A doctor of English and long-time English teacher advises how to effectively learn English at home.
Again, are you asking yourself if maybe it is possible to learn English at home after all?
The eagerness to learn has reappeared?
After the adventures on vacation, where again you could not get along in the simplest things, you decide to take up learning English. Or perhaps a colleague got a raise even though she is in the same position – just because she speaks English. Or maybe you just want to broaden your horizons and exercise your brain so it doesn’t calcify with age?
Anyway, you decide to finally, once and for all, solve the problem of not knowing English.
Just how to do it?
How NOT to learn English at home?
What do we usually do?
The easiest way is to buy an English textbook. They are pretty, colorful, shopping frenzy.
And after a few months we realize that we didn’t even take it out of the trunk of the car!
In my experience, the biggest obstacle to people learning English is lack of time. Sometimes it can also be poorly organized, because it is the busy people who usually learn English and achieve success. Anyway, let’s say it up front – learning English takes time and regularity. Without this, there is no hope for spectacular success. Don’t believe in miraculous methods of learning in your sleep or in two weeks (this is where the “edu-byznesmen” in the ads fall various ridiculous learning periods) on their magic course “for a million coins”.
On the other hand, think about where you want to be in those few years. Either way, you’ll be somewhere. Do you then want to look back and say “Yes, I did it! ” – yes I did it, I learned English?
If so, read on!
What is the best way to learn English?
The best way to learn English as a child in an English elementary school:) I taught 10 years in London state schools and I recommend it. On the other hand, it is not a viable option for most of us, because of our registered address as well as our age though 🙂
What to do?
We have several options to choose from. And only you know yourself and your situation to choose the best one.
As I understand it, since you were interested in the text under the title “How to learn English at home”, we can skip courses in language schools, trips abroad and so on. They are nice, but they also have their downsides – time, money, availability, etc. However, this does not mean that all is lost – on the contrary!
How to learn English at home?
Learning English involves developing four “language competencies.” So let’s see one by one how we can develop them at home:
1. How to learn to read English texts with understanding at home?
The Internet is full of texts in English, in fact, most are written in this language. And they are not necessarily all difficult.
I personally recommend something called Simple Wikipedia – it’s the same encyclopedia but rewritten with simple grammar and only 500 words! If you like world news, you can also listen to Voice of America reports, which have also been rewritten for English language learning.
By the way, on the basis of these two sources (and computer usage statistics on the Internet), I compiled my list of the 2000 most popular English words, the knowledge of which allows you to understand 90% of conversations in the language. And the Speakingo English course is based on them. But let’s not prejudge the facts 🙂
2. How to learn listening comprehension at home?
As for listening comprehension, here, too, the Internet is an invaluable aid. First of all, YouTube is helpful, where you can find plenty of materials for learning English at home. Interesting and boring, factual and trivial, you’ll find all sorts of recordings, spoken in all sorts of accents, to help you get used to English.
Just how to choose interesting recordings and at their level. And what if you can’t understand them?
On the Speakingo blog I pick out what is most interesting (at least to me!) recordings, skits of the most varied content and format. I make them into such an “online lesson” for self-study at home, often with a glossary and commentary. That’s why I recommend following my blog. And if you register for my Speakingo course, even after the end of the free trial period, you will receive information about new educational materials on the blog by email for free.
3. How to learn to write English at home?
This will be a problem. When it comes to writing in English, at least from a certain level, it is indeed important for an experienced teacher to review our English essay. It’s not just about correcting errors, but also about stylistic issues.
On the other hand, certainly if you read a lot, it will support your writing skills.
There also remains the question of spelling, i.e spelling . But this is a fairly simple matter to grasp, you just need to practice. That’s what Speakingo’s English course is for – dictations.
Although this method may seem a bit old-fashioned, but it is still very effective!
That’s why I’m a proponent of the hybrid method, that is, some learning in an online course and some with a live teacher. Harness your tutor to check your work – and if you don’t have a good teacher, feel free to take online English lessons with me!
4. How to learn to speak English at home?
Until recently, there was a huge problem with this as well. Usually on English learning sites at home solved grammar exercises, maybe listened to something there, but forget about speaking. And then the classic – we understand a lot, but when we need to say something words somehow do not want to pass through our throat.
But those days are over!
Now you can also learn to speak English at home…. With your computer or an app on your phone to learn English! Talking “to yourself” is no longer crazy!
What’s more, if you’re learning English at home on a Speakingo course, you won’t perpetuate your mistakes this way, because the program understands you, praises you, but also corrects you. The student sets himself how precisely he wants Speakingo to correct the correctness of his speech.
To do this, you listen to native speaker recordings, look at pretty pictures and answer questions aloud.
This way you learn English at home like a child learning to speak. Through practice rather than theory (although all the grammar you need is included in the course didactics).
How to enroll in Speakino course to learn English at home?
How to enroll in Speakino course to learn English at home? Nothing could be easier!
Just click on the red button below to get a free week to try this innovative method.
You can also download the app from the App Store (iPhone) or Play Store (Android).
It does not oblige you to anything, you do not have to pay for anything.
And after a week you will know whether you like this method of learning English at home or not.
And then a month’s tuition costs less than one single tutoring session – which is probably not so bad. This allows me to further develop the site, write text for the blog and add new functionality to the application. And you can quickly and effectively learn English at home!
And what ideas did you have on how to learn English at home? [Of course ads will be deleted, it’s all about students’ proven ideas!]
Enroll in Speakingo’s online English course!
Do you want to understand the English? Start talking like them!
