Secrets to Effectively Self-Learning English: Listening, Speaking, Reading, and Writing

Secrets to effectively self-learning English in all four skills: Listening, Speaking, Reading, and Writing: When learning English, the first thing to determine is why you want to learn it and what level you need to reach as a goal. For example, learning to communicate fluently with foreigners, aiming to work in foreign companies to increase your income, etc.

The following post sharing tips on learning English is excerpted from Rosie Nguyen's Facebook page; the writing style has been preserved from the original post.

You need to determine your goals for learning English.

When learning English, the first thing to determine is why you're learning it and what level you want to achieve as a goal. For example, you might be learning to communicate fluently with foreigners, aiming to work in foreign companies to increase your income, or simply to socialize, make friends, and chat freely without fear. Or, at a higher level, you might be preparing for TOEIC, TOEFL, or IELTS exams to study abroad, in which case you need to set a target score. But to achieve a high score, you must first have a solid foundation of knowledge. Therefore, a strong foundation is crucial.

Fundamentally, learning English, like any other language, involves four parts: listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Observe a child learning their native language; they first listen to adults, then repeat the words they hear. Those words, used frequently, become part of the child's vocabulary. Therefore, whether a child speaks fluently and intelligently or uses foul language stems from their environment. Later, at school age, the child begins to learn to read, and only then does they learn to write. So, children learn in a process of listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Based on these observations, we can apply this to learning English:

1/ Effective ways to improve English listening skills

First and foremost, you need to practice listening. You need to have a solid understanding of listening before you can speak correctly. This is especially true for those who want to develop their English communication skills; if you can't listen well, how can you speak fluently? So, first and foremost, listen, listen, listen. But how do you practice listening?

– Do you enjoy watching movies? If so, that's a huge advantage for learning English. Watch movies regularly, but remember to use English subtitles. However, learning English while watching movies can be a bit more work. The most effective way is to watch while holding a small piece of cardboard over the subtitles. You can watch and listen to the actors speak, pausing to see what words you don't understand, then looking at the subtitles to find out, and repeating the pronunciation as the actors speak. Another less strenuous way is to just glance at the subtitles while watching, only stopping to translate words you don't understand. But for any words you don't understand, you must repeat the pronunciation as spoken in the movie.

After watching movies for a while, you'll realize there are many simple words you've been mispronouncing all along. That's why it's understandable that foreigners look confused when you say something. This learning method is similar to how children learn to speak. My younger sister, Vy, thanks to watching American movies and practicing pronunciation a lot, pronounces words more accurately than many of her classmates from the Foreign Trade University. Some American clients even complimented her on speaking with a Texas accent, even though she just graduated from Hoa Sen University.

Note that watching too many movies can have side effects, such as becoming "obsessed," or to put it simply, becoming detached from reality, feeling like you're in America while you're in Vietnam.

– A slightly higher level than watching movies is the Ted Talks. This site is a collection of presentations by experts in all fields of life. Watching the clips here helps you practice your English skills, gain knowledge and information, and get inspired – truly killing three or four birds with one stone. The listening method is similar to watching movies. The vocabulary in movies is usually simpler, while the language in Ted Talks is often more formal.

– Besides Ted Talk, you can also watch videos from Discovery Channel or National Geographic on YouTube. The method for practicing listening and speaking is exactly the same. Each of these channels has a different vocabulary, so the more channels you listen to, the richer your vocabulary will become.

– Another listening practice method I really like, and if you can do it, your listening skills are pretty good. It's downloading podcasts from different programs on three famous global news channels: BBC from the UK, CNN from the US, and ABC News from Australia. Download them all to your phone and listen whenever you have free time, or use the time while driving to work. One podcast in the morning, one in the afternoon, and so on regularly. Before long, you'll quickly become familiar with the English accents of these three countries, and you can practice your accent in whichever style you like best.

This method also has a side effect: it can quickly lead to hearing loss. It would be great if there was a way to listen to headphones continuously without experiencing hearing deterioration.

2/ Secrets to learning English: Practicing speaking skills & mastering English pronunciation

Listening skills are essential for accurate speaking, but practicing vocabulary alone isn't enough. To speak quickly, accurately, and with correct grammar, you need to practice your speaking reflexes. There's no other way to develop this than through practice.

– Practicing pronunciation of individual words has already been mentioned in the listening section. If you want to focus on speaking fluently, you can use the three websites mentioned: Ted Talk, Discovery Channel, and National Geographic. Listen and repeat, mimicking the speaker's intonation and rhythm, trying to keep up with their pace. Gradually, your voice will also become melodious and rhythmic. But when you're just starting out, remember to choose short talks; long ones will quickly exhaust you and make you discouraged.

– Join online English speaking practice forums, contact members, and chat with them via Skype. Examples include the BBC's English learning site, http://www.speak-english-today.com/, or http://www.todays-talking-topics.com/. Most of these sites don't have native English speakers from the UK, US, or Australia with standard accents; they wouldn't bother doing that. They're mainly for students and working professionals from developing countries who want to improve their English for studying abroad or international integration. Typically, they're from countries like Pakistan, Bangladesh, China, Jordan, Egypt, Angola, etc.

