Bored of Learning English? Five ways to make learning fun!

October 13, 2009 · by Wil · in Advice for learning English

Do you ever feel a little bored when studying English? Maybe just a tiny bit? Learning a language is hard work and takes a long time so it’s natural to feel bored or frustrated occasionally. Here are some ways to make learning fun again:

1.      Watching movies – Teachers really often mention this as a good way to develop listening skills and hear people speaking at a natural pace. It can be difficult to follow the dialogue at times, though. Especially if the actors have heavy accents or are using a lot of idiomatic vocabulary.

If you have trouble following, it’s fine to put the subtitles on but remember to have them in English. Reading and hearing the words at the same time usually helps with comprehension.

If you don’t have time to watch a movie, watch an episode of a TV drama or comedy. The language used there is most likely to be natural, too. Watching TV shows for kids in English can be fun, as well and it’s a nice family activity.

Remember, whatever movie or TV show you choose, make sure it is one you enjoy. Don’t force yourself to sit through a boring show just to learn English.

2.       Imitate adverts or people on TV – This sounds a little childish but can be a really good way to develop your intonation and speech rhythm. Try recording your favourite actor and copying the way he speaks. It’s fun and great practice.

3.      Singing – Not everyone likes to sing and that’s fine. If you prefer not to sing, try one of the other methods instead. If you do like singing, do it as often as possible in English. It’s a great way to build your pronunciation skills and confidence, too.

4.      Reading – Read subjects you are interested in. If you are interested in a subject, you are more likely to try to understand all the words and expressions in the text than you would of you were reading something boring.

5.      Actually doing it! – What was the reason you started learning English? I bet it wasn’t so you could just sit in a classroom for hours. Actually putting your English into action by talking to foreign colleagues or English speaking friends makes all your hard work worthwhile.

If you don’t have any English-speaking friends, make some. You can meet friends online. There are Internet forums on any topic you could imagine. Join one related to your hobby or field of work and get involved in a discussion in English.

Try volunteering to be a tour guide. Many historic sites need tour guides to show foreign tourists around. This could even turn into a part-time job!

Start your own conversation club. If you have some friends or classmates who want to practice, meet up for a coffee and agree to only speak English to each other for a few hours.

I said at the beginning that learning a language is hard work and that’s true. It’s important to remember, though, that hard work doesn’t have to be boring. Approach leaning in a way that’s fun and relevant to your life and you’ll find your skills improve faster than you could imagine!

CONCLUSION

 

From the article that I choose, after examined, to obtain good results in learning English, we must continue to practice it everyday, but when we learn the monotonous way, we will actually feel bored. Article above gives us a way to learn with more fun, of course, with the way above we can learn English through activities we've always done, like watching tv, listening to songs, imitate your favorite artists in speaking and reading, to read may be a little difficult, but when it has become difficult to read, I advice you to read your favorite comics in the english version. It will be fun to read comics and we can learn English, Thank you.

  http://wilsworldofwords.com/2009/10/bored-of-learning-english-five-ways-to-make-learning-fun.html

10 Steps to Improving Your English Pronunciation and Language Skills

1. Learn and become aware.

After learning the various rules of English, you must become aware of the errors that you make in your speech.

Keep an organized list of your corrections that have come from being monitored by other speakers, preferably native English speakers. If you don’t have a native English speaker to monitor you, simple listen and repeat with the Elemental English pronunciation and speaking lessons, and take note of how your pronunciation differs from mine.

For example, does my [θ] as in “think” [θInk] sound like [t] or [s], as in “tink” or “sink”, when you say it? 

Once you become aware of the errors you make, you are then ready to correct them. Obviously, if you are oblivious to your errors, you can’t fix them!

2. Monitoring. 

Any time you are corrected, write down the correction that you were given on a special “monitoring” list.

Constantly update this list, and keep it organized. This is extremely useful, because the errors that you produce are usually not random mistakes that come from “a slip of the tongue”. Most errors are part of a pattern of mistakes that you repeat again and again.

