There are really many ways to learn English, and understanding their effectiveness can be difficult. Unfortunately, there is no “magic pill” that is ideal for everyone, because everyone is different. Here are tips on how to find the way to learn English that works best for you.
Warm-up before classes
Just as you need to warm up before playing sports, you also need to warm up before learning a language. Here are some simple exercises:
Stage I: Brush up on your vocabulary
Refresh lexicon by thinking about or briefly describing the topic you are going to study. For example, if this is , think about your last vacation - what you did, what you remember, etc. This simple exercise will help revive your memory of words that you may encounter when working on this topic.
Stage II: Brush up on your grammar
Brush up on your grammar by remembering general outline the desired grammatical area. For example, if you are, try to describe in English what you did last weekend, where you went, etc.. As with vocabulary, this warm-up is necessary to prepare for further study of English grammar.
Stage III: Sing a song
Before your English lesson, sing an English song. It should be a song that you know and understand well (you will find English-language songs with translations).
It's short and easy exercise will help you tune in English language and relax at the same time. Singing also activates the creative activity of the brain, which will help you choose words more creatively when conducting a dialogue or when composing an impromptu story on a given topic.
Step IV: Type a short paragraph in English
If you work on a computer, as a kind of self-tuning, type a paragraph of simple text in English. You can describe your day, your activities, your friends—anything. This helps activate the kinesthetic activity of the brain, responsible for remembering through physical actions. It's also helpful to type out the rules while learning grammar. Movement will help you consolidate your knowledge.
Stage V: A Thousand Words
There is a saying in English: “A picture is worth a thousand words” (“A picture is worth a thousand words” or “It’s better to see once than to hear a hundred times”). By describing a photograph or drawing, you engage the areas of the brain responsible for creativity. While you're at it, you can brush up on your vocabulary by choosing a picture that's relevant to the topic you'll be studying.
Practice English every day
It is important to practice English every day. However, don't overwork yourself. It's better to exercise for 30 minutes every day than two hours once a week. Short regular classes much more effective than long hours of studying with long breaks. Getting into the habit of studying every day will help keep your language skills active.
Learn English with friends
There is nothing better than learning English in good company. You can do exercises together, conduct dialogues (in English!) and help each other with what is more difficult. If among your friends you do not find like-minded people,...
Learn English in different ways
Don't limit yourself to just one way to learn a language. Use various methods, which involve different areas of the brain. For example, when you memorize new words, you can draw a mnemonic map, describe the picture, and type the word you are learning several times. Together, all these methods will help strengthen your knowledge.
The phrase “nowhere without English these days” has become a kind of cliché, but, nevertheless, it is difficult to disagree with it. The modern world, together with its technologies, provides us with a lot of opportunities, but, at the same time, it increases its demands.
A good job now goes not to those who have the best or most expensive education, but to those who have skills that are valuable in practice, not in theory.
One of these skills is knowledge of foreign languages, including special place takes up English. Yes, knowledge of rare languages is valued more highly, but the demand for such a skill is several times lower than the ability to express oneself in one of the world’s most popular languages.
Is English really that difficult? Is it possible to learn it on your own? How long will it take?
These are the most common questions among those who are about to take the path of mastering a foreign language. Well. let's figure it out.
Unfortunately (or fortunately), in this article you will not find a miracle recipe that will allow you to learn a language in one day or week. There will be no stories here about how you can learn 200-300 new words a day; you shouldn’t expect unconventional shamanic rituals either.
All new information, entering our brain is divided into necessary, potentially necessary, and useless. And one main criterion helps the brain determine the place of new knowledge: the frequency of use of knowledge or skill.
We use our native language every day, so we can’t just forget it. But as soon as we live in another country for several years, we begin to notice that it becomes as if we are formulating sentences, and we have to literally recall words from memory.
There are also such words in native language, which we once heard, perhaps even used for some time, but then stopped.
An example would be school terminology in a certain subject. And now, when we hear this or that word or term, we recognize it, but do not use it in our speech.
The same is true with the study of any foreign language: Vocabulary is divided into active, passive, and potential.
If everything is more or less clear with active and passive vocabulary, then what is the third type?
A potential dictionary is a set of words that we supposedly don’t know, but we can easily guess their meaning if we are familiar with certain rules.
