How

can I
get
better?
What should I do?
Whats missing me to improve?
Which are the skills that I need to
develop the most?
Edith Gonzlez Puntos, Lic. en enseanza del ingls,
Universidad Autnoma del Estado de Morelos,
Instituto de ciencias de la Educacin.
Profr. Carlos Beltrn Priedrola
As students of the English language, we sometimes find some difficulties to learn it, either
because we need to develop our skills or because we close 00doors to ourselves.

Here well have

some advices to get

better in our learning, advices

that
even me going to take in account.

In my point of view, the most difficult

of learning a new language is to
develop the listening and speaking
skills, because were not accustomed to talk or to listen

for that language so

theres from where Im going to start.
At school, teachers are always insisting on that we have to practice every day to can improve and
get better on what were learning, this is an advice that many of us dont take enough serious.
In my opinion I think that we effectively we should practice 5 minutes a day at least, but not all of
us has the habit on doing it.
At the beginning I said that is difficult to develop speaking and listening skills, in fact I mention
this because is my own case although I obviously have a lot of things to do this is what worry me
very much, perhaps I should practice more grammar (writing) too, because I know that I have a lot
of mistakes, but if Im focus in this skills is because this are which I really believe that I need to
improve.

Listening
I was looking for some tips on internet although based on things that a have heard I can say
some advices Ive listened

1. - Listen music in English

This will help to recognize the words as you hear them, besides in this
way is easier to learn the pronunciation if the words, but for this to
have a good result you need to pay really attention at what youre
listening, try to catch what they mean to say.

2. - Watch for videos

Not necessary educational, they can be of leisure; the point is to practice the listening
skills.
3.-Watch movies or TV shows

No matter if it is with subtitles, but try to understand what the people

say at the movies and if you decide to watch a TV program try to understand
everything that they mean to say.

4.-Listen for audiobooks

If you enjoy of reading, you should try
listening your books instead, in this way you challenge
your brain for something new, at the same time you learn
new vocabulary. Besides you can try to with the cds that
most of English books bring with them, and it will be
better if you make the exercises that the book ask you to do, try to check your answers if the
book has an answer sheet but dont see the answers before to do the exercise by yourself.

Speaking
Clearly the tips I have given before are useful for speaking too, but I think that there are
some other points more specific to develop this skill.

1. - Not just listen to songs, sing them

When you learn the songs and you sing them youre practicing
pronunciation, but not just learn them, look for their meaning and
understand what youre singing, in this way you will get more vocabulary,
you could even try with karaoke songs.

2. -Read a lot of books

When you read, try to
understand everything
youre reading, if you dont know a word look for it at the dictionary and practice the new
words you find and an important point of this is you to read it out loud, in this way you will
see what words you need to practice more.

3. - Practice your knowledge

Have conversations with people who been learning the language too,
or even with natives if you can, this will develop your
communications skills, doesnt matter if you dont speak exactly
like a native, obviously you will have variations on your
pronunciation because of your accent.
4. - Speak clearly and pay attention to grammar
Try to give your ideas the most clearly as possible, and pay attention to the grammatical
changes of the words, for example dont say are when should be is, be careful with the
plurals, not all of them change just by the adding of an s there are too irregular nouns
like people for example.

5. - Speak with safety

Speak the most you can, the more you practice the more you get better, is like when someone
learns to cook, they dont do it well at first time but by practicing they improve it. Dont
be afraid of speak, at the beginning you will have some mistakes but by the time you will fix
them and you will do it well.
6. - Be patient
Take your time to learn, is not something you going to learn in one day or one year, you
didnt learn your native language in one day neither it took you a long time to learn all you
speak now, so dont hope to learn it in one week.
7. - Record to yourself
Either speaking of anything or reading a magazine, a book or an article at internet, then
listen to yourself and identify which are your mistakes in your pronunciation.
8. - Avoid using terms of slang or idioms
Learn them because they will be important for you to understand when you listen to them but
try not to use them.
9.-Learn the phonetic alphabet
When you dont know how to pronounce a word you can also look for it at a dictionary, usually
beside the word they have the pronunciation with the phonetic alphabet and it will be useful
for you if you know this alphabet.
Improve your conversation.

