Your English is improving, but you don’t feel like you are working hard enough?
Remember when you first started to learn English? It felt like you worked really hard every lesson and you left the classroom knowing so much more every time! Now you are a more advanced learner and you are starting to feel like your progress is slowing down, and you don’t feel like you are working hard enough anymore. Does this sound familiar? Let’s explore why this might be.
Why a little bravery is essential to improve your English.
Many people find that they are comfortable learning from a book or taking quizzes online. They learn a lot of useful grammar and improve their vocabulary. This is an excellent way to learn, but only for reading and writing. Languages are spoken. Much of the meaning in a language comes from the way you say something, and written English is only 30% of a complex living language. Let’s explore why it is important to speak, and why you need to be a little bit brave.
Who can I practice my English with?
You are developing these new English language skills, and you are ready to practice them with others. Who do you practice with? Maybe you live alone, none of your friends or family speak English. Maybe the people you know don’t like to use their English with you. Maybe you live in the middle of nowhere in a field like I do! Don’t worry. There is always a way!
Why its so important to make mistakes when learning English
You are learning a new language. You are OK with all the exercises in the book, and it feels fine to practice with your teacher. Then you try it out with a waiter in an English restaurant. You want to be polite but you accidentally say “thanking you miss” to a male waiter. Absolute disaster! Everyone you have ever met hears about this mistake. It’s on CNN every night for 3 days. Your friends are too embarrassed to speak to you.
Making English lessons fun for Kids
So your child doesn’t want to do their homework. They don’t enjoy their after school tutoring sessions, they would rather be kicking a ball around with their friends. Let’s talk about why, and what can be done to change that.
Why fun is so important for learning English
As adults sometimes we think that fun isn’t important to learning, that’s for kids, right? Wrong. Research on the human brain shows that if you are enjoying yourself, you are much more likely to remember something. Why is that?