How To Learn English Effectively

Have you ever tried to study English, but it turned out it’s too difficult for you? Well, let me tell you that the language is easy once you keep in mind these golden rules:

▲ Always study and review phrases, not individual words.

Did somebody give you a dictionary when you started learning your native language as a child? No? Then why do you keep using it when studying a foreign language? Memorizing individual words has absolutely no sense without the context. 【小题1】

▲ Don’t study grammar.

When you start thinking about what construction to use, you begin to stammer, stop sounding natural. Your responses should become automatic to master the language, so instead of studying theory – take more practice! When you speak, you don't have time for considering what tense is appropriate, one hundred percent correct. 【小题2】 Grammar is important in writing, not in speaking.

▲【小题3】

One of the most common mistakes when studying a foreign language is relying solely on textbooks. Thanks to them you may know a lot of grammar and vocabulary, but you're still not capable of conducting a conversation. It is because you should learn English by listening and not by reading. If you listen more, you'll grasp useful vocabulary and grammar without even realizing it and without memorizing!

▲ Learn English deeply.

Remember it's always about quality, not about quantity. 【小题4】 When memorizing the phrases (remember the first rule!) slowly, you put them into the deeper parts of your brain so they don't fade away quickly.

▲ Listen and answer, not listen and repeat.

【小题5】If you practice listening with a podcast or a video, pause it every 20 – 30 second and summarize what has been said. You have to think quickly, so you stop bothering yourself with useless grammar and start to speak the real, living language!

   “If you’ve gone through adolescence already, you’ll no longer be able to speak a foreign language perfectly.” This and other similar statements are not the only thing argued among brain researchers and experts in languages. But they agree on one thing: Children learn languages differently from adults.

“Good morning, boys and girls!” For decades this has been how English classes started in Germany. They are the first bits of vocabulary and basic phrases. For years now, however, increasing numbers of primary schools in Germany have been teaching younger children their first foreign language. In order to better prepare children for a multilingual future, parents, educators and policymakers are seeking support behind the idea of “the earlier the better” when it comes to learning foreign languages. But does this necessarily mean that small children in general learn foreign languages better than adolescents or adults?

“It depends on what we consider ‘better’ about foreign languages,” says Rudiger Grotjahn, professor of language learning.” If we look at the end result of language acquisition（获得）, an early start is certainly advantageous.”

If “better” means faster, then young children don’t do so well compared to adolescents or even young adults, especially at the beginning of the course when, according to Rudiger Grotjahn, the latter two groups make better progress.

Educational psychology has also shown us that successful learning is mainly based on existing knowledge. The same is true for language learning. Furthermore, techniques developed when you are learning the native language also play an important role in learning a foreign language.

Children often respond to（应对）new languages with curiosity while adults increasingly look to their own learning and life experience to help them learn the words, structures and ideas of a foreign language. The result is that children learn more through games and gestures while adults take a more analytical（分析性的）approach with stricter rules. Rudiger Grotjahn thinks that good foreign language courses should take these various requirements and methods into account. The joy of learning a foreign language is something both the young and the old can experience to an equal degree.

Unlike some other European languages, English is a little tricky (棘手的) when it comes to writing. How a word 【小题1】 (pronounce ) and how it is actually spelt can be very different 【小题2】(thing).

Imagine, then, a situation 【小题3】 two words are spelt and pronounced exactly the same way, but have【小题4】

So how do you know which 【小题5】 ( mean) someone is referring to? — You don't, except by the context. Obviously, if someone asks you to "give 【小题6】 (he) a hand", they don't want you to remove what is 【小题7】 the end of your arm.

Sometimes even the context doesn't help much — the result can be 【小题8】 (amuse). These sentences play with the double meaning of a noun:

I used to be a banker, 【小题9】 I lost interest.

A small boy swallowed some coins and had to be sent to hospital. When his grandmother phoned 【小题10】 (ask) how he was, the nurse said, "No change yet. "

"Waiter, will the bread be long?" "No, sir. It's round."

Yours,

Li Hua