Dont repeat things youve heard from somewhere, express your own ideas but be clear

on what you mean to say

Listen carefully for what the other person or people are saying, then give your point of
view

As I said for me this were the most difficult points for me, but for many people is difficult
too to read or write. So now I will take these aspects too.

Writing
1.-Write your thoughts
When you write your own ideas, you usually do it as the ideas come to your mind, write it and
then check if you had some mistakes and correct them next time you will have less mistakes.
2. - Write things you need to remember after
Write notes and reminders in English, doesnt matter if it is just about buying milk that
afternoon, in this way you will have the habit of write everything in English

3. - Read something and write

Read articles, books and magazines and write your own opinion about them or write what you
understood about it, you could even make a kind of synthesis for you to understand better.
4. - Use a dictionary
Most of dictionaries have sections where they give you some suggestions on how to use the
words, how to make sentences and how to use some phrases.
5. - Be careful with grammar and spelling mistakes
As in the speaking, when you write you must pay attention to plurals too, but not just for
plurals, you have to be careful with the gender too, many people confuse she with he
thus they confuse too her with him, be careful with this kind of mistakes.
Pay attention too, to the spelling of the words, sometimes we confuse on how to write a word
and we use the mistaken letters or we put some letters that shouldnt go in that word, if

youre not sure on how to write a word you can look for it at a dictionary but there are some
rules that could help you too, you need to be careful too with the words that you use because
there are some that have similar meanings but are not exactly the same.
For example you cant say
Take care about somebody but instead you can say
Take care of somebody
Remember that you cant translate everything literal from Spanish or any other language to
English, each language has its own grammar rules
You also need to pay attention to the tenses of the sentences youre using, avoid mixing the
tenses because you will be wrong, or you wont be clear.
6. - Make a glossary
Every time you read something new, write in another paper new words you have found, in this
way you will get more vocabulary and you will communicate with more accurate words to each
topic you see.
7. - Write films, books or music review
8. - copy some passages from books, newspaper or magazines of your interest.
9. - try dictation exercises
10. - Create a blog where you give your opinion of different topics in English

Reading
Some advices are similar to the ones for writing, but it is because for you to write is
necessary to read first.
1. - Make a habit of reading regularly.
Read as many English books, newspapers and magazines as you can get your hands on.

2.-Make sure the books you read dont so difficult

Read doesnt have to be a bad experience because you dont understand what youre reading,
so choose the right text for you to read, try them to accurate with your knowledge.
3. Read the same book

But wait some days or even months, in this way you will see if your reading has improved or
not.
4. - dont translate everything you read
If you do this, sometimes you wont catch the real idea that the author try to say.
5. - Read a book with a lot of dialogues
When you read how an author express the way people have a conversation you could take some of
their expressions, not copy, you have to know what youre saying and not just repeat what
someone else has write or say.

Some tips.

Try to think everything in English, even if is not necessary, in this way you will

accustom your brain to this new language and will be easier for you to express yourself
in a conversation or in your writing, it will be useful for your listening too because
if youre thinking in English when you hear something in this language will be easier
to catch what youre hearing.
Dont try to translate everything you read in English to your own language
Read books you like or you have read in your language, in this way youve had known

what the book is about and will be easier for you to understand it, besides if you find
some knew word in your reading you could compare it with your previous reading.
Watch a lot of videos at YouTube if you can or want, subscribe to some English speaker

blogger. If its possible try to follow more than one and those they talk of different
topics.
Pay attention to phrasal verbs, are not very common on formal written but you could find

them on informal conversations and readings, and you could even use some of them.
Watch films or programs in your own language with English subtitles.
Try to read everything with no help, if your reading a book for example, try to finish

the chapter without the help of a dictionary and try to understand as more as you can at
the end analyse what you understood of it, and if you actually didnt catch anything
read it again with a dictionary beside you.
Take in account the grammar and the spelling, for example:
I goes before E, except after C
Achieve, believe, chief, friend, priest, ceiling, conceiving
Y changes to I when an ending is added
Supply supplies worry-worries