Learning English Online
Learning English Online with English Today:
Every day and Everywhere: Everyone wants to know ‘how’. It’s the answer to the million dollar question… ‘How do I become a fluent and confident communicator in English?’
The terrible truth is that while many people have been studying English for years, they still feel they just don’t have the ability or the confidence to communicate in real life situations. When it comes to sharing in a meeting or even greeting the expat visitor at the office, most will duck out and shuffle quietly away.
Obviously there is something hugely wrong with this if you have been studying English since Junior High and are now a working professional. Three years for Junior High, another three for Senior High, plus a couple of years during University; conservatively, that would be around 6 – 9 years of English learning, that’s ample time. So, what went wrong? Why didn’t all those years of studying grammar at school make you an English language ‘Rock Star’?
The answer is very simple…. E + O. Exposure and Opportunity. Exposure means integrating English into your life in real authentic ways on an everyday basis, and Opportunity, in layman’s terms, means ‘practice’. Artificial practice, real meaningful opportunities to experiment with language, test out your communication skills, and get useful feedback which will help you to develop, build confidence, and ultimately a proficient communicator.
Exposure is easy to get now. We are all online, and the internet and cable TV has provided us with more than enough exposure. We browse, read online, watch movies and TV series in English and spend more time than we should on You Tube watching English language videos and listening to English language music. However, opportunity is a whole other ball game and it’s not so easy to obtain. How do you find people to practice your English with who can also scaffold your language development and give you the guidance you need to improve? Many people sign up for a short language course and promise themselves that they will knuckle down for a few months and study hard, but two things often go wrong. The first is what we call ‘life craziness’. Traffic is crazy, work is even crazier and then there is family… Where is the time? Where is the energy?
The second is getting drowned out and lost in a class packed with dozens of other students who have varying needs. There is only 1 teacher….. 1 divided by 40? Answer: definitely not enough teacher to spread around. So, we feel left out and often left behind, and this becomes demotivating. If problem number 1, ’life craziness’ means that we miss a class or 2….. or 3 or 4, we just can’t catch up. This is even more demotivating, and eventually we quietly fade away and stop going to classes. Lost time, lost money, and most importantly lost opportunity.
What does all of this mean? It means it’s time to change the way we think about learning English. The answer is learning English online We send mail online, we shop online, we listen to music and watch movies on line, we text and video chat online and classrooms are now virtual and online. No more travelling, no more wasted time, no more problematic schedules. Where ever you are is now a great place to learn and guess what? Teachers are now individual mentors and learning online is more affordable.
Now, there’s simply no excuse for you not to be the fantastic English communicator you’ve always dreamt of being, you can take English classes via phone, do online English program modules, or do English classes with a ‘1 on1’ VIP mentor via Skype.
Find out more about learning English online or contact English Today Online for Private Online English Lessons
