9. Watching video lessons.

Today we are finishing the long talk about some of the most frequently used methods of learning English and it is

9. Watching video lessons.
I believe, this method of learning is the next in its value to the individual lessons with a teacher.
The amount of educative materials on all imaginable subjects in all areas of life is overwhelming!
Just go thru the offers and find the course you think may work better for you.
Here's one trick though: you have to know how to use the course. Just watch-listen-read approach won't work :-(
The goals you are so willing to reach , come only as the result of wise and patient jet simple routines of repetitive verbal drills.

Conclusion.
Being the one of millions of English speaking and thus often teaching individuals I realize the fact that the rest of the 'brethren in arms' may and will have different approaches to the same subject of learning-teaching English and I am sure most of them have the right to exist and prosper on the market.
That's why I urge you to go thru some of the methods you may find attractive for you and as soon as you are
satisfied with the results, go ahead with these approaches.
On the other hand, experiment, look for other ways and methods until you get what you want.

Wishing you best of success
George  

8. Learning English in groups.

                    Learning English in groups is one of the most popular methods of developing English.
While advantages of group learning are quite obvious, there are a few drawbacks of which I would like to warn you.
             First, you've got to be lucky with your teammates who are the same age, ambitions and as much of enthusiasts as you are. This is the key to success.
Frequently I am asked about the number of students in a group.
 I remember being a part of a group of French learners that allowed me to say something in French for not longer than 15-20 minutes during four 45 minutes sessions.
The French teacher was conducting the lessons in such a way that only nominees had a chance to react on his replicas. So, I had to wait for my turn to come.
So, as you can see, a waste of time. Those of you who naively believe that you...: "will learn the mistakes of others while they are answering and then you will not repeat the same mistakes and get better..."
 will recognize that the reality is very far from this expectation.
            Another thing that makes group work less effective is the difference of students' skills levels.
 This slight inconvenience will immediately make the better students get bored while the less prepared will be trying to work with the teacher.
 You may as well be lucky not receive critical comments and remarks on your performance as I've monitored in a good number of different groups.

Ok, instead of the resume:
The most popular belief that it  is always easier (i.e. merrier) to learn English in groups may be true, but to become a good speaker of the language you have to hire an instructor only for yourself!
Training to speak English is more an individual sport rather than a group one.
That's all for now.
I hope, you have found these practical notes useful.  
Best regards
George

7. Having free online lessons.

Having free online lessons is another way of learning English.
As in anything you want to learn, it is necessary to find a good instructor, someone who thinks not only about establishing her image and reputation thru teaching but also caring about growth of her students.
As soon as you find such an instructor, try s few hours and if all meets your expectations get down to business of practicing with the instructor.
Don't have any illusions, though: free is the catch. On the second-third session you will understand that the instructor uses you only for promoting her educative materials or private paid lessons.
So, if you have no intention to go to paid lessons, your sessions will not last forever.
Cheers
George

6. Listening to educational CDs in a car.

                 Very frequently I hear from students of English a question about listening to educative CDs in a car.

There are some pros and cons in this method of learning and I would like to share them with you.

                 First, if you are able to focus on what you hear, it works well: you hear the message and the more often you hear the vocabulary, the higher probability of remembering it and ultimately using in your speech. 

The message, itself, (as any message), the more often you hear it, the less attention you pay to it. 

What I see as a huge problem is that after 3-4 minutes, the driver as any listener, loses the track of the information heard and comes back to her current problem.

                 As any training system, listening requires a high level of self -discipline and high level of concentration.

I have told you several times already about developing of listening skills and repeat it again: it gets effective if only listening is done correctly.  

                So, listen to the English CDs in a car or not?

Try it and make your own decision.

Practicing listening skills is a serous process and should be done under control of a language trainer.

Till next message.

George

5. Exchanging messages with English-speaking forums' participants.

The Internet offers nowadays an enormous amount of various groups of people who unite around a common subject of their interest and exchange messages on various topics.
As a rule these groups are formed on the principle of a free registration with online names and passwords. As long as a member of the forum wishes to take part in a discussion, she logs in and sends her comments.
"The more the merrier,' is the motto of the forums, which simply means that unless the writer violates the rules of the group, she can write whatever she wants.
No one is taught the English language here and nobody corrects  the mistakes of less prepared linguistically members.
What really helps is that one has a chance to get in touch with the English used by  native speakers, a modern English used by modern people.
Some forums are extremely useful, though. The ones where professionally-oriented folks, such as photographers, musicians,  etc. flock 
These are the places where one can get a useful piece of information on the subject of her interest, to learn the terminology and the vocabulary of the industry where these people work.
Unfortunately, professionals rarely take part in these communities unless they intend to sell their products to forum members.
Otherwise regular comments or opinions of the participants carry limited educative value.
Till next time
Bye-bye
George

4. Listening to American music

4. Listening to American music
If you are a fan of music this way of learning to speak English may work well too.
Surely, it is not the tool that helps you to speak, but the best method of memorizing the phrases (provided you know what they really mean) and possibly using these phrases when you speak English.
This method has a huge advantage, something that belongs to the whole philosophy of practicing a foreign language, which is a REPETITION!
As with any subject of you admiration, with the songs you love you certainly wish to stay longer and more frequently, hearing and repeating the words and melodies of the songs, thus memorizing the language of the songs.
On the other hand, the songs are often full of colloquialisms that are used by groups of fans and therefore not really used by regular people.
A word of advice, though. If you are deeply in love with pop music, try to identify which vocabulary still has a potential to serve you in real life with real people.
If, on the other hand you flock with the guys humming the melodies of their music icons, you are quite safe with the vocabulary picked up in the lyrics of the songs.