Antonia (54), a housewife, learned to speak Mandarin Chinese in just four weeks using this simple method! At least that’s what I was informed of by one of those blitzes the other day. Well done Antonia, I thought! You have achieved what even the most gifted polyglot would find impossible to accomplish. The fact is that the Internet is full of companies making dubious promises of quick fixes.
It is clear that learning a language takes time and effort. And yet, it is also clear to any language teacher that learning is far from a linear process. Over the years, many of my students have reminded me of driving test takers, alternating between exaggerated speeding up and slowing down of the engine.
This article looks at some techniques to speed up your English learning.
1. Get organized
Before even adopting any technique to accelerate your learning of English, you must first ask yourself the question ‘When?’. Real learning requires studying regularly and generally engaging in quite a bit of revision. If your goal is to learn English quickly, you will need several study sessions per week. Can you dedicate an hour to it almost every evening?
If not, can you dedicate time to it in the mornings over the weekend? Or can you fit English study around your schedule, such as at lunchtime or during your morning commute? So the first step is to decide when you are going to be able to study. Be realistic and stick to the plan.
2. Prepare for an exam
Some students simply want to study English, without the pressure of preparing for a big exam. Although this approach can be valid, I sometimes remind my students of the motivational power that an exam can have on them. Whatever the age of students, exams tend to awaken in them a childish fear. We don’t want to perform poorly, waste money, or tell our friends that we failed.
An exam stimulates our adrenaline, not only on the day of the exam, but also during the weeks and months leading up to it. I’ve seen many passive students transform into die-hard nerds in the months leading up to an exam and progress by leaps and bounds. So, whether you want to get a degree or not, remember that an exam can be the trigger for your progress in English. Find out about thedifferent examsof English which you have the possibility of taking at the British Council.
3. Volunteer in English
When I arrived in Barcelona, I volunteered at a center for immigrant children. I taught reading (in Spanish) to 6-7 year olds who, like me, did not speak Spanish very well. Was I the best person for this job? Certainly not. Have the children made progress in reading? I think so. Did I have to learn Spanish at lightning speed? Absolutely !
If you do a little research, you will find many ways to volunteer in English in France. If you have time and money, you can look into work abroad programs such as WWOOFing. Or, look for options in your area.
France is full of children’s homes, residences for the elderly, etc. who could happily welcome a volunteer to organize a course, workshop or weekly reading session in English. You don’t need to have the level of an English speaker, you just need to be able to offer what you already know. Any experienced teacher will agree that the best way to learn something is to teach it. So volunteer teaching can really benefit everyone.
4. Don’t just watch TV series, turn them into language lessons
We all know that watching series can be a relaxing and effective way to learn a language. There are a huge variety of interesting series out there, but if your goal is to learn faster, you’ll need to concentrate when watching them. Rather than watching anything, without a specific objective, picking up a few new expressions here or there, why not choose a series that will serve as a language course at home? Try to choose the one that is most suitable for your needs.
Some of my law students watch The Good Wife and surprise me every week with the legalese they learned from watching that show. Check out thislist of television series to help you choose. Once you have selected a show, watch it actively, that is, display the English subtitles and tilt the image to note useful or interesting expressions. Remember to review your notes regularly to ensure the language is correct.
5. Use an e-reader
The debate between paper books and digital books is no longer valid when it comes to reading to learn a language: the digital book is undoubtedly the winner. Several of my advanced students have amazed me in recent years by using the surprising language they learned in books ranging from the Hunger Games adventure series to Andre Agassi’s eye-opening biography, Open .
The advantage of the e-reader lies first of all in its convenience. Use the dictionary feature by simply clicking on new difficult words and immediately view their English definition. If your device supports it, download the audio file to listen to the pronunciation of words and phrases as they play.
Many e-readers have a feature that stores vocabulary and expressions, giving you a list of everything you’ve learned at the end of your reading. Return to this list regularly to test your memory. Try a first book and you will see that an electronic reader can give a real boost to your English in just a few weeks.
6. Make full use of the internet
Turning to the Internet is obviously the first thing to do if you want to learn English faster. But are you making the most of the possibilities that exist online? A good way to speed up learning is to use language apps. Many free apps such as Memrise or the own range ofapps from the British Council will allow you to progress quickly and track your progress.