1. What do you want to learn this year?
Transcript item
Kirk: This year I want to recover the low B2 level I used to have in speaking the Tibetan language. It's been many years since I used it and I think I'm probably at a low A2 level right now. Er, I have some books that I plan to use and I'm sure I can find some resources online and I think I'd like to get a tutor as well.
Elena: I have to admit that I'm not a good cook, so this year I would like to, er, learn my family recipes from my grandmothers. I will help them to prepare tortellini, lasagne or olive ascalana for our Sunday lunches.
Stephen: So whenever I'm not at work, you can usually find me at my workshop messing around with motorcycles. Erm, now I can do a lot of stuff on a motorbike, but the one thing I still can't really do is engine timing. And what I mean by that is inside this mess there's a bunch of gears and timing chains and levers and valves and stuff. And they all have to align in a really, really specific way. And it's kind of one of the last things that I still need to actually get the help of a qualified mechanic to do. So I hope in 2026 I can take apart enough engines and watch enough YouTube videos to finally be able to get around it myself!
Noha: Hello, in 2026 I'm hoping to explore strength training as a way of maintaining and hopefully enhancing my muscle mass. And because I'm aware that small but regular steps are the key to consistency, I'm going to start … ease myself into it by starting with low-intensity strength training such as cycling and wall push-ups and then slowly working my way up to probably about mid-intensity strength training such as planks and chair dips.
Paul: So one thing I'd like to get better at is gardening, so I have a garden, but I'd really like to know what plants to put in the garden and when and when to plant them and planting bulbs, erm, so that we get flowers all year round. I don't know if that's possible. Erm, but the other thing I'd like to learn is Catalan, or at least get better at Catalan 'cause I'm not very good at it. So I thought I could combine the two things because we have neighbours who are retired, erm, who live in our community, erm, who are Catalan and who know a lot about gardens, and so my plan is to, erm, to try and ask the neighbours and speak to them in Catalan and get advice from them on how to, erm, how to get better at gardening, er, and what to, er, what to plant and when.
Kirk: This year I'd really like to learn how to do basic welding. Erm, I've found out about a place where you can take a class in it, not too far from home. And recently a colleague of mine also mentioned that her husband knows how to weld, so I'm thinking of pursuing one of those two avenues to, er, tp learn the basics.
In this video, you can listen to some people talking about things they want to learn or get better at in 2026 and how they plan to reach their goals. Here are some of the phrases they used.
This year I want to …
I have some books that I plan to use.
I can find some resources online.
I think I'd like to get a tutor as well.I have to admit that …
I would like to ...I still can't really do ...
I hope in 2026 I can ...I'm hoping to explore ...
I'm going to ease myself into it by ...One thing I'd like to get better at is …
The other thing I'd like to learn is …
I thought I could combine the two things because ...I've found out about a place where I can take a class in ...
I'm thinking of pursuing one of those two avenues to learn the basics.
We want to hear from you!
- Do you want to learn something new or get better at something in 2026?
- How do you plan to reach your goals?
Tell us in the comments! If you want to practise speaking, you can record your response using SpeakPipe voice recorder and post a link to the recording in your comment.
Go to SpeakPipe voice recorder
* Recordings are kept on a SpeakPipe server. Please don't include any music in your recording.
This year, I want to feel more confident in English.
In theory, I'm at B1 level, but I feel like I speak like a primary school student.
But I'm also learning Hungarian, and I love Hungary and the Hungarian language.
In summer, I want to go to a summer university (or summer school) in Szeged.
So I need to be good at English.
And I think… I’ve found the best teacher, for both English and Hungarian, in one person.
I want to get better at several areas this year. The first one is English. I would like to improve my listening and speaking skills most. I plan to continue learning English every day. To reach my goal I listen to a podcast or watch a video in English. I also read something and sometimes write comments, like today. The second one is to do exercises to stay in shape. I try to do this three times a week and to walk a lot. The third one is cooking. I like baking and would like to improve my skills. I try to bake a few times a month to get better at it. The main thing to reach a goal is consistency.
