Here’s what I tell my students when they ask me How to Learn English at Home
I’ve been an English Teacher for ten years now and among the most popular questions I get from students, the most common are: “How can I learn English at home?”, “How can I practice English alone?” and “What are some good techniques do study English by myself?”
So, what do I tell my students when they want tips and tricks to practice and learn English at home?
You are not the problem.
I could list dozens of ways to improve your second language by yourself, after all, there are infinite methods to learn and there is no one, definite, foolproof method that works for everyone. This is important to say because sometimes students get frustrated when they try a method and see little or no result whatsoever and then straight up just give up learning.
The key trick here is to understand that if you are not learning, there is a chance that you just haven’t found the right method. There is no shame in trying different methods or even creating your system. Try as many ways as it takes until you find the one that suits you and your learning style.
After having encouraged the students to think for themselves, I usually suggest a couple of ideas in order to help them try out some methods.
Here are the methods my students reportedly prefer:
1. Watching your favorite tv-show / listening to your favorite song on a loop
To be honest, the younger students usually hate this method, but millennials and older students (basically people who didn’t grow up with the internet from birth) tend to enjoy the repetition.
As one of my favorite videogame characters, Zennyata always says: “Repetition is the path to mastery”. And personally, I believe that mantra is very helpful when learning a new language, especially when we are still trying to internalize the basic syntax of the language, repetition can be a tool of great aid.
2. Repeating the lines from characters they love
Many of my students have reported to me that they enjoy using the lines they’ve learned in movies, shows and songs on their daily lives, usually (but not always!) when the context allows for the lines they’ve learned to be said. This is a great way to really put the “use it or lose it” motto into action and I really recommend it.
3. Talking to yourself
This is by far my favorite and the one I use most when learning a new language. This gives you the opportunity to get comfortable with the language without having to worry about other people’s judgment — after all, if no one can hear you, no one can judge you (not even to help you improve and this is the negative aspect of this method).
However, it’s still a great way to practice the language when there is no one around to talk to.
These are just ideas.
As I’ve stated, these are the methods that my students have reportedly said were their favorites, but there are plenty of other ways to study and practice English at home and the only way to find out which one is the best for you is to try them out for some time and evaluate your results.
And lastly, I invite you to create your own method and embark on this journey of learning a new language!
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