Effective ways to learn a language outside the classroom

I had no idea of English whatsoever; I always questioned my dad about it because, to be honest, that seemed ridiculous to me. Why watch something that I wouldn’t even understand? I am now 15 and I completely disagree with what I once thought, languages are not something that you will learn by attending classes once a week for 3 hours, it takes more than that. I can’t deny classes do help, but to learn and understand a language you must practice outside of the classroom, engage with the language and have discipline.

Learning a new language can be challenging, it is hard for us to take time outside the class to study, but there are some ways in which you can practice and improve your knowledge. When I was younger, I remember watching my favorite tv shows in English, it really helped me improve my pronunciation and my understanding of the language. By doing this you will get better at speaking, and listening and build on your vocabulary, you will learn so many new words by just watching your favorite show.

Another effective method is listening to music in the language you want to learn, this helps us retain words and expressions, you can start off with slow and easy songs, and then as you get better you can try with harder ones. This method has a variation, writing on a piece of paper the lyrics is helpful too, when the song ends you will check what you wrote and compare it to the actual lyrics, you must do it again until you get the words right. this will improve your writing and comprehension. This is a fun method since you will be learning while you have fun.

Another method to learn a language is listening to podcasts and TED Talks, you will enjoy this while learning. Applying this will help to develop your concentration, listening skills and expand your vocabulary. You also can’t forget about one of the most important: Speaking, sometimes we can get embarrassed to speak the language we are learning but it is really important, we should not be afraid to make mistakes, there is nothing wrong with that, in fact, that’s how we will learn.

Languages are one of the best things a person can learn in life, they are a way to connect people and cultures. They will give you great opportunities and improve your memory. It is up to us to put the effort needed into learning a new language, while classes do help, we need to step up our game and start practicing outside the classroom if we truly want to get better at the language that we are learning. Learning a new language takes discipline and interest, it might seem hard, but if we work towards what we want, we will eventually get there.