How to learn English? – EWR Podcasts

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How to improve speaking?

Learning English is very similar to working out in the gym. If you want to speak this language confidently, you need to practice your speaking as well as you work out your muscles to build a beautiful body.

And as well as your body in the gym, your speaking skill needs time to improve.

How to train your speaking skills?

Exercise #1. Listen, respond and imitate.

Every time you listen to the native speakers try to imitate them. Try to say out aloud what they say imitating their pronunciation and intonation. Try to be like a native. The more you practice it the better your speaking skill becomes. This is a very useful exercise.

Exercise #2. Times Up exercise.

Read a short story in English. Then take a timer for 1 or 2 minutes. Start the timer and start talking in English about the short story you’ve just read. It doesn’t matter what you say. The most important thing here is not to stop speaking until the time is up.

No matter how many mistakes you make. Just speak English using vocabulary from the short story.

This exercise will help you to train your speaking independently. And the more you train the better your speaking skill becomes.

Exercise #3. Make your pocket dialog.

Listen to some small dialog of native speakers. Learn it by heart and try to imitate the conversation. Use the same intonation and emotions. Try to be like a native speaker.

Go to our YouTube and work with some dialog we’ve made for you. After you repeat the dialog many times, play a role of different speakers.

Speak aloud and try to be like a native speaker. Work with the dialog this way when you have free time. It will be your pocket dialog.

These three techniques are very powerful. But it doesn’t mean that you should avoid real conversations with people. The only way to become fluent in English is to practice your speaking as often as you can.

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How to improve vocabulary?

Vocabulary is a very important part of any language. It’s impossible to speak English if you don’t know the English words and phrases.

It doesn’t mean you should grab a dictionary and start learning by heart all the words. Of course not. I never recommend learning new words and phrases by heart. It’s a very exhausting and boring way to improve vocabulary. As a result, people get tired of learning English very soon.

I’d like to suggest a more pleasant way of improving your vocabulary.

Reading is a foundation of learning. If you want to expand your vocabulary, you need to read a lot. Try to read what you’re interested in.

You can read news articles, podcasts’ transcripts, books and other kinds of information. It doesn’t matter what you read. The most important thing is to enjoy reading.

There are two main reasons why people don’t like what they read:

– it’s not interesting for them;

– it’s too difficult for them;

If you read something that is too difficult for you, try to find another article. It’s very important to read articles that fit your level.

If it’s possible, try to read aloud. It’s a perfect way to improve not only your vocabulary, but also your speaking, your pronunciation and the ability to think in English.

After you read something, work with new vocabulary. Just write out all the words and phrases you don’t know. Translate them and make up a few sentences with them.

If you have time, write a little story using new words and phrases. It’s very important not only to read something once, but also to work with new vocabulary.

Make the flashcards and keep revising them from time to time. It will help you to store new words and phrases deeply in your brain.

Don’t forget that vocabulary is not a simple thing. It takes time to improve it. Just keep reading in English and follow my recommendations. And be sure that you will have great results in the long term period.

How to improve listening?

Children learn to speak a language with their ears. It’s so simple, but some students can’t understand that listening is the most important thing.

Children listen to the people around them and improve their comprehension. The only difference between the adults and children is that the adults need more time to improve their listening.

The child’s brain is young and flexible. The brain of older people is quite slow in the understanding of a new language, but it works the same way.

If you want to improve your listening effectively, you need to work with materials that fit your level. If you understand 80% of what you hear, that’s material for you. If you feel that it’s too difficult for you or too easy, start working with another material.

Podcasts in English is a perfect choice. There are a lot of podcasters nowadays and they usually make podcasts for different levels of English.

To make the listening practice as useful as you can, you should listen using the 4-steps method:

Step 1. Listen and try to understand the whole meaning of the story. You don’t need to understand everything. Just listen and try to anticipate the story.

Step 2. Listen again and read the story along.

Step 3. Work with new vocabulary. Write down all the words and phrases you don’t know. First, try to guess what they mean from the context. If you can’t understand their meaning, use a dictionary.

You should translate the story and understand it very well.

Step 4. Listen to the story again without looking at the text.

This is a very effective approach of improving not only your listening skill, but also your vocabulary and your English in general.

What materials do you use to improve your listening? Tell me about it in the comments!

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Perfect learning environment.

When people come to an English speaking country and live there, they learn to speak English pretty fast. Why is it happening?

The answer is simple – when you are among the native speakers, you learn English very actively. You are an active learner.

You live in the English language environment. You get a lot of information from natives and you have to respond. You have to communicate with people to survive. This is a perfect learning environment.

When we are in Russia or another not English speaking country, we can’t improve our English as fast as when we live with native speakers.

If you want to start speaking English quickly, you should make your learning environment as close to the perfect one as you can.

Most of the English learners are passive. They don’t have enough listening practice. They don’t have enough speaking practice. They only learn new words and do grammar exercises. That’s why they can’t achieve fluency for a long time.

If you want to become a fluent English speaker fast, you need to be active. You need to create a perfect learning environment and bring as much English into your life as you can.

In the comment section for this lesson I’d like you to tell me what is the most difficult thing for you in learning English.

If you like this video lesson, please share it with others. I’d really appreciate it.

Thanks for watching this lesson and see you the next time!

How to improve grammar?

Any language starts with grammar. Fortunately, the English grammar is simple. I’m not talking about some sophisticated grammar rules that you need in order to pass some exams. I mean the basis of grammar that you need for communication.

When people come to an English speaking country and live there, they learn to speak English without learning grammar at all. They just listen to the native speakers around them and learn grammar in the context.

Another example. Think about kids. Do they learn grammar rules to start speaking? Of course not. They also just listen to their parents and learn grammar in the context of different situations.

The English context is powerful. In my opinion, it is your best helper in learning grammar. That’s why I always recommend learning English grammar through the short stories.

Working with the English short stories is always fun and interesting. You will enjoy learning and that’s why you will make fast progress. Remember, if you like something you usually do it much better.

You can find a lot of short stories on the Internet. If you want to improve your grammar naturally, you should work with them the following way:

write the story in the Present Simple Tense. Or you can find a short story that is already written in Present;
listen to it and translate;
rewrite the story in the Past Simple Tense;
rewrite the story in the Future Simple Tense;

Here is an example for you:

Present:

He opens the refrigerator. He looks inside the refrigerator. He is hungry. He wants something to eat. He sees a package. It is a package of hot dogs. Six hot dogs are in the package. He takes two hot dogs out of the package. He closes the refrigerator. He puts the hot dogs on a plate.

Now let’s retell the story in the Past:

He opened the refrigerator. He looked inside the refrigerator. He was hungry. He wanted something to eat. He saw a package. It was a package of hot dogs. Six hot dogs were in the package. He took two hot dogs out of the package. He closed the refrigerator. He put the hot dogs on a plate.

Write this short story in the Future Simple Tense using a comment section. It will be your homework for this lesson.

Working with the short stories is a very pleasant and effective way of improving grammar. It will help you to start using the general English tenses automatically. You will improve your thinking in English. As a result, you’ll become much more fluent.

Tell me what do you think about this method? And how do you learn the English grammar? I’m waiting for your comments!

If you like this lesson, don’t forget to share it with friends.

Thanks for watching and seeing it next time. Bye!