How To Learn And Improve English
English is a widely spoken language across the world
. Do you have the desire to learn and improve English? Do you need help on how to get started on improving English and learning English?
Whilst English is not an official language in many countries, it is currently the language most often taught as a second language around the world.
There are some of us who despite graduating from an English School are not up to mark with spoken and written English. Many reasons are attributed to this viz not paying much attention to the English language, as the primary language used at home is not English and speaking with friends is conducted in ones own mother tongue.
Ways in Which You Can Help Yourself to Learn and Improve Your English:
1. Read As Much As Possible
Reading is the first step to help you on your journey towards improving and learning English. Read as much, whenever and wherever possible. Start with reading the section of the daily newspaper that you like the most. If you are interested in the sports section, then start with reading that. Slowly you will gain interest in reading other sections of the newspaper.
Make a point to read at least one book a month. You could read any book; novels, self help material, business books, subject books, etc.
While reading, you will encounter some words which you do not understand at all, in such cases you should underline such words and find its meaning using a dictionary and add it in your vocabulary log (more about this later in the article).
2. Watch English Movies, TV Programs and Listen to Music
The next logical step is to watch as many English Movies and TV Programmes as possible. Watching movies and TV programmes has an ever lasting impact on you, but beware of movies and TV Soap, Comedy or Drama that uses a lot of slang language. This will destroy your learning process.
I would recommend watching channels like Discovery, National Geographic, History and the BBC.
Get MP3s or CDs/Cassettes of some old slow English songs. Keep listening to them until the time you can understand each word sung. This will get you used to various words and will improve your overall understanding of the language.
3. Get Your Pronunciations Right
We all have pronunciations for every English word that we use, unfortunately some of it is correct and some incorrect. In the previous point where I asked you to listen and watch as many movies/TV programs/songs, etc as possible, you should also focus on listening to the pronunciations. If there is a word which you pronounce differently, then try to rehearse that word over and over again until such time where you feel comfortable with the pronunciation so that you are pronouncing it the same way while speaking.
4. Group Learning
Create a group of 3 4 committed friends can help a lot. Or identify people who are really interested in learning. Form a group and motivate yourself to learn and improve collectively. The more you share, the more you learn. Always understand that having 3 4 people in a group helps because each person in the group is trying his/her best to learn and when each of you in the group shares, you get to learn 3 4 new rules, pronunciations and vocabulary.
5. Speak English
Reading, listening and improving vocabulary is all good, when you make use of your learning by speaking and writing (More about writing later in the article).
Speak with your friends and family members in English. Initially when your friends and family listen to you talk in English, they may give you a negative vibe and reaction as they are not used to hearing you talk in English. Some of your friends might mock and laugh at you. Do not allow this to bother you. After all it is your life and you have a mission to improve your English as a language. Take each step as a learning step, you might climb at times and other times fall, but you should only concentrate on improving/learning English. Set it as a goal in life. Acknowledge your progress.
6. Increase and Improve Your Vocabulary
Try to use one word to express yourself, it is better than creating a sentence with many words. E.g. I am not feeling well can be said as I am unwell. Do you get the point? You can also improve your vocabulary by trying to solve Cross Word puzzles and by playing various word games available online.
7. Seek a Mentor to Help You
Seek a mentor who speaks fluent and impeccable English. This will help you to progress much faster than expected. Do not feel bad if your mentor taunts you or pin points your mistake many times, he/she is just doing his/her job. Just follow your mentor.
You could ask your friend, boss, spouse or neighbour to be your mentor. Let him/her know your goal and intentions and request him/her to guide you through the process of learning. Always speak with him/her in English and ask to be corrected wherever you go wrong.
8. Write Short Stories And Essays
Once you get a little comfortable with English as a language then start writing short stories and articles on things which interest you the most. You can create an online blog at blogspot.com and create articles about anything. You could be an expert in some area and could write articles on providing solutions to common problems for which people hunt for solutions.
While writing, keep in mind to use vocabulary that you have learnt so far and avoid feeling shy of what people might think about your article or essays. Just write!
9. Join an English Course
If you are at beginner level, it is a good idea to enrol yourself on an English course. You need to research various institutes which offer such courses. It is always best to meet the faculty/teacher before enrolling as this helps you understand his/her teaching style and process followed.
How to motivate yourself to learn If you are not motivated to learn then you might get frustrated and possibly give up. Ask yourself the following questions and be honest with yourself.
* Why do I need to improve my English?
* Where would I need to use English?
* What skills do I need to improve my English (Speaking/Writing/Listening/Reading)?
* How soon do I need to see results?
* How much time/money can I devote to improving my English?
by: Guru Shishyaa
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