Learning Practical English

I post this very first draft to share my experiences with the readers quickly. I will come back to explain more and edit the article.

… (I could not find appropriate words to say here at the moment 🙂 )

Bring English to your life

Create English surroundings

Submerge yourself in English

1. Reading.

+ Read everything in English including books, newspapers, magazines, journals, websites, manuals, ads, bills, bags, boxes, receipts, announcements, instructions, …
+ If you are in Vietnam, you should find more and more English books, newspapers… for your study.
+ Stay away from Vietnamese newspapers, websites, televisions, radios at least for awhile 🙂 Whenever I read too much of them, my English deteriorates.

2. Watching

+ Watch TV channels in English. At first, the caption may help you improve your vocabulary, but not much with listening. When you find it distracting, it is time to turn caption off. Make notes if you want. Be careful, captions are sometimes full of errors.
+ Watch movies in its original English language. You can easily rent them nowadays. Do not rent those with translations. Though subtitles are very helpful, do not focus on them all the time. You may replay the whole movie or some scenes in order to learn or listen more carefully.

3. Listening.
   + English TV channels. This should be a must.
   + English radios.
   + English music. Though I did not learn much from this, you may find it useful particularly when you are bored!
   + First, try your best to understand what is said. Then pay attention to pronunciation, tone, idioms … You need them to build up your own English.
4. Speaking. This is extremely important since you can improve your pronunciation as well as the ability to use English and make it yours.
   + Talk to native English speakers. It is very helpful to have friends, roommates, officemates, … speaking good English. You can learn from them quickly and ask for corrections if necessary.
   + Use dictionaries. Study carefully both spelled pronunciation and audio pronunciation.
   + Read newspapers, books, … out loud. You can record your voice sometimes and replay it to see how much you have improved and what else needs practicing.
   + Practice, learn and practice.
5. Translating.
6. Rephrasing.
7. Thinking.
8. Behaving.
9. Living.

Hoang Thach Luan