When you are learning a language, it is a good idea to mix things up, do a variety of things in English on a regular basis.
Unfortunately, for many of you, any possibility of loving the English language was knocked out of you at a young age because you had to mostly do one thing – study grammar, only grammar – BORING!!
So many people around the world have told me the same story. It goes something like this:
“I started studying English when I was in school. At first I liked it, but then it became so boring. The teachers just made us do tedious grammar drills and they couldn’t even speak English very well. They taught us all their bad habits of pronunciation, too. After so many years of studying English, I still can’t understand two Americans talking to each other, nor do I feel confident when I speak. I’m always worried about making grammar mistakes. What can I do?”
One thing you can, and should do, starting today, is to bring pleasure into your language learning by mixing it up a little, add a bit of variety to your English-learning routine.
Nowadays, with the internet, you do not need to rely on an English teacher to “teach” you English. You can acquire English on your own, by doing many different things on a regular, focused basis.
Here are some ways that you can mix it up this month.
- Listen to podcasts: Of course, I highly recommend the English Fluency Now podcast, but there are also many other great podcasts for English learners available on iTunes, as well as podcasts related to a variety of interesting topics by native English speakers. Remember repetition is key, so listen to one episode over and over again. Read this article for some recommendations for podcasts about a variety of topics.
- Read: Blogs, news articles, children’s books, novels, short stories, poems – anything that you like and that is not too difficult! Remember, you want comprehensible input, something you can mostly understand.
- Listen to music: Search the Billboard Top 100 in any music genre that you like or search YouTube to find some new videos. When you find a song you like, listen to it over and over again. Find the lyrics and read along while you listen. Once you have listened to the song about 100 times, begin to sing along. This can be a really fun way to practice your English. Don’t forget to dance, too!
- Watch a movie or a documentary: You can search IMDB for movies or Top Documentary Films for documentaries. If you can find a movie with English subtitles, in English, that would be the best, for now.
- Work with a tutor: You can work with me one-on-one via Skype or find other language learning partners to work with on a regular basis to practice speaking in a real conversation setting.
- Speak out loud to yourself: Walk around talking to yourself – out loud. Practice things like introducing yourself, telling someone about your work or where you are planning to vacation next summer. Pick a topic and just talk. You can do this while taking a walk or in the shower, wherever you feel comfortable.
- Write: Write an email to an English-speaking friend, write a short story, write an essay, write comments on the English Fluency Now Facebook wall or in the comment section below this blog post.
The idea is to use English DAILY and to have fun by mixing it up.
A little bit of focused activity each day will pay off in no time, but it doesn’t have to be the same type activity all the time. Mix it up, add variety!
If you have other ideas for fun ways to immerse yourself in English, please share them in the comments section below.
And most importantly, enjoy yourself!