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15 Things To STOP Doing When Learning English
15 Things To STOP Doing When Learning English
15 Things To STOP Doing When Learning English
1. STOP translating!
Translating should only be something you need to do in the very early stages of learning
English.
Once you have a basic grasp of vocabulary, you should stop thinking in your own
language and trying to translate everything, as this slows your progress down, and limits
your focus!
When someone says something, concentrate on the words you DO know, and build your
understanding from there.
STOP thinking about how people might react, and what they’ll say. Everyone makes
mistakes, and then they learn from them – that is how you get better at it!
Having a negative attitude doesn’t help improve your learning, it makes it worse. If you
find you’re saying negative things to yourself like:
This needs to change! Try to turn them into positive statements, you can rephrase them
to show positivity. Instead of saying “I’ll never get better at this”, you should say “I’m
going to keep trying, I’m sure I’ll get better at it soon.”
Instead of saying “Sorry, I don’t speak English, I can’t understand you”, say “Sorry, I’m
still learning how to speak English, so could you speak a bit slower please?”
Speak in English every time you have the opportunity. If you think about speaking, then
you’ll just feel even more nervous. Just put yourself out there, and speak!
The more you speak, the more confident and comfortable you will feel, and the quicker
you will learn how to communicate in English properly!
You may need to step out of your comfort zone a little bit, but the more you speak in
English, the more you will begin to feel relaxed.
Due to the large number of English speakers in the world, there is a wide range of
accents, some of which, can be hard to understand!
Eliminating your mother tongue from your accent completely, is extremely difficult, so
don’t be too hard on yourself!
6. STOP apologising!
No one knows everything – so don’t apologise for not speaking English perfectly!
You’re still learning, everything takes time.
The more you speak and practice your newfound skills, the more you will improve.
Even native English speakers didn’t learn how to speak in a few months!
The main thing is that you are trying, most people will understand and appreciate that.
So just relax, and start talking!
7. DON’T just learn in class!
Learning in a classroom environment is great because you get to ask questions, pick
your teacher’s brain, and share ideas with classmates, but you also need to implement
the English language into your daily life, and communicate with people in English at
every opportunity you get.
If you don’t practice speaking English outside the classroom, then your ability to
progress will remain very limited. This is one of the most important things you need to
remember.
It is the best way to learn, and will definitely influence how quickly you improve!
You have to keep practising if you want to get better, otherwise it’ll get harder to
improve.
Professional athletes have to do the same, they train hard all the time, because if they
didn’t – their skills would just get worse!
9. STOP worrying!
Don’t waste a chance to speak English because you’re worried about whether they will
understand you or not. Be confident, and have an ‘I can do it’ attitude.
Don’t be shy! Least of all, don’t worry about learning, because it’s supposed to be fun.
The more fun you have, the easier you will learn!
Everybody is different, some people learn languages more easily than others, and some
people spend more time working to improve their English. Just because your friend is
learning faster than you, doesn’t mean you’re not on the right path!
Some students study English for many years, and know all the rules of grammar and
sentence structures, but still struggle to communicate properly and hold a conversation
in English.
12. DON’T work too hard on one skill and neglect the others!
If you just want to be able to speak to people, then you might place less emphasis on
reading and writing, but you shouldn’t neglect them too much, as they are also crucial
for fluency.
You should concentrate on improving your speaking skills, but also dedicate a suitable
amount of time practising your reading, writing and listening skills. You shouldn’t
underestimate the benefits all these skills have on each other!
You should have short study periods of up to 30 minutes, then spend a generous amount
of your available time putting the language skills you’ve learnt, into practice.
It’s okay to study for up to 30 minutes, take a break, then go back to studying if you
really need to, but studying for a long period of time, without taking a break, is quite
exhausting for your brain!
Even if they realise that learning is important, they may not be self-motivated enough to
do it all the time! It needs to be something you want to do, not have to do. Make it
interesting so you have fun when you’re learning.
- If you’re walking down the street, build simple English sentences in your head about
the things you see around you
- Watch a funny video on the internet and tell someone what it’s about
- Read an article about your favourite band (or something else that interests you)
Only one kind of person would do these sort of things – the kind of person who enjoys
them! If you want to learn how to speak English well, you have to be that person. Have
you ever heard of anyone who became successful by doing something they hated?
For example, the way an average, ordinary person interacts with other people in his or
her community. All cultures and small communities have different gestures, intonation,
slang terms, proximity, interjections, fillers, and short cuts!
If you are focusing on learning the tongue of a certain community then it would be best
to integrate with them, and learn from them!
By Nadia Ilyas – English Teacher and Blog Writer