You are on page 1of 7

101 Ways to Learn English

http://www.ecenglish.com/101-ways-to-learn-english Here are 101 things (in no particular order) you can do to impro e your English:
1. Dont be afraid to make mistakes. Be confident. People can only correct your mistakes when they hear you make them. 2. Surround yourself in English. Put yourself in an all English speaking en ironment where you can learn passi ely. !he best way to learn is through speaking. ". Practise e ery day. #ake yourself a study plan. Decide how much time a week you are going to spend studying and stick to it. Establish a routine. $. !ell your family and friends about your study plan. %et them to push you to study and also dont let them interrupt you. &. Practise the $ core skills' reading( writing( speaking and listening. !hey all need to be worked on for you to impro e. ). *eep a notebook of new words you learn. +se them in sentences and try to say them at least " times when you speak.
7. ,isit E-s free learn English website at least once a day and complete a lesson.

.. #emorisation of lists is one of the most common ways of learning ocabulary for a test. /t0s only a good e1ercise for short term studying because you often do not retain the information that you ha e learned for a test. 2. +se your body clock. /f youre not a morning person( study in the afternoon. 13. 4ou will find words easier to remember if you try to remember an e1ample sentence using that word rather the word on its own. 11. Plan to take a test. 4oull find that you work harder when you need to study for something. 12. Saying that( its better not to study just to take a test. !hink of the bigger picture. 5hat can you do when you ha e a good command of English6 7ow will the 8uality of your life impro e6 1". %i e yourself a long term goal. 9ocus on working towards it. 1$. %i e yourself short term goals too and reward yourself when you achie e each one. 1&. -reate an atmosphere in which you want to learn( not because you ha e to. 4oull learn more when youre learning because you want to.

1). *now what works best for you. !hink about what methods ha e been successful for you in the past and stick with them.
17. 9igure out how you learn. /t can be by memorising( reading( speaking(

summarising or other methods. 9ind out how you study best. /t can be in a 8uiet place by yourself or with a group. 1.. %et help: /f you dont understand something you e got to ask someone. ;sk your teacher( classmates or friends for help. 12. <e iew: <e iew: <e iew: #ake sure that you take the time to re iew things you ha e studied in the past. 23. /ts not a good idea to study on your own for more than "3 minutes at a time. !ake regular breaks( get some fresh air and stretch your legs. 21. Dont be in such a hurry to mo e up a le el. -oncentrate on the le el you are at now. 22. 5atch D,Ds rather than !,. /ts better to use something that you can watch o er again to catch information you might ha e missed the first time. 2". 5atching !, only gi es you the chance to hear something correctly first time. !his is better for high le el students. /t can be great practice for speaking to nati e English speakers so you dont ha e to ask them to repeat themsel es: 2$. <ead graded readers. !hese books are especially written for your le el. <ead a whole no el. 4ou can do it: 4oull feel great afterwards. 2&. -hildrens books ha e easier words and are a good alternati e to graded readers. 2). =ewspapers are a good place to find passi e constructs. <ead through an article and see if you can find the passi e sentences. 2>. <ead for the general meaning first. Dont worry about understanding e ery word( then go back and look up new words. 2.. 9or a word you dont understand in a sentence( look at the other words around it. !hey will gi e you a hint. !ry to guess the meaning from the conte1t. 22. ?earn root words. !heyll help you guess the meaning of words. 9or e1ample' scrib @ write( min @ small "3. 5hen you learn a new word( think of all its other forms' Beautiful AadBecti eC( beauty AnounC( beautifully Aad erbC. "1. ?earn prefi1es Adis-, un-, re-C and suffi1es ADly, -ment, -fulC( these will help you to figure out the meaning of words and build your ocabulary. "2. English( unlike Eapanese or 9rench( uses word stress. 9or new words( count the syllables and find where the stress is. Fnly one stress per word and always on a owel. !wo syllable erbs ha e a stress on the second syllable Abe!"#C. 2 syllable nouns A$E%cherC and adBecti es AH%&pyC stress the first. "". +se English whene er you can. /ts as simple as that:

