If you want to learn a new language, it could be a challenge for you, and English, in particular, is no exemption. As known as the international language of academia, science, and business, English has been the most studied language worldwide. In fact, there are about a billion people in different parts of the world who learn how to write and speak English, and there are also millions of people who are native speakers of the language.

However, in spite of the importance of English for global commerce and affairs, learning the language can be difficult. Its grammatical rules, complexities in the pronunciation and spelling, irregularities in transforming verbs from different tenses, and a lot more when it comes to its technicalities can all be summed up as an overall challenge for everyone who wants to acquire the knowledge and master the skills in writing and speaking in English.

Hence, if you’re one of them and encounter the same struggles, this blog post is for you. Please, check the list below of different ways of learning English in the most effective and efficient way.

Keep Reading

One way to improve your English is to read everything you can see around you. It could be books, literary pieces, magazines, newspapers, tabloids, emails, website content, social media posts, and anything that was written in English. Doing so will allow you to explore the language by learning new words, sentence structures, idiomatic expressions, and the like.

You can read long posts on social media using your smartphone while you’re waiting for the bus or cab to bring you to school or your workplace. You can also grab a newspaper or a magazine while you’re enjoying a cup of coffee or tea. As you can see, you have tons of options that will expose you to English. So make it a habit to read and take the opportunity if you have one.

Take Down Notes of New Vocabulary

People tend to feel more confident in speaking and writing if they knew a lot of English words. Of course, you can’t say what you want if you don’t know what are the correct words to use. It’ll be hard for you to express your thoughts, ideas, and opinions if you have no idea of the appropriate words to say.

Hence, one way to help you out improve your vocabulary is by taking down notes of the words and their meanings that you’ve recently encountered. While doing the first strategy mentioned above, which is to keep reading, so every time you find an unfamiliar word for you, if you can’t figure out what it means using context clues, you can make use of dictionaries to look up its meaning. Once done, you can write it down on a piece of paper or a notebook. Then, go back to it from time to time to improve retention.

Use New Words in a Sentence

Taking down notes of the English words you’ve recently encountered and learned may not be enough to improve your vocabulary. Of course, you need to remember them all the time. You can always go back to your notes if you happen to forget them, but there’s one thing you can do to help you get them imprinted in your mind and that is to have truly understood those English words.

You can do that by using those words in different sentences correctly. You can create one when the word is in singular or plural form, and if it’s a verb, use it in a sentence in different tenses, like in past tense, future tense, present continuous, past perfect continuous, and the like. Hence, one thing to help you remember the correct definition of the word is by using it in different sentences.

Try to Learn By Phrases and Sentences

If you’ve just started to learn English, you can begin by acquiring one new English word at a time. But as time goes by, you also need to increase the complexity of your learning habits. So instead of learning the language word for word, you have to proceed with phrases and sentences.

For example, you have to know that the sentence “I don’t understand” means everything is not clear to you and you get confused, instead of learning these words one by one, like the word “I” refers to me talking, “Don’t” is a contraction of the words “do” and “not,” which means negative, and “Understand” means to perceive the intended meaning of something.

Doing this is not difficult. You just have to put your English words together and create a phrase or a sentence that makes sense and is easy to understand. Again, start with acquiring a single word at a time, then consequently, learn new phrases and sentences that you can effectively use in the future.

Engage With Friends on Social Media

With the advancement of technology, communication has become so convenient for everyone in different parts of the world, especially on social media. So the next strategy that you can do to improve your English is to get engaged with your friends on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, and many other platforms. If you have little to no time to speak or write in English in your location, you can do it online.

You can make friends with those who live offshore and join different social media groups with members who speak English. Doing this will give you tons of opportunities to interact with others, and share your ideas, thoughts, and opinions with people of the same interests. So if you keep doing your social media engagement regularly, you’ll surely improve your English in no time.

Watch English Movies

Besides reading, watching English movies is also an effective way to learn English. There are some research studies conducted about this and the results showed that when you watch English movies, it’ll give a significant impact on the improvement of your listening and speaking skills. Another interesting thing about it is that your pronunciation and vocabulary will also be improved when you regularly do it. These impacts may have a long-term advantage on you, so keep watching movies in English to enjoy more benefits.

Moreover, films aren’t usually created for those who are learning English. They are made for the native speakers of the language. That’s why the language used by the actors is exactly how it is spoken in real life. You will notice the pronunciation, accent, and even the colloquial and idiomatic expressions in the movies. Hence, besides learning English at school, you can also use this method as additional practice during your spare time.

On top of that, this particular strategy of learning English will provide you with tons of options. There are many movies out there in different genres that you can choose from. You can watch action, comedy, fantasy, mystery, drama, romance, and many others. Just keep in mind that choosing a movie will also depend on the level of English proficiency and age. For children, there is a particular list of films that are more suitable for them. But if you have a higher level of English proficiency, you can try watching films in a more advanced language.

Takeaway

As mentioned earlier, learning English can be a challenge, especially for those non-native English speakers. However, when you employ some effective strategies, learning the language can be fun and easy. You can use the list discussed above and explore more that you think will work best for you.

Phil-Chi Class International Corp. (PCCIC) has a set of experienced teachers who handle the English subject. We allow our students to practice grammar and vocabulary through different assessments and activities. For children who have difficulties in learning English or those graduates and professionals with the same problem, we will help them remember new concepts and English words by repetition with the use of various materials like videos, audio, images, and even with relevant tools for speech recognition.

With our experienced tutors, our learners will consequently read, speak, and write in English clearly and confidently. It’s our ultimate goal to help our students apply the language conventions, strategies, principles, and skills in communicating with other people, taking care of themselves in whatever they do in life, and even understanding other content areas. We want to provide our learners with tons of opportunities to improve their English even more effectively and efficiently.