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How to Learn English

This page is for people who already know some English, and can read a page like this written in basic English. It shows you how to organize your learning for maximum results. You may also want to read these 5 tips for learning English later.

Where do I start?

Why do you want to learn English?

Set goals

Make an agenda

Make a commitment
Learning English requires a lot of motivation. Nobody is going to take your attendance when you aren't in class. If you are sure you are ready to begin studying, make a commitment. Click here to sign a learning contract with yourself.

Have fun learning English!

Study a Balance of the Four Key Skills - listening, speaking, reading, writing

Most students want to communicate better in English. If this is one of your goals, it is important to study a balance of the four major skills. Listening, Speaking, Reading and Writing are the main (macro) skills you need to communicate in any language. Being very good at only one of these skills will not help you to communicate. For example you need to be able to read well before you can write well. You also need to be able to listen before you can speak. It helps to think of these communicative skills in two groups.

  • INput <<<
    • Listening (in through your ears)
    • Reading (in through your eyes)
  • OUTput >>>
    • Speaking (out through your mouth)
    • Writing (out through your hand)

It's simple. Think of it this way. First you have input. Next you have output. First you listen to someone ask you a question. Second you speak and give them your answer. First you read a letter from someone. After that you write back to them. These are examples of communicating.

Input and output don't necessarily go in a specific order. Sometimes you speak first and then you listen. Sometimes you write about something you hear. During communication, the person you are communicating with uses one of the opposite skills. Therefore, in order to understand each other, everyone must be skillful in all four areas.

Some students want to know which skill is the most important. Since all of the skills rely on each other, they are all important. However, to communicate we do use some skills more often than others. For example, about 40% of the time that we spend communicating we are simply listening. We speak for about 35% of the time. Approximately 16% of communication comes from reading, and about 9% from writing. These statistics are for an average communicator in English. Depending on someone's job or situation, these numbers may vary.

Each of these main skills have micro skills within them. For example, pronunciation is a type of speaking skill that must be practised in order to improve communication. Spelling is a skill that makes understanding the written word easier. Grammar and vocabulary are other micro skills. Micro doesn't mean they are unimportant. Macro skills such as listening are very general, while micro skills are more specific. More about input and output

For the best results, create an agenda that combines all four areas of study. Allow one type of studying to lead into another. For example, read a story and then talk about it with a friend. Watch a movie and then write about it. This is what teachers in an English class would have you do, right? has lessons in all 4 key skills (and all minor skills), as well as many outside links to help you study further. ESL Internet resources

1. How to learn LISTENING

Listen to the radio
Don't always have a pen in hand. Sometimes it helps to just listen.

Watch English TV
Children's programming is very useful for ESL learners.
Choose programs that you would enjoy in your own language.
Remember that much of what you hear on TV is slang.

Call Automated Answering Machine recordings

Watch English-language movies
Choose ones with subtitles, such as from ESL Videos. Watch the movie without writing anything down.

Use Internet listening resources

Useful Listening links:

2. How to learn SPEAKING and pronunciation

Talk to yourself
Talk about anything and everything. Do it in the privacy of your own home. If you can't do this at first, try reading out loud until you feel comfortable hearing your own voice in English.

Record your own voice

Use the telephone.

Participate in class

Learn common idioms

Understand the sounds that your language doesn't have
For example, many languages don't have the "r" sound. These sounds require extra practice.

Recognize that teachers are trained to understand you

Practise minimal pairs

Study word and sentence stress

Practice tongue-twisters

Useful Speaking links:

3. How to learn READING and vocabulary

Read something every day

Read what interests you.
Remember that you learn better when you are having fun.

Read at the appropriate level


Always have an English-English dictionary nearby
Think of your English-English dictionary as your life line.

Record vocabulary in your "personal dictionary"

Keep this notebook separate from other work. Record vocabulary in alphabetical order (an English address book works well because it has letters of the alphabet). Record the part of speech (sometimes there is more than one). Write a sample sentence for yourself (don't use the one from the dictionary). Review your personal dictionary (especially new entries) every night before bed.

Useful Reading links:

4. How to learn WRITING and spelling

Keep a diary/journal

Write emails in English
Stay in contact with teachers or other students.

Rewrite your local news in English

Learn important spelling rules

Learn commonly misspelled words

Learn about confusing words

Learn common English errors

Get an ESL penpal

Useful Writing links:

You may also like to check out these 5 handy tips on learning English.