 

3. Repetitive Review.

Consistently review your monitoring list of errors. You should start to notice a pattern and then be constantly aware of that pattern of what you need to correct.

4. Repetitive Practice. 

Now that you are aware of your errors, you need to routinely practice the corrected pronunciation (or correct syntax, vocabulary use, etc.). Practice again and again.

I suggest that you practice out loud at home. Listen to the sounds that you produce, and compare these sounds to native speakers. Ask yourself questions when you pronounce the sounds, such as “How is my mouth moving?” “Where is my tongue?” “Are my vocal chords vibrating?” Notice the physical aspects of pronunciation. 

5. Self-Correction. 

With practice, you can develop the imperative habit of self-correction. Be so aware and in tune with the sounds of English that you can notice and hear your own errors. This ability to self-correct can only come from the above steps of monitoring and awareness. 

6. Write down your questions. 

There are plenty of times when all of us wonder how to express something in another language, but then do nothing with those questions! When you are unsure of how to say or ask something in English, write it down so that you can ask a native speaker, google it or post your question on ElementalEnglish.com.

7. Keep a running vocabulary list. 

Be organized. Write down vocabulary that you want to look up but don’t have time to at that moment. Make a habit of reviewing vocabulary. If you don’t do this, you can easily forget new words before they are locked into your long term memory. 

8. Think in English.

A huge mistake English language learners make is to think in their native language and then translate into English in their heads.

This is a mistake, because English syntax and word order is typically something that cannot be translated from another language.

Also, in order to speak with the correct music, stress and rhythm of English, you need to think with that music.

 9. Talk to yourself out loud at home.

Talking to yourself out loud will help you in the process of thinking in English instead of translating to English from your native language. Get in the habit of speaking freely without the worry of being heard or criticized.

Play with the sounds and write down the ideas you want to express, but don’t know how to. It’s those questions that you should ask a native speaker or post on ElementalEnglish.com. 

10. Train your Ears. 

Listen to a lot of English in the form of podcasts, television shows, movies and radio. You can always listen to the free Elemental English podcast on iTunes, but also listen to a variety of native speakers’ voices and accents to hear how the the music of English stays consistent.

Train your ears like a musician does! 

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Remember, your goal never needs to be to sound like a perfect, American speaker. In fact, Americans make mistakes in their speech all the time and speak with a variety of accents.

Improving your pronunciation is always about giving you the freedom and power to speak with confidence and to be understood when you communicate in English

http://www.elementalenglish.com/ten-steps-improve-english-pronunciation-language-skills/

CONCLUSION

 

   Remember, besides we practice what we got from learning English, to get better results we need to improve our skill to speak English, the article above gives us an idea of ​​how we improve our skill in the English language, among others, always write the vocabulary that do not know, every where you are and there you find something that you can not translate it into english, then write it, and then a find it in the English language. And the most important thing in improving our ability to speak English, of course we have to train our hearing, our more sensitive in English conversation, then we'll get used to speaking in English, because most people can speak, but not receive properly what other people are saying, so that's where the difficulty arises in communicating.

Why is Education So Important?

The importance of education cannot be stated enough. It is a self-enlightening process. It is crucial to the overall development of an individual and the society at large. Read on to find more about why education is so important.

Education provides us with knowledge about the world. It paves the way for a good career. It helps build character. It leads to enlightenment. It lays the foundation of a stronger nation. Education makes a man complete. Kautilya, an Indian philosopher, royal adviser, and professor of economics and political science very rightly underlined the importance of education, some 2000 years ago. He has highlighted the fact that education enriches people's understanding of themselves. He has said that education is an investment in human capital, and it can have a great impact on a nation's growth and development.

So, why is education important ?

