Effective Methods and Habits for Long-Term English Learning

There are shortcuts to learning English, and it is important to cultivate an interest in it

In today's world of time and information, the cultivation of language proficiency is not just a school subject, but is also required for trade, overseas visits, diplomacy, sightseeing tours, and even for exams, employment, and career advancement. In recent years, due to frequent foreign trade and the introduction of science and technology, it has become fashionable to learn English. According to a survey report, the English-speaking population in China has increased dozens of times in the past ten years, and the population of learners has exceeded five million people, and the proportion is still surging; according to experts, in five years' time, those who don't know English will become illiterate, and will easily become unemployed, therefore, learning a good foreign language is a necessary course for modern people; however, at present, among the large number of learners, there are one-third of the learners who give up their studies due to a lack of interest, and they are unable to speak fluent English. The first is that the government is not able to speak fluent English.

Professor Yen Yuan-shu of the Department of Foreign Languages and Literature at National Taiwan University, a renowned language expert in China, said: "To learn English well, we must first overcome the "psychological barriers", and to learn English, like learning anything else, the mindset is very important. The mindset is very important. Never be resentful. Many young people frown at the sight of English. They let their brains tell them, "I don't like English! This preconceived stereotype kills the very life of learning English to begin with. A person is born and dies with a language all the time, and English is just as much a language as Chinese, so you don't dislike it at all; at least, there's no such thing as disliking it. Language is like drinking water, can you not drink it? So, whether you like English or not, it's all an acquired taste. For example, if you don't have a good hair cause in the beginning, and you don't know where to start when you see English words; or if you don't like the English teacher, and you hate the teacher, then you hate to go to the English class; and so on and so forth, but this is not the real reason, even if you take English as Necessary evil, life is language. If someone says, "I don't like Chinese," that's like saying, "I don't like living. If someone says, "I don't like Chinese," that's like saying, "I don't want to live." You have to learn this evil because it's the trend of the times, and the people who succeed are the ones who are good at transforming the "necessary things" into "good and joyful things. Turning a dislike into an interest. The first thing you need to do to learn English is to cultivate your interest.

Early learning of English has been a social trend for a long time, and those who learned English early on have taken advantage of it in examinations and jobs. In order to be fair and to catch up with the trend of the times so as not to be eliminated, you should draw up a set of plans to learn English well from the beginning of the new year and to enrich yourself.

Currently, domestic students regard English as the most difficult subject, and even some people can't write the full twenty-six letters until graduation, while most of them can read a little, but when it comes to "listening", "speaking" and "writing", they are dumbfounded, and the reason for this is the lack of learning without the right learning method. In the process of our learning English books, whether the following problems often occur?

1. Can you only speak some simple English sentences without being able to express the full meaning because you are worried about grammatical errors?

2. Do you often forget words and grammar rules that you have memorized?

3. When you speak English, do you think in Chinese before you try to translate it into English?

4. Do you feel like you've wasted a lot of time and still can't get the point of learning English?

5. Do you feel that your English "reading" skills are better than your "listening" and "speaking" skills?

6. Do you sometimes listen to an American speaker and seem to understand what he or she is saying, but then have to think about it for a while to understand what it means, and every time you stop to think about it, you miss the next sentence?

Why do we read grammar and memorize words over and over again, but fail to apply them immediately because we are not familiar with the sentence patterns? In fact, there are three key elements to learning English well:

(1) Developing correct "grammar habits.

(2) Training the ability to think in English.

(3) Practicing actual conversation.

