It has been almost 2 semesters, our teaching and learning should run from home (via online). Of course, we have faced many problems to adjust this new habit. However, as students we must not give up on continuing to study. We must take lessons from the pandemic and then find other alternatives to keep learning. We also have to build our new habits when we are at home, so that we still keep/maintain our habits like those when we were in the pesantren (MBS Pleret).
Likewise when learning English, if you only rely on the online teaching and learning from your English teacher, it will not be optimal. This is because our learning cannot be face-to-face and the time allocated is limited. To solve the problems, here I would like to give you 5 (five) ways to learn English from home;
- Learning from English songs
Many people admit that this way is very effective to learn English. We try to find our favorite English songs or we could start learning from easy English songs before learning from faster/difficult songs. Some steps to do by using this ways are listening to English songs, memorizing song lyrics, finding and understanding the meaning of the lyrics and then singing the songs.
- Learning from movie
Watching movies and other English videos will help us to learn and comprehend the language. Try not to turn on the subtitles, as it will make us unfocused. Even though at the beginning we will encounter many difficulties, try to stick to the flow of the movies and pay attention to the conversation. Here we could learn how to pronounce and get new vocabularies besides we enjoy the movies.
- Reading and writing a lot
When reading, our brains work automatically to translate the meaning of the written English (books). The more we read, the more we understand structured sentences in English. It will make us are able to speak formally and casually in English besides our vocabulary increase.
After getting vocabularies and learning English structures then we practice in writing sentences. By continuously practicing, it will make our English skills improve.
- Making English conversation in daily life
What make us unable sometimes is not because we do not study, but we do not practice. After we get vocabularies and other English materials, we must start regularly using English every day. If we do not try to have a conversation, we can say that our learning efforts will be in vain. We can get used to having English conversations (both spoken and written) with our friends or family to sharpen our English skills.
We could also have an English conversation by our mobile phone like chatting on WhatsApp. Before sending a chat of message, we can check for any grammatical errors. In addition, we can also invite our friends who want to practice their English skills to speak English to motivate each other.
- Taking note of vocabulary
Write down any new words we find and then memorize them. We do not need a lot. Three or five new words per day are enough to expand our vocabulary. By memorizing and practicing new words per day will effectively increase our vocabulary. We will feel the change after we consistently do that way.
Those are some of effective ways that we can do to improve our English skills. We also have to be able to manage our time in learning, so that it will be more effective. If we have enough time, besides applying the five ways we could try other efforts to learn English such as joining English online course or webinar, making discussion with friends or learning more from the internet/application. (Nurwanto, M.Pd)
