Hold My Beer, We're Getting Started!

The most important part of studying is knowing when to stop.

What the fuck is this?

A friend of mine once told me the best way to engage an audience is to swear during the introduction. I’m still not sure if she was joking or not but I’m trying it now. Are you engaged already?

My name is Yanko Tsvetkov. I do a lot of things for a living. One of them is teaching English to an incredibly diverse crowd of students in Valencia, Spain.

Hardly Studying is a digital newspaper created to engage my students outside of the classroom and help them find interesting and intuitive ways to practice English. It’s also supposed to be a repository for all these “interesting articles” I often mention in passing because we don’t have enough time to read together. (Classes are, after all, meant for speaking, not straining our eyes!)

How can Hardly Studying help you improve your English?

The same way a friend can help you have a good time—by being there. Instead of more homework, here you’ll find stuff to read or listen to at your own pace. Maybe some of it will inspire you to continue exploring on your own or spark a conversation with others.

Why is this important?

Because studying in a vacuum is counterproductive. Grammar and vocabulary are incredibly important but they are like kitchen utensils. You can’t learn to cook just by collecting them in a drawer.

Language is something alive. You need to get immersed in it without pressure or obligation. And the only way to achieve this is to read and talk about things that are interesting and inspiring for you personally. I hope you’ll find something like this in Hardly Studying.

So, let’s go!