According to the natural law of language learning, the first step in learning English is to be able to listen, to speak, to read, and then to write. It is impossible for a student who doesn't understand English to be able to read or write it well, which means that you have to learn to "listen and speak" -> "language" and then "literature", that is, the study of grammar. We used to learn Mandarin, Taiwanese is this natural principle, Americans learn English or Japanese will not be stupid enough to learn grammar first, if you first learn "grammar" after you want to speak, you must think of grammar, you can not speak fluent phrases. Let's ask: if you say in Taiwanese or Mandarin, "I'm thirsty, I'm going to drink a can of Coke", will you think about grammar: I -> subject, mouth -> noun, thirsty -> adjective, drink -> verb, Coke -> noun, drink -> verb, Coke -> verb, Coke -> noun, Coke -> noun, Coke, Coke, Coke, Coke, Coke, Coke, Coke...? -> noun. Believe absolutely nothing. Why? Because we ear have developed correct grammar habits. Therefore, when learning English, we should first train ourselves to listen more, get used to the correct pronunciation and colloquialization of English, and try to imitate, don't be afraid, listen more and dare to speak, is the most important, as for the study of "reading and writing" is the second, that is to say, the first English pronunciation and intonation as a habit of formation, and then supplemented with the second phase of the "sound and thought" powerful combination, so that it will produce an intuitive response, which is also consistent with the two principles of human learning environment This is also in line with the two environmental principles of human language learning, that is to say, the concept of "language before text" must be established, so that learning a language can be twice as effective as learning it with half the effort.

After we have developed the correct usage of grammatical conventions, we must pay more attention to one thing: when we speak English, we always think of the Chinese language first and then translate it into English. Once we understand the meaning of the passage, we will only have a deep impression of the Chinese language in our minds, while the impression of the English language itself will be vague and unclear. In fact, it is only when we are completely out of the Chinese box and allow ourselves to enter into an environment where we can think in English in a holistic way, that our minds will ideally think in terms of the vocabulary and structure of the English language, and will naturally look for the correct English that matches that.

After you have familiarized yourself with the grammatical conventions and are able to think in English, you will need to practice to help you reach the point where practice makes perfect! First of all, (a) listen to the tape intensively-> read the textbook-> get a rough idea of the meaning first-> mimic the words orally-> make the sound and the meaning combine initially (b) listen to the tape-> really distinguish the difference between the sounds-> listen to the tape->. To distinguish the difference between the sounds-> to understand the meaning in your mind-> to enter the world of English completely. (c) Look at the textbook and the pictures-> Speak correct English-> Gradually develop the habit of thinking in English-> Respond to the meaning and speak it naturally. (When you practice like this, even if you are studying alone, it is as if someone is actually talking to you, which will definitely help your English.

Is there a shortcut to learning English? There is no shortcut. But is there a way to learn English? Of course there is.

There must be an optimal way to do everything, and there must be a way to learn English. If you don't know how to do it, you're bound to get half the result with twice the effort, but if you don't have a good way to do it based on a solid foundation of hard work, then it's just a lot of talk on paper, and it doesn't help.

If you ask, is there a shortcut to learning English? I say no, the so-called shortcut is the path to reach the destination without effort, so far I have not heard of any person to learn English by learning English shortcuts to learn English, if there is such a shortcut, then the person who has this shortcut must have made a fortune. It has been proven that there is no shortcut to learning English.

So is there a way to learn English? The answer is yes. We all know that there is a way to learn, and those who have a good learning method can easily learn the lessons well, get good grades, or make good results. Since there is a way to learn English, there must be a best way. Our goal is to find a good way to learn English well in the shortest possible time. You can't succeed in doing something without trying, but you can't succeed if you don't know how to do it. Some people never talk about the method of learning and dive headlong into the sea of knowledge, as a result of which they will never be able to get ahead. This is a waste of their energy. Why is it that after so many years of learning English in school, we still don't learn English well? On the one hand, it's because we don't have enough effective learning time. Although there are English classes every day, do we utilize each class effectively? On the other hand, it is the wrong method, the learning method is not the right way, resulting in our learning English is particularly inefficient. Therefore, we need to find more effective methods.

There can't be a one-size-fits-all method for everyone in the world, because everyone has his or her own special situation. That's why there's the saying "the master leads the door, the skill is in the individual", and why there's the saying "teach according to the talent". There are some rules, some standards, if you follow, then your English learning path will be relatively easy, this is the method. If you find a way to achieve the best results in the shortest possible time, then that's the best way.

