Learn tips to practice and improve your English at home and achieve fluency faster! English course for beginners to advanced, it could only be Wizard!
To become fluent in the English language quickly and be part of #nacaobilingue, you must go beyond classes and homework. What accelerates fluency in English is training and strengthening vocabulary and building sentences with daily habits. Learn more about language fluency.
“Especially if they are everyday stories because then you learn English the way you speak it, with slang and expressions. The subtitles are important, at first, because you may not understand everything just by listening”, suggests the teacher.
Over time, you will get used to the spoken language and soon you will no longer depend so much on the subtitles.
This is the time to start watching without the text, just with the audio: "A teacher told that a student of his learned and improved his English pronunciation by watching a series, pausing after each line and repeating, until he thought it was similar to the accent of the character”.
“What I used to do, before there were websites with lyrics, was to buy little comics that came with lyrics and figures to play on the guitar and copy the lyrics into a notebook. Then I translated it word for word using a dictionary”.
She says that the translations were bad, sometimes out of control, but the process helped her memorize words and learn their meaning while studying English at home. “When a student asks me: 'Teacher, what does that word mean?', I can remember some music to give as an example”.
Extra tip: To train the dreaded “listening” with music, teacher Patrícia remembers the LyricsTraining website, which we have already indicated here on the blog. “It's like those exercises that teachers around the world give, to fill in the missing gaps while listening to music. In electronic format, you type and earn points as you get it right. It's worth checking out”, he says. You may also be interested to learn about English irregular verbs
Extra tip: “Choose a song that you really enjoy, even if it's difficult”, challenges the teacher. Don't give up on it until you can sing it all out! “I confess that I also did this when I was learning English and my challenge was Coolio's song 'Gangsta's Paradise', full of fast and slang lines. But I tried, trained, and won”, he says.
Did you know that Wizard has several playlists on Spotify for practicing English with music? Check it out: English songs on Spotify Wizard by Pearson.
Friends singing in a room, on a video, training English at home
For those who are just getting to know English, it's worth paying attention to your surroundings on a daily basis.
“There are a lot of things out there with English names, like restaurants, product brands, and even store windows when they say '50% off', 'sale', etc. So, write down on a pad or on your cell phone these expressions you find along the way and look it up at home afterward”, he advises.
If you want to know the meaning and pronunciation, in English, of words and sentences in Portuguese, write them down or search right away on your cell phone and you're done!
A lot of people love technology, especially games. So, here's the tip: when installing a game on your smartphone or PC, try installing it in English.
“I learned a lot in my 'geek' life playing in another language. For example, house parts, furniture names, accessories, clothing, and personal interactions I learned by playing the famous 'The Sims'. I can say that I know more car parts names in English than in Portuguese, just from playing 'Need For Speed'”, he says.
She also comments on Facebook games, whose objective is to look for hidden objects in a scene: “They are excellent tools for acquiring vocabulary and capturing differences and similarities between words like 'bat' (bat) and 'bat' (bat)”.
“There are short exchanges, of 15 days, so there won't be any losses in your work or school. On the contrary, it will be an extra on your resume and in your life! Believe me: I have a 50-year-old student who just got back from a month-long exchange in South Africa and said it was one of the best experiences of his life. That's because he says he has difficulties with English, which hasn't stopped him from going and communicating with natives and other foreigners,” recalls Patrícia.
Check out our “A Different Culture” post series to learn more about some countries that have English as their official language.
The important thing is not to give up trying, accept the corrections and orientations of your “ teacher ”, besides asking for his help without pity. “Train without fear and move on, because your goal is to be fluent in English”, he concludes.
If you want to learn the language with quality and are not yet a Wizard student, get a 20% discount on enrollment in any language course. But if you are already a student, how about checking out more blog articles to continue your studies? Take advantage of the suggestions below!
To become fluent in the English language quickly and be part of #nacaobilingue, you must go beyond classes and homework. What accelerates fluency in English is training and strengthening vocabulary and building sentences with daily habits. Learn more about language fluency.
Tips for training English at home
1. Watch movies and series with English subtitles and audio
“Especially if they are everyday stories because then you learn English the way you speak it, with slang and expressions. The subtitles are important, at first, because you may not understand everything just by listening”, suggests the teacher.
2. Remove subtitles from English movies and series
Over time, you will get used to the spoken language and soon you will no longer depend so much on the subtitles.
