Hello, dear students!
Today I want to give you a few interesting ideas about ways to practice your English outside of class. It may not seem like the opportunities to speak English in Chile are abundant, but there are ways to practice, even if you live in a Spanish-speaking country!
1) Talk to yourself. When you're alone in your apartment or car, take the opportunity to talk to yourself. You can pretend to have a conversation, explain what you've been doing at work the last week, or even talk about yourself and practice introductions. It may sound crazy (and you may sound crazy), but forming sentences in real time is an important skill that you'll need to use in conversations. Getting that practice and making your brain think quickly (and in English!) is key to developing your English speaking skills!
2) Look for vocabulary. When you're standing in line at the grocery store (or Servipag, or the bank or..), take a note of the things that jump out at you. If you see the Cajero Automatico, think to yourself, do you know how to say it in English? If you do know (for the record, we call it an ATM or teller machine), practice the pronunciation to yourself. If you don't know it, write it down or save it as a note in your phone and look it up later. I try my best to give my students great vocabulary lessons, but there are SO MANY WORDS!! This is a great way to practice the vocabulary you do know, and to acquire new words!
3) Download the Duolingo app for your phone. Duolingo is a great app for doing quick English lessons. I have a resource review post here, and if you click here, you can go straight to the website. While Duolingo can be used on your PC or laptop, I think the application (for IOS or Android) is the most useful way to use this tool. With the app on your phone, you can complete quick lessons on your phone while you ride the metro, wait in line, or drink your morning coffee!
4) Read the news. You can check the Resources tab at the top of the blog to find some websites to practice your reading. Reading the news in English can be an interesting way to practice your comprehension and acquire to vocabulary on your own. If you stick with international news stories, you can always go back and read an article on the same story in Spanish to really see how much you understood.
5) Listen to music. No matter what your music preferences may be, there's almost certain to be an English-speaking artist that you'll like. Youtube and Spotify are great places to look for English singers. You probably know some songs in English already. You can look up the lyrics and actually see the words as you hear them, a trick that can make the words really stand out to you. It's great practice to see grammar, vocabulary, and authentic phrases in use.
If you can find a way to work in a few of these habits to your daily routine, you can expect to feel more comfortable with your English progress in a matter of weeks! Happy Studying!
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