Don’t be
afraid to make mistakes. Be confident. People can only correct your mistakes
when they hear you make them.
Surround
yourself in English. Put yourself in an all English speaking environment where
you can learn passively. The best way to learn is through speaking.
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.
Tell your
family and friends about your study plan. Get them to push you to study and
also don’t let them interrupt you.
Practise
the 4 core skills: reading, writing, speaking and listening. They all need to
be worked on for you to improve.
Keep a
notebook of new words you learn. Use them in sentences and try to say them at
least 3 times when you speak.
Do a lesson
at least once a day.
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.
Use your
body clock. If you’re not a morning person, study in the afternoon.
You will
find words easier to remember if you try to remember an example sentence using
that word rather the word on its own.
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?
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.
Create an
atmosphere in which you want to learn, not because you have to. You’ll learn
more when you’re learning because you want to.
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.
Get help!
If you don’t understand something you’ve got to ask someone. Ask your teacher,
classmates or friends for help.
Review!
Review! Review! Make sure that you take the time to review things you have
studied in the past.
It’s not a
good idea to study on your own for more than 30 minutes at a time. Take regular
breaks, get some fresh air and stretch your legs.
Don’t be in
such a hurry to move up a level. Concentrate on the level you are at now.
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.
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!
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
are a good place to find passive constructs. Read through an article and see if
you can find the passive sentences.
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.
Learn root
words. They’ll help you guess the meaning of words. For example:scrib =
write, min = small
When you
learn a new word, think of all its other
forms: Beautiful (adjective),beauty (noun), beautifully (adverb).
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.
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.
Use English
whenever you can. It’s as simple as that!
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!
You can’t
learn English from a book. Like driving a car, you can only learn through doing
it.
The most
natural way to learn grammar is through talking.
Keep an
English diary or journal. Start by writing a few sentences a day and then get
into the habit of writing more.
Why not
start an online blog and share your writings with the world?
To become a
better writer brainstorm as many ideas and thoughts onto paper without worrying
about grammar or spelling. Then think about the structure. After that, write
your piece using good grammar and spelling. Finally, read it through or give it
to someone else to check for mistakes.
Keep an eye
on your punctuation as it can totally change what you’re trying to say. Check
out the difference in meaning between these two sentences: “A woman without her
man is nothing” and “A woman: without her, man is nothing”.
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?
Get a
penfriend or use chat-rooms, forums and community sites. If you can’t speak to someone
in English, this is the next best thing.
Shadow
English CDs. Listen to a few sentences then repeat what you heard. Focus on the
rhythm and intonation.
Have
English radio on in your house. Even if you are not actively listening to it,
you will still be training your ears.
Mirror CDs.
Read out loud along with a CD. Again, this is great for intonation,
pronunciation and rhythm.
Dictation.
Listen to a CD or friend and write down what you hear.
Nobody
likes to hear their own voice, but be brave and try it! Record your voice and
listen to your pronunciation and intonation. It will help you to identify your
problem areas.
Ask your
helpful teacher if you can record his lesson. This is a great way to review.
You can also listen to your teachers speaking speed and intonation.
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.
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.
Don’t give
up! Stay positive! Sometimes you will feel that you aren’t learning quickly
enough. Everyone feels like this, don’t worry about it. You’ll get there in the
end.
Enjoy it!
We learn more when we are having fun!
If you get
nervous when speaking, take two deep breaths before you say something. You’ll
speak better when you feel relaxed.
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!
You are never
too young or too old to start learning English. Don’t make excuses not to
learn. What are you waiting for?
Procrastination
can stop you from being successful. To stop procrastinating, it’s important you
understand if your procrastinating is to avoid studying, or if it is your bad
habit.
If you
haven’t gotten the results you wanted yet, it’s not because you’re bad at
languages, it’s because you haven’t found your own special way of learning yet.
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.
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).
Carry cue
cards with you. These are small cards which you can write new words on. You can
pull them out and look at them whenever you a free minute.
Use post-it
notes and stick them around your home. You can use them to label things. Stick
one on your pet dog!
You can’t
ignore phrasal verbs (two words verbs), there are hundreds of them in English
and they’re widely used. The more you focus on their meaning, the more you’ll
be able to guess the meaning of new ones. You’ll start to recognise their
patterns.
