MY Classroom: 10 Ways to Boost your English Language Proficiency!

 

If you lack confidence or experience in teaching English, there is lots that can be done, but you must commit to regular (ideally daily) practice. As with any language, there are many facets to be developed – speaking, listening, reading, and writing. Good grammar underpins them all. With that in mind, here are 10 tips to support the development of greater English fluency:

 

• Watch English films with subtitles to enable you to broaden your vocabulary, heighten your awareness of prosody (the rhythm and stress of the language), and to develop correct pronunciation.

 

 

• Look for documentaries in English on topics you are teaching to support the development of topic-specific vocabulary. Listening to TedEx talks is another great idea. Practise aloud giving your own talk to your class beforehand. How will you explain the content and give clear directions to them?

 

• Listen to daily new reports and read newspaper and magazine articles written in English. This will develop your current affairs vocabulary and vocabulary related to topics of interest to you. Moreover, challenge yourself to try the crosswords. “Searching your brain” to find solutions is a useful form of retrieval practice.

 

 

• Find a friend to converse with and make a point of meeting regularly and chatting in English.

 

 

• Consider taking an English language class or attending a class on one of your hobbies that is taught through English. With so many low-cost (or free) online course options available, you are bound to find some that relate to your interests, and this may provide extra motivation for you. Try Coursera, Khan Academy, Alison, Udemy or Academic Earth (to name but a few providers).

 

• Read widely across a variety of genres. Follow along with audio books if this helps. Keep a dictionary (or dictionary app) on hand to look up new words.

 

 

 

• Practise reading aloud in order to improve your fluency and intonation. Record yourself and listen back. Can you identify areas for improvement?

 

• Try using language-learning apps such as Duolingo to develop knowledge of vocabulary and grammar.

 

• Find a grammar book and practise the exercises from it regularly to support your grasp of English grammatical structure.

 

 

• Seize opportunities to write in English. This could include shopping lists, to-do lists, responding to social media posts or online articles, maintaining a journal, writing a review of the latest book you read, writing a speech or translating pieces of writing from your own language. Committing words to paper, rather than simply running through what you might say in your head, really forces the brain to work hard to retrieve words and phrases and will allow you to see where the gaps in your fluency lie. Download a translation app to help with this. 

 

 

Your students may also benefit from the tips given here!