The time you will take to learn English depends on factors like how close your native language relates to English; your age; your exposure to the language; your study habits; and the resources available to you, including other things. 

English is widely spoken worldwide, making it easier to gain real-world practice. On top of that, many resources and study materials are available, making learning English more accessible than other languages. 

Here are our tips for you while studying English.

1. Timelines

Dealing with the past, present, and future tenses can be challenging, but because people remember more from a picture than from a paragraph on the page, one way of helping you remember each tense is by visualising what they mean. 

You can do this by creating timelines for each tense. Your timeline can be as basic or as detailed as you want, as long as you understand it correctly.

2. Colour coding

The black-on-white text in our books can make them look pedestrian and harder to be absorbed. One way of tackling this issue is by using highlighters! You can choose a colour and assign it a subject, for example.

1. Yellow = Past/present/future tenses

2. Purple = punctuation

3. Green = Vocabulary

4.Orange = Verbs (regular/irregular)

It doesn’t have to be elaborate, but it has to be a system you understand.

3. Vocabulary notebook

Like we say to our students here in ICOT regularly: “There is no use for grammar if you don’t have a good vocabulary”. The cornerstone of mastering any language is balancing grammar with vocabulary. 

To help you along with it, we suggest you invest in a notebook. Any notebook will do, but you must be willing to use it!

Section the pages and give each section a subject, for example:

1. Pages 1-5 Animals

– Lion

– Sheep

– Eagles

– Shark

– Butterflies

Every time you hear a new animal name add it to your list. In time you can sub-section each subject with the species animal group and create a list from it. For example

1. Pages 1-5 Animals – Pg. 3 Sea Animals

– Sharks

– Whales

– Fish

– Octopus

As time goes by, you’ll acquire a robust list of words you can use in your writing and everyday communication.

4. The News Headlines. 

One of the most significant challenges a foreign language student encounters is needing more time to listen to fluent speakers talk. One of the most efficient ways of getting more experience listening to fluent speakers is by accessing local media and listening to the News headlines. The presenters in these News programmes are specifically trained to deliver their content with perfect pronunciation and diction. Not only is this excellent for training your ear into the stressed syllables in words and introducing you to new vocabulary, but it also lets you know what is happening worldwide.

5. Practice

We know that the more you practice, the better you will become. Take your favourite sports star. We are used to seeing them turning up on the day and winning. What we need to see, though, are the hours and hours of practice that have gone into achieving that result. Learning English is the same; it requires hours of practising on your own time. 

Many students come to us asking about how to practice their speaking and how they can achieve fluency. Here is one of the tips we have for them and you.

– Start small, build big – Once a week, meet a like-minded friend eager to do the same and spend at least one hour speaking English with them. Each person should talk for between 5 to 15 minutes.

In the following weeks, you’ll become not only more comfortable with this but also very proficient. Once this happens, adjust the time scale from 5-15 minutes to 15-30 minutes.

We hope these tips are helpful for you!

For more tips and information about how to learn English in Ireland, contact us by filling out our form:

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