Goal Setting for English Courses
Most goal setting for English courses begins with a test. A score. A level. Something tidy and measurable. But tidy does not always mean useful. Many adult learners — thoughtful, capable professionals who have been “learning English” for years — already carry vocabulary, experience, and quiet competence. What they often lack is integration.
The real question isn’t What level are you? It’s What does your English feel like in your actual life?
When goal setting is built inside an independent English language school, rather than a standardised system, there is room to balance learning with wellbeing and real responsibility.
Goals stop being abstract targets and start becoming practical, human shifts.
Why My English Learners Draw Fish
The Background
Our fish exercise emerged when I was redesigning parts of my coaching to work in a more personalised, independent way — particularly during the period when much of our work moved online and I had space to rethink what assessment was really for.
I needed a form of goal setting for an English course that didn’t reduce someone to a placement score, but still gave both of us clarity.
It had to show a starting point, suggest a realistic direction, and respect the fact that adult learners are balancing work, family, health, and energy alongside their English.
A conventional test simply couldn’t hold all of that.
The Requirements
This form of goal setting for an English course needed to do several things at once. It had to give the learner a clear starting point and a realistic sense of direction. It had to motivate without intimidating. It had to respect existing knowledge rather than expose weakness for the sake of neat scoring. And it had to fit around adult life — energy levels, work pressure, creative practice, family responsibility.
If learning is to be balanced with wellbeing and real-world commitments, then assessment must reflect that balance too.
How to Show YOU What You Know,
and ME What You Need to Know?
Goal Setting Options
I considered the obvious route first. A structured placement test. Grammar diagnostics. Multiple choice questions.
Most language schools use them because they are visually easy to track and administratively efficient — especially when working with a teaching team.
A score can be logged, compared, shared, and monitored over time.
That clarity matters in a collaborative environment.
But efficiency alone isn’t enough. Unless someone is preparing for a formal exam, this kind of goal-setting for an English course often measures what is missing rather than what is present.
It produces neat data, but not always meaningful direction.
If we were going to reject that model, our alternative had to offer the same clarity and traceability — without reducing a human learner to a number.
A New Assessment for a New Type of Course
The solution had to preserve clarity without relying on scores.
Instead of testing learners, I began asking them to represent their English visually — as a fish in an environment of their choosing.
The task is simple, but the explanation is structured and purposeful.
Learners describe the condition of the fish, the space it lives in, what feels strong, what feels restricted, and what would need to change.
This produces a starting point that is specific, personal, and discussable.
It also creates something we can return to later. The image anchors the goals.
The conversation around it provides the diagnostic depth.
The process remains clear and trackable — but it reflects lived experience rather than abstract grading.
A Fishy Solution to English Self-Assessment
The idea surfaced after a small tragedy in my own fish tank. Watching closely what affects whether something thrives or struggles — the condition of the water, the balance of the environment, the invisible pressures — the metaphor became clear. English isn’t just vocabulary and grammar; it behaves more like an ecosystem. Confidence, exposure, opportunity, responsibility, energy, space — all interacting.
Then the whole darn solution was suddenly clear.
I’m a conceptual artist; I’m comfortable tapping into the subconscious for synergetic solutions. Much of my training lies in recognising them when they appear. In that moment, a different approach to goal setting for an English course took shape. If language behaves like an ecosystem, assessment should reflect the health of the whole environment, not just the measurable parts.
Build Your Own Metahphor
Learners are invited to draw their English as a fish in an environment of their choosing.
Some draw a tank that needs cleaning.
Some draw a large fish that has outgrown its space.
Some sketch small, scattered “vocabulary fish” darting without structure.
Others draw a strong fish hiding under a rock.
There are no right answers.
The value lies in the explanation. When learners describe their fish, they begin to articulate what feels constrained, what feels underused, what feels fragile, and what feels ready to expand. The metaphor creates enough distance to speak honestly — often about things that feel harder to admit directly.
In that space, real goal setting for an English course becomes possible.
“It’s an unholy hybrid of fishkeeping, Minecraft, visualization, and ‘can-do’ assessments”.
Ruth, 2023
Goal Setting Solutions
It’s an unholy hybrid of fishkeeping, Minecraft, visualization, and ‘can-do’ assessments.
