Some Practicals Method of Improving Your English:
1. Learning a foreign language covers the 4 skills namely: writing-speaking (productive activities) and reading-listening (passive activities)
2. To improve your knowledge of English is to improve the 4 skills in the language itself.
3. Here are some practical ways worth trying:
4. WRITING:
4.1. CREATE A HABIT:
a. write a little English every day
b. write letter/email to friends
4.2. WRITE GRAMMATICALLY:
a. use very simple sentences
b. use correct sentences
c. use as many full-stops (or period) as possible
d. use simple and easy-to-understand words
4.3. WRITE SYSTEMATICALLY:
a. use simple paragraphs
b. use as many signposts (such as, of course, that is why, etc) as you can
c. use correct punctuation marks
4.4. MAKE NOTES
a. write down something about what you read (summary, comment, etc)
b. write down something about everything that interests you in your diary.
5.SPEAKING
5.1. SPEAK CORRECTLY
a. speak in clear and easy-to-understand English (Note: Do not force yourself to imitate the native speaker's speech. If you are serious, the good speech will naturally come to you in the near future)
b. avoid puzzling terminologies, idioms, and other expressions
c. say every word phonetically (a good dictionary will just help you to do that)
d. use only simple sentence in speaking
5.2. SPEAK TO YOURSELF
a.memorize quotations, proverbs, saying and others, and say them to yourself again and again (you can say it in front of a mirror)
b.say to yourself about something you see ( O my God! What a day! O come on!)
5.3.SPEAK TO OTHERS
a.speak to your clever friends whom you may learn a lot from
b.speak to foreigners and native speakers
c.tell funny stories to your friends
d.speak in front of an audience (build up a discussion group to make this possible)
e.say something in English to every one (eg: Good morning, how are you?)
6.READING
6.1.READ FOR PLEASURE
a.start reading easy-readers, funny stories, fables, easy verses or others
b.start reading magazines, newspapers or other periodicals (they will provide you with a lot of current terms you need)
6.2.READ SERIOUSLY
a.read alone in the library or with only few interested friends
b.read with voice and correct pronunciation (English is not English unless it is pronounced correctly)
c.read something with your good dictionaries being always near you
d.read wherever you are (take the book with you wherever you go)
e.read serious books (about grammar, etc)
7.LISTENING
7.1.LISTEN FOR PLEASURE
a.listen to English songs (and memorize the lines)
b.listen attentively to the way your favorite movie-stars speak on TV or in the movie
c.listen to the way your clever friends speak
d.listen to the native speakers
e.listen to the radio using English such as BBC, VOA, Radio Australia etc
7.2.LISTEN FOR LEARNING
a.join any language lab program
b.listen to the tape on teaching pronunciation (usually you will be asked to repeat a lot of words or lines)
8.What are mentioned above are only a number of activities students seem to ignore. It is good if they are to be remembered again
9. Some bad habits found in most students of English:
a.They completely believe that other people are responsible for their success in learning English
b.They do not make dictionaries their constant companions
c.They do not want to learn to speak English the right way
d.They seldom read English books, magazines, newspapers or others
e.They spend so much time studying in their own ineffective way
f.They waste too much time doing nothing at all
10.To improve your English is your own responsibility. You will always find your failure your own fault. That is why, start from now. See your mistakes, learn about them, and promise to improve them and swear that you will never repeat doing them.
11.GOOD LUCK
(Source: Mr. Harkiman's handsout)
Please mention this website if you wanna use it as your teaching material. TY