First of all, analyze your situation, your age and how basic your English is. Nowadays, there are many ways to learn English, the more famous ones are: Crazy English, Reverse Method of Learning English, Never Learn English and so on. You can buy these books and study them systematically to determine what you should do. The above three methods are all invigorating to read, and there are many people who have achieved success through these methods, and there are also many people who have given up halfway through, believing that the methods are not appropriate.

Methods are just a means to an end, don't be mesmerized by them, and don't be superstitious about them. Don't just go for tricks, but get down to the business of learning English. Your goal is to learn English well, not to study methods. So remember: don't fall into the trap of methods

How to learn English well

To learn English well, you must first develop an interest in English. "Interest is the best teacher", interest is a great motivation to learn English, with interest, learning will be twice as effective. We all have this experience: if you like something, it is easy to stick to it; if you don't like something, it is hard to stick to it. And interest is not innate, need to cultivate. Some students say, "I have a headache when I see English, how can I develop an interest in English?" Other students say, "I memorize English words today and forget them tomorrow, I'm too stupid, alas, I'm counting on no cure." This is all a sign of lack of confidence. When you first learn English, you do not have the correct learning methods, do not set up the confidence to win, lack of courage to overcome the difficulties, the loss of motivation, the slightest failure, you will surrender to the frustration, to the difficulty of bowing down. You will feel that English is a boring subject, after learning for a period of time, learning motivation is gradually reduced, naturally, will not achieve good results. However, as long as the teacher's help, realize the necessity of learning English, with the right attitude towards English learning, with scientific methods to guide the study. At the beginning, you should take part in some activities in English, such as singing English songs, playing English games, reading short humorous essays in English, practicing oral conversations, etc. As time goes by, you will know more, and you will be able to learn more. After a long time, if you know more, you will be interested, and of course, you will have the motivation and desire to learn. Then, you have to be as diligent and hardworking as a farmer, put in hard work and sweat, and you will surely succeed and reap fruitful results. After all is No pains, no gains?

Practicing the basic skills is a necessary condition for learning English well, there is no solid foundation of English, can not talk about continuing to learn, not to mention the achievements. In order to solid basic skills, we must pay close attention to listening to lectures, to do a good job in each lesson, to improve the efficiency of the classroom, down-to-earth, one step at a time, to do the following "five to":

One, "heart to". In the classroom should be concentrated, not a moment to slack, the brain should always be in a positive state, thinking to be active, thinking to be open, the heart with the teacher to go, listen to every word, seize every link, understand every knowledge, more associations, more thinking, to do the heart to understand.

Second, "hand to hand". To learn English, you must take class notes. Because the human memory is limited, people can not all forget, memory itself is constantly fighting the process of forgetting. As the saying goes, "A good brain is better than a bad pen". The teacher's knowledge may be memorized in the classroom, but after a period of time, it will be forgotten, so it is necessary to take good notes. English knowledge is also a little bit of accumulation, learned every word, phrases and sentence structure, are written down in the notebook, or even the book's margins or between the lines, which is very convenient for future review and consolidation.

Third, "ear to the ground". In the classroom, listening carefully is very necessary, not only to listen attentively to the teacher's knowledge of the explanation, but also to listen carefully to the teacher said the English voice, intonation, stress, continuous reading, lose blast, sentence breaks and other pronunciation essentials, in order to cultivate their own pure and authentic spoken English. You can hear and understand every point of knowledge taught by the teacher, and form feedback in your mind to help you memorize it; you can understand and comprehend the questions asked by the teacher so that you can answer them quickly, and you can compare your classmates' answers to the questions so that you can deepen your understanding of the questions and learn from others' strengths and make up for your own shortcomings.

Four, "eyes to". While listening carefully, but also follow the teacher's eyes to observe the teacher's movements, mouth shape, expression, writing, drawing, teaching aids display. The brain formed in the combination of visual and auditory information, the impression will be more profound.

