Five Methods of Successful English Learners

1. Successful students learn the whole sound system of English. They not only learn how to pronounce English vowels (A, E, I, O and U) and consonants (sounds other than vowels), they also learn to use natural English rhythm and intonation. Some experts say that learning natural English rhythm by itself can correct most pronunciation mistakes that students commonly make!

2. Successful students learn "whole language" using their right brain. Most students around the world naturally use their logical left brain to study and pass tests. The best language learners do more than that. The best language learners also use their creative right brain to learn new things in different ways. To use your right brain, try learning English through songs, or play games in English, or watch TV and movies in English. Another good way to use your right brain to learn all about English humor.

3. Instead of studying every detail of English grammar, successful students learn useful sentence patterns that can be used very often. Teacher Joe is putting some of these most common sentence patterns on his Grammar Page. Try practicing these until you can use them easily, then your ability to speak English in any situation will greatly increase!

4. Successful students listen to English often. You can listen to all kinds of things, just listen at least 30 minutes every day. You can begin by listening to some short jokes, then try these funny videos. As your listening improves, you can listen to BBC radio for British English, or try National Public Radio to learn an American accent.

5. Finally, successful students read at least a little bit every day. Reading helps students learn vocabulary, especially how vocabulary is used in a variety of ways. If you don't read often yet, you can begin by reading these funny news stories with vocabulary explained. After that, you can go to almost any news site to find interesting things to read.

Good luck with your studies!