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Tips to Learn English Fast

Tips to Learn English Fast

Date: Apr 16 2011

Topic: Speaking

Author: andylu2

Lesson

One of my main goals as an online English teacher is to help people understand how to learn English fast.

I majored in psychology in university and one of the most interesting courses was about learning.  The funny, or perhaps sad, thing about most English programs is that they don't really teach people how to learn at all.

Learning anything is long term.  It is not about understanding something today and forgetting it tomorrow or the next week.  This is a waste of time.  I could tell you my phone number and you might be able to remember it for 20 minutes, but it's not "learning".  This is key.  Many people make the mistake of trying to study too much at once and their brains simply can't handle all of the new material.  They end up "overloading" their brains and waste most of the time. 

It's much better to study and remember 3 things a day than it is to pretend you are learning 50 new things a day but remembering almost nothing after a week.  This is the trap that most students fall into.

Consistency is key to studying just like it is for exercise.  You should exercise your body almost everyday but not too much or too little.  You can't handle it.  In the same way, it is much better to do 20 minutes of quality study per day than it is to do 5 hours of study once per week.  It might sound like it doesn't make sense but we need to make sure we understand how our brains work.

Then next tip I want to share is how important it is to choose what to study.  If you play around with a dictionary you are wasting your time.  Most words are rarely used by native speakers.  It's not about how much you know.  It's about what you know and how good you are at actually using this.  

In all my years of teaching, I truly believe that listening to something that challenges you is the best way to learn English quickly.  There is something almost magical that happens when you listen to native speakers talk.  The connection between listening and speaking is much stronger than reading and speaking.  This will indirectly help your pronunciation as well.  Listening can be done from anywhere too like while you are walking or in the gym.  Reading is less flexible in this way.  That's another reason why I believe in a great MP3 learning program. 

A lot of my tips come from real teaching experience and watching what truly works and what doesn't in the real world.  I've seen students learn quickly while others take years.  It's all about the method.  20 minutes per day.  Everyday.  Focus on listening to native speakers.  Learn the important words and phrases and you will improve quickly.  I guarantee it.  Try this and let me know.  

You might also want to read this article about how to learn English fast Cool

Thanks to everyone for your likes and comments.  I hope everything is really helping.  If you are new to all of this, check out day one of my free online spoken English course

 

Comments

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herbmann

herbmann

China

very practical and helpful!!!

11:37 AM Jan 02 2012 |

 julito

julito

Argentina

English language is tricky  or I would rather say insane, there are five vowels letters in English  but there are more than 25 vowel sounds , so it requires a lot of  practice and a good teacher  to start to speak  the  idiom and that native-speakers understand us. I gave up the idea of  speaking without an accent  ,  I am just happy that  i  can  communicate with native speakers  and that they understand  me.  

12:18 PM Dec 08 2011 |

Rachaeita

Bangladesh

Thanks for usefull tips. I am very poor in listening. And facing a lot of problems for having MP3 lessons of E- baby. Bacause I do not have any scope to listen and download of them. I can’t go super. Can you please help me through sending MP3 lessions via e-mail?


My email adress is:

06:54 AM Dec 08 2011 |

yoshidaLim

yoshidaLim

Japan

Wow very useful ^^

08:34 AM Apr 25 2011 |

lynn629

lynn629

China

Yes  i agree   listening is more important than reading when learning english…

02:13 AM Apr 18 2011 |

Ahmed Maher

Egypt

Thanks for this invaluable advice. I will be starting the 20 minutes daiyl study and gain the expected results.  

08:37 PM Apr 16 2011 |

andylu2

andylu2

Canada

No problem.  Please let me know how they are working for you after a couple weeks. I'm interested in hearing your honest results.  Thanks.

05:17 PM Apr 16 2011 |

Jungmi

Jungmi

South Korea

Hey Andy, I really agree with your thoughts once again.  Thanks.  I'm going to try to apply these ideas to my learning.  I think this will be great.Smile<!-Session data->

03:40 PM Apr 16 2011 |

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