1.       It Gives Knowledge

"An investment in knowledge pays the best interest." - Benjamin Franklin
A direct effect of education is knowledge gain. Education gives us knowledge of the world around. It develops in us a perspective of looking at life. It helps us form opinions and develop a point of view. The information we are constantly bombarded with, cannot be converted into knowledge without the catalyst called education. Education makes us capable of interpreting things rightly and applying the gathered information in real life scenarios. Education is not limited to lessons from textbooks. Real education is obtained from the lessons taught by life.

2.       It Leads to Career Progression
"An expert is one who knows more and more about less and less." - Nicholas M. Butler
Education is important because it equips us with the expertise that is needed in helping us realize our career goals. Expertise is an in-depth knowledge about a specific field and it's ought to open doors to brilliant career opportunities. Education fetches better prospects of career growth. Good education is an eligibility criterion for employment in any sector of the industry. Be it any field, education always proves to be rewarding. We are weighed in the market on the basis of our educational skills and on how well we can apply them.

3.       It Builds Character
"A man's own manner and character is what most becomes him." - Marcus Tullius Cicero
The words 'cultivate' and 'civilize' are synonymous with 'educate'. That says it all. Education is important as it teaches us the right behavior and good manners, thus making us civilized. It is the basis of culture and civilization. It is instrumental in the development of our values and virtues. Education cultivates us into mature individuals; individuals capable of planning for the future, and taking the right decisions in life. It gives us an insight into living, and teaches us to learn from experience. It makes us self-confident, and develops our abilities to think, analyze, and judge. It fosters principles of equality and socialism. It forms a support system for one to excel in life. It is the backbone of society. It won't be wrong to say that good education makes us more human.

4.       It Leads to Enlightenment
"Education is the kindling of a flame, not the filling of a vessel." - Socrates
Education paves the path to disillusionment. It wipes out the wrong beliefs from our minds. It helps create a clear picture of things around, and erases all the confusion. It kindles the flame of curiosity and helps awaken the abilities to question, and to reason. The more we learn, the more questions we have, and without questions, there are no answers. Education teaches us to find answers. It makes us more self-aware. It leads us to enlightenment.

5.       It  Helps a Nation Progress
"Our progress as a nation can be no swifter than our progress in education. The human mind is our fundamental resource." - John F. Kennedy
Though not enlisted as one of the three basic human needs, education is equally important. For the progress of a nation, for the enrichment of society in general, education is important. A country's literate population is its asset. In today's competitive world, it won't be wise to neglect the importance of education for the development of society as a whole. Most countries have realized this. It has led to the development of many government-aided educational programs and government grants to schools and colleges. The motive behind this is fostering education in society. The future of a nation is safe in the hands of the educated. Education is important for the social development and economic growth of a nation.

Schools and other educational institutes define the basic framework of education. Schooling gives us the fundamentals. We specialize in fields of our interest during degree courses. The number of institutes offering vocational courses and those offering online education is increasing by the day. Vocational courses help earn specialized education. Online degree programs help the working class and adults pursue education even while continuing work. Distance education has proven to be of great help for many. But education is not limited to that obtained from educational institutes. Learning is a lifelong process. Rather, self-learning begins at a point where institutional education ends. The process of self-learning continues throughout one's life. This is well-supported by a speech made by US President Barack Obama. In his national address to students across the nation, he said:

Read more at Buzzle: http://www.buzzle.com/articles/why-is-education-so-important.html

CONCLUSION

                                In conclusion, education is very important, why?. it is clear, from the article above, we understand the extent of the role of education in life. Most people lay in Indonesia prefer to work rather than having to continue their education, because they think without having to learn, we get money in any way, in the fact,they are not aware, with a higher education background, we can be appreciated a lot of people and will be placed at a higher position anyway, and certainly income will be increased, besides that, the country will also take a benefit, if the community may have had a good education, the country will be developed,because education can assist in the progress of a country, and more importantly, the attitude held by people will be better educated than the less educated, because education can build a person's character for the better, for whatever reason, in my opinion, education is more important than other.