Fifth, "mouth to mouth". Learning language, do not open the mouth is not learning, the students' biggest problem is reading out loud, shy to open their mouths. Especially in the morning reading class, students just look at or read silently, so that only visual information, and no auditory information in the brain feedback, of course, the memory will not be too deep, the mouth muscles can not get exercise, it is difficult to practice a mouthful of pure English. Therefore, we should make full use of the time in the morning when the mind is clear, read aloud; in the classroom, we should answer the teacher's questions, actively participate in discussions and debates among classmates, and put forward the unclear questions in time in class, overcome the shyness, and do not be ashamed to ask questions. The text should be read more often, diligently and painstakingly, and can be read with the tape recorder, trying to imitate its voice intonation in order to correct the pronunciation, to be read in a melodious and rhythmic and catchy, and it is best to memorize some of the classic articles. Make use of all possible opportunities to practice spoken English, such as communicating with foreign teachers, participating in "English Corner" activities, conversing with classmates, telling English stories, singing English songs, acting out English skits, reciting poems and so on. In addition to the textbooks in the model text to read carefully, but also read more suitable for our secondary school students in the extracurricular books, not only can increase knowledge, but also broaden our horizons, but also improve our reading level.

Learning English, vocabulary memory is essential, vocabulary is the basis for learning English, without vocabulary, can not talk about the sentence, not to mention the article, so remember the words on us is extremely important. The key to memorizing words is twofold:

One is persistence: stick to memorizing a certain amount of vocabulary every day, and then go back to review it once in a few days, so that the cycle is cyclical, repeated memorization, and frequent use will change short-term memory into long-term memory and a firm grasp of it. It should be noted that once you start, you have to stick to it, never give up halfway, never fish in three days, sunshine in two days.

The second is a good way to memorize: there are many ways to memorize words, and there is no definite way to learn, but there is a good way to learn. I think, Zhang Sizhong's "focus on word recognition, classification and memory" is a good method for secondary school students. The 3,500 words that middle school students should master should be summarized in a centralized way and classified into different categories, so that they can pass the word barrier first, and then learn the textbooks and use and consolidate their usage in the textbooks. There are many ways to categorize, the same vowels or vowel letter combinations pronounced the same words into a class; according to the word form, synonyms and antonyms to focus on memory; the same roots, prefixes, suffixes, synthesis, transformation, derivation, and other word construction method of the same words or phrases are listed together to focus on the impression of a more profound memory effect is also more obvious. In this way, 40-80 words a day, perseverance, more association, more thinking, more use, vocabulary problems are not solved? In the process of studying, pay more attention to the usage of words and phrases, and memorize the usual usage of words and sentence patterns taught by the teacher, which will not only help us to solve the problems, but also be handy and easy to use in writing.

To memorize the words, to understand the lexical nature, word meaning, to master its fixed collocation and customary use, to memorize the tense, the various uses of subordinate clauses, the work is only half done, we still have to apply them to practice. Just like learning to swim, optical theory, not in the water application, is not the same as mastering the technology. Unnecessary to engage in a sea of questions, but a certain amount of typical exercises to consolidate the knowledge gained is essential. First focus on basic exercises, such as after-school exercises, unit synchronization exercises, these are for the consolidation of classroom knowledge exercises, can not be overly ambitious, just think of a bite to eat a fat. After the mastery of basic knowledge, there are some grammatical aspects of the special exercises and exam questions of the thematic exercises. Especially advocate students to prepare a "wrong collection", the usual wrong representative of the test questions or language points recorded for future checking and mending, so that the mastery of knowledge can achieve twice the result with half the effort.

English is a language, not memorized words, phrases, sentence patterns and grammatical items is to learn it well, the key is to use the language, so in learning English must pay attention to listening, speaking, reading, writing and translation of the overall development. English learning is first a memorization process, then a practice process. Learning English, in any case, diligence is indispensable, it is a gradual process of accumulation, there is no shortcut to go, and there is no so-called "quick" panacea, eager to get results, do not do the practical work, it is not good to learn English. Any success depends on one's own efforts, to be down-to-earth, diligent, conscientious, step by step to learn, correct attitude, seriously treat the setbacks and failures in learning. Failure is not terrible, the terrible thing is to lose confidence in themselves and stumble. The failure of the examination, calm analysis, serious thinking, as long as the victory full of confidence, good at summarizing the lessons learned, and constantly strive to continue to pursue, the victory must belong to you.

