English is indispensable around the globe. International businesses hold meetings in English, Universities offer courses in English, and all over the world, travellers and tourists use English as a standard language. Therefore, it is impossible to compete in the current competitive market without having good English writing or speaking skills. However, learning English can be challenging, and that progress requires time and effort. Can everyday habits help your English learning process?
Make a Routine
The process of learning a language isn't something that can happen over the night. It is necessary to set aside time for it and think about the best time and place to incorporate it into your schedule. Small, regular pieces of work tend to be more efficient than long, more frequent ones. Therefore, spending much time is not essential.
You can take five to ten minutes to review your vocabulary or complete some exercises daily. A regular session with your teacher will eventually help increase your proficiency.
Focus on Pronunciation
When planning is done, focus on your pronunciation. Research on the internet and local English language learning institutes to collect resources. You can also follow helpful YouTube channels who teach English pronunciation accurately.
Learning the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) will help you pronounce every English word accurately. Start studying and practising the correct pronunciation through following a daily routine. It would be best if you can practise your pronunciation while communicating with friends, colleagues or teachers in everyday life.
The habit of improving pronunciation does not mean getting rid of your original accent artificially. Rather, it means making your pronunciation clear enough for others so that they can comprehend what you are saying when you speak. Proper English pronunciation will help you avoid many hassles and confusion in both daily life and career path.
Apply English for Doing Things You Love
You will be able to master the language faster by using the language while learning it. There are various ways to achieve this, but the most effective is to utilise it to perform something you love.
For instance, if your passion is music, travel, sports, fashion, art, or even reading news, you should try doing your work and making the necessary communications through the English language. This habit will help you hone your English language skills in a stress-free and natural way.
Write
Make the habit of writing every day. It has incredible advantages. Writing is among the most effective ways to remember new English terms and phrases that you have encountered recently. It is the best way to remember vocabulary too.
While reading a book, online article, or watching television shows, you come across fresh concepts and phrases. Rather than just listening to the terms, and allowing them to remain in your head, note them down. You can keep a notebook for this purpose.
Later, you can utilize the new vocabulary and sentence structures to express your thoughts through spoken or written English.
Read
The habit of reading will help you learn new vocabularies, sentence structure, etc. You should read something every day. It may be online news, articles, journals or a printed book or newspaper. However, you may feel overwhelmed confronting new words.
If you are at a basic level, consider comics or books for children. Although it may seem silly, the images, common words, and basic structure of sentences will help you comprehend the story. Thus, you can strengthen your grasp in English day by day.
Regular reading practice will not only help you to understand everyday vocabulary, but also enable you to develop the skill of speaking and writing in the English language.
Listening
Everyone loves movies. Find the english dubbed versions of your favourite television shows, dramas or movies. For the beginners, it is an excellent idea to enjoy movies with English subtitles.
Besides entertainment, make the habit of listening to English contents or resources for professional and education purposes. For instance, you can use the internet to search for the topics you are interested in such as science, technology, sports, business, history or anything else. You can listen to international news telecasts, podcasts, youtube videos, etc,
Overlook Mistakes
It's easier to say than to do. Continue the practice of learning. Use the English language for listening, writing and speaking whenever you get the chance.
Don't worry about mistakes. Everyone makes mistakes, including native speakers! and making mistakes is the most effective learning method! There will be a time when you will easily identify the errors you have made. Thus you can develop the ability to rectify mistakes without the help of your teacher.
Speak and Record
Try to speak in English when you communicate in professional life. Even if it's difficult to know how to express something, don't translate directly, but find a way to convey what you wish to say. Make use of simple phrases. Simple sentences can make you feel more comfortable and assist you in translating what you are thinking into words.
Self-critical learners attempt to evaluate their progress. Record yourself speaking a short text or discussing the topic. You can utilise the webcam of your laptop or computer and the video camera of your phone.
After you have made your recording, review it immediately and consider what you could do to improve the quality of your recording. Re-record it, then watch it and compare it to your original recording to see whether it's better. Continue this process regularly and save all of your old recordings. After a few months, you will begin to notice a noticeable improvement.
Vocabulary and Grammar
Refresh your knowledge of grammar and vocabulary. This will allow you to write well-formed sentences and increase your confidence when speaking English.
You can learn new vocabularies from online resources, printed books, dictionaries, etc. Besides these, the habit of reading, and listening to English contents will introduce you to many new vocabularies. For memorising vocabulary you can use diverse techniques like using vocabulary cards, writing blogs, etc.
Grammar is very essential to write and speak English correctly. The basic Grammar includes, Parts of Speech, voice, narration, syntax, idioms, Phrases, etc. Pick a good grammar book to learn the basic to intermediate level grammar. Then advance your knowledge accordingly. You can take the help of a mentor to learn Grammar in a systematic way.
Make the habit of applying the grammar lessons in your everyday English communication including speaking and writing.
Join a discussion
Participate in English discussions about something you are interested in. You can join or create an online community. Schedule some time in your daily routine to check in and look at what other people are talking about a certain topic. Try to share your opinions too.
While navigating social media or social networking platforms, you will see that numerous people are placing queries regarding many issues. If you have knowledge regarding any of these queries, take it as an opportunity to express your opinion. Stop scrolling and share your opinion in English. This habit will encourage you to communicate in English without hesitation.
Bottom Line
In your suitable time of the day practice reading, and writing in English. Create a flexible schedule to get you started. During leisure time, try to watch dramas in English or with subtitles. For professional purposes try to communicate in English with the right pronunciation. At home, practise English speaking by recording yourself regularly and then re-listening the recordings.
So far, we have discussed some simple but efficient habits for successful English language learning. Keep in mind that developing healthy habits requires a bit of time. It's not as simple as deciding you should do it.
