How to self study English between Cafetalk classes!

Learning English or any language is difficult and requires a lot of time and effort. I have been teaching English as a second language for almost 10 years and my students always ask me how to improve their English while waiting for their next class. I recommend you practise every day and I will list some ideas that you can do:

Listen to music and learn all the lyrics

Everyone likes music and most songs have lyrics you can read and listen to. Songs can between 2 to 5 minutes long and you can choose from nursery rhymes to romantic songs.

Watch English videos about your interests

I personally enjoy learning new things if I am interested in the topic. You can put the subtitles so you can read and well as listen, after all, one picture is worth a thousand words and video could be worth more.

Watch English movies and TV shows

The same as above but you can watch realistic conversations of native English speakers and you can see the phrases used in context. Albeit it is informal, the exposure to the vocabulary can be invaluable.

Test your grammar or vocabulary with online English quizzes or apps

There are so many websites and apps that you can use on your mobile device in the form of flashcards, fill the gap, guess the picture and many more activities. You can find some apps that have voice recording and grade your pronunciation although it is automated, you can be excellent to practise every day.

Chat with friends online

Now social media networks have brought people closer for right or wrong reasons. However, you can make friends online or join groups to practise writing and improve your reading. Ideally, you would need to join groups that are interesting. The microblog format is ideal because most posts are less than 100 words or less on Twitter!

Read e-books, articles and online magazines

You find dedicated websites, apps or social media posts to read. However, any literature is very good because you can find advanced vocabulary and the context use can be easy to work out. Despite that, you can always use a dictionary to confirm the meaning.

Write about something you’re thinking about

This could be in a journal or small notes but any writing is a fantastic way of practising the grammar and formal vocabulary. You can even use your mobile device and set the keyboard language to English and autocorrect could help you form sentences and spell problematic words. Normally, a notebook is best but if you feel confident then you could write on social media networks!

Attend a language exchange event

In my opinion, this is often overlooked for sociable reasons which I can understand. Most cities host language exchanges for free or the price of a drink depending on location. You can find foreigners that have moved there or looking to make friends. You can speak about cultural differences or about where they are from.

These are my ideas to continue the learning process between classes, so emerging yourself in English and think in English will reprogram your brain. If you do a few of the ideas then you will improve your English in the long term. You need to do this every day and I highly recommend short and often because it can become a habit.

Thank you for reading my column and have a look at my profile for further details about my classes.

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