英语学习之路

英语学习
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海量输入

一、沉默的学习者

  • 外语学习者必然会经历“静默期”而不能、也不应过早开口练习
  • 流利外语来自于海量听读可理解的材料，而非进行对话练习

二、口语的陷阱

  • 盲目开口不会带来进步，反而可能导致错误固化、进步停滞
  • 时间七成在输入、三成在输出，莫颠倒顺序而陷入“石化”陷阱

三、从零的方案

  • 寻找难度适中(i+1)、有趣、足量系列材料；故事书是最优选择
  • 不要迷信强制记忆语法和词汇，海量和理解才是输入的关键

四、热情的法门

  • 用极为有趣的材料进入“心流”而忘记外语存在是最理想状态
  • 有趣内容将让学习方法变得次要，主动寻找材料必要躬行

资源 & 工具

发音Pronunciation

语法 Grammar

单词 Vocabulary

  • 欧路词典

听力 Listening

  • 每日英语听力 App
  • ESL Pod
  • EnglishPod
  • Acquired

美剧

  • 摩登家庭 Modern Family
  • 老爸老妈的浪漫史 How I Met Your Mother
  • 绝望的主妇 Desperate Housewives
  • 老友记 Friends

学习方法

Why is English so difficult for a Chinese person?

I teach English as a Second Language in Taiwan, so I see native Mandarin speakers struggle with English every day. Literally, every day. As a native English speaker who studies Mandarin; I know the struggle is real lol. Below are some of the things my students do that make learning English more difficult:

Not having a clear idea of why they are learning English, or how to make a study plan to help them reach a realistic goal.

A common question I ask students is why they want to learn English. There are a variety of answers; from business-related needs, studying abroad, to travel, to talking to English speaking relatives, etc. When I ask them their goal, however; every single reply is the same: I want to be fluent in English. It’s a lofty goal, to say the least; along the lines of “I want to be the President of the world!” Or, “I want a pet unicorn!” It sounds awesome, but it probably won’t happen. Instead, when you go to bed tonight, imagine yourself speaking English easily and comfortably. What are you doing? Where are you? Who are you talking to? If you imagined yourself killing it in a meeting with foreign colleagues; expressing your thoughts well, taking part in the conversation, impressing others with your ideas; then, that’s where you start. Start reading industry websites and blogs, watch videos or listen to podcasts to see and hear how people communicate. Learn and know the vocabulary about your job, then join discussion groups, forums, meetups (www.meetup.com), language exchanges, run it by your teacher for corrections and suggestions, and practice expressing yourself. If you picture yourself traveling the world, making new friends, then do with same with travel shows, videos, blogs, etc. You probably won’t, or don’t need to be fluent, so relax and focus on your specific goal. Figure out why you want or need to study English and go from there.

Learning a language is a journey - not a destination.

If you are like my students, you have probably studied English for years, but still don’t feel comfortable or confident using English. How can this be? The more we do something, the better we will be, right? Not necessarily.

If you study by memorizing words and grammar patterns; English will be hard and boring. Change your thinking and change your study method. Make English a fun part of your daily life and you will learn and enjoy the process. If you don’t think learning can be fun and something you do every day, then you need to change your thinking and study method. When something becomes a habit, we no longer think about- we just do it.

Fun: you can think of fun as interesting, relaxing, whatever you want; just keep it positive. One way to do that is to not make it so hard. If you’re not very good at English, watching BBC News or CNN will be a waste of your time. They speak quickly and use a lot of vocabulary you probably don’t know. It will be too hard and you will give up and lose confidence. Instead, try the app duolingo. You can set the amount of time you want to use it for each day. It’s interactive and let’s you practice speaking, listening, translation. If you don’t like that app, try others- there are many. Want to read a novel in English? Great! Read the Mandarin version or see the movie first. Start with a subject you already know about. Try short stories, or young adult novels. Listen to the audio book, too. Like music? Translate your favorite song into English, study the English lyrics and find the meaning of the words you don’t know, learn an English song to sing at KTV. Keeping it fun also means you need to Learn for yourself: think about your interests and hobbies and learn about them in English. Do you like food? Who doesn’t?! Start by translating take out menus, follow food blogs, etc. Like to cook? Read a recipe in Chinese, then look at the English version. Google “_____ vocabulary words English.” Fill in the blank with whatever topics you like. If you don’t know what you like, then think about the things you like to read or talk about in Mandarin, or what kind of topics you click on when surfing the internet.

Daily: Start with 10 minutes a day. Making daily contact with English depends on your personality and schedule.

Schedule: Can you wake up 10 minutes earlier in the morning and read English aloud? Do you have 10 minutes on your way to/from work or school to listen to English, write in a journal, or use a learning app? If watch TV every day at 7:00pm, can you open your English book or app at 6:50pm? If you spend more than 10 mins a day on social media, can you add some English sites or forums (like Quora!). Find your 10 mins each day.

Personality: If you’re not very motivated, start with an app that will remind you to study, or a site that will send you a new vocabulary word each day. Challenge a friend or classmate to study for 10 mins a day and do it together. Competitive? Each day give yourself a category; like fruit, cities in Europe, NBA teams, and write down in English as many as you can in one minute. If you can only name three fruits in English, learn more and test yourself again the next day. Creative? Try a new method every day. Do what works the best for you. The point is: if you don’t have an English environment, you can make your own. If you make it a habit, you won’t have to think about it. If it interests you, you’ll stick with it! Also, if you ever have problem; Quora can help :)

Good luck!

Comments:

  1. I know what mean you expressed. the methods you talked about is what I am doing now. Luckily, english learning is funny for me not boring, so there is nothing about sticking to. you like it you will do it without external force. As the time goes, that will become a habit, that’s it! success or not it’s just a time problem.

  2. English is a tool to face the world. A more easy way to learn English, it’s really depending “know how”, what the teachers simply just don’t know, that’s make it so difficult to the average puples…

  3. Rebecca, you do have reason. For an English learner, one does need a target or a reason to do the job. Take myself for example, I learn English because I found it sounds beautiful when I was a small boy. And ever since I’ve grasped every opportunity to read, listen to and practice the language. On the opposite, when people tell me how hard it is to learn English and ask for my help, more often than not, they really don’t have any idea why they learn it, and, they don’t have the necessary concentration and patience, either. If you ask your students what their target of life is, or why we live in this world, I guess you may possibly get the same ambiguous answers as to the question about language learning. There are many ways that lead to Rome. But first of all, there has to be a Rome over there.