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There are many good reasons to learn English to a high degree of fluency, and if you are reading this blog, this is probably your goal. Many of my students are learning English for a variety of very good reasons:
- to get a better job or advance in their chosen career
- to be able to study at a university in an English-speaking country
- to travel throughout the world and use English as the common language for business and pleasure
- to be able to communicate with new friends and family members (like your mother-in-law)
- to be able to read technological manuals or scientific studies, which are often only available in English
- to be able to watch American movies in English
Whatever your reason, a key to achieving a high level of English fluency is to enjoy English, to have fun. If you don’t like something, if you find it boring, too difficult or have any type of negative attitude toward it, then you will have to work much harder to achieve the results you want, and you won’t have much fun in the process.
One of the best ways to ensure that you are enjoying the time you spend acquiring English is to do what you love, in English.
Whether you like sports, science, movies, literature, cooking or traveling, the process is the same. Use the internet to find English websites, videos, and audio files related to the topics you love.
Here are a few ideas:
Read English Websites
Soccer Fans: Read your favorite team’s website, as most have English versions. For example, FC Barcelona’s site has videos, articles, and soccer commentary in English.
Movie enthusiasts: Read movie reviews, watch trailers, and read comments on a website like Rotten Tomatoes.
Wanna-be chefs: Find recipes, watch professional chefs teach you how to prepare meals, and learn about cooking at the Food Network website.
Watch Videos on YouTube
Go to YouTube and type in key words in English of things that you like. For example, science, world war II, knitting, computers, Messi and you will find all sorts of videos related to those topics.
Here is a video that I found that may be interesting for people who like science. This particular video explains the importance of sleep. This YouTube channel has many other videos on other scientific topics as well.
TED Talks
The TED Talks website is full of short videos presented by interesting and knowledgeable people in a large variety of fields. You can search their offerings by topic, which range from activism and advertising to medicine, memory, and product design to jazz and submarines.
Here’s one that I like about the importance of mindset. If you have listened to the 7 Strategies for English Fluency free email course, you already know a bit about the importance of having a growth mindset when learning English.
In future blog posts I will give you more ideas and resources for how to find interesting English content that will make your language learning more enjoyable, but this will give you a good start.
If you have other ideas, you can share in the comments section below.