The Best Places To Practice English
Practice is necessary not only to perfect a skill but also to make sure it is not forgotten. Theory is one thing. When a person learns English, he learns the culture, the rules of grammar, spelling, subject-verb agreement, the use of prepositions, conjunctions, pronouns, how to speak in formal occasions, how not to speak when on a daily conversation, how to write, the difference of the written English and the spoken English, and so many more. This is learning in theory. Not because one already knows all these things, it means he is already a good English Speaker. What is important is that what one knows in theory, he knows in practice.
A person has to speak it to learn it and eventually to master it. As one is learning the English language, it is imperative that he practices it for application. The Best Places To Practice English (For Non-Native Speakers) are in places where people speak English as their first language.
Practicing in a classroom setting is good. It allows one to speak with the consideration that someone is listening and is ready to criticize anytime. When practicing in class or with a teacher, a student learning English can practice and at the same time can be corrected anytime that he commits a grammatical error or a mistake in usage in words. This is a good kind of practice. Spot the wrong as committed.
At home is also a good place to practice one's newly acquired skill in speaking. Home is a place where there is comfort and security. And if the people at home also speak English, practicing English there is good as there would be no unnecessary pressure and insecurity to consider. The student may ask his parents and siblings to correct him as he commits mistakes.
But these are not the best places to practice English (for non-native speakers). It would still constitute places where native speakers are. This is true for a number of reasons. One is that you will hear them speak in the most natural way possible. They are native speakers. English is the language they grew up in. English is what they primarily know as the means of communication. If they want to express something or explain an idea further, they would do it without the need of processing and coordinating the rules of English in their head. The idea flows from there brain straight to there mouth. They do not consider anything because they know the language by heart at it has been part of them since they first got a glimpse of the sun and learned that it is called the sun.
When around these people, a learning student of the English language would learn how to say things as it would naturally be said. He can then consolidate what he knows in theory and what he hears in actual practice. He would know that instead of saying "I am fine, than you. And you?" when asked how he is doing, he would learn that it is more appropriate or more common to say "I'm good. And you?"
Second, a person learning how to speak English would learn to incorporate his classroom knowledge of speaking with the culture attached to the language. This happens whenever he says something and he knows that what he said was grammatically correct and all the figures of speech are properly used in the sentence, but it was not understood by the others. This means that how he conveyed his idea is not the ideal way to do so. He can learn by using a different approach the next time he conveys the same idea.
- Business English Quizzes
- English Learning Fun Site
- English Listening Lounge
- English, Baby
- EnglishCLUB.net
- EnglishLearner.com
- Internet English School, The
- Randall's ESL Cyber Listening Lab