How much do you value a textbook?
Teextbooks are tools, but not the only one we need in order to learn a language. It goes without saying that to learn the English language (as well as any other) in an enjoyable way, we need to keep up our motivation. According to the British Council Magazine, students who learn faster integrate language learning into their daily life and they do so by listening to music, reading short interesting stories and even changing the language of all their electronics to English! and it makes sense right? How else would we keep up our motivation to learn a language if we aren't challenged to use it every day?
So, as you are reading this article, I encourage you to:
- Listen "actively" to your favorite English songs. Now, I'm sure at some point in your life you have gotten curious enough to search for the lyrics of your favorite song and sing along. Who hasn't done that? The question is, were you "actively" listening? This is not just about writing down the lyrics and learning them off by heart but rather making the effort to try to get the meaning of those unfamiliar words from context, double-checking meaning in a dictionary and identifying grammar patterns. Listen to a song this way and you will notice the difference.
- Search for websites that offer short reading comprehension exercises. You don't need much time to read a short passage, in fact you can even do it while commuting! Believe me, my students do so all the time and have benefited from adding this quick activity to their daily routines.
- Take your cellphone, go to "settings" and change the language to English.
These are simple steps but they will surely make an impact on your learning process. Let me know if you tried them!