Lesson Summary
Are you doing these 4 things every day to improve your English?
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In this video, I'm sharing 4 simple things you can and you SHOULD be doing EVERY DAY to improve your English. I'll help you to create daily habits to practice and improve your English skills quickly!
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Video Transcript
Section 1
Hello I'm Emma from mmmEnglish! In this video, we're going to talk about four things that you can do every day to improve your English. I think we can all agree that learning English or learning any language takes time and effort and dedication. But the most successful language learners, they find a way for their language to become a part of their daily life. It just becomes a habit like brushing your teeth. If you want to improve, your English practice should become a daily habit.
To help you with this I'm going to share four things that you can and you should be doing every day to improve your English and yes, I am suggesting that you do all four things every day but they're not huge tasks and we're going to talk about how you can make them a bit of fun too so come check it out!
Before I share these four things that you should be doing every day, I want to thank our friends Lingoda who've partnered with us to bring you today's lesson. In particular, I want to share how the Lingoda Language Sprint offers you daily English lessons plus up to a hundred percent refund on your lesson fees.
Lingoda is an online language school. You take classes with qualified native speaking teachers, class sizes are small and all of the learning materials are provided. Plus, Lingoda are now Cambridge certified so you'll get free access to the Cambridge online language test as well.
And in exciting news, the next Language Sprints are starting soon. The Super Sprint is the biggest challenge, thirty classes a month for three months. When I decide to do something, I like to go hard and that is exactly what the Super Sprint demands of you. English classes every day for ninety days.
But here's the thing, if you complete every one of those classes, Lingoda will give you your money back, a hundred percent of your class fees refunded or you can use the credits for even more English classes.
Now if that feels impossible for you, then you can choose to do the Regular Sprint, fifteen classes a month for three months. If you complete all of those classes, you'll get a fifty percent refund. So are you up to the challenge? You can register for the Sprint promotion right now but registrations close on the 24th of March.
The link is in the description below and if you use this code JOIN1, you'll get ten euros off your deposit.
1. Pronunciation
So the very first thing on my list is pronunciation. Yes you should be practising your pronunciation every day. And it's not to try and get rid of your accent but to make it clear enough that others can comfortably understand you when you speak.
I can't tell you the number of advanced English students I've had who've had amazing grammar and vocabulary skills but so much trouble communicating because their accent makes it quite challenging for others to understand them. So of course, all of this affects smooth, positive, comfortable conversation.
And depending on where you learned English, your teacher may not have focused on pronunciation. It may not have been the priority at the time. You see, if you learned English at school, your teacher's main aim was probably to get you high marks in your exam. Pronunciation was probably not their focus at that time but in the real world when you're using English to speak with other people, your pronunciation, your fluency when you speak, it's so incredibly important.
Get into the habit of learning and using the correct pronunciation today because it's going to save you lots of headaches and confusion down the track.
Plus, practising your pronunciation every day consistently, it's gonna help you to make noticeable improvements in a short space of time.
So how can you start doing this? I recommend that you learn the IPA, the international phonetic alphabet. If you've never heard of it before or you don't know a lot about it, then watch this lesson up here. But learning the IPA will allow you to correctly pronounce every single English word using the correct English sounds.
Another great way to practise your pronunciation is with my imitation lessons so in these lessons, I help you to copy me and shadow me as I speak. They're really awesome, quick ten minute videos that you can practise with regularly so add them to a playlist and keep coming back to them and practise with them often.
After you've practised a lesson for a few times make a recording of yourself and compare it to my voice. Try to identify some of the mistakes that you're making with your pronunciation.
I've added a link to my imitation lessons in the description and I'll add one at the end of this video as well that you can check out.
You can also simply read out loud to improve your pronunciation. Doing this every day will help your mouth muscles to get working and creating English sounds and get more comfortable doing it. It's as simple as that and it doesn't need to take you long just five or ten minutes a day is plenty.
Just make sure you're doing it consistently. You could even do it by singing English songs.
2. Absorb!
Create one opportunity to absorb English every day. To absorb is to take in information so you're like a sponge soaking things up, taking in new ideas, new words, new ways of expressing yourself and you can do this in lots of different ways, so many ways.
