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2013-08-03
50 Ways to Learn English
Here are 50 things (in no particular order) you can do to improve your English:
1. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes. Be confident. People can only correct your mistakes when they hear you make them.
2. Surround yourself in English. The best way to learn is through speaking.
3. Practise every day. Make yourself a study plan. Decide how much time a week you are going to spend studying and stick to it. Establish a routine. During your study time don’t let anything interrupt you.
4. Practise the 4 core skills: reading, writing, speaking and listening. They all need to be worked on for you to improve.
5. Keep a notebook of new words you learn. Use them in sentences and try to say them at least 3 times when you speak.
6. Use the Internet at least once a week. There are many free websites that offer free lessons.
7. Memorisation of lists is one of the most common ways of learning vocabulary for a test. It's only a good exercise for short term studying because you often do not retain the information that you have learned for a test.
8. You will find words easier to remember if you try to remember an example sentence using that word rather the word on its own.
9. Plan to take a test. You’ll find that you work harder when you need to study for something. Saying that, it’s better not to study just to take a test. Think of the bigger picture. What can you do when you have a good command of English? How will the quality of your life improve?
10. Give yourself a long term goal. Focus on working towards it. Give yourself short term goals too and reward yourself when you achieve each one.
11. Know what works best for you. Think about what methods have been successful for you in the past and stick with them. Figure out how you learn. It can be by memorising, reading, speaking, summarising or other methods. Find out how you study best. It can be in a quiet place by yourself or with a group.
12. Get help! If you don’t understand something you’ve got to ask someone. Ask your teacher, classmates or friends for help.
13. Review! Review! Review! Make sure that you take the time to review things you have studied in the past.
14. Don’t be in such a hurry to move up a level. Concentrate on the level you are at now.
15. Watch DVDs rather than TV. It’s better to use something that you can watch over again to catch information you might have missed the first time.
16. Watching TV only gives you the chance to hear something correctly first time. This is better for high level students. It can be great practice for speaking to native English speakers so you don’t have to ask them to repeat themselves!
17. Read graded readers. These books are especially written for your level. Read a whole novel. You can do it! You’ll feel great afterwards. Children’s books have easier words and are a good alternative to graded readers. Newspapers and magazines are a good place to improve your reading. Try not to focus on the magazines that have translations.
18. Read for the general meaning first. Don’t worry about understanding every word, then go back and look up new words. For a word you don’t understand in a sentence, look at the other words around it. They will give you a hint. Try to guess the meaning from the context.
19. Learn root words. They’ll help you guess the meaning of words. For example: scrib = write, min= small
20. When you learn a new word, think of all its other forms: Beautiful (adjective), beauty (noun),beautifully (adverb).
21. Learn prefixes (dis-, un-, re-) and suffixes (-ly, -ment, -ful), these will help you to figure out the meaning of words and build your vocabulary.
22. English, unlike Japanese or French, uses word stress. For new words, count the syllables and find where the stress is. Only one stress per word and always on a vowel. Two syllable verbs have a stress on the second syllable (beGIN). 2 syllable nouns (TEAcher) and adjectives (HAPpy) stress the first.
23. Use English whenever you can. It’s as simple as that!
24. Don’t translate into English from your own language. Think in English to improve your fluency. Talk to yourself…but not on the bus otherwise people will think you have gone crazy!
25. You can’t learn English from a book. Like driving a car, you can only learn through doing it.
26. The most natural way to learn grammar is through talking.
27. Keep an English diary or journal. Start by writing a few sentences a day and then get into the habit of writing more.
28. Sing your heart out! Show the world your beautiful voice! Learn English songs and sing along with them to improve fluency and intonation… anyone for Karaoke?
29. Shadow English CDs. Listen to a few sentences then repeat what you heard. Focus on the rhythm and intonation. Read out loud along with a CD. Again, this is great for intonation, pronunciation and rhythm.
30. Dictation. Listen to a CD or friend and write down what you hear.
31. Have English radio on in your house. Even if you are not actively listening to it, you will still be training your ears.
32. Use an English/English dictionary as it will help you to keep thinking in English and not translating. If an English/English dictionary seems scary, there are learner’s dictionaries for English students of your level.
33. Don’t become too reliant on your dictionary. Your dictionary should be an aid, not your main teacher. Try to guess the meaning of words rather than going straight for your dictionary.
34. If you get nervous when speaking, take two deep breaths before you say something. You’ll speak better when you feel relaxed.
35. Keep yourself motivated by looking back at the textbooks and CDs you used in the past. You’ll be surprised at how easy they seem to you now! Congratulations, your level is improving!
36. Use resources which match your level. Don’t use texts/listening exercises which are too difficult or too easy. Use materials which challenge you but don’t frustrate you.
37. Don’t worry about making your accent perfect. It’s an important part of your cultural identity to keep your accent. Native English speakers enjoy hearing English spoken with an accent. There are many types of English: British, American, South African and so on. None of these are wrong or not as important. English is English. Instead, be aware of the differences in American and British English and use your words accordingly. For example: Elevator (US) / Lift (British).
38. It’s not enough to only learn English words. You can teach a parrot English words but that doesn’t mean it can speak English! You still need to have an understanding of grammar.
39. Verb tenses are used by English speakers to talk about the timing of actions. You might not have the same expressions in your own language. It’s important that you know these tenses and when to use them. English has many irregular verbs. You should drill yourself on them.
40. Keep it up! If you take a break from speaking English, you will find that your level decreases and all your hard work has been wasted.
41. Learn English with a friend. You’ll have someone you can practise with and you can motivate each other to study.
42. Get used to the ‘schwa’ sound [ə] - an unstressed and toneless neutral vowel sound. ‘Schwa’ is the most common vowel sound in English. For example, the 'a' in about and the 'u' in supply.
43. Keep in mind that it takes longer to improve when our level is high. Usually the fastest progress is made when we are beginners. Don’t think that you’re suddenly not learning anymore, it’s just a less noticeable progress.
44. Think about your strong and weak points. Write down which areas you want to improve on and work on improving them. Of course, don’t ignore your strong points. Congratulate yourself on how well you’ve done!
45. Unlearn your mistakes. You probably make the same grammar mistakes over and over again. Use English tests results as a study tool. Go over your mistakes and choose one or two that you want to focus on. Use your favourite grammar book to check rules.
46. Use the correct article (a/an, the). Be aware that there is more to this rule than a/an= non specific, the=specific. For example: A university (not an university because it begins with a consonant sound). An hour (not a hour because the ‘h’ is often silent).
47. Get yourself a qualified teacher. Who wants to learn wrong things?
48. When you are on your English course, be prepared for your class. Do your homework as soon as possible and hand it in on time. Review your notes and your last lesson a few minutes before the class. Doing this will refresh your memory and you'll be warmed up for lesson.
49. Don't get distracted in class. Focus on the lesson, don't stare out of the window. Don't be late, arrive a few minutes before the start of the lesson. Don't sit next to people who won't speak to you in English. Switch off your phone. Be organised, remember to take your textbook, notebook and pen.
50. Last but not least, Learn with JinZhi
