Learning any language on your own is not easy. Even if it’s something as common as English, without any professional help, learning how to speak, write, and read the language will take hours upon hours of hard work.
Is it possible? Of course, it is!
Below are tips that can help you improve your English skills, even if you’ll be working on it on your own.
1. Put up labels all over your house
Memorisation is key to learning any language, but it’s also the most boring part of the language learning process.
So, what do you do?
Well, for starters, you can get creative. Putting up notes and labels all over your house in English can make it easier for you to assimilate the language and retain the information. For example, you can start with places where you find yourself frequenting the most, like the bathroom or your fridge’s door, for example.
A good way to start with the labels is to put up the vocabulary and grammar rules, so you end up reading them without necessarily putting that much of an effort.
2. Get to writing
If you’re more of a private person, you can start writing in your own diary – in English. However, for best results, you may want to start an online blog.
It doesn’t have to be big, and it certainly doesn’t have to contain a lot of information. It can even be something like a few photos with captions. You can even use your own social media account as a pseudo-blog.
What’s important is that you force yourself to get comfortable writing in English, regardless of how small it is. From there, you can move on to writing sentences and then, finally, entire paragraphs.
3. Switch the default language settings of your phone and laptop to English
Your laptop and your phone are two things that you probably use for at least an hour every day. Because of how often you’re exposed to both devices, switching their default language to English can help you familiarise yourself better with the language and improve your reading comprehension.
4. Read
Reading helps you a lot. It improves your vocabulary, comprehension, and writing skills. It’s also the best way to sustain your learning.
It doesn’t even matter what you’re reading, so long as it’s in English, and that’s the beauty of it.
You can read on sports, fashion, magazine, or the daily news. What’s really important is that you make reading a part of your daily life and that you do it actively. If there are some words that you’re not familiar with or phrases, don’t hesitate to look them up in the dictionary or online.
5. Learn how to summarise
The ability to summarise and squeeze in something long into something short is a valuable skill that can help you learn a language much more quickly on your own.
You can do it in writing, or on your own by saying it out loud. Regardless, summarising what you just read, watched, or heard, is a great way to improve your English language skill and also, to challenge yourself.
While it is indeed possible to learn English on your own, it’s still best to enrol in an English language course in Singapore.
Making time for formal education gives you the opportunity to practice it in a classroom setting that actually actively encourages you to try out what you had just learned. Not to mention, you’ll also be subjected to learning that’s facilitated by someone who’s most likely IELTS certified, which means that, not only will you be learning English but that you’ll also be learning the language the right way.