Listening to a podcast or an audiobook, you could watch an English movie or any video on Youtube. Read a book or a blog post, In fact, you probably want to mix this up during the week, right? To keep things interesting. A podcast on Monday. Read a book on Tuesday. Whatever floats your boat.
Now again, this doesn't have to be a huge time-consuming task but it's worth spending some time searching for the right type of content. It must be stuff that is interesting for you. If you're into football or you love makeup tutorials or romance novels or soap operas.
If you love the idea of sailing around the world, I've been watching a YouTube channel called Sailing La Vagabonde and they vlog about their life sailing around the world on a yacht. In fact, if you're interested, I've added the link in the description below.
But the point is, find something that interests you and excites you because you need to look forward to doing it every single day. It shouldn't feel like you're doing English practice. So I have two little recommendations here.
Firstly, you need to find the time that you're going to do it and declare it. That is your daily time to absorb English so it could be on the bus on your way to work or while you're eating breakfast. I've always found that attaching an activity to the task helps you to make it part of your routine. And while you're doing it, just keep a notebook handy so that you can write down expressions or new words which you can look up and check later on. Simple as that!
3. Write!
Writing every day has some amazing benefits. But before I talk about that I want to make it clear, I'm not talking about writing an essay, okay? I'm just talking about writing a few thoughts or a few I'm just talking about writing a few thoughts or a few and nobody ever has to see it. It's just for you. So there's a few reasons why writing It helps your vocabulary to stick.
Writing is one of the best ways to recall new words and expressions that you've come across. When so many of my students have asked me “What is the best way to remember vocabulary?” this is my recommendation.
As you're reading or watching TV shows or books, you come across new ideas and words and you write them down but then you start to use them yourself. You think of sentences and your own ideas about how to use these words. That way you're producing your own sentences rather than just listening to other people's and it helps it just stick in your mind.
And then you can improve it. Once you've written something, you can do so much with it. You can copy/paste it into a grammar checker like Grammarly to help you to identify some of the errors that you're making.
So Grammarly is free to use, I've included a link in the description below because it's awesome. It helps you to see the mistakes that you're making like maybe you're using the wrong preposition or you don't need to use an article when you've written one. So I really recommend that you take a look to help you see and realise the mistakes that you're making and you can also review your own work.
Once you've finished writing, leave it for a few days or a few weeks, come back to it. See if you can make any improvements or if you can use a thesaurus to look up synonyms and replace some of the words with more advanced ones.
These are just a few ideas but getting into a daily writing practice creates so many opportunities for you to apply what you've learned or what you've seen or what you've experienced in English and then review it and improve it.
4. Join a discussion
Lastly, join an English discussion about stuff that interests you. Now this sounds serious and may be complicated but it's not, I promise. I'm just talking about joining an active group or online community where there are people interacting. They're sharing their ideas, they're giving opinions and you're able to respond. So you can comment and actually be part of the discussion as it happens.
Now this could be in person but it can easily be as part of an online community. Plus that makes it, you know, even easier to create a daily habit around it a daily habit around it because it's simply about checking in and seeing what everyone else has been talking about and giving your two cents worth.
So how do you find these places? It takes a little work. You can't just Google ‘cooking' and join the first group that you find.
Join a few different ones, see which one is the most active, which one has really interesting discussions happening in it. Sometimes nothing gets posted in these groups for days and that's not really helpful for you, right?
So I would start by writing down your top five hobbies or interests. Don't start with English language. What else are you into? Are you into politics or yoga or marketing, photography, sports. I mean you probably already follow people or a part of groups that are like this. So all you need to do is commit to checking in once a day and write a comment. It's not more complicated than that. If someone shared something and they're asking for opinions, don't keep scrolling. It's an opportunity for you to share so stop, think of a way that you can contribute. Now I'm gonna add some great, really active and interesting groups in the description below just to give you a few ideas of what I'm talking about but I want to know if you're already part of some lively Facebook groups or other online communities. What kinds of things do you discuss and do you ever contribute?
So if you can bring those four things into your daily routine in some way, you will absolutely, without a doubt improve your English.
Remember that it takes a little bit of time to create good habits. It's not as simple as deciding you're gonna do it. So I've got a couple of extra tips to help you get started.
Do your research first. Find a blog or a TV series that will keep you interested so you don't have to look for something to do okay? Give yourself a week or so to find the right type of community to join and be part of the discussions with.
