The best way to learn English is by immersion – going into a society in which English is the official language. Many people today learn English at school. Mainly, you learn reading, writing and grammar. All very useful. Then you meet someone who speaks only English. This English person cannot understand what you are saying. And you cannot understand the English person. When you talk English you have a very strong accent based on your original language. The English person talks too fast because he knows the language very well. This situation is very frustrating for both of you.
Secret is in the system
But now, using English by Example you can learn to
speak English more fluently and with less impact from your first language.
The secret is in the system. Each module of English by Example
contains the text of a short story, an article or an essay together with
a recording read by a native English speaker.
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It is very easy to follow the text with your eyes. At the same time you
pay careful attention to the voice on the recording. Our readers are chosen
because they do not have strong regional accents. Pay particular attention
to vowel sounds. And remember: English is not written the way it sounds
and many words contain letters which are not sounded.
Discovering new sounds
As you listen, try to imagine how you would make the sounds
you hear. Where would your tongue be? Would your teeth be together or
open? And your lips? Once you start “feeling” the word in
your mouth you will be able to add the “sound”. Don’t
be embarrassed by the fact that your face muscles will move in different
ways. Every language has different ways of making the range of sounds
they use. The human voice is able to make an enormous range of sounds,
but each language uses only a limited number of these.
So, as you listen
to the various exercises, try to find the sounds which don’t occur
in your first language. These are the sounds you need to practice more
carefully and more often. Another aspect you need to pay attention to
is the rhythm of the language. English, like every language, has a certain
pattern to each sentence. Putting stress on different parts of a word
can change it from a verb to a noun without changing the spelling. Stress
on a certain part of a sentence can change the sentence from a statement
to a question. This means you also need to recognise the punctuation marks
and their uses.
Reinforcement through repetition
Using English by Example exercises will help you with all these because you will be listening and reading at the same time. Our lessons are designed to be listened to many times: only once is not enough. Just as you listen to a song over and over, learning a language needs the same skill and commitment. The ability to listen, really listen, and then try to make your own speech sound the same as the voice on the recording, will improve your spoken English more than you can realise.
