In my previous post, I looked at what I had achieved over 2025. It was a rather long read, but in this post I am sharing five personal aims for the New Year. Obviously, most people tend to share the usual resolutions: stop smoking, improve their health, change their career. However, I am keeping my resolutions more grounded, but let’s start now.

1. Study Korean Language

The first aim for the New Year is to take my Korean language study a little more serious. I currently am rather passive when it comes to studying the language, with guilt starting to seep in, so I pick up a Korean language book and then study some new grammar structure or vocabulary. This is usually short lived and then I return to the rather tired and untested passiveness of studying Korean.

What I am aiming to do is studying Korean each day for a minimum of 30 minutes. It may not seem a lot but I don’t necessarily want to burn out in the first week and give up. The next question is how I intend to study. Here are my initial thoughts, but if you have any suggestions do let me know.

  • Study new grammar structures
  • Learn more vocabulary, particularly collocations
  • Read newspaper articles
  • Watch Korean TV movies and dramas
  • Practise more actively by chatting to Korean family and friends more often
  • Messaging Korean family and friends

I am not necessarily going to use purely technology when it comes down to studying Korean, but I will stick to old methods such as a physical Korean dictionary, using physical flashcards, pens and paper, writing by hand, and using physical books. I am no luddite but I feel that the digitalisation may not necessarily help with remembering the language, so I will stick to physical objects with batteries not included.

2. Practising my Saxophone

One thing that I have enjoyed recently is my music. It has been a rather quiet time as I try to discover more musicians in South Korea, particularly with jazz music. My saxophone has been collecting dust over the past two years, but it was certainly nice to pick it up again and play with Korean musicians this year. Thus, I have a new aim and that is to practise my saxophone everyday for a minimum of 30 minutes.

For anyone who is musically inclined, you will know the importance of regular practice when you play a physical instrument so that you don’t feel rusty. I used to play rather regularly when I was in the UK and was fortunate enough to play with Sussex Jazz Orchestra as well as various other regional bands and orchestras. I felt that I was truly starting to improve but when I moved to Korea, I lost all my musical connections and felt like I was back at the beginning again so I gave up any regular practice.

There are a couple things that I would do to get back on track with my music which will include playing with other musicians at a jazz jam in Seoul, playing scales and arpeggios against backing tracks at home, listening to more jazz and transcribing solos and songs, as well as learning some of the classic jazz standards by heart. Fortunately, having the chance to play music with other artists in South Korea will also offer an opportunity for me to practise speaking in Korean.

3. Travel in South Korea

Something that I have not necessarily done is to travel around South Korea. I have visit many familiar places in this wonderful country, but I have not really travelled much. Part of this reason is not having a car so I feel little motivation to get out and about. However, it was nice to travel with family to Daecheon Beach (대천 해수욕장) with family and there are some places that I would like to visit in the coming year which include:

  • Namhae (남해) which is a popular southern coastal village that is famed for its German village
  • Gapyeong (가평) where there is a family friend whom we haven’t seen since returning to South Korea
  • Donghae (동해) that is famed for its eastern beach and seafood
  • Mokpo (목포) which is a small island on the far south western region of Korea
  • Port Hamilton (거문도) which is a small island that was occupied by the British in the late 1800s for a short period of time and where there were a small British naval disaster

There will obviously be more places that I would like to visit in the meantime in South Korea but the aforementioned places are those that first come to mind.

4. Become an Independent Online Educational Trainer

One key aim that I am hoping to achieve in the New Year is establishing myself as an independent online educational trainer. I created a video at the end of November where I shared my vision, so I shall be working in the background to create more online content to help others gain the skills so they are able to deliver quality lessons to their students.

What I envisage to share would be short online courses, develop more materials and lessons for other teachers on my website (I started sharing downloadable lesson content for a small fee here on ELT Experiences), share more YouTube Member Only videos, as well as giving other online educators a roadmap for their online tutoring business. So, keep an eye on this website for more content in the New Year.

If this is of interest, do get in touch and let me know what you would like to gain from such courses or content in the New Year.

5. Posting More Articles on ELT Experiences

Here is the last aim for 2026, which is related to something that I have failed to do regularly over the past year is write more posts on my personal website, which I feel rather guilty to be honest. Actually, I focused more on my YouTube Channel and I have seen it grow from just over 20,000 to over 24,000 subscribers this year alone. Thus, I would like to write more posts here to align with my video content, which is connected to my previous four aims.

I would like to share my experiences of learning Korean, practising my saxophone, travelling around South Korea, as well as share posts and articles related to online education here on ELT Experiences (including the creation of more downloadable lesson content). Actually, I cleaned out my website from the previous posts that I wrote as it was starting to look a little messy, but I will be sharing more of myself and personal development over the coming year.

It will be nice to organise my posts depending on the content in the coming year, but let’s see how it evolves.

So what are your aims for 2026? What would you like to achieve in the coming year? Please do share your ideas and objectives in the comments.