Ron's ESL Blogs

It is obvious that English is really important nowadays, people start learning English when they are in elementary schools. As a type of western language, it is really difficult for Asian to understand it. As a Chinese, the language I learned is quite different from English, different word structure; different grammar; and different pronunciation. All those things prevent us from learning English well.
However, no matter how difficult problems are, there will always be solutions for that. People try difficult ways: they listen, they shout, and they go abroad for study. Being a college student, I also have my own ways of learning English.
When I was seven years old, I had my first English lesson in an elementary school. At that time, I found English was so hard that I absolutely have no idea how to speak that weird language, and of course, my score on English was really poor.
Thongs begin to change when I attend a middle school. I was lucky that I met a really good English teacher. His name was Mr. Fire, he was my father’s best friend and they used to be colleagues. Like his name, Mr. Fire was passionate and friendly. Because of him, I began to feel interested in English. And one of the most important things that he taught me was one way of learning English. At that time, we were learning a book called<New Concept English>. Every student of Mr. Fire was required to recite all the texts and Mr. Fire told us, if we want to speak English fluently, we should read English out loudly, not in silence. Besides, we should listen to tapes and follow the right or standard English pronunciation, Even now, I still keep that habit, I like reading English out loudly when I read books or newspapers. I think that is a good way of learning, and that helps me a lot with my English pronunciation.
The method of association is also a good way of learning English. When I read English stories or scientific articles, I will not use the dictionary at first; Instead, I’ll try to figure out the meaning of the new words by reading through the whole passage. After that, I’ll check the new words up in the dictionary if I still don’t understand them. I think that’s also a good way of learning English. Actually, when we learn Chinese, we use the same way when we come across new words while reading.
In spite of the methods above, some of my teachers also recommend that it is good to learn English by watching English movies. Here are several reasons: First, watching movie is fun, we won’t feel boring when we study English. Second, we usually learn formal English in school, but through movies, we are able to learn some spoken English that is useful. Third, pronunciation. In some movies, the actors or actresses speak really fluently and clearly. Because of that, we can practice our listening, and learn how to speak English like a native speaker.
In conclusion, reading English loud, using the method of association, and watching English movies are my three ways of learning English. I think those ways are useful, reasonable and I highly recommend them.