Then create a regular schedule to help you get started and really I just mean decide when you're going to do these four things. So for example, pronunciation practice might be in the bathroom for five to ten minutes every morning as you're getting ready for work. Then listening to your favourite podcast on your way to work and you're writing down your words on the bus. On your lunch break, might be the time to check a Facebook group and write a group comment. Then spend ten minutes at the end of your day writing about what you did or what you learnt before dinner and simply put that on repeat.
Very quickly you'll realise that English has become a regular daily part of your routine.
Thank you so much for joining me today. You can connect with me on Instagram and my Facebook here. I hope that you found all of these ideas and these suggestions useful. Let me know if you're doing some of these things already or if you're planning to put any of them into practice, let me know how it goes.
And as promised, here is one of my imitation lessons to help you work on your pronunciation. I'll see you in there!
mmmEnglish Video Lessons are a series of video lessons created to build confidence in English learners and focus on English in daily life. Download them and watch them anywhere! Subscribe to my YouTube Channel to be the first to get my new videos, and come and say hi on my Facebook page!!
Hello Ma'am
It is a great pleasure to thank and comment on the lesson i have studied with you. I have learnt much than expected.
Thanks again. I am looking forward to hearing lessons from you.
Thank you so much for these lesson hopefully i can speak english fluently
I hope these tips I shared help you achieve your English goals!
I want to follow this class on line. so how i can get it freely for the purpose of fluently speaking as native ways.
Hello ma'am
Before couple of day I subscribe your youtube chenal and get more knowledge. Thank you for the same.
So glad that my lessons are helping your English, Prakash!
Dear teacher,today morning I found your you tube channall .I shaw your videos those are very interested to see.Although I have been studying english for many years,It is unable to speak as you .Now I decided to follow your advises.Shall see what .will happen .
You can do it, Wijekoon! All the best with your studies x
Thanks teacher that great lesson to learn
Thank you Ms. You really make me feel in the right direction.
I have been listening the same two audio books for one year and I always learn something new or understand better the rithym, intonation and pronunciation of the reader.
I think I will try to do these, however I do not think it is easy to do it every day as a routine, quite challeging, let's do it!
You can do it, Wenyan! I believe in you!
Really useful tips !Thanks a lot.
Thank you for lots of useful advice.
I like to listen to BBC Radio 4 and Radio 4 Extra.
Dear Emma,
Thank you very much for sharing your tips for learning English. I love watching your videos. Your team and you are doing a great job.
Kind regards,
Olga
Thank you for your support, Olga!
Hi teacher
It’s nice lesson for beginners who can start learning English from the scratch level with excellent tips, given by you.
and the way you are explaining very awesome to deep drive and have an idea about daily schedule regarding to pronunciation, reading habits and writing a new thought.
Thanks for your a great effort for the lesson.
Regards
Srujal
Two days ago since, I started following mmmenglish. It's so interesting.
Very soon I'll improve my English speaking.
Emma God bless you
Welcome to mmmEnglish! It's lovely to meet you!
Thanks madam,
I so much appreciate the lesson. I have learnt something new that will improve my use English and l promise to start the daily practice activities everyday, once again thank you
Cancel reply because of the errors. Thanks
Hi Emma
Thanks for your all efforts,I'm following your videos for along time, and learnt alot of things about English pronunciation, l hope to hear from, God bless you
Ihab form sudan
Thank you for your support, Ihab!
Thank you so much, teacher!
“Learning to teach is an ongoing process a lifelong commitment.”
– Russell Feathestone, Mundy.
I would like share these links which I have been studying since New year, 2020
– Innovative ideas – mmmenglish
– Imitation – Your imitation Videos as well as
The English Cafe
on YouTube
– Songs – lyricstraining.com
– Writing – Write and Improve Cambridge English Online
– Vocabulary – http://www.vocabulary.com
– Reading – The Harvard Gazette and GatesNotes
Your motivated ideas encourage me to cherish (Connecting for Balance)
Can I discuss anything with you
I wish I could have given a “like”… but I couldn't find the apropriate symbol…
Thank you very much for this video Ms
Thank you very much for sharing this four incredible way of daily bases English learning approcah with us and in particular with me. Using English grammar checker is one of my favorite so far. I found it very useful for me and of course your guidance for learning English, it's amazing resource to increase my English ability. You are so great and inspiring as always.