How to learn English well, this seems to be a very old topic. In my three years of college life, what I am most proud of is my English score. Of course my English score is not outstanding, but the progress I have made is very encouraging. When I was in high school, my English score belonged to the middle level, and I only scored 98 points in the college entrance examination. As soon as I entered the university, I had a hard time learning English. If I couldn't learn English well, it would be like adding obstacles to my future path. So, the road is long, I will be up and down to seek English. Finally, the work does not disappoint, I finally achieved excellent results. At the same time I passed the fourth grade, I also obtained the qualification for the oral examination, and also got a c+ in the oral examination. Last year, I passed the sixth grade in one go. The most gratifying thing for me is that in my sophomore year, I won the third prize in the National College Students' English Competition. All my achievements also proved a truth: a point of hard work, a point of harvest.

From three years' experience of learning English, I summarize the following points. For reference.

First of all, to learn English well, the most crucial thing is to have interest. As the saying goes: interest is the best teacher. Teach us English is a young teacher, he lectures very interesting, but also always let us go on stage to lecture, acting skits. The lively teaching of English has made me very interested in English.

It's not enough to be interested, we also need to know how to learn.

Let's start with memorizing words! For many students memorizing words is undoubtedly a very painful thing. When I memorize the words, I don't memorize them one by one in the word book, which is easy to get bored and easy to forget. I am drawing a few to memorize on each page, just very random. In normal times, we can make some small cards, write the very difficult to memorize on them, as soon as you have time, that out to read, or you can put some cards at the bedside, every day before going to bed to look at a few eyes. What is more effective is to have a word guessing contest with the students in the dormitory before going to bed. Every time we guess each other the words we learned that day, so that we can memorize them firmly. Of course, the most important thing is to memorize the words is to review them without interruption.

Many students have a headache with reading comprehension, one is time constraints, the other is difficult to understand. If you think time is tight, then I will teach you a trick. That is to take each practice as a test, their own time limit, do not finish the guess. Over time, there will be an invisible alarm clock in your mind, so that you always have a sense of urgency when doing the questions. After practicing for a long time, you will also get used to it.

For comprehension, I think we should expand our reading. We can read English newspapers or magazines. In my freshman year I read English Salon in Chinese and English. Later, as my vocabulary increased, I began to read English newspapers. I often read Shanghai Star, a newspaper that covers a wide range of topics and is shallow and easy to understand. I don't like to look up words one by one when I read the newspaper, so I guess the vocabulary when I come across them, and copy down the good words and phrases when I come across them. After three years, I have several such small excerpt books. In short, reading English newspapers not only allows you to take in more knowledge, but also develops a sense of language and practises reading speed.

Listening is also a problem for everyone. I think it is not enough to use listening tapes to improve your listening skills. We can use other methods ah! For example, we can listen to English news. I often listen to live it up shanghai on Shanghai 990 at 11:00 p.m. It's a good program. Another way is to go to the English corner. I started to go to the English corner last year, where a large group of English speakers get together to chat and express their opinions in English. Sometimes you have the chance to have a close contact with foreigners. If you talk and listen more, your listening and speaking skills will improve without you even realizing it. Go to the English corner to speak, to listen, to feel, you will find that the original speak English is not a difficult thing Oh!

To learn English, you also need to learn to be attentive.

Whenever you see an English signboard on the street or an English abbreviation on the Internet, have you ever thought about its full name?BBS, we have all used it, but its full name Bulletin Board System Do you know? In the newspaper often see RMB, what is this abbreviation? Of course, it is the Chinese abbreviation for Renminbi. There are also GDP, MBA, MPA and so on. As time goes by, you will realize that English is not only in the classroom, but also in the whole society. Look at your clothes, maybe there is a word you don't know! The first thing you need to do is to learn it quickly!