How to learn English effectively

                                    By Mark Ainley

Sitting at a table looking at your notebook is not the best way to study English. Most of the time, your mind is not actively using the information that you are studying, and practical learning does not take place. Here are some techniques that will help you learn more effectively.

1) Write a journal. Most people say, "I have nothing to write." If you start writing, you will remember all of the interesting things that you can write about. Writing every day lets you see your grammar clearly in front of you, express your ideas, and use a non-oral method to communicate in English. Ask your teacher to correct your journal. Then read the corrected version out loud. It is a good idea to re-copy the corrected journal too, so that you will have the experience of writing your ideas down in proper English.

2) Read a book. By reading a story, you create a picture in your imagination that will connect different parts of your brain to English. Find a book that is not too difficult - don't be embarrassed to start with a children's storybook with pictures! Do not stop every time you find a new word. Guess what the word probably means, continue reading, and check in your dictionary at the end of the page or chapter.

3) Re-write your class notes every day. Writing your notes a second time will allow you to remember more strongly what you studied. It will also make your notebook neater, making it easier to study.

4) Read out all of your grammar exercises. So many students "know" grammar but cannot use it! This is because they rarely practice linking the grammar they study to the speech center of the brain. If your mouth is not comfortable using the grammar patterns, it will be difficult to use them in everyday conversation. Repeat the example sentences (or sentences you have corrected in class) in a clear, loud voice, and be sure to practice while looking away from the paper. It is also a good idea to practice away from your desk - walk around your room practicing your reading! When you speak English out of school, you will not be sitting at a desk - so don't practice only when you are at a desk!

5) Watch TV and movies, and listen to the radio. Even if you don't understand everything, you will still be learning. It is possible to understand the content even if you know only 30% of the words that you hear! Your listening ability will improve day by day - and it's fun!

6) Keep a vocabulary notebook in a separate notebook from your class notes. Take an active approach to learning new vocabulary. If you find 5 words a day, 6 days a week (you can rest for one day), you will learn about 140 new words a month; 10 words a day would bring you over 280 new words a month! Because you are searching for words that you want to know, it will be easier to remember them. (Hint - approach new words by subject: things in the kitchen, things in the bedroom, things connected to your hobbies, etc.) Do it this way:
a) Think of a word you know in your language.
b) Look it up in your dictionary.
c) When you find the English word, write it down on the left side of your vocabulary note book.
d) In the middle of the page, write down if the word is a noun (n), verb (v), adjective (adj), etc. so that you will know how to use the word.
e) Look the word up in an English-English dictionary.
f) Write the English definition on the right side of the page (or on the next page).
g) Copy a sentence from the dictionary. This will help you learn how to use the word correctly. Do not yet write your own sentence. Practice reading this sentence until it becomes natural for you.

7) Speak lots of English with your friends, even your friends from the same country! You improve your spoken English by speaking English in different situations with people of all nationalities. If you want to speak English better in the future, speak it as much as possible NOW!

Think positively. People who say "I can't speak English well" are correct. People who say "Every day in every way, my English is getting better and better" are also correct. What you think is what you get. Practice saying the second sentence every day, and you will see greater improvement in your English and in your confidence.

Remember: the more fun you have with English, the easier it will be to learn. ENJOY English!

 

What is necessary to learn English well?

Learning English requires action. You may know all the learning tips, but if you don't start doing things, you will achieve nothing. The fact is, if you want to learn to speak English well, you must change your life. Here are some examples of things you will have to do:

read a book in English for an hour every day, analyzing the grammar in sentences and looking up words in an English dictionary

listen to an audiobook or other recording in English, stopping it frequently, trying to understand what is being said, and trying to imitate the speaker's pronunciation

spend your afternoon practicing the pronunciation of the English "r" sound

carefully write an e-mail message in English, using a dictionary or a Web search every 20 seconds to make sure every word is correct, and taking 5 minutes to write one sentence

think about an English sentence you've read, wondering if it could say "a" instead of "the" in the sentence, and trying to find similar sentences on the Web to find out the answer

walk down the street and build simple English sentences in your head (talking to yourself in English about the things you see around you)

What kind of person would do all these crazy things? Only one kind. The kind of person who enjoys doing them. If you want to learn to speak English well, you're going to have to become that person. You cannot hate doing these things. Have you ever heard of a person who became successful by doing something he hated?


The problem with learning and teaching English as a foreign language is that all English learners want to speak English well; however, most learners don't want to spend time on learning English on their own. (Which is probably why they sign up for English classes and hope their teacher will force knowledge into their heads.)

This lack of motivation means that learners basically don't spend their own time on learning English, and if they do, they don't do it regularly. For example, a typical learner might study English phrasal verbs for 12 hours before an English exam. However, he will not read a book in English for 30 minutes every day. He just doesn't feel that learning English is pleasant enough, so he will only do it if he has to. The problem is that a huge one-time effort gives you nothing, while small, everyday activities will give you a lot.

If you are one of those learners and don't feel like practicing the pronunciation of the "r" sound or thinking about English sentences every day, we have news for you: You're going to have to make yourself want to do these things. In other words, you'll have to work on your motivation. Fortunately, there are proven techniques to help you with that.

Typical learner vs. motivated learner

Paula is a typical learner of English with a generally low level of motivation. She has occasional moments of high motivation — like the day before her English test or that time when she couldn't communicate with a foreign customer who called her at work. These kind of situations make her think "I've got to do something about my English!". However, they happen very rarely — less than once a month. So even if she studies quite intensively (e.g. for two whole days before an exam), the results are poor, because she forgets 90% of the things she learned within a month. This is no surprise: The way human memory works, you need to review things all the time; otherwise you just forget them.

Now let's look at a different English learner: Judy. Judy reads a special novel for English learners (written in simplified English) almost every day for 30 minutes. She bought an English-English dictionary and uses it to look up English words whenever she doesn't understand a sentence in her book. It was hard to study regularly at the beginning: Reading books and using a dictionary were not "normal activities" for her. And every English sentence was a challenge.

But now, after only two weeks, she can read much faster. While reading, she often sees words that she has learned in the past two weeks. When she recognizes such a word, she doesn't have to look it up in a dictionary and she knows she has made good progress. Judy feels she has learned a lot of English recently, and she is eager to learn more. Every day, she looks forward to reading her book. The book gives her the chance to use what she has learned (enjoy her progress) and to learn even more. Because she reads regularly, she forgets little and her vocabulary keeps growing.

Judy is on the right track. She will soon be able to read English-language newspapers and other resources written for native speakers.

Enjoyment leads to better memory

If you enjoy learning English, you will spend more time on it, and you will do it regularly. A high level of motivation will also give you another advantage. It will be easier for you to memorize new words and grammar structures. The reason is that the brain easily remembers information on a subject that you like. (For example, some people like history and know everything about World War II. If you told a "normal person" to memorize all these facts, they could never do it.) So enjoyment of learning gives you double benefits.