The Best way To Learn English

Let’s start by looking at what is now commonly accepted as is decidedly NOT the best way to learn English!

1. Computers.

Technology is not a magic pill. Get real. That swanky i7 laptop/ Macpro/ iPad, or those expensive apps/software are not going to help your children in their studies. According to a BBC article: "If you look at the best performing education systems, such as those in East Asia, they've been very cautious about using technology in their classrooms." The report goes on to state that those students who use tablets and computers very often tend to do worse than those who use them moderately.

If this is not enough, then remember that parents in the Silicon Valley are now sending their children to a tech-free environment; one of the students is the son of Steve Job!

My own experiences of teaching English in England reinforces the above report. I like Information & Communication Technology (who doesn’t), and for one year at Telford College I taught English through the use of ICT.

It was a waste of time.

The teenagers who came into my class were all tech savvy; every time I wasn’t looking they switched to YouTube or Daily Motion or Nasza Klasa or Whatever.

Get real. No matter how interesting the educational website, after a while, the students will tune off. They want interaction with a flesh and blood teacher across the table.

2. English classes.

Now wait a minute. I teach English in a classroom. And I wouldn’t be doing this if I didn’t believe in its intrinsic value.But going for classes is not enough. A student who is serious about improving his or her language skills needs more ‘affective’ and ‘authentic’ inputs such as:Music : Listening to English music AND poring over their lyrics. Try Don McLean, Roger Whittaker, Bread, Freddie Mercury. Reading: The benefits of reading are endless, you simply cannot ignore it. And now the print media has wisened up. Now we have all sorts of books, abridged classics, interactive books with flaps, touchy feely, fold in, …speaking, beyond the confines of a traditional classroom.Extracurricular activities: When I was in teaching in England, we were once inspected by a team of the British Council. They came and observed us teach in class, how we used the Smart Board, made a note of how we differentiated, it used to be a big word those days…and were quite unimpressed.In the end they told us they wanted to see how we were increasing fluency in English by teaching outside the classroom. One of the teachers weakly remarked that we did do drama in English, and yes, one crazy teacher even played badminton with his students—namely, me! Those kind of extracurricular activities really mattered, according to the British Council.I also teach yoga in Spain; and sometimes my students tell me that they prefer I conduct the class in English! Unfortunately, I speak very litte during this class, as I believe in hands on…

3. Immersion

This is the key word for most learners. My advanced class swear by this. ( I think they just want to travel) but in the end, if you want to learn a language, then go to a English speaking country, find a nice host family, and live their life and soak up the lingo.

This option might not be open to everyone, but it is probably the most important. So no matter how short the trip to the UK or the US or wherever English is spoken in the street, go for it!

So if computers, English classes, and are not the best options, what is?

1. Reading2. Exposure to English3. Affective activities such as music lesson, sports, 4. Live in an Anglophone country..5. Immersion yourself in English6. Learn a new word everyday7. Make an English friend8. Syntax and lexicon9. Traditional language classroom