However, it works.
Course-takers self-assess and clearly express what needs to be prioritized in their learning.
Mindset Matters
This exercise often surfaces things that have been sitting quietly for years.
Fear of sounding foolish.
Avoidance of certain situations.
Frustration at feeling “stuck” despite decades of learning.
Guilt about not doing enough.
When goal setting for an English course begins with a score, those emotional layers remain hidden. When it begins with reflection, they become visible — and workable.
For many adults, the issue is not intelligence or effort. It is accumulated experience. English has become associated with pressure, performance, or unfinished business. The fish metaphor allows learners to externalise that relationship. They can talk about the fish. They can adjust the environment. They can imagine growth without self-criticism.
That shift in mindset is not decorative. It changes the trajectory of the learning itself.
“You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.”
Buckminster Fuller
A Note for English Teachers
For colleagues working in ESOL, this is not an argument against structure or rigour. It is an argument for alignment.
When we design goal setting for an English course, we are defining what we believe language development actually is. If assessment measures discrete grammar points, learners will focus on discrete grammar points. If it measures performance under pressure, they will train for performance. If it begins with reflection and articulation, they will begin with awareness.
As an independent English language school, we have the freedom to design assessment around the learner rather than around institutional reporting structures.
That flexibility is not rebellion; it is responsibility.
We are not trying to fight the existing model. As Buckminster Fuller said,
“You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.”
This is simply a different model — one that still provides clarity and trackability, but through metaphor and conversation rather than scores.
The fish exercise is not soft. It is diagnostic. It reveals perceived gaps, confidence thresholds, communication habits, and emotional barriers. It provides a documented starting point that can be revisited and compared. It allows a teaching team to operate coherently, while keeping the learner at the centre of the design.
That balance matters.
“It’s a motivator, as often it’s easier to think about caring for something than doing something for ourselves.”
Ruth, 2023
The Right Tool for the Wrong Client
There are no wrong answers in the fish exercise. But there are mismatches.
If someone finds the process irritating, unnecessary, or vague, that tells us something important. My work is built for people who are willing to reflect, experiment, and think metaphorically about their learning. Not because they are “creative types” in a narrow sense, but because they are open to examining how their English actually functions in their lives.
As an independent English language school, we are not trying to serve everyone. Traditional courses, structured by levels and formal testing, are excellent for many learners — particularly those who want external benchmarks and clear academic progression. That model works.
This model works differently.
It suits adults who feel that English has become an unfinished project. Professionals who are competent but underusing their language. Learners who don’t need more pressure, but more integration. People who want their English to sit naturally inside their real responsibilities — work, family, health, creativity — rather than compete with them.
If the metaphor feels uncomfortable, we are probably not the right fit.
If it feels strangely accurate, we probably are.
Would it put YOU off?
It might.
Being asked to draw your English rather than take a test can feel unfamiliar. It requires imagination. It requires honesty. It requires stepping slightly outside the standard script of language learning.
That reaction is useful.
If the exercise feels unnecessary or uncomfortable, it probably means you prefer structured benchmarking and external measurement — and there are many strong courses designed around that model.
If, however, the metaphor feels unexpectedly accurate — even a little relieving — that tells you something too.
Goal setting for an English course is not neutral. The way you begin shapes everything that follows.
So yes, it may put some people off.
And that clarity is part of the design.
Are you ready to draw your English-fish?
Before you enrol on another course, before you compare prices, before you take another placement test — pause.
Try drawing your English as a fish.
See what emerges.
Notice what feels:
healthy
crowded
underused
Notice what wants more space.
Goal setting for an English course does not have to begin with a score. It can begin with clarity.
If this exercise leaves you unsure what kind of English support would genuinely suit you next, your next step is not another test — it’s understanding your options.
Useful Resources
A practical guide to navigating different types of English courses, teachers, and learning models — so you invest wisely.
→ Help with English — Where Steadiness Comes Before Strategy
If you want to understand the philosophy behind how we design learning:
→ How we Balance Learning, Wellbeing and Responsibility
→ About Being an Independent Language School
Are You Salmon or Sailboat? A New Way to Consider Language Learning
Because how you begin shapes what you build.
