My history
Hi, my name is Paul and I’ve worked as a teacher for twenty years. For the first fourteen of these years, I worked as an English as a Second Language teacher at universities and colleges in various countries, including Australia. I now work as a learning support teacher at a large polytechnic college. Before becoming a teacher, I worked for many years in a technical capacity at a large telco and also worked as an accredited freelance translator. As well as being a language teacher, I’m a language learner, having lived in several countries and having learned to speak several languages. I think this helps me understand my learners, as I know how hard it is to learn a language and I also know what methods have worked for me. Top of page
General language learning tips
Immersion or classes?
One of the most important things I’ve learned about learning languages is that you have to use the language to learn it. Some people argue that the best way to learn a language is immersion in an environment where we need to use the language to survive. Others argue that as adult learners, we need classes more than we need practice. However, as adult learners, we can’t learn a language the way children do. We need classes and many hours of study to improve our skills, but for most learners, classes are not enough. My experiences have been that we are unlikely to be very successful with only immersion or only classes – we need both. I have studied a number of languages, and have only been successful where I have had both. When I studied Indonesian, I had classes for two years before going to Indonesia to live and study. I quickly found that I learned more in a few weeks in Indonesia than what I had learned studying the language for two years in Australia.
“For adult learners, a mix of immersion and classes is the best way to learn.”
Find fun ways of learning
Learning a language takes many hours, indeed years of hard work. The best advice I can give is to find fun ways to learn. I personally enjoy socialising, so speaking is a pain-free way of learning and I find that Speaking is crucial to learning a language. Speaking is immediate and requires fast recall of vocabulary and I receive instant feedback when my attempts to communicate fail. Another relatively pain-free way of learning is to read a lot. I have a wonderful Sony e-Reader, which has foreign language dictionaries. I start by reading children’s books and gradually progress to teen and then adult books. When I don’t know a word, I can touch it on the screen and instantly get a definition, without interrupting the reading process. Top of page
Find ways to make English part of your everyday life
My most successful students all have one thing in common – they have found ways of making using English a necessary part of their daily life. That’s the same way I have learned languages. When I lived in Nicaragua and in Indonesia, I chose to live with local families and had to speak Spanish/Indonesian every day. My most successful students have done a number of the following things I recommend you do:
- find people to live with who don’t speak your first language.
- change jobs so that you are using English.
- actively look for friends who don’t speak your first language.
- read books in English and watch movies in English.
- find ways of using English when you are relaxing.
- make use of ‘wasted time’ -when you’re sitting on a bus or train, think in English – ask yourself “Now how would I say that in English?” Imagine you’re talking in English and create dialogues in your head.
- use the internet to find people you can communicate with in English. For example, I’ve joined a Facebook group for Dutch people living in my town. I can read and write posts and meet other Dutch-speaking people. I’m improving my reading, vocabulary and writing.
While it’s unlikely that every learner will be able to do all of these things, if you do some of them, you will definitely benefit.
Whatever strategies you use, there will be a mix of time, hard work and hopefully, some enjoyable activities. Good luck! Top of page