7 Ways to Get Back into English for Psychologists Post-Summer

Disconnecting completely over the summer break is key for mental and physical wellbeing. This much-needed change of pace often brings us clarity, joy and a renewed sense of purpose.

But if you haven’t used English at all for a couple of months (whoops!), you may come back struggling to focus and wondering where to begin.

 Don’t worry! You’re not alone- and there are plenty of ways to reconnect with the language at your own pace.

Here are seven tips that can help you settle back into enjoyable, sustainable and effective English learning habits and get closer (or back!) to working with English-speaking clients.

1.        Ease back into a (flexible) routine

The first couple of weeks after the summer break can be tough. From putting together a work schedule to catching up on household chores, helping your kids transition back to school, and getting back into healthy habits, you’ll likely be stretched thin already.  

On top of all that, after crickets in July and August, it sometimes feels like therapy clients all rush to start a process at the same time in September.

If you’re excited to get back into English straight away, that’s wonderful! Just make sure you also give yourself plenty of time and space to reestablish your routine outside of English too.

2.        Explore or reaffirm your big “why”

How would working with English-speaking clients actually impact your life? Is it that it would help you to move abroad, unlock a wider range of work opportunities, give you the chance to connect with people from another culture, be a way to grow your professional experience, or is it something else entirely? And how would achieving your specific goal make you feel?

The clearer this answer is, the more likely you’ll commit to putting in time and effort to prepare for therapy sessions in English.

3.        Define your priorities

To focus, stay motivated and reduce overwhelm, I highly recommend prioritizing some language skills over others. You could choose the skills you personally find more challenging, or the key advanced language skills that therapy requires.

For instance, my students often need to broaden their range of vocabulary to communicate with greater precision and less hesitation. They also frequently want to work on confidence and accuracy when speaking. Reading comprehension skills, or writing,  on the other hand, don’t tend to be an immediate priority for the mental health professionals I work with.

Take a moment to write down a list of 2-3 of your priorities. It could be speaking fluency, pronunciation, listening comprehension, grammar, or anything else that comes to mind – there are no wrong answers here. Each student has unique goals and needs.

4.        Reconnect with the pleasure of learning

Now that you’ve thought about what you want to work on, what are some fun ways you can do that?

Channelling intrinsic motivation is key to long-term learning. In other words, choosing activities that you really look forward to makes your learning practice more sustainable and effective.

Some people are competitive and love to challenge themselves, for example by building their own tests based on the new vocabulary they’ve discovered. Others prefer listening to a therapy podcast on the way to work or cuddling up with their partner on the couch to watch an episode of In Treatment.

As for classes, private ones are a great fit for people who need greater flexibility, whereas group classes are a wonderful way to connect with other professionals.

I would encourage you to keep an open mind and experiment with different techniques, changing things up if you get bored.

5.        Set up a pleasurable learning environment

I’ve always loved the sensory experiences involved in back-to-school shopping. The sharp smell of fresh gluesticks and new notebooks, making wild scribbles to test different coloured pens and markers, holding folders to compare their weight, thicknesses and sizes … This always gets me excited about learning. Before the academic year fully starts, I also fully clear out and tidy my desk drawers (though they don’t stay organized for long…).

Perhaps for you, it might be about creating a cosy little space where you can study, undisturbed. A plant or two, a scented candle, or a comfortable armchair can get you looking forward to learning again.

6.        Explicitly make time for English in your calendar

Whether you use an old-fashioned paper diary or a program like Google Calendar, I’d recommend writing down three things:

• The exact times at which you’re going to work on your English

• The amount of time you’ll dedicate to the activity

• The enjoyable or interesting task you’re going to do (remember tip number 4!)

This may seem overly restrictive. As we all know, though, life has a habit of getting in the way of our goals. Taking note of what you’ll do and when you’ll do it (even if you end up changing plans!) makes it more likely to happen.

What if you only have 10 to 15 minutes to practice on any given day? That’s great! Having shorter and more frequent study sessions is more effective (see tip number 2 in this blog post).

7.        (Try to) be kind to yourself

After the summer holidays, you may notice a drop in your English skills. This is completely normal; it’s known as summer learning loss.

Because of this, you may want to manage your expectations. Schedule shorter study sessions, with frequent breaks. Expect to make more mistakes or hesitate a little more when speaking. Allow any feelings of frustration or discouragement to come up. If you notice a narrative about having lost your level of English or being lazy or bad for not practising over the summer, observe it and see if you can gently let it go.

Just like our level of physical fitness, our language abilities vary a bit, depending on how frequently we use the language. Starting to learn again after the summer can be difficult, but it’s also exciting to reconnect with our goals after taking some well-deserved time off.

If you want support during this process, why not sign up for a free consultation? During our no-pressure call, we tackle tips 2, 3 and 4 together. You come away with personalized feedback on your language skills and ideas on how to prepare to work with English-speaking clients.  You can sign up here.