If you’re planning to study abroad any time in the near future brushing up on your English wouldn’t be such a bad idea. In fact, it would do you the world of good to get some practice in even if you’re venturing abroad to study the language. Many times though, those who want to learn the language struggle to understand how they can learn English at home.
And while we do teach our learners how to continue learning from anywhere, they don’t have those skills when they first join.
You’re not alone, learning a new language is quite difficult to do even if you are a good learner.
What we’ll go over in this post is the techniques that make learning English (any language for that matter) easier.
How To Study English At Home
Find A Language Partner
Learning is always more fun when you do it in groups and the same goes for learning a new language. When you want to start learning English the best thing you can do is find someone who is willing to learn with you. They’ll keep you accountable and vice versa.
Speak To Yourself Out Loud
Now this may sound slightly nuts. But, there really isn’t a better way to learn a language quickly than by constantly speaking it. You should focus on developing your English conversation skills by simply talking to yourself more. It doesn’t have to be formal. You’ll realise that the more you speak, the more you memorise, the more you’ll be confident speaking to others.
Speak To Native Speakers
As a rule while you’re learning you should speak to English speakers frequently. Tell them that you want to improve your English and that you’ll need help whenever you can, or whenever they see you struggling. This should help you improve your language skills.
Listen To English Songs and Read English Books.
This is by far one of the easiest methods to learn English at home. You could probably listen to free English songs online by watching lyric videos online and especially on YouTube. If you’re watching lyric videos on YouTube you’re really killing two birds with one stone – you’re reading and you’re listening. It’s also a lot easier to find English songs and books online, and it doesn’t take much effort to get started like this.
Take Group Classes
This isn’t necessarily something you can do “at home”. English lessons are, however, one of the easiest ways for language learners to learn the language. What many of the students we teach find is that they’re able to study English and remain motivated all because they’re in a group.
Incorporate It In Your Daily Activities
The most frustrating part of learning a new language can be the fact that you don’t have any reason to use it in your daily life. However, in order to learn a language and remember the language you’ll have to use it everyday and exercise your skills regularly. So, you should aim to talk, read and write English on a daily basis. Start with what you love doing.
If you like writing songs, why not try writing English songs. If you enjoy listening to music and exercises make sure all the songs you’re listening to are English songs. If you enjoy writing or journaling try writing in English. You can also join English forums that share a love for things that fascinate you like photography, art, theatre etc.
English Speaking At Home
Most of the time when you’re learning at home you’re not surrounded by English speaking individuals. The people you live with, most likely your family or others who speak in your native language aren’t going to be the best sounding boards.
That shouldn’t matter though, you just need to focus on practicing English any way you can. Perhaps encourage “English nights” where everyone at the dinner table has to speak English. Or you could encourage playing games like Scrabble, which is a great way to learn new words. Although, generally the rules prohibit you from using a dictionary you shouldn’t let that stop you from using one for learning purposes.
These are just some fun and interactive ways for you to try to get those you stay with to participate and learn the language with you.
The English language isn’t a difficult language to learn. Even those who speak the language everyday aren’t experts. Remember, most of the conversations you’ll be having will be casual in nature. You don’t need an entire lexicons worth of words. Keep to simple words and you’ll be just fine.