In 2026, I want to improve my language skills, particularly English and French. I have found that English is one of the most used languages in the world. In my academic life, it is not merely about communication, but to be able to continue studying abroad. Nowadays, I have seen that many people have already become proficient in it. It emphasizes how crucial it is to master this language. English becomes one of the requirements to unlock wider opportunities. It makes me realize that I do not have much time anymore, and must start learning it seriously. Even though I have the basics of English, it is not enough to bring it abroad. Hence, it becomes the goal that I have to reach for the 2026 wish list, that is advancing my english. Besides, I also have an enormous interest and willingness to learn French. I learnt this language for the first time in high school, five years ago, and I am still learning it independently. Moreover, I see French as one of the official languages in the United Nations as well. My background in international relations will need French to strengthen my capabilities. Therefore, I have to improve my language skills by 2026.
I plan to reach my goal by setting regularly schedule and keeping practice everyday. I have British Council website and ChatGPT to help my English writing. Also, applications like Character AI and Stimuler to practice speaking, and podcast on youtube for listening sessions. For French, I only have one application to help me, that is Duolingo, but it helps me a lot so far. I do believe that plans will only be meaningful if there is consistency. It means I have to prepare every schedule and material in detail, which I pursue to set.
I put the recording link. I hope you can give me some feedback. Thank You
https://www.speakpipe.com/voice-recorder/msg/vtpmc5e5e3evia7b
Hi 😊 I put my recording , I entreduce my self in it , enjoy it ,
https://www.speakpipe.com/voice-recorder/msg/umkj2386u7r7bqwe .
This year, I plan to improve myself in Enlish, read more books and learn many skills especially digital skills, I also want to manage my life to get more goals and fulfil my dreams
https://www.speakpipe.com/voice-recorder/msg/rqagh4iqqt7of4h2 please listen to my record and give me your feedback and i want to ask any one listen to my record which country I was from ?
i think there are alot of grammar issues in my comment. sorry !
You're from Egypt, good luck in your way to perfect English speaker
In 2026, I hope I can visit England to better practice English. I'm also willing to keep up the work in order to enhance my speaking and listening skills.
Hi alleche.bouale!
Welcome to the Learning hub and thank you for your comment. Whereabouts in England would you like to visit. Would you rather do a course somewhere or maybe stay with a family? We have lots of practice listening activities you could try - https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/skills/listening - which come in different levels and topics so I hope you can find something interesting to listen to, as this is key when it comes to listening to another language! Good luck.
~ Tina ツ
LearnEnglish team
Hi Tina Pole! Thank you for your tips and advices, and especially for your broad smile of a beautiful mind. As a mathematician, I'll be very happy if I can visit Oxford University, where I've some old acquaintances. I also would prefer to stay with a family for a total immersion and a good practice of listening and speaking.
This year, I would like to further develop my English language proficiency, especially in advanced speaking and pronunciation, to sound more natural and confident.
I am also interested in improving my teaching methodology, classroom communication, and assessment strategies.
Additionally, I would like to learn how to integrate technology and AI tools effectively into English language teaching to create more engaging and meaningful learning experiences for my students.
Hi ReemSallq,
It sounds as if you have a lot of excellent goals for your personal and professional development this year.
You may like to join monthly webinars and find other useful resources on the British Council's TeachingEnglish website.
https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/
Good luck with it all!
Best wishes,
Jo (LearnEnglish team)
I plan to take the IELTS exam soon, as I have received a Conditional Offer from the University of Manchester for the MSc Management and Information Systems: Change and Development program with the Equity Merit Scholarship for September 2026 entry.
The condition requires me to take the IELTS exam and submit a result with an overall band score of 7.0, with no individual skill below 6.5. I have already started preparing for the IELTS Academic exam and I hope to achieve this score.
As I am from a developing country (Ethiopia), I would greatly appreciate any support, either by sharing IELTS preparation resources or assisting with the exam fee.
Thank you very much for your help!
Happy New Year 2026!
Hello AzmeraA,
Good luck with your preparation! I can give you a couple of links to sites which will be useful. The first is the preparation section of the main IELTS site:
https://ielts.org/take-a-test/preparation-resources
You can find a lot of information there as well as materials and free practice tests which you can take to assess your progress. There are also sample answers for you to review.
You can find similar materials on the British Council's main IELTS site:
https://takeielts.britishcouncil.org/
I hope those are useful to you. Good luck once again!
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Peter,
Thank you very much for your kind encouragement and for sharing these useful IELTS preparation resources. I really appreciate the links and will definitely use them to assess my progress and improve my skills.
Thanks again for your support.
