Motivation is a phenomenon which includes willingness to take action either because the action is enjoyable, or because it leads towards an accomplishment of other goals. There are two types of motivation: intrinsic and extrinsic. An intrinsically motivated person does an action because it brings joy and satisfaction, while an extrinsically motivated person does an action because completing an action brings a reward. Motivation can be caused by different motives. One of the ways a person can motivate himself/herself is through practising self-talk. The aim of this study was to investigate whether, and in what way, the students of English at the Faculty of Teacher Education managed to maintain motivation and English skills during the two months of online schooling. We investigated eleven students of primary education and English language at the Faculty of Teacher Education in Zagreb. We focused on the ways the participants managed to maintain their motivation. Also, we inquired whether or not the professors influence the participants’ motivation. In addition to that, later on in the research we introduced self-talk to see if positive self-talk would affect participants’ motivation positively. In other words, we wanted to research whether or not self-encouragement is affective. The last thing we focused on was the maintenance of English language skills. We were interested into whether or not and in what way the participants managed to maintain their English language skills during an online learning. The eleven participants (N=11) kept a diary for two months during an online learning. The participants had to write an entry into their diaries every day after their lessons. In the beginning of the research, the participants got general information that included topics they should include in their diaries. The results show that the participants struggled with maintaining their motivation during an online learning. The participants expressed that professors can be a great source of motivation, but can also cause demotivation. When it comes to self-talk, the results show that the participants think it is useful, however it did not increase their motivation significantly. The results show that maintaining English language skills is more difficult during online learning that during face-to-face learning.