Consistency is the key to improving. Doing these exercises once a week won’t do you much good. Make them a part of your daily habit, and you’ll see the results much more quickly and you’ll feel less frustrated with your lack of English improvement.
- Keep an English journal – write down your daily activities, your feelings, your experiences. Focus on grammar points or vocabulary you’ve been working on or that you’ve just learned.
- Read an online article or blog. It’s surprising if not shocking how rare it is for international students to read anything. Pick a topic you enjoy or relates to your work and find a blog online. Reading everyday will train your brain to recognize and mimic English much better.
- Have English conversations. If you spend most of your time with people of your own language group or nationality, you can be sure that your English ability is not getting any better. Speaking and practicing consistently is the best way to improve. In these days of social distancing, arrange a Zoom session or phone call with a friend – one who doesn’t speak your native language!
- Record yourself. Find a few paragraphs online of native speaker English (Yelp and TedTalks transcripts are great for this.) Record yourself on your smartphone or other device and then listen to it. You’ll be surprised how much this will help with pronunciation and accent reduction!
