70 things you can do to improve your English

70 things you can do to improve your English

Here are 70 things (in no particular order) you can do to improve your English

  1. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes. Be confident. People can only correct your mistakes when they hear you make them.
  2. Surround yourself in all English-speaking environment where you can learn passively. The best way to learn is through speaking.
  3. Decide how much time a week you are going to spend studying and stick to it. Establish a routine.
  4. Get family and friends to push you to study and also don’t let them interrupt you.
  5. Practise the 4 core skills: reading, writing, speaking and listening. They all need to be worked on for you to improve.
  6. Keep a notebook of new words you learn. Use them in sentences and try to say them at least 3 times when you speak.
  7. Memorization 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.
  8. You will find words easier to remember if you try to remember an example sentence using that word rather the word on its own.
  9. 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?
  10. 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.
  11. Create an atmosphere in which you want to learn.Think about what methods have been successful for you in the past and stick with them. It can be by memorizing, reading, speaking, summarizing or other methods. It can be in a quiet place by yourself or with a group.
  12. Get help! If you don’t understand something you’ve got to ask someone. Ask your teacher, classmates or friends for help.
  13. 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 so take regular breaks.
  14. Don’t be in such a hurry to move up a level. Concentrate on the level you are at now.
  15. Watching TV only gives you the chance to hear something correctly first time. It can be great practice for speaking to native English speakers. Focus on the rhythm and intonation.
  16. 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.
  17. Newspapers are a good place to find passive constructs.Read for the general meaning first. Don’t worry about understanding every word, then go back and look up new words.
  18. 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.
  19. Learn root words. They’ll help you guess the meaning of words. For example: scrib = write, min = small
  20. When you learn a new word, think of all its other forms: Beautiful (adjective), beauty (noun), beautifully (adverb).
  21. 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.
  22. 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.
  23. Don’t translate into English from your own language. Think in English to improve your fluency. You can’t learn English from a book.The most natural way to learn grammar is through talking.
  24. Keep an English diary or journal. Start by writing a few sentences a day and then get into the habit of writing more.
  25. 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.
  26. 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”.
  27. Learn English songs and sing along with them to improve fluency and intonation pronunciation and rhythm … anyone for Karaoke?
  28. 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. Even if you are not actively listening to it, you will still be training your ears.
  29. Listen to a CD or friend and write down what you hear.
  30. 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.
  31. Use an English/English dictionary as it will help you to keep thinking in English and not translating.Try to guess the meaning of words rather than going straight for your dictionary.
  32. Don’t give up! Stay positive! Sometimes you will feel that you aren’t learning quickly enough. Enjoy it! We learn more when we are having fun!
  33. 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!
  34. Stop procrastinating, it’s important you understand if your procrastinating is to avoid studying, or if it is your bad habit.
  35. 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.
  36. Don’t worry about making your accent perfect. It’s an important part of your cultural identity to keep your accent.
  37. Instead, be aware of the differences in American and British English and use your words accordingly. For example: Elevator (US) / Lift (British).
  38. Use post-it notes and stick them around your home. You can use them to label things. Stick one on your pet dog!
  39. 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.
  40. 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.
  41. 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.Be the person to start conversations in English.
  42. 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.
  43. 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.
  44. 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.
  45. English has many irregular verbs. You should drill yourself on them.
  46. 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.
  47. Learn English with a friend. You’ll have someone you can practise with and you can motivate each other to study.
  48. 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.
  49. Get used to the ‘schwa’ sound [ə] – an unstressed and toneless neutral vowel sound. ‘Schwa’ is the most common vowel sound in English. For example, the ‘a’ in about and the ‘u’ in supply.
  50. 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.
  51. Textbook English is often different from the way we casually speak. To learn casual ‘slang’ watch movies.
  52. Idioms can be difficult to memorise, but they are great fun to use and they’ll make your English more colourful.6
  53. Make use of the internet. It’s full of resources to help you learn
  54. 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!
  55. 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.
  56. 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 university because it begins with a consonant sound). An hour (not a hour because the ‘h’ is often silent).
  57. 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.
  58. 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!
  59. The easiest one – Sleep! You’ll learn more after a good night’s sleep. You’ll be able to concentrate more.
  60. Take an English course in an English-speaking country.
  61. 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.
  62. Have you thought about getting a job or doing an internship abroad?
  63. Get yourself a qualified teacher. Who wants to learn wrong things?
  64. 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.
  65. 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?
  66. 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.
  67. 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.
  68. Find a comfortable, peaceful place for quiet study. You need somewhere where you can focus 100%.
  69. Implement all fun activities done in class in your daily life.

Last but not least, learn English with BRZEE Academy as the best English training institute!

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