An example is words that are formed by adding affixes. For example, knowing any verb and being a little familiar with the topic of participle (participle), we will be able to form new lexical units on our own: read - to read, reading - reading, reading.
Knowing the meaning of the ending –er, we can create names of professions from the verbs we know (work – worker, teach – teacher, swim – swimmer etc.).
There is only one way to develop a solid active reserve - by constantly practicing.
From here it floats main secret independent learning – regularity. Only daily practice will give results, only constant practice will lead you to victory.
Remember! A three-hour lesson once a week will not give you the same effect that daily half-hour lessons can achieve.
When and how is it better to start learning English?
The best time to start is now.
But before you begin, you need to clearly formulate your goal, since a vague “I want to learn (know, be able, have)” dooms you to failure:
- Set clear criteria by which you can evaluate your success, and put it all within a clear time frame.
For example:
I want to learn 300 words, be able to talk about myself and my family, buy groceries, ask for directions, by the end of 09/01/16. - Make a lesson plan taking into account your busy schedule. Prepare some materials that you can use on public transport, listen to in the car, or just use headphones. Immerse yourself in the language as much as possible.
- Create a lesson plan(many planning options can be found on the Internet in ready-made form).
- Make sure you develop your skills holistically rather than one-sidedly. To do this, you need to do grammar exercises, read texts or books, listen to audio, and speak.
- Deprive yourself of the opportunity to miss a lesson: use reminders, make an agreement with friends, post on social networks so that there is nowhere to retreat.
What hinders language learning?
Only the lazy have not heard of the term “language barrier.” This is some kind of mythical barrier that stubbornly prevents people from speaking a foreign language.
This obstacle is entirely psychological and is associated mainly with fear and self-doubt. We are afraid to seem stupid and funny, we are afraid that we will not be understood, or will be understood, but not correctly.
And this obstacle can be dealt with only by one method, popularly known as “knock out wedge with wedge.” The recipe is simple, as is everything ingenious: in order to speak, you need to... SPEAK. No other way. There is no other way.
You can solve stacks for years grammar exercises, but feel helpless when plunging into the language environment (which is the problem of the vast majority of “old school” teachers).
Without what is it impossible to independently study English?
Independent learning is impossible without self-discipline and the ability to properly plan your time.
As for the very popular last year term “motivation”, then having it, of course, won’t hurt, but it tends to dry up. But the ability to do something that you don’t really want to do is the key to success.
Develop the habit of following your goal step by step, every day. Even if these steps seem tiny and insignificant to you, take them and you will see how quickly they will turn into leaps and bounds.
Let's list them:
- Stock up on all the necessary office supplies. Everything that even hypothetically might be needed in the process. This is necessary in order not to be distracted by such trifles later. Believe me, when your brain rejects the new load, it will seem to you that the words are not being learned only because they are written down in an ugly notebook, and the rules are not remembered because there is not a single highlighter or, at worst, a colored pencil in the house. Don't let your subconscious fool you;
- Bet a friend or family member that you will learn a certain number of vocabulary items, watch a movie, read a book in the language you are learning, etc. Introduce fines for violating the regime;
- Don't jump off the plan even if the next topic seems more exciting and important;
- Find materials that are truly interesting. This is how learning turns into exciting activity that you want to do.
Guide: how to start learning English from scratch on your own
Technologies for learning English at home on your own
On this moment The most effective method of learning foreign languages is considered to be the combination of communicative and linguo-sociocultural approaches.
The first of which is to immediately use the word constructions being studied in practice, and the second is to become as strongly as possible imbued with the mentality of the country whose language is being studied.
This mix will allow you not only to memorize words, expressions, and grammatical cliches, but also to understand the logic English speaking countries and their residents.
To memorize vocabulary, it is best to use relatively new technique called mind maps. The method is schematic representation words divided by topic.
Resources for learning English at home for free
A resource with a lot of materials for listening, grammar tasks, quizzes, and board games.
Users can take tests online or download assignments in pdf format.
Site with many interesting stories for reading. The site is completely free.
We decided to learn English language? Of course you did right choice, after all English language - main language international communication.
Most likely, you have already encountered the main problem with learning English - great amount textbooks and courses on the market, most of which are a waste of time and money. And if we add to this selfeducation and complete absence basic knowledge language, then all this confuses a person, and he loses the desire to learn English. A wish- the main key to successfully learning any foreign language.
