34. [Reading] 5 steps to becoming a confident English speaker - Part 1
5 steps to becoming a confident English speaker - Part 1
I have a question for you:
What would your life be like if you spoke better English?
Think about it for a moment.
Would you have a better career? Get paid more? Would you be able to travel easily? Would you be able to communicate without stress? Would you be able to watch your favorite TV shows and movies without subtitles?
Speaking English well can definitely change your life, but how can you become a confident English speaker? Do you need to be born with a special talent? Or have a lot of money?
I have a theory that anyone can become a confident English speaker if they follow these five simple steps. The steps are simple, but you can’t sit back and do nothing. Learning a language takes a lot of effort, and these five steps will help you to not waste your time and actually enjoy learning English.
Let’s get started with the first step.
STEP NUMBER ONE
Open your mind to new ways of learning English
Think about your English learning history.
If you had your first English class when you were 10 years old and for the next 8
years you had one English class per week, you studied English for at least 300
hours. That’s a long time!
You probably spend hours repeating, memorizing and trying to learn English. That’s a frustrating way to learn anything. This old method of learning English definitely didn’t work if you are here today trying to improve your English… after 300 hours of English classes.
But don’t blame yourself. The school-method of learning English is good for getting good test scores, but what about when you travel to New York? Or when you need to talk with clients in English on the phone for your job? Don’t worry, almost all of us who studied a foreign language in school didn’t feel comfortable speaking after we graduated.
So how can being open-minded help you become a confident English speaker? If your old methods of learning English didn’t help you to become a fluent speaker, it’s time to change the way you’re learning. Close-minded people think that even though the old method of learning English didn’t work, other methods won’t work, too. If going to English class with 20 other people isn’t helping you become a confident speaker, stop going.
In almost every country there are people who can confidently speak and express themselves in English. So, how did those people learn English? Are they super smart or have lots of money? No, not at all.
They learned this simple idea: Try New Methods.
That’s it! Step away from memorizing. Step away from textbooks. Step away from school.
Now, maybe you’re thinking: “What are some new methods that I can use to learn English?” What is a more efficient and enjoyable way to learn English than staring at a textbook and taking notes for hours.
Let’s take a tip from Timothy Doner, an American teenager who taught himself 20 languages. Wow! He definitely knows what he’s talking about. He said that the best way to learn a language is to listen to anything: music, radio, podcasts, conversations, TV shows, and movies. The good news is, this is fun stuff!
As children, we listened to our parents speak our native language every day, so our brain naturally learns language well by listening.
Where can you go to listen to natural English?
In the next few chapters I will give you some advice about what kinds of materials to search for on these websites.
Let’s go to step number two.
STEP NUMBER TWO
Relax, don't stress
Do you feel stressed about talking on the phone in English? About having conversations with native speakers? About watching English TV and not understanding their quick conversations?
Let’s talk a little bit about stress in general. It’s scientifically proven that when the brain is stressed, the creative center in the brain shuts down. “Shuts down” means “stops working.” That’s not too good! If you want to retain English, your mind needs to be stress-free. “Retains” means that you remember some new expressions after the test and after three years. You remember them forever.
If you want to become a fluent English speaker, you might feel like it’s a huge mountain to climb. It’s a HUGE activity. It’s so much work that you don’t have time for. Well, today I want to tell you, yes, learning a new language is work, but it doesn’t have to be stressful.
Maybe you’re saying, “It’s a huge project that will probably last for years. How can I NOT feel stressed or anxious about it?” Well, how do you make anything less stressful? You break it down into bite-sized chunks. This is a great expression that is perfect to describe learning English. “Break it down” means “you follow simple step.” “Bite-sized chunks” means that you don’t eat the whole piece of cake, you take one bite, then the next bite, then the next.
Don’t say “I’m going to improve my English.” It’s too big of a task to know where to start. Instead, you should say, “First, I want to listen to English for 10 minutes every day.” Great! That’s very specific, and much easier than generally saying, “I want to improve my English.” I don’t want you to feel frustrated about climbing the huge mountain of English in front of you. I want you to focus on “bite-sized chunks” of English.