This is the time to start watching without the text, just with the audio: "A teacher told that a student of his learned and improved his English pronunciation by watching a series, pausing after each line and repeating, until he thought it was similar to the accent of the character”.
3. Listen to songs in English and follow the written lyrics
“I myself learned a lot of vocabulary listening to music, even before I started studying at Wizard and teaching,” reveals Patrícia.“What I used to do, before there were websites with lyrics, was to buy little comics that came with lyrics and figures to play on the guitar and copy the lyrics into a notebook. Then I translated it word for word using a dictionary”.
She says that the translations were bad, sometimes out of control, but the process helped her memorize words and learn their meaning while studying English at home. “When a student asks me: 'Teacher, what does that word mean?', I can remember some music to give as an example”.
Extra tip: To train the dreaded “listening” with music, teacher Patrícia remembers the LyricsTraining website, which we have already indicated here on the blog. “It's like those exercises that teachers around the world give, to fill in the missing gaps while listening to music. In electronic format, you type and earn points as you get it right. It's worth checking out”, he says. You may also be interested to learn about English irregular verbs
4. Sing your favorite English songs
If you like to sing, combine business with pleasure: sing songs in English. “Making a private videokê using YouTube videos also helps a lot when it comes to practicing pronunciation,” says Patrícia.Extra tip: “Choose a song that you really enjoy, even if it's difficult”, challenges the teacher. Don't give up on it until you can sing it all out! “I confess that I also did this when I was learning English and my challenge was Coolio's song 'Gangsta's Paradise', full of fast and slang lines. But I tried, trained, and won”, he says.
Did you know that Wizard has several playlists on Spotify for practicing English with music? Check it out: English songs on Spotify Wizard by Pearson.
Friends singing in a room, on a video, training English at home
5. Make notes to look up the words
For those who are just getting to know English, it's worth paying attention to your surroundings on a daily basis.
“There are a lot of things out there with English names, like restaurants, product brands, and even store windows when they say '50% off', 'sale', etc. So, write down on a pad or on your cell phone these expressions you find along the way and look it up at home afterward”, he advises.
If you want to know the meaning and pronunciation, in English, of words and sentences in Portuguese, write them down or search right away on your cell phone and you're done!
6. Games in English on video games or smartphone
A lot of people love technology, especially games. So, here's the tip: when installing a game on your smartphone or PC, try installing it in English.
“I learned a lot in my 'geek' life playing in another language. For example, house parts, furniture names, accessories, clothing, and personal interactions I learned by playing the famous 'The Sims'. I can say that I know more car parts names in English than in Portuguese, just from playing 'Need For Speed'”, he says.
She also comments on Facebook games, whose objective is to look for hidden objects in a scene: “They are excellent tools for acquiring vocabulary and capturing differences and similarities between words like 'bat' (bat) and 'bat' (bat)”.
7. If you can, do an exchange
No matter your age: if you have the opportunity, look for a destination in the world to practice the language.“There are short exchanges, of 15 days, so there won't be any losses in your work or school. On the contrary, it will be an extra on your resume and in your life! Believe me: I have a 50-year-old student who just got back from a month-long exchange in South Africa and said it was one of the best experiences of his life. That's because he says he has difficulties with English, which hasn't stopped him from going and communicating with natives and other foreigners,” recalls Patrícia.
Check out our “A Different Culture” post series to learn more about some countries that have English as their official language.
8. Don't be afraid to speak English
In closing, here's the tip when it's time to talk: don't be afraid! “In communication, regardless of the language one speaks, what counts is the willingness to communicate and the lack of shame in doing so. Don't be shy to talk and try to get across what you want to say, even if you make a mistake. We are Portuguese speakers trying to learn a language very different from ours, so don't feel obligated to say everything right away. It's normal”, encourages the teacher.The important thing is not to give up trying, accept the corrections and orientations of your “ teacher ”, besides asking for his help without pity. “Train without fear and move on, because your goal is to be fluent in English”, he concludes.
Conclusion
It is important to try to improve your English at home so that you can always practice and expand your vocabulary. The text tips are great to complement the English course.If you want to learn the language with quality and are not yet a Wizard student, get a 20% discount on enrollment in any language course. But if you are already a student, how about checking out more blog articles to continue your studies? Take advantage of the suggestions below!
tips to improve English at home
Reviewed by ahmhasan
on
August 27, 2021
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Reviewed by ahmhasan
on
August 27, 2021
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