How to learn English on the go: four effective ways

Photo: depositphotos.com

Each person is able to accurately name the reason why he has not yet learned English, or does not speak it as well as he would like. And you shouldn’t expect original answers: the vast majority will cite lack of time. Indeed, it is difficult for a modern person to find at least an hour to sit down with textbooks - it seems that the day is packed to capacity. But you can add quite a lot of sand to a bucket filled to the top with stones. In the same way, it is possible to fit many small activities - 5-10 minutes each - into the busiest schedule.

A reasonable question arises: will such activities be of any use? Well, what can you learn in 5 minutes? And what will remain in your head?

Modern science argues that the use will be, and even what. One of the most popular courses on the educational platform Coursera called “Learning to learn”. Teachers are almost the first thing to teach their students the technique of learning the material, which is called chunking (from the English word chunk - a small piece, such that it can be swallowed at one time). Small portions of new knowledge can actually be gained in line for coffee, on public transport, while waiting for a doctor's appointment or while waiting for the school bus with your child. It is important to plan these small learning sessions and after each of them clearly formulate what result was achieved, for example: “I repeated the English names of the bones of the human skeleton”, “I made 5 sentences using a new grammar rule”, “I listened for 10 minutes and understood fluent speech at a more complex level than before.”

And one more theoretical consideration before moving on to practice: we remember the best things that caused our strong emotions: they angered, laughed, surprised or scared. However, you should not intimidate yourself for the sake of learning English, it is better to provide positive experiences. And here are some ways to do it.

Method one

Mobile app ABA English, available on iPhone и Android, ideal for those who are not ready to independently schedule their own time, but want systematic training.

Online School of British and American English It’s not in vain that I won an award for the best mobile app in 2015 and 2016: you can learn in full accordance with the principles chunking - arrange short but emotional sessions. On each of the 6 difficulty levels, 24 integrated lessons are available to users.

All content revolves around educational films with everyday situations from the life of office workers, students and couples. The clips are short - 3-5 minutes, but at the same time are shot very high quality, and most importantly - most of them are really witty, and the higher the level of knowledge of the language, the thinner the humor - a great motivation to move on.

After completing each level, you can get an electronic certificate.

After watching the video, you can proceed to other sections: repeat the words and expressions learned while watching, record and listen to yourself, write a few sentences under dictation, try yourself as a translator for mini-movie characters, watch a video with a grammar lesson, take a short test . Thus, the studied piece of material is viewed several times at different angles. One complete lesson at each level and all grammar videos (and there are 144) are available to registered users. for free.

Image courtesy of ABA English

Method two

A nice addition for ABA English will become any application for creating and displaying cardsFor example, Flashcards.

Yes, yes, the good old method of manually sorting through cards, on one side of which English words are written, and on the other - their Russian equivalents, has not yet been canceled. True, technological progress has brought some changes to this way of learning: flashcards have become virtual, and advanced applications track which words the user needs to work on and suggest them more often than others. Well, there is now no chance that cards with words will fly out of your hands and you will have to collect them from the floor on the bus. Even 2-3 minutes of sorting through cards can do a good job, the main thing is to repeat it as often as possible. And to make the process emotional, you can reward yourself for every 10 or 20 words you learn.

Method Three

In exams forums TOEFL and IELTSIt is often argued which part of the test is the hardest. The prevailing opinion is that it is most difficult to master the writing of texts in English, because knowledge of grammar, and extensive vocabulary, and word compatibility (and for that you need to feel the language) are important, but the main problem is not even this, but self-discipline. The need to write working emails in English every day makes it quite tolerable in record time to master written speech, but what do those who don’t have such a need yet?

For levels from Beginner to Upper intermediate A good way to pump written English can be ... writing reviews. Every person from time to time buys clothes, cosmetics and gadgets, goes to the hairdresser, eats in a cafe, visits the gym, prepares recipes from the Internet, takes books in the library.

It will take just a few minutes to share your impressions, but in general this is quite an exciting activity, and you can wake up only in 20 minutes by writing a long commentary on the pros and cons of the new sneakers. By the way, many online stores and services offer discounts or bonus points to customers who leave feedback.

Photo: depositphotos.com

Method Four

Learning English literally on the run or on the go helps podcasts. Every day, thousands of hours of high-quality content become available for download: university lectures, analysis of current events, interviews, popular science programs, collections of entertaining facts - English can be learned from any material, as long as the prospect of listening to a new episode is inspiring and not depressing.

Listening to certain podcasts can be tied to routine matters: cooking show, political satire at the wheel, a selection of the best presentations at conferences TED in the supermarket or in the process of washing.

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