Almost every language teachers' dream is to go on an exchange program in a country where people speak the language they teach, but unfortunately, this is a privilege only a few can afford. So the question is, how can one improve their English rather than living in an English speaking country? The answer is simple: immersion. And is it possible to immerse in another language without going on an exchange program? Even though it may sound a little weird it is indeed possible to set up an immersion scenario wherever you are, and that applies especially to English because without a doubt English is the language that has the most materials available online.
If you are an English teacher you are probably used to being surrounded by the English language. Seemingly you listen to songs in English, watch movies and series in English, read articles and books in English and so on. However are you mindful while doing those things? Are you focusing all your energy into developing your English? If the answer is no I'll give you some tips.
First, let's think about listening to music in English. I know it's not always easy to understand what the singer is singing so an exercise I really like to do is looking for the lyrics, then searching for the definitions of words and expressions I don't know and finally singing along as many times as you wish. It's believed that due to the rhythm of the song it becomes easier to remember the lyrics. That's why we use songs all the time when we are teaching children.
Second, watching movies and series in English. For a really long time, I watched series and movies in English with subtitles in English and this is an amazing exercise for you can learn a bunch of new words and expressions. If you don't feel confident enough yet there's another exercise you can do before turning your subs into English. You can watch the film or series in English with subs in Portuguese once and then watch it again with subs in English. If you already know the story it becomes much easier to assimilate the subs in English. And if you feel completely confident about watching productions in English without subtitles this would be the last stage, and this is exactly what I've been doing since the beginning of this year. In the beginning, it may look very frightening to watch things without the support of subtitles, and I understand the struggle. But this is a step you should take if you want to develop your listening fast. Don't expose yourself only to American or British productions. There are many other countries that produce movies and series in English. India, Nigeria, and Australia are only a few examples. It's important to practice your ear for you may be exposed to other accents when you talk to foreigners and always remember, life has no subtitles.
Third, reading articles and books in English. After watching movies and series this is my favorite exercise to do, reading. And this is probably what led me to write this blog today, passion for reading. So how can we develop our English while reading? To start with we should have in mind two approaches to reading: skimming and scanning. Skimming consists in scrolling down your eyes fast just to have a main idea of the text. Scanning, on the other hand, is about reading the text for details. So what do you think is more important for a person who is trying to develop their English? I would say scanning. Reading for details so we can learn new words and expressions. And we should not stop there. We are used to asking our students to write essays and texts but we don't usually do the same. Reading is a passive action while writing is an active action. A good exercise would be reading an article or a book and afterward writing about it. It can be a summary or a review or any form of writing you feel familiar with. The important thing here is: produce as much as you can.
As you can see above we have three very pleasurable exercises we can do in our houses. Are there other activities we can do? Yes, there are. One of my favorite ones is making friends with foreigners. People love making friends with people from other countries and cultures. We are curious creatures so we fancy talking for hours and hours about the most varied subjects. But how can I find foreigners willing to make new friends? There are some websites designed especially for this purpose. If you make a quick research you will find some. But you can also make new friends on Facebook. There are various groups on Facebook where people are looking for friends to speak English or any other language. Be open-minded, some people may not be from an English speaking country and even so have a very good level of English. Another kind of group you can make friends are those pen pal groups, where people are keen to send and receive letters from people across the globe.
I hope you found these tips useful. If you have more ideas leave a comment on the section below. If you want a pen pal contact me. See you soon.
Afford - to be able to buy or do something
Immersion - the fact of becoming completely involved in something
Mindful - deliberately aware of your mind, body, and feelings in the present moment
Due to - because of
A bunch of - a lot of
Assimilate - to understand and remember new information and make it part of your basic knowledge
Frightening - making you feel fear
Struggle - to experience difficulty and make a very big effort to overcome it
Approach - a way of considering or doing something
Afterward - later
Fancy - to want to have or do something
Open-minded - willing to consider ideas and opinions that are new or different to your own
Pen Pal - a friend to whom you write letters and receive letters from him or her
Keen - eager to do something
If you are an English teacher you are probably used to being surrounded by the English language. Seemingly you listen to songs in English, watch movies and series in English, read articles and books in English and so on. However are you mindful while doing those things? Are you focusing all your energy into developing your English? If the answer is no I'll give you some tips.
First, let's think about listening to music in English. I know it's not always easy to understand what the singer is singing so an exercise I really like to do is looking for the lyrics, then searching for the definitions of words and expressions I don't know and finally singing along as many times as you wish. It's believed that due to the rhythm of the song it becomes easier to remember the lyrics. That's why we use songs all the time when we are teaching children.
Second, watching movies and series in English. For a really long time, I watched series and movies in English with subtitles in English and this is an amazing exercise for you can learn a bunch of new words and expressions. If you don't feel confident enough yet there's another exercise you can do before turning your subs into English. You can watch the film or series in English with subs in Portuguese once and then watch it again with subs in English. If you already know the story it becomes much easier to assimilate the subs in English. And if you feel completely confident about watching productions in English without subtitles this would be the last stage, and this is exactly what I've been doing since the beginning of this year. In the beginning, it may look very frightening to watch things without the support of subtitles, and I understand the struggle. But this is a step you should take if you want to develop your listening fast. Don't expose yourself only to American or British productions. There are many other countries that produce movies and series in English. India, Nigeria, and Australia are only a few examples. It's important to practice your ear for you may be exposed to other accents when you talk to foreigners and always remember, life has no subtitles.
Third, reading articles and books in English. After watching movies and series this is my favorite exercise to do, reading. And this is probably what led me to write this blog today, passion for reading. So how can we develop our English while reading? To start with we should have in mind two approaches to reading: skimming and scanning. Skimming consists in scrolling down your eyes fast just to have a main idea of the text. Scanning, on the other hand, is about reading the text for details. So what do you think is more important for a person who is trying to develop their English? I would say scanning. Reading for details so we can learn new words and expressions. And we should not stop there. We are used to asking our students to write essays and texts but we don't usually do the same. Reading is a passive action while writing is an active action. A good exercise would be reading an article or a book and afterward writing about it. It can be a summary or a review or any form of writing you feel familiar with. The important thing here is: produce as much as you can.
As you can see above we have three very pleasurable exercises we can do in our houses. Are there other activities we can do? Yes, there are. One of my favorite ones is making friends with foreigners. People love making friends with people from other countries and cultures. We are curious creatures so we fancy talking for hours and hours about the most varied subjects. But how can I find foreigners willing to make new friends? There are some websites designed especially for this purpose. If you make a quick research you will find some. But you can also make new friends on Facebook. There are various groups on Facebook where people are looking for friends to speak English or any other language. Be open-minded, some people may not be from an English speaking country and even so have a very good level of English. Another kind of group you can make friends are those pen pal groups, where people are keen to send and receive letters from people across the globe.
I hope you found these tips useful. If you have more ideas leave a comment on the section below. If you want a pen pal contact me. See you soon.
Afford - to be able to buy or do something
Immersion - the fact of becoming completely involved in something
Mindful - deliberately aware of your mind, body, and feelings in the present moment
Due to - because of
A bunch of - a lot of
Assimilate - to understand and remember new information and make it part of your basic knowledge
Frightening - making you feel fear
Struggle - to experience difficulty and make a very big effort to overcome it
Approach - a way of considering or doing something
Afterward - later
Fancy - to want to have or do something
Open-minded - willing to consider ideas and opinions that are new or different to your own
Pen Pal - a friend to whom you write letters and receive letters from him or her
Keen - eager to do something
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