To be honest, I don't always talk to people from the UK, US, or Australia. Most of my studies and business involve interacting with people from Asia, the surrounding region, or sometimes even the Middle East and Africa. Talking to these people, who aren't fluent English speakers, allows us to correct each other and avoid awkwardness. It also gives me a chance to learn about the cultures of distant countries I rarely encounter, and to understand more about unfamiliar religions like Islam and Hinduism – knowledge I didn't learn much about in school. This knowledge will be beneficial later on when I integrate and do business with the international community – a win-win situation.

Members of these forums are hit or miss. Most seem decent and respectable on BBC, while other sites have many people simply wanting to practice English, but there are also plenty of perverts trying to flirt, chat sex, or demand inappropriate webcam views. In general, you have to be alert and cautious, choose your friends wisely. Speaking of which, I remember talking to a very enthusiastic and charming Egyptian guy. He spent hours explaining the beauty of Islam and guiding me on how to pray, and even taught me leadership and management techniques because he was a factory manager. Unfortunately, after he got married, we lost contact because he said his wife was very jealous, so he limited his contact with all girls and closed his Facebook account.

– Registering to host backpackers on sites like Couchsurfing or Hospitality Club is also a way to create more opportunities to interact with and speak English, although not frequently.

– Find someone who wants to practice speaking English like you, and make a deal that from now on, whenever you meet, you'll only talk in English, regardless of who laughs. It might seem a bit strange at first, but you'll get used to it. My yoga group members all talk to each other in English. If you know someone whose English is much better than yours and who's willing to listen to you and correct you, that's even better.

– Choose a topic you like, analyze it, and explain it in English. You can choose topics ranging from easy to difficult according to your ability and interests, for example, what kind of gift you would like for your birthday, or what ISIS is, or how a spacecraft operates. Record your speech, listen back to see if there are any parts that aren't good, and make adjustments until you are completely satisfied.

3. Secret to learning English: Practice your reading skills.

– Read almost everything in English, anytime, anywhere: English newspapers, English documents, English books. If you enjoy reading, try to find physical books or ebooks in English; absolutely do not read Vietnamese if there is an English version. Of course, reading will be slow and discouraging at first, but with consistent daily reading, you'll gradually get used to it and your speed will increase. On the first day, reading half a page and constantly looking up words in the dictionary is discouraging, so try to read a whole page the next day, two pages the day after that, and gradually increase to 10 or 20 pages a day – that's pretty good. After reading for a while, you'll find your vocabulary becomes more flexible, your writing style more relaxed and fluent, and you'll easily spot your word usage errors because they'll look more natural.

– Vocabulary, vocabulary. An important thing is that when practicing listening and reading, if you come across new words that you like and find common, immediately write them down in your notebook or digital notes. Remember to organize them by topic, look them up in a dictionary to find out their meaning and usage. Then, review the list every day and memorize the new words, creating sentences with them. After a while, review them again, aiming to make the new words your own. Learn ten words a day, and you'll have a hundred in ten days. Thanks to this, your vocabulary will increase over time.

– English books: Foreign language books are quite rare in Vietnam. After some searching, I found a few decent sources for English books. Paperbacks are available at Xuan Thu Bookstore on Tran Hung Dao Street (District 1, Saigon), the prices are reasonable, but they have few newly published books. Or you can try buying used books during sales.Cao Thom There are many great books, and they're also very affordable.

– Ebooks: I often download from Pham Minh Tuan's website http://ebook4expert.blogspot.com/, there are plenty of books to read, mainly on business and personal development topics. Another site I absolutely love (oh, my secret weapon) is https://openlibrary.org/. You can register to borrow books and read them online; some rare books that I couldn't find as ebooks online are all available on this site.

4. Secrets to Learning English: Writing Skills

– A simple way to start writing and practice vocabulary is to continue using the three listening practice pages at the beginning of the lesson and play them, listening and transcribing simultaneously, or to speed things up, listen continuously and summarize the main points (this is very good for TOEFL or IELTS preparation). Then compare your transcription with the transcript to see if you missed any points or misspelled any words.

– Blogging. Another method I use to practice my English writing is creating an English blog to write about anything I like, usually reviewing my self-study and giving me advice on how to improve. Blogging, whether in Vietnamese or English, has its own advantages. It helps improve my expressive abilities and enriches my mental life. I'm trying to maintain a writing rate of 1000 words a day; writing makes me feel healthy. When writing, I try to apply the vocabulary I've learned from listening and reading.

The basics are done. If you want to prepare for the exam, you have to focus on solving practice tests. Download materials or buy TOEFL or IELTS model test books from a bookstore to practice. Or just search online for: secrets to achieving an IELTS 8.0 or a TOEFL iBT 100 – there's an abundance of materials, you could study until you die. But don't ask me what my score was. I'm great at theory, but my practical skills are...

“Oh my god, there’s so much! Where would I find the time to learn it all?” Honestly, “no time” is just a tired old excuse. If someone says they want to learn English but don’t have time, what would they think if I told them my final secret I haven’t revealed yet is waking up at 4 am to study? So everything is possible; the important thing is whether you truly want to do it. Perhaps the next question will arise: “I want to learn English well, to become excellent and knowledgeable, but how do I overcome my laziness and inertia?” Haha, that’s a good question. I’ll talk about it next time.

Author: Viet My College - Date written: July 12, 2016

Category: Student life, Training