Let me start by saying that consistency is the key! Additionally, consistency leads to English fluency.
You will hear this phrase a lot from me because consistency is definitely the answer to such questions as:
- How do I learn a foreign language?
- How do I improve my English grammar?
- How can I learn more English words?
- How do I practice basic English conversation questions?
Foreign language doesn’t come easy to everyone, but hard work and persistence pay off.
Why do you need to practice grammar every day?
Did you know that many adults struggle to achieve native-like fluency of a language, while babies are born ready to learn several languages?
Baby brain is born to identify every sound that they hear, and after a while, they concentrate on the ones they hear the most. Their tongues and mouths are prepared to pronounce almost every sound without an accent.
After a while of living by one language, our brains get used to speaking it and struggles with acquiring native-like speech of another one.
That happens because of the consistency of parent-child communication (hearing of words, phrases, sounds, etc.).
You’re not a baby, but you can borrow their method of learning and start consistent (daily in this case) practice.
Tips and tricks to use every day to improve your grammar
Make time for grammar rules. If you’re learning grammar, you’ll need a companion book that will help you find rules and practice them.
If you’re already studying English at school or with a private tutor, grammar books will help you revise the material, which is excellent! If you’re all by yourself, keep the book to you and force yourself to learn and revise the rules as much as you can.
Learn English fluency with apps
If you’re a smartphone user, you can download English grammar apps and practice learning daily while on public transport, just sitting around or trying to pass some time.
Repeat sentences every day, several times
One of the most natural tricks you can do to learn to hear a sentence (if it’s correct or not) is to repeat it to yourself many times.
Time by time, the sentence (and the words) that you hear becomes normal and natural to your ear. English fluency seems to be within the horizon.
Listen to a video every day, several times
This trick might sound a bit similar to the previous one. Instead of repeating sentences yourself, take a video that you find exciting or relaxing, and listen to it over and over again.
Practice chatting with someone
A pen pal is such an old concept, but I romanticize it too much not to include it in this list.
You can find someone to chat with on English Forums, social media, or other online platforms.
Write and translate in English
Experience comes from practice. If you want to learn to write better English, you should start writing now.
- Write whatever you’re thinking down
- Write something down in your language and translate it in English
- Express your feelings in English and write them down
Use a highlighter
It’s a must-do trick for me. Anytime you find something complicated for you, and you find yourself stuck with the same mistake, highlight that part, to make it visually more noticeable for you.
How to plan English fluency in 45 minutes a day?
Knowing that you need to study for 45 minutes every day is not enough. You might end up with some extra minutes, not knowing what to practice next.
Planning is essential if you’re serious about improving your grammar.
I will give you a template guide, and you can fill in the minutes with your favorite activities.
First, we need to separate 45 minutes into sections of time, meaning that you will have five separate 9-minute windows to study by different methods. (or nine separate 5-minute windows; three separate 15-minute windows, etc.).
See if this plan works for you:
First nine minutes, you will practice learning grammar rules.
Take your first nine minutes to learn or revise one grammar rule. You can take it up a notch and learn more than one, but since we’re studying every day, it’s not necessary to stress yourself with extra material.
- learn the rules
- practice it in written exercises
- practice it in spoken activities
- highlight the fundamental principles
Second nine minutes, you will translate text into English.
Come up with a text, take something from the book, ask a friend or a tutor to give you something to practice with. Sit down and start translating it.
You might need someone to overlook the mistakes. You can use Grammarly (an online English grammar tool), or ask a friend or a tutor on English Forums to take a look at your work.
Third, nine minutes, you will spend by watching a video.
Choose a video of the week and watch it every day for the next seven days. I know, it might be tiring, there’s no suspense and nothing new to learn, but you’ll be getting used to English fluency with the correct grammar.
Fourth, nine minutes, you will spend by talking to yourself or a friend.
Find a friend to practice the sentences that fall into the category of those days’ grammar subject.
If you can’t find someone to practice with, sit down, and repeat the sentences to yourself.
Fifth, nine minutes, you will learn new words.
I’d like to keep the most interesting one as the last activity to keep the suspense.
Learning new words can be hard but also rewarding and exciting. You will later find it helpful when you practice building new sentences.
Visit English language learning websites to take a language proficiency test, chat with learner communities, and improve your foreign language skills!
Some suggestions from the community give you great encouragement:
You know you are kinda fluent when you are listening to this video and reading comments at the same time and still being able to understand both.
When you accidentally speak the language you’re learning, with your friends or family, you’re making great progress!
Keep up the good work, follow the plan, and you will achieve your goals. Forty-five minutes a day is enough to learn something firmly and don’t overstress the brain. English fluency, here I come!
