What Can I Do To Improve My English?

Advice for Students

Vocabulary

• Go over your new vocabulary every day 
• Record new vocabulary in an organised way - include, for example: word class, pronunciation, definition, common collocations, an example sentence - personalise it to make it relevant to you and easier to remember.
• Categorise vocabulary by topic or into collocates.
• Use vocabulary cards to memorise new words - great for waiting at bus stops, etc.
• Change the language on your phone to English

Grammar 

• Go over new structures every day 
• Do extra exercises - use books in the Structured Study Centre - e.g. English Grammar in Use
• Use websites for additional exercises, e.g. englishpage.com
• Read an article and find and underline examples of a particular grammar point

Speaking

• Find someone who is your level to practise with
• Use Skype to talk to your international friends rather than Sms or Facebook
• Go to some of the international student in the city centre cafes

Listening

• Listen to and watch clips on YouTube, Tv programmes, films...
• Use websites to help you
• Watch film clips once without English subtitles and write down what you hear. Next, watch with English subtitles so you can check what you heard and hear how words are being pronounced
• Listen to English music - use lyricstranining.com or even YouTube

Pronunciation

• Use websites with audio and transcript and try and copy the speaker's pronunciation. Record yourself speaking and compare with the original.
• Listen to music and films to get used native speaker pronunciation
• Download the Sounds: pronunciation app to your phone and use it to learn the sounds of English
• Use the BBC Pronunciation and Phonetics Focus websites

Writing

• Learn how to organise your writing in English - writefix.com
• Work on spelling, punctuation and grammar
• Use the OWL (online writing lab) website
• Write emails to your friends
• Keep a diary/blog
• Post on Facebook in English

Reading 

• Read graded readers for your level 
• Use cueprompter.com or spreeder.com to improve your reading speed
• Choose YouTube videos with subtitles and read along with the speaker
• Read children's books, e.g. by Roald Dahl or JK Rowling - easy to follow plots means you can focus on grammar
• Read everything around you - signs, posters, bilboards, timetables, labels, instructions...

Source: Kaplan International Edinburgh