Non-Essential Boosters

We talked about Anki in the last four lessons, but what about other methods for learning English? How effective are they? Where should you be spending your time?

Well, immersion is by far the most important activity for learning a language. You wouldn't say, "When I shop for groceries, I sometimes buy food". They're one and the same. Immersion is not just part of language learning—it IS language learning. Everything else supports the immersion, and we call those things boosters.

For the English Tea Break method, we refer to Anki as "the essential booster" because it's crucial for learning vocabulary quickly.

Besides Anki, there are no other boosters that are required for language learning. Other activities are optional, so let's talk about when you might want to use them to assist in your English learning.

When to Use Non-Essential Boosters

Most non-essential boosters give the illusion of progress. They can make you feel like you're learning, when you really aren't. Duolingo, for example, gives you points and the owl dances around. You complete levels and collect stars. It gives you the feeling that you're learning, but really, you're just making progress on the game. Many people play Duolingo for years and never actually learn a new language.

A lot of non-essential boosters work in the same way. You might be completing pages of grammar exercises, but you're probably not learning much English. These activities provide immediate feedback, which feels good and productive, unlike listening to a podcast. However, the podcast gives you real practice listening to native speakers using the language.

So don't fool yourself! Non-essential boosters can help a little, but immersion is the key to learning a language.

That being said, non-essential boosters do have their place. You can use them when you've already done real studying for the day, like when you're lying in bed at night. You can also use them when you're travelling to get a little practice so you don't lose momentum in your studies.

Immersion is great, but doing any one thing for a very long period of time can become boring. Non-essential boosters are great for providing some variety and extra motivation. They help prevent burnout from too much immersion.

Just remember, making progress in non-essential boosters is not the same as making progress in your language learning. If a booster makes you excited to keep learning, use it! But if it becomes your main tool for learning, that's a problem.

Using Non-Essential Boosters Alongside Immersion

As we said, you can skip non-essential boosters entirely, but you might be interested in them for the reasons we described (variety, motivation, fun, preventing burnout, practice when you're unable to immerse, etc.).

I tried all of the non-essential boosters listed below. There are some that I continued using and some that I dropped. Here's how immersion and boosters fit into my schedule when I was learning French:

• When I woke up in the morning, I'd start my day by texting my French friends.
• Then, I'd turn on my computer to do my Anki reviews.
• At lunch time, I'd do a lesson from my Assimil textbook, which took around 15 minutes.
• I listened to French podcasts or French music at the gym, during walks, or while driving.
• While eating dinner and for a few hours after eating, I'd immerse with YouTube or Netflix.
• Then, I'd reply to my French friends again at night.
• Sometimes I'd do a couple of Duolingo lessons or a few rounds of Clozemaster before falling asleep.

I forgot to mention, from the moment I woke up to the moment I went to bed, the TV was playing my passive listening YouTube playlist in the background. Passing listening means having the language in the background, even if you're not paying full attention. We'll talk that more in the Input chapter, but basically, there was never a time when I wasn't hearing the French language (unless I briefly muted the TV for a work meeting).

That schedule and all of those different immersion and booster activities worked really well for me. Variety is exciting for the brain, so switching activities every couple of hours is a good idea for helping to maintain focus.

Feel free to experiment with the different free slots in your day, like when you're travelling to work or eating meals. Even if you can't immerse, there's likely a booster that will fit into each of those free slots.

All Non-Essential Boosters

Here's a list of all of the commonly used boosters for learning a language:

Grammar Study

• Textbooks - Assimil is pretty good. You get a physical book and audio files. I can't recommend other textbooks because I haven't used them, but if they come with audio files, the combination of reading and listening is helpful (also visit our Audiobooks Archive). If you want a textbook, don't pay too much; some can be really expensive.
• Grammar Exercises/Quizzes - These are mostly useless. Quizzes can be cool for motivation or to tell you where you need to improve, but they don't directly help you improve. Grammar exercises will teach you formal English rules like what a "subjunctive" is, but 99% of Americans don't know what that is, and they're still fluent in English, so it's not worth the time to learn those rules.
• Grammar Videos - There are tons and tons of videos on YouTube with titles like "Stop Saying These 5 Things That Make Americans Cringe". These videos might be entertaining, but they don't teach anything useful. Immersion will automatically teach you to avoid saying things that make Americans cringe.

Language-Learning Game Apps

Game apps are good for getting started learning a language because they "hold your hand", meaning they provide a lot of guidance. However, after a couple of weeks of study, you shouldn't rely on this hand-holding anymore. Game apps prioritize entertainment over teaching, but they can offer some minor benefits. Duolingo is good for getting started with a new language. Clozemaster is fine for advanced learners who want a break from immersion.

Phrasebooks

Just no. Don't use these, please. Phrasebooks teach you phrases like "Where is the bathroom?" What happens when the other person responds? You'll have only learned one side of the conversation. They're too formal too. If you want to sound natural, phrasebooks are the enemy.

Journaling

Journaling can be cool. It's a good idea to put your English to use. We'll talk about this more in the Output chapter, but you can play around with English journaling in the meantime. If you don't have a strong English vocabulary yet, you could write in Spanglish (Spanish + English), Franglish (French + English), or whatever your native language is for the words that you don't know in English.

Music

This one is hard for me because I'm a musician. I WANT to say that music is a great tool for learning English, but unfortunately, like game apps, it's more entertainment than education. Music uses a lot of metaphorical or meaningless lyrics.

Reddit/Discord/Forums

These are some good non-essential boosters because you learn how real people use the language in a written form. You'll learn that "lol" and "lmao" mean someone is laughing, as well as all of the other English acronyms that we use online. Keep in mind, though We don't speak the way we write. Saying "lol" aloud would be weird (sometimes I say it aloud to be weird on purpose 😜). Also, people online can be mean, but if you say "English isn't my first language", they will usually be more patient. Or, feel free to just "lurk", which means to read without making your own comments.

iTalki/Tutoring

For advanced learners, a tutor can be helpful, but beginners shouldn't waste their money here. Having a tutor tell you what to improve can be really beneficial, but beginners need to improve EVERYTHING, so you'd be paying to be told something that you already know. The quality of tutors varies a lot. In my experience, a lot of them focus too much on grammar rules. If you'd like some help from me, you can visit the Language Consulting page, where I offer personalized guidance.

Language Partners

I bought the lifetime membership to HelloTalk because I really enjoyed that app! I made friends in France and with people all over the world. I even found my soon-to-be wife on HelloTalk. For meeting people and learning about culture, it's awesome. It's great for motivation. But for actually learning a language, it's not a very good tool. With language partners, you spend half the time communicating in your native language (because your partner wants to learn it), so that time is somewhat wasted. The other problem is consistency. It's really hard to find people—especially in other time zones—who are willing to talk and help you improve over a long period of time. So, it's good for motivation, friends, and learning about culture, but not so good for language study. Tandem is another option.

English Classes

Like tutors, the benefits of these can vary widely. For in-person classes, prices can be high and usually give you too little practice. Coming from personal experience: a once-a-week class will not teach you a language. They do provide the benefit of consistency, though, as you're required to show up. But on their own, they aren't enough to teach you English, so make sure these are used as boosters alongside your immersion and Anki.

Conclusion

None of these non-essential boosters will HARM your English studies (except maybe phrasebooks), and they might help you learn a little bit. Just remember, these are side dishes, not the main course of the meal. In the next chapter, we'll talk about the input side of immersion, but for now, play around with these activities to see what you like. Learn which ones fit into the various periods of free time throughout your day.

We'll be putting together a new Action Plan in the next lesson, which will help you to incorporate some boosters into your study time. See you there!