How to Successfully Complete an italki Language Challenge

I was facing twenty eight days to finish twelve hours of language classes. I knew I could do it because I had already been studying daily alone and was starting feel that I needed guidance.

Last month's challenge started with a public pledge, and a dose of determination that came from failing the January language challenge. [insert lame excuse here]


After I registered for the challenge, italki recommends making a video pledge to show your commitment to your goal and share it with the community of language learners.

Making a public video pledge was simple, easy, and fun! I recorded it on my phone then uploaded it according to the directions italki provides. Immediately, I was getting feedback from native speakers and challenge participants.

This was exactly what I wanted! I was connecting with native speakers that corrected my mistakes and gave me lots of encouragement. This provided more motivation and accountability for achieving my goal.

So, what did I do complete the challenge? I am going to offer a breakdown of my strategy so that you might benefit from it, and potentially use bits, pieces, or all of it to get going strong and finish successfully.

If you don't already have a steady italki teacher, start by taking a few classes with different teachers. In my first week, I took three classes, each with a different teacher, so that I got to know them, their methods, and how well they would benefit me as a learner.

The bonus is that those three hours counted toward my total, so I started completing the challenge just by finding a teacher!

You can do 30 minute trial sessions, or just go for the full hour. Either way, the time all counts toward your completed challenge hours.

After you know who you want to study with, buy one of their session packages to save a little bit of money on the price of lessons. This also locks in those hours so you can schedule sessions with the teacher at your convenience without going through payment every time.

Look at the month and see what is going to be best for your schedule. Italki automatically adjusts the teachers availability schedule to your time zone, so you don't have to think about time differences.

Schedule more classes in the beginning to get you going.

Anyone who has started a new project or tried to develop a new habit knows that you start strong and taper off, losing steam as it seems to get harder and harder to muster up the motivation to do that thing that had you were so inspired to do only a short time ago.

If you front load your sessions, you can taper off and still complete the challenge. Best case scenario, you don't taper off and you CRUSH the challenge and improve even faster!

Note: consider trips, outings and vacations that could impede your progress. I had a week long trip in Tahoe planned for the end of June so I stepped my goal up to finish before that to alleviate the obligation to be in a lesson when I wanted to hang at the beach

Lastly, don't miss a class! You won't get a refund, so set reminders or whatever you have to do to ensure you are online when class time rolls around.

If you follow these simple steps, I guarantee you will be successful with your challenge goal.

Now, go to italki's website and register, if you aren't a member. You can start meeting other native speakers, search teachers and have trials, and learn how the website functions before the next challenge comes around.

What are you waiting for? Go learn a language!

Comment below with any questions, or go to the contact page and send me an email.

Até mais! (See ya later)