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The secret of learning English

All of us start learning English in junior high school and continue doing so for many years. But, most of us find it very difficult to speak English. Why?
The answer is very simple. The learning methods are not effective. Recall what you did when you studied English.

1. First, you opened your textbook, consulted a dictionary for vocabularies and took notes
2. Then, you translated the words and sentences.
3. You tried to memorize the meaning of vocabularies using your vocabulary card.
4. While translating, you studied the grammar and sentence structure.

Didn’t you do these things? Then, why were such methods ineffective?

1. Listening first for learning English

◆Learn from the process how children catch on words

How do children learn how to speak?

1. First, they listen attentively to their parents and to people around them (listening)
2. Then, they mimic the words, not thinking of the grammar at all. (repeating/physical learning)
3. Then, they familiarize with letters as their parents read illustrated books for them. Children usually ask for repeated reading of the same book.
   (physical learning/continuous and repeated experience)

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2. English proficiency is achieved physically (Use the right-brain.) "Learn with your heart"　

Are we conscious of grammar or accent when we normally talk in Japanese? For example, "I am now talking about what happened yesterday, so I must use the past tense." Or, "hashi for chop sticks must be accented on the first syllable, and hashi for edge on the second syllable." If we think of such things when we talk, we cannot have a smooth conversation. But why can we talk smoothly without being bothered by such matters? It is because we have acquired speaking physically.

As we are constantly using the Japanese language, we are accustomed to it in a natural manner, and can speak it without thinking of grammar or intonation.
When we speak to an audience, we are keen to think. In this case, we are thinking of the contents of the speech, and not the grammar.

When we are conscious of grammar, we use our left brain which works in details, and learning may take a longer time. On the other hand, the right brain works intuitively and assigns an image to an object. It functions much faster than the left brain. To learn physically means to process information using the right brain.

Your English speaking proficiency is achieved after repeated, continuous and constant listening and speaking. It is important to learn it physically in order to speak it naturally.

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3. Clarify your objective in learning English

It is not easy to become a good English speaker. There is no easy road to mastering English conversation. You should not expect to become a perfect English speaker after finishing just one textbook. It is said that even native English speakers living in Japan lose their proficiency if they have very few opportunities of using English in their daily life. After all, in order to be able to speak English fluently, it is important to be exposed to it even for a short time every day.

For a typical Japanese who is leading a busy life, it is quite difficult to listen to or speak English every day even for a short time.  To continue keeping in touch with English, you must clarify your goals and work hard to achieve it.

◆Set a concrete goal.

Set concrete goals. Make specific, attainable, activity-centered and results-oriented goals.

For example, aim to go overseas without relying on a tour guide. Such goal would be very concrete and your actual experience will tell you whether you have achieved the English proficiency you aim for.

Conversely, a goal such as marking up 50 points in TOEIC is very academic and may not be enjoyable, especially when you have a high score but can't actually use English in conversation.

English is best viewed as a tool for communication. Its study becomes enjoyable when it is applied in concrete situations. Perfecting grammar and sentence construction may not guarantee proficiency in conversational English.

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◆One Topic per Week

In Dela Cruz English Club, we study one topic every week (one article and one set of conversation) using the textbook issued by Mobile English.

[STEP 1]
Read the Japanese translation and grasp an image of the topic.

[STEP 2]
Repeatedly listen to the CD. You can do it on your way to and from your workplace, so you don’t have to a allot special time for listening. In the beginning, you may not understand what is spoken. Listen with the image you have grasped from the Japanese translation.
At this point, don’t be bothered with the grammatical details. Don’t try to translate each sentence into Japanese, but listen to the English expressions as a whole.

[STEP 3]
For 30 minutes at the end of the day, read out the English that you have heard on that day. After your first oral reading, refer to the Japanese translation for the English vocabularies that you don’t understand. Then, repeat your oral reading several times. If your busy schedule does not permit you to spend 30 minutes a day, at least try to read one page at a time. The oral reading of one page won’t take you more than five minutes. It is important to continue reading aloud every day. But don’t be discouraged if you miss one day. Never give up. Take it easy and continue to enjoy reading aloud every day.

[STEP 4]
After continuing STEPS 1-3 for one week, you will confirm your English speaking and listening skills by means of a conversation and oral reading together with your governess. In the course of your continued daily study, you will be surprised to find yourself speaking English naturally.

In Dela Cruz English Club, we call such natural speaking as "physical learning." One topic a week. Maybe you would think your progress might be slow. But, after six months of continued practice and learning, you might be surprised to find out that your English conversation proficiency has advanced to a great degree.