Best regards,
Azmera Abebe
Im abeer I have many goals i hope i could achieve in 2026, but the most important one is level up my english level because I'm stuck in B1level for a long time due to not continuing study but this year is deferent i will focus more on my skills to find a good job ,other thing I'd to learn is do exercises and make it a daily routine even if just few minutes at the beginning. I hope i could achieve my goals
Wish me luck
I want to improve my language skills really I want to be a native speaker .
So I’m trying to find the sources that helping me.
I think I’m in the right place but still I don’t know from where should I start to learn with right way
Hi Abrariii24,
Improving language skills is a great goal, and wanting to sound like a native speaker means that you're super motivated! In my opinion though, what really matters most is feeling confident and being able to communicate clearly.
I hope that the materials on the LearnEnglish website will help you work towards your goal. You'll find skills and grammar activities that are specially created for different levels. Start with the level you think you're at, and go up or down if you find them too easy or too challenging.
The Learning hub is a space where you can really put your skills into practice, by reading and listening to people using real-life English. You can record a voice message to practice your speaking skils and share your ideas with other people from around the world!
Good luck reaching your goal, and enjoy your learning journey :-)
Best wishes,
Jo (LearnEnglish team)
In this year 2025, I would like to upgrade some languages skills. I'm trying to speak fluently English and Korean. Also my professional job is not stable to keep going on like this. So I am learning about Business English and other management parts by self- study. My plans for 2025 is not gonna completely achieve because of our country and politics issues. But I hope things are going to better soon. Wish me luck.
As many of learners here, I want to become very fluent and reach a professional English level, as well, I'd like to move to a full English environment country to study a Master in Finance and cope my lack of fluency in the language
In this year I want to improve my English level.now this is my goal.
I woukd like to loose 3 kg's by the end of March. I wI'll do that by going to the gym at least ttwice a wweekly.
Hi, I want to get better at listening this year. So i plan to start with SBS Podcast and listen to one episode daily.
In 2025 I want to get better at setting personal boundaries. That have been the topic I started to work at in 2024 and I'm going to continue the task this year. Boundaries bring peace to my life. I feel myself much more grounded than I used to be.
In order to achieve this goal I'm going to read the book "Set boundaries, find peace", take notes and make boundaries my daily practice. I hope to improve my level.
The second thing I would like to concentrate on is dancing. I used to dance a lot when I was younger. I would like to bring back to my life those feelings and state of mind and body I had when dancing was my daily habit. I don't have an actual plan yet. But I hope to start this old-new habit again.
Hi Roslana,
Those sound like great goals. I hadn't heard of the book you mention, so I've just searched it online and it looks really interesting.
Have fun dancing! Is it a particular type of dance that you do?
Best wishes,
Jo (LearnEnglish team)
In 2025, I have plan to improve my English, find a new hobby, e.g., dancing maybe. I hope this year will be full of travels around the world because I want to discover beautiful places.
Hi Wera28,
I hope that you enjoy all the new things you're learning this year ... and that you plan to practise your English here with us in the Learning hub!
I also love planning (and dreaming about) trips to different places. Which ones are top of your wish list?
Best wishes,
Jo (LearnEnglish team)
In 2025, I want to be better in English. As a teacher, I want to improve my English level and update teaching techniques to make my lessons better and help my students. I'm planning to take online TESOL course and keep doing journal in English. Also my concentration is pretty bad now, easily be distracted, so I need to set time and follow schedules to finish my works.
Hi NguyenMy,
Good luck with it all! Keeping a journal is a great way of reflecting and tracking progress :-)
The British Council TeachingEnglish website has lots of great resources to help with professional development.
https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/
Best wishes,
Jo (LearnEnglish team)
In 2025, I want to get an approval for COE for studying abroad in Japan and I am learning languages like English, Japanese, Spanish and Korean. In these, I want to speak English and Japanese fluently. I am also trying to be that.
Moreover, I have stress for family problems. Therefore, I want this problem to end in January completely. And I am trying to build my body healthy and pretty. I want to get opportunities in my educational field. And I also want to meet my life partner. I believe that Universe's timing is not a joke.
Hi summer,
Thanks for sharing your comment with us. Good luck for reaching your goal of studing in Japan.
Wishing you a very happy and healthy 2025 :-)
Best wishes,
Jo (LearnEnglish team)
Of course, my new year's goal is the same as majority of comments below and concerns English skills. I really need pass IELTS so that I can start a getting licence process. Although my skills and confidence grow, I get stonned then I try to do written task with time limit even at home. So.. I wish I had enough power to overcome myself :)
Hi Worm!
