English Your New Best Friend.
In learning any language a mentor will play a definite role but a bigger and more important role will have to be played by the person who wants pursue this language. And you might be that person who is stuck in this puddle called English and finding no way out. Maybe you have a sound knowledge of the technicalities of the subject yet struggling with how to put it into usage. Whoever you are and whatever situation you are in related to this subject you are only few steps behind in achieving the required goals. And this article is dedicated to those of you students who are stuck at crossroads, a series of tuition classes and endless boring books filled with grammar. Some of you may think that to learn grammar is to mug up mountains of grammar books but the easier way is through talking and by getting familiar with the language.
Going a step away from the conventional methods of learning, approach the subject through modernized, easy and fun methods. And the first step is to get familiar with the language and it might be the most important one of all. And this article is all about how you achieve that.
1.News, Songs, Radio
The more you hear it the more it gets scripted in your mind. Listen to whatever comes at you. It can be the news, a documentary, a YouTube video or even an English song.
When starting with a song you may at first not be a fan of English songs but for the sake of enjoying the music dedicate some of your time for few songs per day.
With the catchy tunes and easy language it is no hard feat to get the song repaying in your head nonstop. Going a step further listen closely to the lyrics and if you are facing problems with understanding the words due to accent differentiation look it up in the internet for its lyrics. And you will find out that most songs are written with very simple choices of words which are easy to understand and sing along because a song is only good if it touches the heart of a universal crowd.
lyrics to ‘wake me up’ by Avicii
And there is no perfect place to get your daily dose of English with correct grammar and perfect pronunciation except for the English news which is unfortunately streaming close to midnight in our local channels.
And if you are a fan of listening to the radio reserve a channel through that and keep up with it for few minutes per day. At first you may doubt the purpose of dedicating your time to something you are unfamiliar with and hence dislike but with time, dedication and unwavering determination to achieve the end goals, the hard work will pay off.
2.Movies with English Subtitles.
Who doesn’t love a good Hollywood movie to keep us entertained at least once a week?
With your busy schedule you may wonder how you can make up time for a movie but once you add it as another element in learning this language all you have to do is follow up with it which will bring you closer to your goal.
Most of us are used to watching movies with Sinhala subtitles but in this case it would be pointless to do that. At first it might be weird watching a movie which you understand only through the pictures but that is why you should train your mind to go in sync with the subtitles. You may come across words you don’t understand then all you have to do is pause the movie and jot the word down in a notebook and look it up in the dictionary once you are done with the movie. And if it is still difficult for you to go through the two and half hours of gibberish start with movies you have already watched with Sinhala subtitles. By learning through watching movies the vocabulary of a person gets broader and not to mention the familiarity you will eventually get with the pronunciation of words.
Things you need to have with you.
- An all English dictionary to train your mind to think in English. It can be in the book form or you can install a dictionary to your phone which is quicker when it comes to the searching process.
- A notebook to note down all the new words you comes across.