ESL- English as 2nd Language

Those who learn English as 2nd language often say that English is the hardest language to learn.  

Before you begin on your journey to learning English as a second language here are a few tips that you may find quite helpful. 

First, you should go out and get a good quality English dictionary. 

Second, to improve your writing and speaking skills you can read a magazine or newspaper, highlight the words you do not know and then look them up in your dictionary.

Third, speak the language as much as you can. Talk to anyone anywhere and anytime. Talking is one of the best ways to practice the language better. 

Fourth, turn off the television set and turn on a radio. There are so many radio talk shows out there that are in English. Listening to the language can help you better understand it.

At first when you learn English as 2nd language you may find it completely and utterly embarrassing that you are making so many mistakes. You should not feel embarrassed. You should accept the fact that you are not perfect and learn from your mistakes rather than beat yourself up over them. 

Only when you learn to accept this will you be able to truly focus on making yourself better at speaking the English language. This may not be the easiest learning experience you have ever had but if you set your mind to you can do anything you want. That includes when you learn English as a second language. 

In order to learn English as 2nd language there are four skills you need to know about. These skills are

1. reading
2. listening
3. speaking and 
4. writing. 

Reading and listening are the major skills when learning because seeing the words and hearing the words help learn the language.

You should read as much as you possibly can. Of course it is always good to start off small with things such as children’s books and short, simple words. You should be an active reader, always thinking about structure and other things like unfamiliar words. A good thing to do is keep a journal of important words or structures. 

There is not a need for you to stick to some complex sentence structure or try to understand all unknown words you see. The fact that you see the words for the first time and know them any time you see them, like in other books, magazines, newspapers or a passage is sufficient enough.

Listening to someone else speaking the English language can also be a very helpful learning tool. You can do this by listening to a radio talk show or something of the sort. You should set aside about 30 minutes a day to really listen to the English language being spoken. 

Also for listening you can try cartoons or movie for children. Listening to something that does not have a lot of big words in them is a great way to start off small. If you are really good at listening you can listen to BBC or VOA, programs are broadcasted everyday and the speakers have a good command of the English language

. 

If you follow my advice and find it in the least bit helpful you should be on your way to taking command over learning English as 2nd language. I assure you that if you set your mind to it and really want it you will be speaking fluent English in no time. You should always remember that “patience is a virtue”.

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