So, what does the site offer you for success? learning English from scratch?
First of all, especially for entry level as online lessons a wonderful self-instruction manual by K. B. Vasiliev was prepared " Easy English". Classes on this tutorial are perfect for children, because the texts are presented from popular English children's fairy tales, such as "Alice in Wonderland", "Winnie the Pooh and Everything Everything", etc. Additionally, typos, some inaccuracies, and added free audio for the entire course. And doing the exercises is not at all difficult, because for this there are special forms for entering text, as well as answer keys. To view the answer, hover your mouse over the key: . You can only peek back after you have completely completed the exercise! If you have any questions, you can ask them under the lesson as a comment.
Please note that there is no need to rush and jump to the next lesson immediately after completing the current one. Move on to the next lesson when you are confident that you have mastered the material in the current lesson. fully.
Further parallel With the study of the audio course above, you can also study the perhaps simpler Assimil audio course. On the page with audio courses there are also courses for more high level, as well as an interesting tutorial on how to work with audio.
How did you study so much information and still get confused with verb tenses? Dont be upset, verb tenses in English- this is the most difficult part of it. After all, there are not 3 of them, as in the Russian language, but as many as 12! Especially for easier understanding and mastery of tenses, the following section on effective lessons by S.P. Dugin for beginners was created.
Verb tenses can also be studied in the English grammar section. Initially, grammar lessons were intended for intermediate students, but translations have been added to them, and now they can be studied by slightly less advanced students. In this section Very There are many lessons, it will help you find answers to many questions, so don't skip it. Proceed to study it only when you are ready. And in lessons for beginners there will periodically be links to specific grammar lessons from this section.
Have you studied all this already? Well, you give it! Congratulations! What to do next? And then you will have even more self-study. Unfortunately, from an intermediate level it is difficult to build any path for study; build it yourself according to your interests. It takes a lot of practice. Listen to a lot of audio and video materials. Try to talk more. No one? Talk to yourself! Read, write. The site also has video materials. Perhaps there will be more later.
Please note that on mobile version site right menu crashes to the very bottom screen, and the top menu opens by pressing a button ≡ top right.
What kind of English are we learning? British or American?
Correct answer: both.
On the one hand, British refers to pronunciation rules set many years ago. Almost no one speaks it now, but everyone who studies English or tests pronunciation strives for it, incl. American actors (for example, Will Smith). Also, all textbooks have standard grammar and spelling of words. It turns out that almost everyone is learning British English. American grammar and spelling are slightly, very slightly different from British, so look for some textbooks on American English. very, very stupid.
On the other hand, British English also includes a special intonation that almost no one teaches, and it’s difficult to get used to. These lessons also do not teach intonation. It turns out that no matter how hard we try to pronounce it, we will still end up sounding more American English than British. Besides intonation, our speech apparatus is simply more similar to the American one. The video of the 1st lesson presents pure British English. The audio of the following lessons will sound more like American English. Otherwise, English is standard, there is no need to come up with ridiculous reasons why I should or should not learn these particular lessons. Just learn! I am responsible for quality! (Site author)
Surely you found something interesting on this page. Recommend it to a friend! Better yet, place a link to this page on the Internet, VKontakte, blog, forum, etc. For example:
English language learning
Learning English on your own from scratch is not easy. However, in the case of an online service, the student himself chooses the levels and time for classes that are suitable for him.
Before choosing a course, be sure to take an English level test and a vocabulary test - they will help you decide where to start and what skills you need to improve.
If basic knowledge is the alphabet and a small set simple words and phrases - you already have them, we recommend starting with the second course. The program is designed for 131 hours and is suitable for those who want to better understand English grammar, learn to distinguish tenses, maintain a simple conversation and write letters.
Third year suitable for those who have basic knowledge and do not want to stop there. The purpose of the program: to broaden the student’s horizons, to introduce complicated words and expressions. The course also provides training on writing business and personal letters. After successfully completing the program, the student will be able to conduct a telephone conversation and retell simple texts.
IN fourth year Much attention is paid to the tenses of the English language. There is a thorough analysis of the past tense. The student is encouraged to master several difficult conversation topics.
Having successfully completed the fourth year of study, the student:
- understand passive structures;
- will expand your vocabulary by approximately 3 thousand new words;
- will be able to communicate and maintain conversations on complex topics.
