Learning English Faster
By Jazmin Echavarria
Would you like to learn English faster? I know that like me; you would like to wake up one morning, speaking, reading and writing English. I wish it was that easy, but it is not impossible, either . Definitely, this is a process that can take years, but surely it becomes more fun, motivational and accelerated if you learn to know its logic. I have been studying English for one year, and I really did not bring good foundations of English from my country. However, at some point, I realized that learning English was a matter of strategy. For this reason, in this article, I have decided to share with you three main tips that have helped me to advance significantly during my process to learn English which are strategy, dedication and practice.
First of all, being strategic when it comes to learning English can help you quickly to develop skills for learning English. I do not know if you have heard of color theory, but when you color your ideas, texts, etc., your brain captures with greater speed what you are seeing, reading or learning. For example, when I learn verbs, gerunds, paraphrases and vocabulary in general, I used index cards of colors; then, I wrote the regular verbs on the green index cards, and the irregular verbs on the yellow ones. Moreover, I generally use highlighters of different colors to underline the words in books as I read them, so I like to use green for verbs, orange for nouns, yellow for unknown words, and blue for important ideas to highlight. All of the above helps me to have a better understanding of grammar, allows me to better understand texts and learn vocabulary faster.
Equally important, dedication before and after class allows your brain to open in a more assertive way to learning a new code. For this reason, I recommend that you investigate a little about the topic that you will see before attending your class. When you do this, you get your brain more ready for the teacher’s explanation. Therefore, you will not be lost in class; on the contrary, you will be relearning and recording in your memory important details that you did not know before. In the same way, it is important to study after your class. Reviewing what you have learned allows your brain to save the information more accurately. Furthermore, making mind maps or organizing your class notes are excellent techniques to pay attention to what you have learned after your class session.
The most important of all is practice as a means of putting your learning in real context. For this, I recommend you immersing yourself in English. Watching TV, listening to music, reading books or magazines, making your market list and trying to take your class notes in English are the best ways to put English into practice in your daily life. Every time that you do this, your brain adapts to the sound, the grammatical structure of the words and the correct use of them. On the other hand, it is very important to start thinking about your day to day activities in English. If you do not have someone to practice with at home, I recommend that you have internal conversations in English with yourself; then,start building those self-thoughts that we have on a daily basis in English. For example, if you are planning to go to the gym this morning, ask yourself how you might say and plan it in English.
In conclusion, learning English depends on the methodology that you use to learn it, the time you spend on it, and the way you adapt it to your reality. Although it seems impossible to us, learning English is not an impossible mission. It is a mission of challenge and discipline. Now, what are you waiting for? Try these tips in your learning process!
