English Environment
So, where do you study and how effectively do you study?
I’ve learned from my many years of school (including 7 years of university) and many tries at learning languages (we’ll talk about that later), that there are certain times and places where I learn best.
My personal preference is to study in the morning or the early evening, with a coffee and quiet music in the background (i.e. Starbucks or a library where I can listen to headphones). I like big tables where I can spread out my stuff. I like snack breaks about every hour or so. When I study in this way, I learn quickly and I learn a lot, whatever the subject. But everyone has their preferences - find what works best for you. Here’s a short test that may help (though it does assume we all learn in the same way).
However, learning English is not exactly the same as learning Math or History. It’s not all about memorizing dates and formulas - English’s equivalent would be memorizing vocabulary and verb conjugation. English is a tool to communicate, so it needs to be used and practiced in that way. The focus should be on listening and speaking, but in practice, most people learn reading and writing first. This leads to students studying alone, which leads to neither fluency nor communicative skills. We should learn English together.
I have more thoughts on this topic, but perhaps I’ll save them for tomorrow. For now, check out this blog about learning English: I find Mary’s comment particularly thoughtful.
That’s absolutely true, you are not going to learn a language well alone. My reading and writing skill were pretty good in high school. But at that particular time we have little chances to listen to comprehensive and professional listening material and mostly importantly we had no other people to talk to. I am so blessed to discover EnglishPod.com, you guys are doing great job! This podcast gives me a completely different experience in learning English. I listened all the episodes and tried to apply the phrases and vocabularies in my daily life. All of a sudden, I found myself so comfortable talking to other people. No more embarrasing moment in my life, beause I have more topics to talk with other people and i know how to communicate with people efficiently. I also listen to a lot of other language podcast such as ESL podcast(www.eslpod.com), which is a great resource for those people whose native language is not English. English Pod is my best! All these podcasts let me listen differently. I would suggest for all of those who are learning English, drop your book for a while and spend more time listening. I am pretty sure you will find your language skills dramatically improved. Remember to listen differently!:)
Keep up the great work EnglishPod! Thank you so much for bringing me such a opportunity to explore the real business world!
Comment by Ballack — July 24, 2006 @ 12:35 pm
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Comment by siva — September 11, 2006 @ 12:29 am
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BY MANVENDRAD SINGH
Comment by MANVENDRA SINGH — September 26, 2006 @ 10:22 pm