How to Learn English the Easy Way

by Miss S. Wong

There’s no mistake - you hear it right! It is possible to learn English with ease, that is, provided you know how. In this article, you are going to read about some ways to learn English without effort or pain.

Keep a Vocabulary Bank

People save money in the bank so that they’ll be rich one day. Similarly, if you put several new words in a ‘bank book’ every day, you’ll become rich in words and your word power will increase. When people draw money from the bank and spend it, they’ll end up with less money. The best thing about a word bank is that, the more words you use, the richer you’ll become and the more knowledge of English you’ll have. Just remember to include the word class (noun, verb, adjective etc), the meaning and an example sentence when you enter a word into your vocabulary bank book.

Connect Passion with English

Having been a teacher of English for quite a while, I’ve heard stories of successful English learning related to one’s passion from time to time. I’ve met students who told me they learnt English through playing computer games. They chose websites written in English and communicated with international players in English. Some told me they acquired English proficiency through listening to English songs or watching English films. These are all fun activities to learn a language.

Read! Read! Read!

Everybody knows the importance of reading in language learning but few students can really do it. You don’t have to read for hours to improve your English. That’ll probably tire you out and kill your interest. Read for only 15 minutes per day. Always read books that you enjoy and can read without difficulty. Carry the book with you wherever you go. Read it on the MTR or when you’re waiting for your meal. As your ability and interest build up, reading will become a part of your life like eating or brushing your teeth. I bet nobody would think taking a bath is difficult!

Pay Attention in Class     

Believe it or not: time passes much faster when you pay attention in class. That means you’ll listen to the teacher’s instructions carefully and be on task all the time. As a result, you’ll be able to finish your class-work and probably part of your homework in class. With a good understanding of what you’ve learnt at school, assignments become easy and tests and dictation takes shorter time to prepare. Guess what, you'll have more spare time to enjoy your hobbies!

The above ways of learning English are all simple and easy. But they work and hence are worth taking. If you’ve read up to this point, that proves you do care about your English. Now is the best time to start learning English the easy way. Which of the four methods would you like to begin with?