Published

How Can Students Improve Their English?
Yeon Hyeon Middle School Newspaper, June 2010
Rosalyn Laiken, 2nd and 3rd grade English Teacher


Hello!
Nice to meet you. How are you?
I’m fine thank you, and you?

This is how many Korean students say hello in English. It is the polite greeting that everyone learns in elementary school and it never changes. After more than 2 months of teaching them new ways to describe how they are feeling, my students are still saying they're fine thank you and you? How can students improve their English skills to feel comfortable saying much more than these three main lines?

The easiest and fastest way to do this is for students to read, listen and speak English! Joining English community groups or classes such as sports teams, dance, cooking, art, and book clubs is a fun way to meet and become friends with native English speakers. If this is not possible then the next best solution is to watch English television, movies, and even listen to English radio. Some of my advanced students have bashfully admitted they regularly watch CNN, Jeopardy, and other popular educational North American TV shows. This amazes me because these shows challenge the intelligence of many native English speakers! There are several radio stations in Korea that have mini English lessons and play English popular songs for students who enjoy listening to music.

Deciding on the method to improve English skills is the first step, and the methods should continuously change in a student’s learning routine. It is best to do different things each day to help keep the various relationships between each area active. In other words, don't just study grammar. Commitment is important as well, so students need to make learning English a habit. Try to learn something every day. It is much better to study (or read, or listen to English news, etc.) 10 minutes each day than to study for 2 hours once a week.

Once Korean students meet native speakers and begin practicing their English in a fun and open environment, they may find that one of the biggest problems is speed. Native speakers tend to speak very quickly; here are some practical tips to get native speakers of English to slow down!

1. Immediately ask the person to speak slowly.
2. When taking note of a name or important information, repeat each piece of information as the person speaks.
3. Do not say you have understood if you have not. Ask the person to repeat until you have understood.

There are thousands of online resources as well to help students practice reading, listening and speaking English. Our students are big fans of the PC Bong; why not make some of that time more educational? There are a multitude of games, worksheets, pronunciation guides, quizzes, picture dictionaries, and short stories available to everyone. Google is a marvelous online tool: I received over 23,800,000 results when researching for tips to include in this article!

The most important advice I have realized is this: Be patient - remember that learning a language is a gradual process - it does not happen overnight.

Good luck, have fun and enjoy learning English ^^