ego4u Board for Teachers

Subject: How I learned English ?

Tej Partap Singh Kahlon (1.38.16.*) wrote on 29.07.12 at 13:54

Hello Readers,

First of all, Let me introduce you myself. I am Tej Partap Singh Kahlon from India. I'm an Engineer and I'm 22. I belong to a very small village in Southernmost part of Punjab State.

My parents were illiterate. They didn't had any kind of Government or Private job. But, somehow they managed to educate me in a Private school. Talking about my school, It boasted of being the only English medium school in our city. Sadly, the faculty members used to speak in our native language. It badly affected our grip over english language. We were out of confidence to speak much of English with our friends and teachers. Though I scored good marks in boards but just thorough cramming up grammar rules and English books. Our experience towards it was negligible. It showed up when I entered College. I was taken aback when I came to know that English was not much used their too. The lectures used to address lectures in Hindi. It was only on my last day of College, when I gave a speech about my major project in English, which was like a nightmare for me.

From that day, I couldn't resist myself to start learning the basics of English from scratch. Thanks to the era of Internet, I managed to overcome my fear.

If you want to become a good English Speaker, Listening is the key to success. You have to focus on this single aspect. Try to listen more and more English news e.g. BBC World News, Times Now etc. It will help you out a lot to make a base in English. If you are able to understand various accents, the words and their pronunciations, message what speakers are trying to express is the very first step. Next comes Reading. Reading will be beneficial for you in terms of writing English. You will come across numerous new words which you perhaps know nothing about. Note them down, Cram them up and apply the same in your Writing to enhance your Writing skills. Speaking comes at last, as when you have managed to cover up the first three quintessential steps. It'd come out naturally if you have a strong grip in first three listed aspects of English language. Do not try to spoil your fluency just to attain and put up an unique accent. It would come up as an obstacle while you are speaking. Be natural and speak louder and clear.

Tips:

1. Read one page of an English newspaper daily. This will on average make you familiar with 10-12 new words. Learn their meaning and apply the same while you speak.
2. Listen to BBC World News strictly. Do not make a habit of listening to Indian news as your accent will get affected. Try to adopt British accent as the expressions are very clear.
3. Create blogs on the internet. Try writing your daily happenings of life over your blogs. Do not think about mistakes. The more you will make mistakes, The more you will learn from them.
4. Stay in confidence. Give your 100 %. Work harder because Rome wasn't built in a day.