The Ways of Improving your English
All English learners want to improve their English, but as you know, it
can be difficult! For you to learn, you need to work on all areas.
The four main areas for you to focus on are: Reading, Writing, Speaking,
and Listening. My English Teaching Techniques promote these 'core skills' because all need
to be worked on for you to learn English well.
Here are some proven ways to help you learn. Good Luck!
Speaking
Speak
as often and as much as possible! This is the best way to learn English! There
is nothing better than conversation to help you improve. Whereas, you can
practise reading, writing, and listening on your own, it’s obviously better to
speak English with someone. The best way to do this is to be in an English
speaking environment.
The
quickest way to learn English is to surround yourself with English speakers.
Also, get into the habit of thinking in English, don’t translate from your own
language into English, it will slow you down. When you talk, use the sentences
which instantly and naturally feel right to you, these are often the correct
ones. Many students learn to develop an ‘intuition’ about English, use yours
and trust it.
This
might sound a little strange and embarrassing at first, but record yourself
talking and listen to your own pronunciation, talking speed and the flow of
your speaking. It will give you a great chance to see the areas you need to work
on. Finally, it’s fun to sing in English, so learn some English songs and sing
your heart out!
Listening
This
really is a skill that needs to be worked on everyday. Like speaking, it’s
better for you to be in a totally English speaking environment. Full immersion
is the best way for you to improve your level.
It’s
also good to watch TV shows, or movies in English. The news can be difficult to
learn from for level students, but the more you listen the more you’ll pick up.
As an exercise, it’s good to have something you can listen to over and over
again. For example, a DVD can be repeated whereas a news report can only be
heard once. When listening to something more than once; first, try to catch the
general meaning, then, listen a second time for more in-depth information.
Learn
to ’shadow’ using a DVD or CD, listen and repeat what you hear said. It’s
important to remember that a native English speaker is not going to repeat
something 10 times for you to understand, so as a long term goal, you must
focus on learning to get your listening right first time.
Here
are another couple of important things to think about.
Reading
Reading
English is something you can do to help you learn on your own, outside of the
classroom. Have a dictionary with you (English to English is the best.) to look
up new words and then write them down in a notebook. Try to use these new words
in conversation, it's a great way to learn.
Newspapers
are good for higher level students, so for lower levels try reading children’s
stories or books which have been especially written for English learners. You
won’t learn much if you choose a book that is too difficult or too easy. You
should find something that will be challenging, fun, and you can learn well
from.
When
you read don’t worry about trying to understand every word, don’t keep reaching
for the dictionary every few seconds! Instead, try and understand the general
meaning of the text first and then re-read it for more detail. For words you
don’t understand, try learning how to guess the meaning from the context. Look
at the other words in the sentence; they will give you clues as to its meaning.
Check to see if the English word is a verb, a noun or an adjective. The internet
is full of stuff you can read and learn from.
Writing
Try
keeping a diary; write something in English in it every day, even if it’s very
simple. Start with small sentences and make them longer. Again, the internet is
a great way to help. Try to make friends online, visit chat rooms, forums, or
post comments on blogs. These are all useful tools for you to learn well from.
Writing
gives you a good chance to review words you have learned in the past, and
allows you the time to think about grammar as you write. Go back and review
anything you might have written in the past,when your English was at a lower
level, and try to find any mistakes you made.
Think
about writing a short story or even a poem; if you have a teacher, he or she,
will be happy to check it for you.
Mistakes
None
of us want to make mistakes in front of others; however, your mistakes are very
important and will actually help you learn English. The key is, not to be
afraid to make mistakes. Don’t waste a chance to speak English because you were
too nervous about making a mistake. This is especially true if you study in an
English language school, teachers want to hear your mistakes, so they can
correct them for you. Don’t be shy; be confident, having an ‘I can do it’
attitude will help you learn. Above all, try not to worry, learning English
should be fun! The more fun you have, the easier you will learn!
Goals
Set
yourself a goal and keep it in mind, it will motivate you to learn. For
example, think about why you have started to learn English. Do you need to
learn English, to pass a test, for business, to travel or to watch movies?
Whatever the reason, you’ll find that you work harder when you focus on a
target. Choose a goal that you want to achieve and then create a time-frame to
achieve it by. Plan what you want to be able to do with your English ability by
this time next year or in six months. Make sure that your goal is realistic and
that you keep working towards it. It’s worth making plans to take an English
test, so you have something very real you need to learn English for. Whatever
you decide to do, don't give up!
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Thank you