"$. Dont translate into English from your own language. !hink in English to impro e your fluency. !alk to yourselfGbut not on the bus otherwise people will think you ha e gone craHy: "&. 4ou cant learn English from a book. ?ike dri ing a car( you can only learn through doing it. "). !he most natural way to learn grammar is through talking. ">. *eep an English diary or Bournal. Start by writing a few sentences a day and then get into the habit of writing more. ".. 5hy not start an online blog and share your writings with the world6 "2. !o become a better writer brainstorm as many ideas and thoughts onto paper without worrying about grammar or spelling. !hen think about the structure. ;fter that( write your piece using good grammar and spelling. 9inally( read it through or gi e it to someone else to check for mistakes. $3. *eep an eye on your punctuation as it can totally change what youre trying to say. -heck out the difference in meaning between these two sentences' IA woman without her man is nothingJ and IA woman: without her, man is nothingJ. $1. Sing your heart out: Show the world your beautiful oice: ?earn English songs and sing along with them to impro e fluency and intonationG anyone for *araoke6 $2. %et a penfriend or use chatDrooms( forums and community sites. /f you cant speak to someone in English( this is the ne1t best thing. $". Shadow English -Ds. ?isten to a few sentences then repeat what you heard. 9ocus on the rhythm and intonation. $$. 7a e English radio on in your house. E en if you are not acti ely listening to it( you will still be training your ears. $&. #irror -Ds. <ead out loud along with a -D. ;gain( this is great for intonation( pronunciation and rhythm. $). Dictation. ?isten to a -D or friend and write down what you hear. $>. =obody likes to hear their own oice( but be bra e and try it: <ecord your oice and listen to your pronunciation and intonation. /t will help you to identify your problem areas. $.. ;sk your helpful teacher if you can record his lesson. !his is a great way to re iew. 4ou can also listen to your teachers speaking speed and intonation. $2. +se an EnglishKEnglish dictionary as it will help you to keep thinking in English and not translating. &3. /f an EnglishKEnglish dictionary seems scary( there are learners dictionaries for English students of your le el.

&1. Dont become too reliant on your dictionary. 4our dictionary should be an aid( not your main teacher. !ry to guess the meaning of words rather than going straight for your dictionary. &2. Dont gi e up: Stay positi e: Sometimes you will feel that you arent learning 8uickly enough. E eryone feels like this( dont worry about it. 4oull get there in the end. &". EnBoy it: 5e learn more when we are ha ing fun: &$. /f you get ner ous when speaking( take two deep breaths before you say something. 4oull speak better when you feel rela1ed. &&. *eep yourself moti ated by looking back at the te1tbooks and -Ds you used in the past. 4oull be surprised at how easy they seem to you now: -ongratulations( your le el is impro ing: &). 4ou are ne er too young or too old to start learning English. Dont make e1cuses not to learn. 5hat are you waiting for6 &>. Procrastination can stop you from being successful. !o stop procrastinating( it0s important you understand if your procrastinating is to a oid studying( or if it is your bad habit. &.. /f you ha ent gotten the results you wanted yet( its not because youre bad at languages( its because you ha ent found your own special way of learning yet. &2. +se resources which match your le el. Dont use te1tsKlistening e1ercises which are too difficult or too easy. +se materials which challenge you but dont frustrate you. )3. Dont worry about making your accent perfect. /ts an important part of your cultural identity to keep your accent. =ati e English speakers enBoy hearing English spoken with an accent. )1. !here are many types of English' British( ;merican( South ;frican and so on. =one of these are wrong or not as important. English is English. )2. /nstead( be aware of the differences in ;merican and British English and use your words accordingly. 9or e1ample' Elevator A+SC K Lift ABritishC. )". -arry cue cards with you. !hese are small cards which you can write new words on. 4ou can pull them out and look at them whene er you a free minute. )$. +se postDit notes and stick them around your home. 4ou can use them to label things. Stick one on your pet dog: )&. 4ou cant ignore phrasal erbs Atwo words erbsC( there are hundreds of them in English and theyre widely used. !he more you focus on their meaning( the more youll be able to guess the meaning of new ones. 4oull start to recognise their patterns. )). +se your intuition. %o with your gut feeling( youll be surprised how often your first guess is the right guess. ?ike we said before( be confident.