Great job lecturer but prepare for us some useful express most used by engineering lecturers
Thanks,Emma! I enjoy very much your lessons, which I find fantastic, but the problem is “me” because of my poor knowledge of the digital tools. I'd like to exploit or (better) put into practice your advise but I'm not so good in doing it. Is it possible to download the IPA lesson? and, If so, how shall I move? Am I asking too much? Thanks, anyway!
Maria, from Sardinia (Italy)
Good evening mam,
This is khizer. I'm your fan of your channel and I maintaining your video in one file for future use.
My concern is how to write sentences by using basic grammar. Where to put comma, apostaphese, quotations, . so that I can learn New sentences on my own by learn by framing grammar.
Thank you so much, Emma, I'm a German teacher in Italy, and I'm
going to follow your precious tips for my classes at school.
That's nice… I'm doing same work in India.
Thanks a lot
Hi Emma. I try to put into practice your advice, but it is hard to do it every day. It seems other routines come first, but I am a member of the Ladies Project, in which I can learn English grammar, new vocabulary and interact with women around the world in English. In this group there are always interesting blogs and conversations; most of the time, I interact by writing comments. I need more chats, I guess.
Hello Emma,
greetings from the Czech Republic. Your lesson was very good and helpful. It is a first time I make a comment (because I am encouraged by your tips). Everything is about a creation of good habits. Your tips are very useful to think and organize and inclure it to daily routine. I hope that I will do it.
Have a nice day. Dagmar
Thank you for the feedback, Dagmar! I'm confident you can do it!
Thank you very much my teacher.
When I try to test grammar or vocabulary or reading or writing, I am always at intermediate level. But, I can't speak fluently because i do not have the chance to speak english every day, i am not from the department where there is an exposure to speaking practice. So, please help me to speak fluently.
Thank you for reaching us often Emma the tips that you share us today is very helpful. The imitation lesson it makes me become fluent and confident speaking English.
More power to you in God Bless !
It is my pleasure, Rico! I'm thrilled to hear you enjoy my lessons and can't wait to make more imitation lessons this year!
It is very good. but where is practice worksheet to be found
Dear Emma.
Thank you for a great class, but I can not find the examples of the community that you talk about. Could you please help with this.
Betsy
I am a new member
Thank you for all
Hey Emma!
Thanks a lot for the 4 powerful tips)
Hi Emma,
Your suggested solutions are simple and amazing. I am thinking to start them and develop them as a habit. I was listening to a podcast about habits (about the book tiny habit). And based on the author of the book, the main reason we can be successful to keep our habit is the good feeling of achievement after each small step. I do not know how I can give myself that feeling regards to learning English. I will be happy if I see someone says a word which now I can understand it, but it is not a regular reward. Hope it make sense to you. Keep watching your video on YouTube as they are so helpful. Thank you.
Thank you so much for your insights. I'm so glad I found your videos. It is an inspiration. I was quite adamant clicking on the videos, but when I saw the numbers of subscribers, I decided to give it a go.
Tnkew mama
Thank you Emma for sharing your knowledge in a great way!! You're the best youtuber teaching English!! Blessings!!
I'm touched by your comment, thank you Cenaida!
Hello ,this is nice
But how we do daily
Practice if my around the web other language
Give any idea's .
thanks for the recommendation. ı like your video and conversation.I wish I could learn from you
Hello dears,
I want to join a Decision group if anyone has the groups please let me know. if their is not group i want to make a group decision if anyone has interest replay may comment and i will add them.
Thanks teacher your lesson is very usefu, I love it.
Thank you, Milokua!
Thanks for your teaching lesson is very useful, I love it
Thank you, Tanzim!
Thanks so much for this lesson
You're welcome!
Thank you …. my teacher said you can read but when you make your own sentences you can't …. there are many grammar mistakes and so on …. I also have a hard time remembering the meaning of English and using it
Thank you, mam you help me a lot to improve my English
So glad to hear that, Harpreet!
I learn English on my own when I read something on the Internet, watch videos, chat on forums. But I'm really impressed with what and how you tell. You are the perfect teacher. Thanks for your great content!
Absolutely useful tips
I will try it from now.
Glad to hear that, Shahjahan!