Okay, so now that you’ve decided to learn English in bite-sized chunks, how can you find time in your busy day to relax and learn English? For some of you, simply thinking about finding free time is stressful. So, I want to give you some examples of how I find time to study the foreign language that I learned, French.
My goal for studying French is to become familiar with a lot of natural vocabulary and expressions so that I can use them when I speak French or when I watch French movies.
My day is really busy, so how do I find time do practice? I have three favorite times for listening to French. Maybe these times could be good for you, too.
1. I like to listen to French music while I’m cooking breakfast. If I’m tired and don’t want to really listen to the lyrics, it’s okay. I’m simply getting the rhythm of a different language into my mind. And music is a great pick-meup in the morning. “Pick-me-up” means that it gives me energy!
2. The second time I like to study French is while I’m driving. This is the perfect time to listen to a 15 minute podcast. I’m more awake than earlier in the morning, and what else am I going to do while I’m commuting?
3. The third time is in the afternoon. I usually eat lunch alone, so it’s a great time to watch a 5 minute French video.
Of course, I don’t do all of these things every day. But I usually do one of them. You don’t need to stop everything and study English. You can include English into your daily life.
What is one time during your day when you could study English?
STEP NUMBER THREE
Study interesting information
Focus on interesting information. It’s that simple! Most of us experienced incredibly boring language classes in middle school and high school. When you’re bored, it’s hard to pay attention which means that it’s hard to retain what you learned. You only learn when you are completely engaged and interested in the material.
My question for you is:
What do you like to do in your free time?
Do you like baking cookies? Or cooking a delicious meal? Do you like meeting up with friends? Do you like relaxing and watching TV?
Now I challenge you to mix your interests with English. Let me give you a personal example:
If you like animals, watch animal documentaries or talk to your pet in English. If you like watching soccer, find a soccer broadcast in English. But how do you find a variety of interesting information in English in your home country?
I want to give you three ideas for finding interesting information.
1. The internet
Of course, right? If you like yoga, do a yoga video on YouTube in English.
If you have to commute to work, download a podcast to listen to. If you
like to meet up with other people, look for English meetup groups in
your city on meetup.com.
2. Your local library
If you like to read books, ask if the library has any English novels or nonfiction books. I love to read short action novels in French, like Around
the World in 80 Days. Reading expands your vocabulary and makes you
feel comfortable with natural grammar… in a fun way! If you like to
watch movies, look in the movie section at the library to find movies in
English.
3. Your electronic devices
This one is probably the easiest to do. Do you have a cell phone? Change
the language to English! Do you have a computer? Change the language
to English! Just remember to make sure you can change it back to your
native language if you have a problem.
By doing activities that are interesting, you’ll be learning English without feeling stressed.
Except for going to a meetup group, most of these activities are passive learning. You are listening or reading, but you’re not actively creating language. In the next step we’ll talk about how to actively become a confident English speaker.
Source:
https://www.speakenglishwithvanessa.comTổng kết:
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Mẹo nhỏ nhắc nhở mình học tiếng Anh
Trước khi kết thúc, mình muốn chia sẻ nốt một mẹo cho những bạn mới học và rất rất rất lười lười lười giống mình. Xuất phát là một đứa lười, nên mình hiểu việc tạo một thói quen học tiếng Anh là rất khó, nhiều lúc biết nguồn hay để học tiếng Anh, nhưng cũng lười đến nỗi chả buồn vào. Vì vậy mình chợt nảy ra một ý nghĩ nếu bật trình duyệt lên mà trang cần học có sẵn ngay thì sao nhỉ, chắc chắn là lười quá mức thì vẫn sẽ tắt nó đi rồi mở tab facebook hoặc tab xem phim như bình thường, nhưng ít ra nó đã nhắc nhở mình cần phải học tiếng Anh, học luôn và ngay, hơn là vào lại trang đó, tìm tìm phần cần học nghe đã muốn lười.
