learn the different Kanji characters and continually asked questions to improve myself or, to put it another way, I had a desire to learn so I did just that.
From that time I’ve realized no language (and any other thing we want) is really tough - it’s simply a matter of wanting it. So for all those out there wondering if you can learn English - you can. But will you?