If you are a student looking to improve your English skills, you probably want to know how to do it. When English is not your primary language, but it is one of the most spoken ones in the world, learning it becomes a necessity. English helps you communicate with people from other cultures. And even though there are still many people who do not speak English, more and more youngsters decide to study it.
However, learning a language that is more or less similar to your mother tongue comes with challenges. There might be different letters and sounds. Some letter groups might have some rules to follow when reading. At the same time, you need to also learn the grammar and listen to others speaking English. You need to get used to all forms of this language.
This will help you learn it effectively, enlarge your knowledge and expand your vocabulary. However, you need to put to practice a few helpful tips for effective studying as an ESL student. Discover them below.
Study Daily
Many students choose to study English only once or twice a week. Even though you may spend more hours during those two weekly sessions, the other days, you do not practice your skills. Learning a new language always comes with challenges.
There is always something new to discover and learn. But for that knowledge to be fixed, you need to practice and interact with it constantly. It is therefore important to study daily. Even though your study sessions will be shorter, practicing daily will take you to your desired goal. Interacting with information day-to-day will help you keep it fresh, thus using new words or idioms more often.
Include Everything
Writers from an essay service noticed that students who want to learn English make a common mistake. They usually divide their lessons into days. For example, Monday might be grammar day. Tuesday might be listening day, and so on.
But this is not recommended because the information will not keep as fresh as you would want. And you will not effectively practice and improve your skills. Aim to build your lesson plans to include a little bit of everything. Reading, listening, speaking, grammar, and so on.
Even though you might feel your progress is slower this way, you should know that it is linear. This means that you develop all the English parts at the same time and in the same rhythm.
Learning Methods
Well, thankfully, we live in the era of technology and the internet. Nowadays, you have access to so much information that you might not know how to sort or choose the one you read. There is a lot of information you can choose to apply to your study habits.
For example, there is a multitude of learning methods you can apply. Find the one that suits you best. Maybe when you learn new words, you can make a list. For other people, it might work better to draw that word or even create a word map. Either way, take advantage of the different learning methods you can read about and apply the one that suits your style the best.
Learning the Sounds
One of the most difficult things might be that the pronunciation is different from the one in your mother tongue. English is a beautiful language, but it might be difficult to learn it at first, primarily because many words are similarly written but pronounced totally differently.
Other words might have some letters that are silent, for example, “know.” It is therefore important to start learning the sounds too, not only the grammar or spelling and learning how to pronounce different groups of letters or which ones are creating which sounds will help you be an excellent ESL student.
Prepositions
The English language has some aspects that might be more difficult to study or learn. This is why you need to practice them separately. Prepositions are the ones you need to learn carefully. Some of them are used to describe the relationship between two things, while others are the positions of an object. While some of them might be intuitive, others are not.
And they can change the meaning of the entire sentence. English experts advise ESL students to memorize them as this is the easiest way to make sure you are learning them right. Then, you can put to practice what you have learned by using them in sentences or phrases.
Play Games
Another easy and funny way to improve your English is to start playing games. The game industry is constantly developing and improving, and the segment of educational games is thriving. There are many games you can choose from and play to boost your skills. For example, there are vocabulary games you can play. Some of them can be played on the computer or mobile, while others might take a more traditional approach.
For example, a vocabulary game will consist of learning words that describe a specific action or event. Maybe you went on a city break and visited the capital of France. What words, phrases, idioms describe your trip?
Write as many as you can down, and then you can search for the ones you do not know. Maybe you want to say something about the cobbled streets of Paris but do not know the exact words. Apart from vocabulary games, there are grammar ones too. Some games help you improve all your English skills, you only need to discover them.
Listen to English
Not only will your lessons help you become an excellent ESL student. There are many other ways you can improve your English skills tremendously. You need to take advantage of all the movies, songs, cartoons, books, articles that are written in English.
You can find a multitude of them and varied genres online, at only one click away from you. Listening and reading constantly will help you learn pronunciation, grammar and discover new words, which will surely help you make great progress.
Write as Much as You Can
Last but not least, writing as much as you can in English will help you put everything you have learned together. Even though at first you might find it challenging and difficult, you will notice that over time it will become easier and easier. If you make a habit of writing simple things daily, such as how your day was, you will boost your English skills. And then, you can read what you have written aloud to practice your pronunciation and speaking too.
Final Thoughts
Studying effectively as an ESL student might be seen as challenging. However, these tips can help you make the study process way easier. Find the perfect recipe and keep it going. Practice and exercise are the keys to excellence.