IN modern world It’s quite difficult to manage without English. It is knowledge of English that opens up opportunities for studying abroad, pursuing a career, and much more. Of course, many people wonder whether it is possible to learn English on their own. In fact, it is possible, but you will need to put in enough effort and knowledge.
If you cannot immerse yourself in a language environment by traveling, you will need to create a language environment for yourself at home. To do this, every day for a few minutes you will have to master several phrases in English. You are required to sort out each phrase, rewrite it, and constantly pronounce it out loud, giving it the correct intonation.
You can learn a lot quickly and efficiently English words using a regular player. Add music or phrases in English to your playlist. You will listen to them, at first you will understand very poorly, but gradually individual words will become understandable and clear phrases.
Watch TV series in English, if this level is very difficult for you, start with TV series in Russian, but with subtitles in English. Great for training eBook. Read children's fairy tales, short stories and favorite works in English, try to grasp the essence of the words without looking at the dictionary.
Be sure to start learning Irregular Verbs and immediately insert them into sentences for better associative memorization. You will remember the most common irregular verbs very quickly.
Don't forget that you can easily and effectively learn English at home using Skype. Just find a good teacher for yourself and agree on cooperation with him.
English for beginners. Reading rules in English
Popular programs
Of course, the easiest option to learn English is to enroll in language courses. This method will allow you to quickly and easily learn grammar, verbs, expressions not only at home, but also in a group. Don’t be afraid that you will end up in a group where everyone knows the language worse; usually groups are selected depending on the level of the students.
If you don’t have the finances or time to study with a tutor, you can always purchase excellent audio courses such as “English in 12 days”, “English in Focus” and others. With such programs you can easily learn many words and master verbs quickly. Choose the best conversation course for you and learn the language with ease. The tips from the course will help you a lot, and even if you spend just a few minutes a day studying, you can easily learn spoken English from scratch.
Spoken English
Of course, knowledge of words, irregular verbs and grammar is very important. But it is worth remembering that spoken English is no less important. After all ordinary people They speak far from what is written in books and textbooks.
Of course, English, as it is spoken, is best learned with a native speaker. If this option is not possible, watch TV series and cartoons without translation. This way you can hear real living languages and get used to the pronunciation of words. This is the easiest way to learn English from scratch at home.
Lexicon
Of course, without knowing the words, you will never be able to quickly learn a language, much less speak it. You will need to learn regular and irregular verbs, nouns, adjectives, and phrases using these words. Only with this approach will you speak quickly enough.
To expand your vocabulary, you can use two universal methods. The first one is suitable for people with good developed imagination. They don’t need monotonous cramming of words, they just need to find a vivid association for each word and then the word itself will emerge in memory.
The second method is more suitable for people with a logical type of thinking. Here, no advice about imaginative thinking will help; verbs and all other variants of words will have to be memorized both orally and in writing. It won't be fast, but this method is time-tested and absolutely effective.
There is Basic English, with which you can learn 850 important English words. To make it simple and convenient for students, these 850 are divided into three important groups:
- Objects and phenomena
- Action or movement
- Expression of quality.
Separately, I would like to say that out of the 850 verbs, nouns and adjectives given, 514 have only one syllable.
English words and expressions
To learn English at home effective in minutes, it will not be enough just to cram verbs and parse grammatical schemes. To make your speech beautiful and smooth, you will need to introduce persistent expressions into it.
To learn such words, verbs and expressions quickly, our tips will help you:
- Find a list of the most popular expressions on the Internet.
- Choose the ones you like at the moment.
- Learn them by heart, or try writing expressions on sticky notes and hanging them all over your apartment. While doing important things around the house, you will come across notes, and spend a few minutes repeating them; within a week you will easily remember all the verbs and phrases from scratch.
Words in English on the topic Family
Learn grammar
English grammar is absolutely not a complicated thing and you can master it quickly enough, the main thing is to choose The right way. The only correct way to learn grammar is to visualize it. Use diagrams, tables, lists, so you can quickly master even the most complex rules from scratch.
Another way to visualize grammar is to draw the rules you understand. Once you understand the rule, try to draw it up schematically so that it sticks in your head. The advice given by tutors and translators really works, you just need to choose the method of learning English that suits you.
English grammar for children