Improve English at home is possible! Let me tell you how I learned English and why I firmly believe you can boost your language skills from the comfort of your home sweet home.
When I was a little girl, my dad bought an English course with 4 books and 12 cassettes (yes, I’m from the 80s). He would play the same lesson repeatedly all day until he saw that I was ready to move on to the next lesson.
Sometimes I got annoyed as I wanted to listen to something different, like music! I would go to my bedroom and stay there until he turned the recording off.
One day, he came home with speakers the size of a dining chair and loud as a race car. No matter where I hid, I could still hear it even though I was not paying much attention, or so I believed.
It was something the academies of today would call “an immersive environment.” I often found myself reciting the lesson out of the blue, imitating the voices from the cassettes.
I thought it was funny, and didn’t realize how much that was helping me to build and improve my English vocabulary, pronounce correctly, and even learn full expressions using the right intonation.
My dad also asked me to look at the illustrations in the books while the recordings were playing. That’s how I learned English! even though I did not notice it at the time.
Later in life, with already an intermediate conversational level, I took an ESL class to polish grammar and another one after moving to The United States to advance my fluency.
The two critical elements for learning a new language and improving it
The two key components here are repetition and association, specifically audio and visual association.
Think about it: that is how babies learn to talk. When a mom is teaching a 1-year-old how to say the names of animals, this is pretty much what she does: first, she pulls one of the stuffed animals in the queue, shows it to the baby, and says, “Look, baby, it is a COW, the COW goes moo.”
Mom repeats this same trick several times a day and for several days until her baby either says CO, COW, or moo, then she moves on to the next animal.
The same concept, repetition, and audio-visual association is the natural way our brain learns a new language.
In a nutshell, to bring your language skills to a proficiency level where you can get your message across, you probably don’t need to enroll in some expensive classes that don’t fit into your schedule or budget.
While those help polish your fluency, they are not necessary to get started. You need to practice, then get out there and practice some more.
Remember, by living in the USA, you are already in an immersive environment, which is an amazing advantage to improve your English.
You also live in the era of the Internet, which provides many more resources than you can squeeze into 12 cassettes!
Here are some of the things that you should be doing at home to improve your English
- Ensure all your devices, smartphones, tablets, TVs, and voice assistants are ALL set up in English.
- Find a short 2 to 3-minute video on YouTube related to basic concepts in your area of interest. Play this video as often as you can; when it comes to learning a new language, there is always room for more practice.
It will teach you new words and how to pronounce them correctly, and if you are already an intermediate or advanced speaker, it will help you improve your intonation. - Pick two TV commercials that you find funny and stick to them for five days. On day one, pay attention to every time it pops up on your screen.
On day 2, try identifying as many words as possible; if you only recognize one, that’s ok. Try to say the words in the same way the commercial does.
Yes, even if it is in a funny, ridiculous way! Repeat on days 3, 4, and 5. Try to speak along on days 6 and 7 when the commercial plays.
The following week, pick two different ads and repeat these steps. Do this for as many weeks as needed until you improve your conversational skills with others. - Check out your local library’s website. Most libraries offer free ESL and ESOL programs where you can find volunteers to practice conversations.
- If you have school-age kids at home, make an effort to attend any extracurricular activities they practice and school events. Talk to other parents in English even if they can speak your native language; do not fall into the “comfort zone” trap!
These simple, no-budget steps will take you a long way when you consistently apply them. Opportunities surround you; you need to embrace them!