Good luck with your English studies and I hope your confidence grows so that you get a good mark in your IELTS test. Do you have a date for it already?
~ Tina ツ
LearnEnglish team
My goal in 2025 improving my English language by practicing in many way and i hope to reach it or to be like a native, also I'm i want to improve my skills and to my career in Network associate by taking CCNA certified, I've already subscribed in course online
Hi Na33m,
Good luck accomplishing your learning and professional goals :-)
Best wishes,
Jo (LearnEnglish team)
This year I would like to improve my English skills. So, I start with a plan to pick up the basics by trying and using free links rthat are related to English. Currently, I'm working as a teacher at International School. At first, I didn't like that job too much , looking back on it, there's just so much to learn English and my mind change into be a great teacher. Therefore, I would like yo get better at teaching English in 2025.
Hi Wint Shwe Yee,
As an English teacher myself, I totally agree with you - there's so much to learn to become a great teacher, but it sounds as if you are well on the way!
Do you use the British Council's site for teachers? You'll find articles, live events and much more to help with your professional development.
https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/
Good luck!
Jo (LearnEnglish team)
One of my goals for 2025 is to improve my English and practice it as a habit. The other is to be a better developer, so I want to get into the habit of practicing let codes every day and do more projects.
Hi Anne-bug,
You mention practising English as a habit. I think it's a really good idea to try to incorporate English practice into your everyday routine. I've just read a great book called Atomic Habits by James Clear. Have you heard of it? He explains the best way to build good habits. If you search online, you can find a summary of the book and explanations of his ideas.
Good luck with your learning goals!
Jo (LearnEnglish team)
Hello everyone :)
One of my goals in 2025 is to improve my English especially at speaking and to widen the range of new words. I'm good at writing as at my work I mainly communicate with people abroad but mostly in a written form. When I'm writing I have more time to compile my sentence and to express myself as clear as I can but when I'm speaking I feel pretty insecure and not so confident. I'll try to listen more podcast or watch videos in English as well as I'm going to read some books in English. I also would like to improve my grammar and to fill some gaps :). In order to succeed in this I plan to visit Learning hub more often as well as I'm considering to take some online classes.
Hi Panny,
I'm really happy to read that you're going to visit the Learning hub regularly. It's great to see you here. It's totally normal to feel less confident in speaking than in writing. To gain confidence, you could practise by talking in front of the mirror, or record yourself speaking on your phone. Perhaps next time you'd like to record a voice message to share with us? Making small steps will gradually bring you closer to your goal :-)
Good luck!
Jo (LearnEnglish team)
I want to iimprove my English this year, so l will do my best to reach my goal
Hi SaNa Ziz ❤
That's great that you want to improve your English this year, what sort of things will you do to try and improve your English skills? Did you see my colleague, Jo, in our live event this week? It was all about achieving your goals. It's available to watch on our Community events page. I hope it gives you some more ideas!
~ Tina ツ
LearnEnglish team
In 2025, I want to improve my fluency in English. I'm looking for native speakers in English who might want to have a chat from time to time online. Maybe someone looking for the same in Spanish... we might help each other. I'm optimistic about this. Meanwhile, I'll be practicing using ELSA Speak.
Hi Felix,
I'd love to know more about ELSA as I've not heard of it before. Is it an app? I have a similar problem as I'm trying to improve my Italian skills, especially my speaking, so I am thinking of trying to find an evening class nearby. I've also started watching Italian films and TV series with English subtitles, they have to be easy plots to follow so that I understand what is going on but it's quite a good way of listening to 'natural Italian'. ツ
Good luck and I hope you achieve your goals this year.
Best wishes,
~ Tina
LearnEnglish team
I want to improve my English in 2025. I also started doing sports and need to work on my health. I plan to return to studying programming, in particular, to complete a course on Figma.
Hi Vodyk!
Good luck in your studying and I hope you succeed in returning to programming and completing the course on Figma.
Best wishes,
~ Tina ツ
LearnEnglish team
My goal for the new year is to onprove my Englis. I plan to learn with britishcouncil. an app to pick up the basics. I am going to do yoga in englisch. I also want to watch English shows and listen to podcasts to get a better sense of how the language is used in everyday life.
Hi Natalie,
I think it's a great idea to do other activities, such as yoga, in English. Doing something you enjoy whilst practising your English will make it even more motivating.
Good luck, and enjoy your learning journey :-)
Best wishes,
Jo (LearnEnglish team)