Create your own English learning environment! Kevin a dean

Create your own English learning environment!...
Kevin A Dean
Kevin A Dean
Online English Teacher
Опубликовано 14 дек. 2015 г.
A question I am often asked as an English teacher, is "How can I learn English fast"? That is of course, a very interesting question, and a strange one. If I had a secret method that would enable students to learn English (or any language for that matter) "fast" then I would be much richer than my usually impoverished teacher state. But this question, in itself, leads to more questions. Why does it have to be "learned" quickly, and what does "learned" mean? If by "learned" the student means to know everything about a language then that is a misnomer in any case. The learning process never ends, nor should it. How many of us can say we have "learned" English, that is to say we know everything we need to know and the learning process is finished and complete. I certainly don't know everything about English, I know quite a lot, but everything ? I don't think so.
So what can I as a teacher say to these students? Well, one way I advise my students to improve their English "fast" (although not the only way) is to totally "immerse" yourself into English. I base this advice upon Stephen Krashen's language acquisition learning hypothesis where he argues that a certain amount of "comprehensible input" is necessary for learners to make progress. The best way to acquire this input is to physically "immerse" yourself in the target language society and culture and speak the target language (English) all the time. This would of course mean moving to an English speaking country. If, for whatever reason this is impractical or too expensive, you can sometimes find another option, the intensive, immersion course. What this means is that you go to a hotel or holiday resort in your country and become surrounded by native English speakers for a week, using nothing but English all week long in formal learning situations and informal "chat" sessions. These programmes are popular in some countries, I know of several in Turkey and in Spain for example.
However, in this day and age, there is another option, you can use the internet with its plethora of free tools and resources, and create your own immersive English speaking environment. So, to do this you need to use English as much possible and try to work English into your daily life, make it part of your routine as you would if you were embarking upon a fitness regime. The idea is to make English an integral part of your day by efficient time management and planning.
If we start with listening, a vital skill for comprehension, pronunciation, and for "tuning" your ears into the sounds of English. Now I know that many people have commute to work by bus, metro, tram, whatever, so why not use that time profitably by getting in some listening practice instead of for example, looking at Facebook, playing games, etc. What many people do is to download some MP3 files to their phone/player and listen to those while they travel. You can download some podcasts, audiobooks, and many kinds of audio material to improve your comprehension skills and to help you "tune" your ears into English. My favourite recommendation for this is the BBC World Service site, they have many great episodes and podcasts for you on many subjects and the good thing is you can either stream them or download them as well as the transcript. So if you have some trouble with comprehension you can read as you go along. If you want something else, just google "English Podcasts" and you will see so many free websites that you will be spoiled for choice. You can also download some great audiobooks as well if you like listening to stories, just google away and you will see.
Reading is similarly important and is the number one best way to improve your vocabulary. By reading "authentic" materials (written by natives for natives as opposed to coursebook English) you will pick up many new words, idioms, metaphors, slang, etc. I usually direct my students towards the UK papers such as the Guardian, although any online newspapers or journals will do the job. Again, you can read these at anytime, on your phone or whatever device you have to hand when you have a spare ten minutes. Of course, you need to make a note of them and keep a record of your new vocab but in general terms any reading more or less is good practice. I recommend that people either keep a "lexical notebook", where they can write down any new language, along with synonyms, example sentences, etc, or use one of the many apps available for this purpose. Anki is a very good example, although if you Google this you will find literally hundreds of such items.
Writing is important too, for example even something like joining an English language chatroom website and typing in chat speak in English is excellent practice. Or you can be old-fashioned and find a pen-pal on these sites and write a letter instead. There are many sites so I will just mention a couple, Conversation Exchange, and italki although there are many more. These sites are very good for finding people, you create a profile and can then search for a partner/s by language or country. You offer to teach them your language and they teach you theirs, every body wins. 
If you prefer to speak instead of chat, although both are possible, once you have found a partner then you can arrange a Skype chat or Google Hangout and get some much needed speaking practice.
However, what if you don't like chatting/talking via the internet, and many people don't as they think it is somehow impersonal. How can you meet English speaking people in person? One way is to search for English speaking conversation events in your city. This will not work for those of you who live in some less populated parts but for those who live in sizeable cities, this is definitely an option.
Once again, as with many things, the internet is your friend. The number one source for meeting people is Couchsurfing, for those of you who don't know it, it is an international project designed to help people move around the world and meet new people. You can read all about it here. One thing that Couchsurfers do is to organise social events in their cities, these are great because you always get a good mix of mainly young, internationals whose lingua franca or common language is English. The events are usually held in some pub or bar so you go, have a drink, and talk, in English! Meetup.com is another excellent site for meeting people, although it is for many things not just English language exchange. It works the same way as Couchsurfing, you create a profile then search for whatever interests you in your city. If you can't find anything then you can create your own event and meet people that way.
We mustn't forget Facebook, for if you search for such keywords as English Events you will likely find many groups in your city as well. So all in all there are many opportunities to find conversation partners wherever you live. Taken with the online groups as well, the odds are good for you being able to find English speakers to practice with.
In summary then, you don't have to go to the UK or America or wherever to create your own immersive English learning environment. With the help of the internet is it perfectly possible to find and access free materials as well as people to help you reach your goals...I wish you good luck in your endeavours!