TIPS STUDYING ENGLISH EASILY
Ahmad Roziq, ST
How the way to study Englsih easily . . . . . ?
Studying English is not difficult, but also it’s not as easy
as turning the palm of the hand . the most important thing is the willingness and perseverance. According
to H. Douglas Brown, there are five
principles of studying English effectively. They are :
1. Way of life
If we study English in a country where the language is used
as a Mother Tongue, we will be able to
speak English quickly because we are surrounded by English every day, from
waking up to go to bed. This is because
we force ourselves to speak English every time. if we want to study English
effectively: we should make English be a part of our lives. That is, we should
try to use it every day and everywhere. we can also take the time to listen
everything in English (songs, news, or the tapes contain conversations in
English) or We can also try to write in English (writing memos, short letters,
or write work plans will we do for a week or for the next day).
2. Total commitment
we must have a commitment to involve the English in our
lives physically, mentally, and emotionally. Physically, we could try to
listen, read, write, and train in English pronunciation repeatedly. Mentally or intellectually, we
can try to think in English every time we use English. For example, in
understanding English, no word for word, but the overall meaning. We can try to
identify some expressions in English that have roughly the same meaning, for
example: How're you?, How's life?, How's business? (Do not well on just one
phrase.) And the most important is our emotional involvement with English, that
we need to have a high motivation to study English, and we need to seek
"positive things" that we can enjoy, or who can give us rewards if we
are able to master English. These will provide great energy for us to stay
motivated to study English. These three aspects (physical, mental, and
emotional) should totally involved in our studying process, if we want to study
English more effectively.
3. Trying
Studying a language is like studying to ride a bike or to drive a car. We can
not only read and understand the book only, but we must try to use it also. In
the beginning, it is normal that we make a mistake. The important thing is knowing
what we are doing wrong and fix it at the next opportunity. It would be better
if we have a teacher who tries to tell
us the mistakes we did. Teachers do not have to be formal teacher at school or
an English course. Teachers could be a
tape that we can listen and we compare with our words, a textbook that can be
read and checked the answer, or it could be acquaintances, or relatives who
could help us if we have a problem or there are things that we want to ask. We may
not be shy to ask, and do not be afraid to make mistakes. From the questions we
ask and the mistakes we do, we can study a lot.
4. Beyond class activities.
To make our study more effective, we must create
opportunities to study in our spare time. by discussion with our friends,
visiting websites that offer free English lessons, or communicate in English
with your friends or native speakers ( either by mail, email, or direct
conversation.) We can also try to read newspapers, magazines, text books,
listen to the radio, songs, or watch the events and movies.
5. Strategies
If the commitment, courage to try, and English as part of
our lives has been applied, the next step is to apply appropriate studying
strategies to support our studying process. These strategies can be developed
and adjusted with our personalities and studying styles of each. one of many
ways how to study English easily is using the "cue-cards". This card
can be carried to everywhere we go. Whenever there is a chance (at the time of
waiting for a taxi, waiting for lunch is served, or while in vehicles that were
stuck in traffic), we can take this card and read it and try to improvise with
new words in the same structure.
