Make learning a natural part of your life – not an add-on.
Does learning English feel like hard work? The thought of getting out the books, removing distractions and focusing on learning English can feel like a big task, something that’s not natural or part of your everyday life. However, learning can be a natural part of your day, but you have to set yourself up to succeed. The choice is yours!
Too many times I’ve turned my learning experience into work and too often that has caused me to lose interest and eventually stop learning. Work for many people means you need to keep pushing to stay engaged, but what would happen if the learning process was not work, if it was a normal integrated part of your life and day?
Let’s start with a quote from Dr. Seus! Who wouldn’t want a bit of Dr. Seus in their lives?
The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go
Dr. Seus
Fantastic! What do I take from this?
Read! Read, read, read as much as you can in English. Always have it as something you do in your break or before you go to bed (though the morning is better), have the language around you everywhere. Put a magazine in the bathroom for those quiet moments, have an ebook on your tablet for when you’re on the bus or metro, or the National Geographic on your coffee table. Make access to reading easy and simple. And don’t go for Dostoevsky’s War and Peace if your level is A1. Buy books for young adults or teenagers that you can engage with but that don’t have lots of difficult language.
Listen to as many things as you can in English. Podcasts, the news, music, whatever it is, have it around you and easy to get to. Create a playlist of your favourite podcasts for subjects you’re interested in or of the latest songs you like. Exposure, exposure, exposure. The more you expose yourself to the language the more you start to hear the patterns, the sounds. You may not understand a lot at first, but keep going. As you study (and that’s coming next) you will start to hear and notice words that you recognise. Maybe you don’t understand the full sentence yet, but in time you will, you’ll hear and understand more.
Study as much as you can. This is the hard bit! Yes you have to study. You’re not going to acquire a language without studying. And as I’ve said in previous blog posts (see here) you need to study with a teacher. Someone who is qualified who can guide you. That can be an online course but it needs to be one that is guided by a teacher. You need to set time aside to do this, and you need to do it so that it becomes a natural part of your day, not an “Add-on” but rather a “slot in”. Yes I know that’s tough especially if you have a family and responsibilities, but that’s how you’re going to stick at it and really get the language moving.
Have the language everywhere around you. Reading, listening and speaking, give yourself every opportunity to connect with English.
Don’t hold back. Yeah I know it’s hard to communicate at first, you’re worried you’re going to make mistakes. Well to be honest, of course you are, that’s totally normal and totally ok! It’s ok to make mistakes! Don’t stop communicating just because you’re worried you’re going to make mistakes. You can fix mistakes later, but the most important thing is to be speaking, communicating. The language MUST start coming out of your mouth! Don’t hold back!
Be consistent. Set yourself up for success, don’t give yourself unrealistic goals. Make learning as natural as it can be for you and your life, your circumstances and responsibilities. And once you’ve set in place the things you’re going to do – DO THEM. Don’t slip or say, tonight I’m going to have pizza with Jane instead. If that’s true and you’ve planned to do English during a time when you could be having dinner, then maybe you should have planned to do English at a different time. Make it as easy for you as you can and then do it, every time, without fail, as consistently as you can. I know life throws things at us that we can’t get out of but give it your best.
Ok so there are my top tips for learning English. In these times of uncertainty maybe now is the time to take that next step, you never know what is around the corner.
If you want more information about how I can help you or your business, get in touch, I’d love to hear from you.
Take care, stay strong and stay safe!
