Tips to learn English VII

                    

Here are more 10 things, from a series of 100, you can do to improve your English (in no order).

61. There are many types of English: British, American, South African and so on. None of these are wrong or not as important. English is English.

62. Instead, be aware of the differences in American and British English and use your words accordingly. For example: Elevator (US) / Lift (British).

63. Carry cue cards with you. These are small cards which you can write new words on. You can pull them out and look at them whenever you have a free minute.

64. Use post-it notes and stick them around your home. You can use them to label things. Stick one on your pet dog!

65. 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.

66. 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.

67. 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.

68. Meet new people. Make the effort to mix with English speakers in your town. You could join a club or go to bars where foreigners hang out. Buy one a drink, they love that!

69. Be the person to start conversations in English. Try to keep the conversations moving and use listening words (‘really?’ / ‘go on…’/ ‘what happened then?’) Don’t wait for others to speak to you. Get in there!

70  Debate. 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.