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read a book in English for an hour every day, analyzing the grammar in sentences and
looking up words in an English dictionary
listen to an audiobook or other recording in English, stopping it frequently, trying to
understand what is being said, and trying to imitate the speaker’s pronunciation
spend 30 minutes in the afternoon practicing the pronunciation of the English “r”
sound
carefully write an e-mail message in English, using a dictionary or a Web search
every 20 seconds to make sure every word is correct, and taking 5 minutes to write
one sentence
think about an English sentence you’ve read, wondering if it could say “a” instead of
“the” in the sentence, and trying to find similar sentences on the Web to find out the
answer
walk down the street and build simple English sentences in your head (talking to
yourself in English about the things you see around you)
What kind of person would do all these crazy things? Only one kind. The kind of person who
enjoys doing them. If you want to learn to speak English well, you’re going to have to
become that person. Have you ever heard of anyone who became successful by doing
something he hated?
The problem
The problem with learning and teaching English as a foreign language is that all English
learners want to speak English well; however, most learners don’t want to spend time on
learning English on their own. (Which is probably why they sign up for English classes and
hope their teacher will force knowledge into their heads.)
This lack of motivation means that learners basically don’t spend their own time on learning
English, and if they do, they don’t do it regularly. For example, a typical learner might study
English phrasal verbs for 12 hours before an English exam. However, he will not read a book
in English for 30 minutes every day. He just doesn’t feel that learning English is pleasant
enough, so he will only do it if he has to. The problem is that a huge one-time effort gives
you nothing, while small, everyday activities will give you a lot.
Negative attitudes
One of the reasons why people don’t want to spend their time on learning English is that they
associate learning English with unpleasant things. When they think “learning English”, they
think about boring English classes, boring exercises and boring homework. Even if they
know they need English in their career, that might not be very motivating if the job itself is
boring! In their minds, learning English is something they have to do, not something they
want to do.
Now let’s look at a different English learner: Judy. Judy reads a special novel for English
learners (written in simplified English) almost every day for 30 minutes. She bought an
English-English dictionary and uses it to look up English words whenever she doesn’t
understand a sentence in her book. It was hard to study regularly at the beginning: Reading
books and using a dictionary were not “normal activities” for her. And every English
sentence was a challenge.
But now, after only two weeks, she can read much faster. While reading, she often sees words
that she has learned in the past two weeks. When she recognizes such a word, she doesn’t
have to look it up in a dictionary and she knows she has made good progress. Judy feels she
has learned a lot of English recently, and she is eager to learn more. Every day, she looks
forward to reading her book. The book gives her the chance to use what she has learned
(enjoy her progress) and to learn even more. Because she reads regularly, she forgets little
and her vocabulary keeps growing.
Judy is on the right track. She will soon be able to read English-language newspapers and
other resources written for native speakers.
What to do?
If you are like Paula and don’t feel like reading in English in your free time, focusing your
attention on English sentences, or practicing the pronunciation of the “r” sound, you will have
to do something about it. There are many techniques to help you with motivation, but the best
one is probably to do something fun.
If you can use your English to watch a funny video on the Internet, read an article about your
favorite band, or communicate with smart people on a discussion forum, you will begin to
think of English as your key to fun. When you think “English”, you will no longer think
about boring classes, difficult grammar rules or lists of words to memorize — you will think
about a funny TV show, your favorite band and people you like. In your mind, English will
no longer be another boring subject at school — it will be the way to have fun every day.