)>. %ather your thoughts. !ake a second to think about what youre going to say. 4ou know the grammar( but maybe you dont use it correctly when you speak. ).. #eet new people. #ake the effort to mi1 with English speakers in your town. 4ou could Boin a club or go to bars where foreigners hang out. Buy one a drink( they lo e that: )2. Be the person to start con ersations in English. !ry to keep the con ersations mo ing and use listening words ALreally? K Lgo onGK Lwhat happened then?C Dont wait for others to speak to you. %et in there: >3. Debate. Discuss topics in a group. Each person should choose a iewpoint Ae en if you dont agree with itC and debate it within the group. #ake sure you get your point across. ?earn to listen acti ely. ;cti e listening will help in the classroom and it will help you get more out of( and contribute more to( group study sessions. 9ocus on the person who is talking. Dont fidget or become distracted by other people or e ents. -oncentrate on the speaker with your ears and eyes. 9ollow the mo ements the speaker makes in an effort to hear more. /t may help to repeat what you hear others say in an effort to understand their thoughts. >1. /ts not enough to only learn English words. 4ou can teach a parrot English words but that doesnt mean it can speak English: 4ou still need to ha e an understanding of grammar. >2. ,erb tenses are used by English speakers to talk about the timing of actions. 4ou might not ha e the same e1pressions in your own language. /ts important that you know these tenses and when to use them. >". English has many irregular erbs. 4ou should drill yourself on them. >$. *eep it up: /f you take a break from speaking English( you will find that your le el decreases and all your hard work has been wasted. >&. Dont be put off by a bad test score. Sometimes students ha e the ability to pass an English test( but cant communicate well with English speakers. /f you can speak freely in English( you should be proud of yourself. >). <emember that as long as you ha e tried your hardest( you ha e succeeded: >>. ?earn English with a friend. 4oull ha e someone you can practise with and you can moti ate each other to study. >.. <emember( the way we write English is not the same as how its pronounced. 9or e1ample L ugh has o er ) pronunciations. 9amiliarise yourself the Phonetic ;lphabet. /t will help you correctly pronounce words in the dictionary. >2. %et used to the Lschwa sound '() D an unstressed and toneless neutral owel sound. L!chwa is the most common owel sound in English. 9or e1ample( the 0a0 in about and the 0u0 in supply. .3. *eep in mind that it takes longer to impro e when our le el is high. +sually the fastest progress is made when we are beginners. Dont think that youre suddenly not learning anymore( its Bust a less noticeable progress.

.1. #ake sure that your English matches the occasion. /ts F* to use slang with friends but not in a business meeting. Decide in which situation its appropriate to use the words and phrases you ha e learned. .2. !e1tbook English is often different from the way we casually speak. !o learn casual Lslang watch mo ies. .". /dioms can be difficult to memorise( but they are great fun to use and theyll make your English more colourful. .$. 5hen 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 owel sound Aconsonant M owelC. 5e link words ending with a owel sound to words beginning with a owel sound A owel M owelC. Practise these to impro e your listening and pronunciation.
85. #ake use of the internet. /ts full of resources to help you learn' BB- ?earning

English N learnenglish.ecenglish.com .). !hink about your strong and weak points. 5rite down which areas you want to impro e on and work on impro ing them. Ff course( dont ignore your strong points. -ongratulate yourself on how well you e done: .>. +nlearn your mistakes. 4ou probably make the same grammar mistakes o er and o er again. +se English tests results as a study tool. %o o er your mistakes and choose one or two that you want to focus on. +se your fa ourite grammar book to check rules. ... +se the correct article AaKan( theC. Be aware that there is more to this rule than aKan@ non specific( the@specific. 9or e1ample' A university Anot an university because it begins with a consonant soundC. An hour Anot a hour because the Lh is often silentC. .2. 9or fluency( try image training. Before you go to that restaurant think through what the waiter is likely to say to you. !hink of what phrases you are going to use. 23. #uch communication comes through body language and gesture. !hese can be different between cultures and countries. 9or e1ample( the twoDfingered O,O for ictory symbol is fine palmsDout. /f you make it with you palm facing toward you( you0ll offend a British person. /t meansGwell( you ask a British person and find out for yourself: 21. !he easiest one D Sleep: 4oull learn more after a good nights sleep. 4oull be able to concentrate more.
92. !ake an English course in an English speaking country.

2". /f you studying abroad( mi1 with people from other countries not only people from your own country. /ts not a good idea for you to li e in a shared house with people from your own country. EnBoy a more cultural e1perience by spending time with other nationalities. 2$. 7a e you thought about getting a Bob or doing an internship abroad6

2&. %et yourself a 8ualified teacher. 5ho wants to learn wrong things6 2). =obody can learn all of the English language. =o need to worry about trying. ; useful shortcut to learning is that in English we ha e lots of words that ha e the same pronunciation( but a different spelling and meaning. 9or e1ample( Lcome here has the same pronunciation as( L/ can hear the birds. 4ou might find it easier to build ocabulary by knowing the different meanings. 2>. Fnce you ha e a basic le el of English e1plore the different ways you can say the same thing. !his makes your English more interesting to the listener and it shouldnt be too difficult for you because you already know the basics. 9or e1ample( how many ways can we say( L"oodbye0 in English6
98. 5hen you are on your English course( be prepared for your class. Do your

homework as soon as possible and hand it in on time. <e iew your notes and your last lesson a few minutes before the class. Doing this will refresh your memory and you0ll be warmed up for lesson. 22. Don0t get distracted in class. 9ocus on the lesson( don0t stare out of the window. Don0t be late( arri e a few minutes before the start of the lesson. Don0t sit ne1t to people who won0t speak to you in English. Switch off your phone. Be organised( remember to take your te1tbook( notebook and pen. 133. 9ind a comfortable( peaceful place for 8uiet study. 4ou need somewhere where you can focus 133P. 131. ?ast but not least( ?earn English with E-:

You might also like