Use your
intuition. Go with your gut feeling, you’ll be surprised how often your first
guess is the right guess. Like we said before, be confident.
Gather your
thoughts. Take a second to think about what you’re going to say. You know the
grammar, but maybe you don’t use it correctly when you speak.
Meet new
people. Make the effort to mix with English speakers in your town. You could
join a club or go to bars where foreigners hang out. Buy one a drink, they love
that!
Be the
person to start conversations in English. Try to keep the conversations moving
and use listening words (‘really?’ / ‘go on…’/ ‘what happened then?’) Don’t
wait for others to speak to you. Get in there!
Debate.
Discuss topics in a group. Each person should choose a viewpoint (even if you
don’t agree with it) and debate it within the group. Make sure you get your
point across. Learn to listen actively. Active listening will help in the
classroom and it will help you get more out of, and contribute more to, group
study sessions. Focus on the person who is talking. Don’t fidget or become
distracted by other people or events. Concentrate on the speaker with your ears
and eyes. Follow the movements the speaker makes in an effort to hear more. It
may help to repeat what you hear others say in an effort to understand their thoughts.
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.
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.
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.
Don’t be
put off by a bad test score. Sometimes students have the ability to pass an
English test, but can’t communicate well with English speakers. If you can
speak freely in English, you should be proud of yourself.
Remember
that as long as you have tried your hardest, you have succeeded!
Learn
English with a friend. You’ll have someone you can practice with and you can
motivate each other to study.
Remember,
the way we write English is not the same as how it’s pronounced. For example
‘Ough’ has over 6 pronunciations. Familiarise yourself the Phonetic Alphabet.
It will help you correctly pronounce words in the dictionary.
Get used to
the ‘schwa’ sound [É™] — an unstressed and toneless neutral vowel
sound. ‘Schwa’ is the most common vowel sound in English. For example, the ‘a‘
inabout and the ‘u‘ in supply.
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.
Make sure
that your English matches the occasion. It’s OK to use slang with friends but
not in a business meeting. Decide in which situation it’s appropriate to use
the words and phrases you have learned.
Textbook
English is often different from the way we casually speak. To learn casual
‘slang’ watch movies.
Idioms can
be difficult to memorise, but they are great fun to use and they’ll make your
English more colourful.
When
talking we usually link words together so that two words can sound like one.
Simply put, we link words ending with a consonant sound to words beginning with
a vowel sound (consonant > vowel). We link words ending with a vowel sound
to words beginning with a vowel sound (vowel > vowel). Practice these to
improve your listening and pronunciation.
Make use of
the internet. It’s full of resources to help you learn: BBC Learning English ; learnenglish.ecenglish.com
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!
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.
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 universitybecause it begins with a consonant
sound). An hour (not a hour because the ‘h’ is often
silent).
For
fluency, try image training. Before you go to that restaurant think through
what the waiter is likely to say to you. Think of what phrases you are going to
use.
Much
communication comes through body language and gesture. These can be different
between cultures and countries. For example, the two-fingered “V” for victory
symbol is fine palms-out. If you make it with you palm facing toward you,
you’ll offend a British person. It means…well, you ask a British person and
find out for yourself!
The easiest
one — Sleep! You’ll learn more after a good night’s sleep. You’ll be able to
concentrate more.
Take
an English course in an English speaking country.
If you
studying abroad, mix with people from other countries not only people from your
own country. It’s not a good idea for you to live in a shared house with people
from your own country. Enjoy a more cultural experience by spending time with
other nationalities.
Have you
thought about getting a job or doing an internship abroad?
Get
yourself a qualified teacher. Who wants to learn wrong things?
Nobody can
learn all of the English language. No need to worry about trying. A useful
shortcut to learning is that in English we have lots of words that have the
same pronunciation, but a different spelling and meaning. For example,
‘come here’ has the same pronunciation as, ‘I can hear the
birds’. You might find it easier to build vocabulary by knowing the different
meanings.
Once you
have a basic level of English explore the different ways you can say the same
thing. This makes your English more interesting to the listener and it
shouldn’t be too difficult for you because you already know the basics. For
example, how many ways can we say, ‘Goodbye‘ in English?
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.
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.
Find a
comfortable, peaceful place for quiet study. You need somewhere where you can
focus 100%.
Tripoli akkar Lebanon
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