Whether you are an elementary or advanced level student, English skills can always be improved.
What’s the best way to do this? Well, the answers are as different as the people asking the question. There are many tried and true tips for learning English. Here are some of them based on my own experience in learning a foreign language and which I teach to all my students. I hope they will help you, too!
1) Listen! Listen! Listen!
Watch movies or documentaries in areas that are of interest for you or listen to the news in English (the BBC site is an excellent resource of videos and recording of news stories – http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/ , http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/). This activity will help improving your listening skills, pronunciation and vocabulary at the same time. At first you can use subtitles, then turn them off and you will notice that in time this will get easier and easier.
2) Read! Read! Read!
Read books, newspapers or journals in English and observe the sentence constructions, the tenses being used, the word order. Don’t worry if you don’t understand all the words, try first to guess their meaning from context. Then check them in a dictionary and record all the new words and expressions in context in a notebook and review them periodically. This is also a great tip for improving English in a technical field.
3) Grammar. Yes, grammar!
Learning grammar is an essential tool for English. Knowing the English grammar inside out is one of the top tips on learning English. So every time you encounter a structure that you aren’t familiar with, note it down and ask your teacher about it or go to a good grammar book.
4) Dear Diary, …
Keep a diary in English. This allows you to use the vocabulary and grammar you’ve learned in order to enhance your writing skill. Don’t forget to go back over your past entries and grade yourself, noting where you can improve more. This is one of the greatest tips on improving English at any stage of learning the language!
5) Practice! Practice! Practice!
This means get in contact with English speakers and use English to communicate. You’ll see how well you’re doing. Whether you are on holiday abroad or chatting on social networks with your foreign friends, practise the language you’ve learned as much as possible! If you don’t know a certain word, work your way around it. Use different words to explain it (paraphrase), but don’t give up! Never be afraid to try speaking to other people even if you don’t know everything. They will appreciate your efforts and your self-confidence will boost up!
6) Have fun!
Learning English is fun and exciting. After all your hard work, recognize your progress and don’t forget to reward yourself!
Learning English is a continuous process, it takes time, patience and effort. It’s not always easy, but it definitely can be fun! And in order to improve your English, you need to make it a part of your life. So do something in English every day! Even by dedicating only 30 minutes a day to one of the above activities, you can improve your English a lot!!
