See how I improved my spoken and listening English!

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This post was last edited by Thank goodness you're here on 2015-11-27 at 14:49. Nowadays, many people, even those who hold CET-4 and CET-6 certificates, still speak in Chinglish; some may even have much better scores than me, but during interviews they stammer like they’re trying to squeeze toothpaste out, and as a result they can’t get jobs in foreign companies nor are they willing to work for private firms, ending up in a state of confusion. I’ve experienced this myself as well. Below is a summary of my personal learning experiences; I hope it can help you all! 1. Adjust your mindset – \"playing\" can bring endless joy to learning. Have you ever noticed that when you approach something with a playful attitude, even difficult tasks can seem full of fun? In fact, learning is just like doing tasks; as the saying goes, read many books and travel far. 2. Learn words independently, avoiding rote memorization. Reading can expand one’s vocabulary, as well as improve oral expression skills and the depth of language use. But reading requires a certain vocabulary as a foundation; therefore, what we need to discuss first is how to turn memorizing words into an enjoyable task. At this stage, one already has a certain foundation in English; there is no need to memorize every word by force. One should learn new words independently. It’s somewhat similar to learning Chinese – using an idiom in a sentence or applying it flexibly in everyday conversations. For example, when it comes to describing the love of a close relative, friends around us, our direct supervisors, or the gossip in the office, this not only helps us remember accurately but also firmly; whenever that word comes up, it might trigger a certain scene or a classic conversation with a friend in our minds. 3. Learn English by watching movies, by learning from classic film clips*. Many people have watched numerous English-language movies, yet their English skills haven’t improved much; they still find it difficult to understand movies without subtitles, which leads them to doubt their talent for learning English. Actually, I was the same at first too – one or two articles at a time, that’s a devil’s pace. Later on, I realized that I was too fascinated by Chinese; I always liked to read the subtitles in Chinese. Eventually I understood that it was better to first watch a few episodes to get an idea of the plot, and then look for TV shows that were entirely in English, with no Chinese subtitles – forcing myself to listen to the English. The more I listened, the more natural it became for me to understand. However, a TV show contains a vast amount of information, so it’s not possible to remember everything in the English dialogue; it’s likely difficult for most people. One can simply choose certain parts of the plot to focus on. For example, a scene from \"Desperate Housewives\" that describes Orson Hodge’s character could be used. 4. Find a partner or a foreigner to study with*. During the learning process, repetition is a key method for memorization; many new pieces of information, such as names and foreign words, can only be remembered in a short period of time and retained over the long term after being repeated multiple times. For example, when learning spoken language, find a partner and choose a scene; the two of you can ask questions such as: How did Orson in \"Desperate Housewives\" show the world that he was a polite and decent man? It’s also very interesting to express it in your own words while keeping the original meaning. 5. Enrolling in an oral English tutoring course can help you avoid many detours. If you can’t find a study partner, you might consider one-on-one tutoring. In such classes, there are many students at the same level as you who also want to improve their oral English; this not only boosts your motivation to learn, but also allows you to gain a lot of valuable knowledge from both the teacher and your classmates. When I applied before, I compared many institutions – such as EF, Wall Street English, VIPKID, New Oriental, and others – and for each of them there were issues either related to time constraints, cost-effectiveness, or the quality of the teaching staff. After much comparison, I finally chose an online English training service where teachers conduct lessons via video; in other words, it’s like bringing physical classrooms online. Many universities now use this approach as well. I really recommend it – there’s flexibility in scheduling lessons, no need to rush back and forth after work. The teachers are responsible, patient, down-to-earth, and highly qualified... The learning efficiency is high, the cost-performance ratio is good, and most importantly, all their formal lessons are transparent. There are also free lessons with foreign teachers for speaking practice: these are one-on-one sessions with foreign teachers, and I think they’re very helpful for improving speaking skills. I was introduced to this service by a friend as well! ! Friends who are interested can give it a try; I won’t say more here. 6. There’s no secret to improving spoken language – just speak up and talk more. Practice regularly*, expand your skills, and you’ll not only enhance your language knowledge but also learn how to behave and handle things in life. For example, key sentence patterns and vocabulary need to be practiced*. So, what is the most effective way to practice* them? Personally, I think it’s a topic for discussion. For example, could everyone discuss together what a true gentleman or lady should be like? List many behaviors, choose those you think are correct, and expand on a range of ones that you consider good or bad.