Learning any language takes a lot of time. You need to study books, videos, different charts, do tones of exercises and practice every day to keep all the information you've absorbed in your memory. That is so difficult and you understand this fact quite fast from the very beginning. People often skip lessons even if they have paid for a full course, so no need to talk about self-study process.
How to make learning a habit?
If you have ever tried learning a language, probably you know that it
takes a lot of time and you should study at least 2 times a week plus time on
homework after the lessons. Well, 2 times a week is not that bad if you
continue to study like that through years. It will bring results I am sure
about that but not as fast as most people think. Make these 2 hours per week
your base and build other activities around it. Ask your teacher what you can
do passively like listening while having a walk, what resources to use, what
books, texts, articles to read. I think you'll get enough information to use
from your tutor/teacher.
So, let's say you have 2 lessons (60 minutes each) of English on Monday
and Thursday, plus you spend about 20-30 minutes for revision, preparation etc.
And we have 2-3 hours of studying a week in total. Poor amount of time actually, especially if you are a beginner. Let's add some extra reading.
Proper Reading to Widen Your
Vocabulary
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| ...a type of magic that helps to learn English too. Photo source: el nacional |
When I was in my university I decided to read one book. That book was
"Starship Troopers" by Robert Heinlein. And you know I didn't
understand more than 10% of the book. I was just reading, not studying it. So I
kept reading, I finished it. I knew my mistakes and I wanted to work on them.
My second book (I mean additional books not from the university main course)
was "The Firm" by John Grisham. This time I enjoyed reading a lot. I
think I got every part of it, everything was clear. In the end of the book I
didn't use my dictionary much because it was easy to grasp the language the
author used there. But the first 1/3 of "The Firm" was going really slow.
Sometimes I spent about 30-40 minutes on 1-3 pages. I was writing down every
unknown word or phrase and that worked for me. Books that I read after
"The Firm" were much easier to read. It was an amazing feeling to
find so many words already familiar to me in a new novel or a story.
Now think of how much time you have during a week to find a quiet place
to read? Well, I think you do have enough to start! It depends on the level of
your motivation and if you are here I think you are ready to spend 20
minutes on reading 4 times a week.
Ok, we had 3 hours (counting a 30-minute preparation for each lesson). Now
we have 3 hours + 1 hour 20 minutes = 4 hours 20 minutes on English weekly.
That's better!
I hope you know just from your personal experience that reading have
many benefits. I'd like to name its memory boosting ability. Indeed, there's no
other method to train your memory except reading. I am not talking about short
memory that works with trivial things like "oh, I've left my keys somewhere...".
I mean lifelong brain activity. You can read this text from the Northwest University
to get a general idea. You can find more researches on the Internet. In the picture below I
collected common benefits of reading which most of the scientists point out.
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Daily Listening and Speaking
Activities
Let's talk about listening first. What can you listen on a daily basis?
Probably you can watch all sorts of YouTube videos but it is just fun. People
usually stuck for years with simple stuff and show no progress. To watch a
movie is a good idea but depends on a movie choice. TV series are better though
I wouldn't suggest diving into watching them much. TV series contain a big
contradiction because they are made to entertain, not to educate. In this post
I have my thoughts about this issue, check it out and say if you agree or
disagree with it.
So I recommend watching news or listening to the radio where people talk
a lot about things going on in the world at the current moment. Most of the TV
companies like BBC, Global News, The Sun, Fox News and many others broadcast
24/7 online on YouTube so just find them and subscribe. Also don't forget to
read news every day, you can just have a glance at top news and it will help
you to understand the day agenda while listening to the radio or watching
reports.
Don't forget to repeat extracts from the reports you watch/listen
because there are always difficult phrases and words to pronounce there. And if
you can't pronounce them right you won't probably catch those words.
Here I have 2 cool sites with online radio stations. They contain lists
of stations like this:
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https://www.radio-uk.co.uk/ here I listen to the British radio stations for free
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They are easy to listen and load without any problem. For example, this
site is filled with British stations but they have also an American version.
There you can find more than 300 stations. So use these links and listen to the
freshest news over the globe to develop your English listening skills.
Ok, guys, we had 4 hours 20 minutes. So let's add some more. I
think 10 minutes in the morning and 10 minutes in the evening is fine but here
you can't drop a minute. 20 minutes of listening a day must be your minimum. 20
X 7 = 140 minutes. 140 minutes of news, my friends, are so much better than a
2-hour film or 7 episodes of a comedian TV show. You get more information, you
hear many people and you don't need to think what you are going to watch after
this show or movie or instead of them because you are not in the mood this
evening, just stick to news resources.
4 hours 20 minutes + 2 hours and 20 minutes = 6 hours and 40 minutes.
How to Study Grammar?
Grammar is difficult to learn. Many people struggle with rules, charts,
irregular verbs and many other specific things. How to train your grammar if
you want to master it and your teacher is available only twice or thrice per
week? Well, use apps and test kits where you can check your answers with the
keys.
Use Quora.com to ask people about difficult grammar cases you've met.
People on Quora want to help you, they really do, so don't hesitate to put your
question on this platform because, as they represent themselves, it "is a
place to gain and share knowledge".
It is hard to tell how much time you need to spend on studying grammar.
It depends on your level. Probably your teacher/tutor covers it during the
lessons. But if you are on a self-study course with only basic knowledge I
advise you to follow any student book of your level to keep up with a plan
because you need one anyway.
Spend 30 minutes on grammar tests to check your progress and add more
minutes if needed. But in my opinion 30 minutes is fine for this.
6 hours and 40 minutes + 30 minutes = 7h 10m.
Vocabulary Tips
Well, actually if you follow the previous steps you can learn a decent
amount of words daily, just don't be lazy and write down words while reading
books and newspapers or watching videos. If you need to learn a list of words
there is a good and rather creative exercise - make up a story with all these
words, try to build organic sentences though it is hard the result must be very
productive. Just set special frames like tense limits. For example, write your
story of 15-20 sentences in Past Simple only if you study it or wish to revise
it. Or choose an interesting maybe even silly setting like a story of a famous
cartoon character, say Shrek, in one of the Marvel or DC comic universes.
Free tip: I think you can ask your best friend to make up a specific story
setting: the character, landscape, time maybe more details. You know those best
friends they "always want to make your life easier". :)
Time to spend: I think 30 minutes a week here is ok because most of the
learning vocabulary process comes with reading. 7h 10m + 30m = 7h 40m per week. That's it. This is not the perfect
number I'd say it's a good amount of time and these hours can greatly boost
your current English level.
What are your numbers, guys? How much time do you spend studying a
language or any other subject you are interested in weekly?
Check out my thoughts on why learning English with news is way better than with TV series.
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