EnglishClub

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The calendar shows that 2019 is history. 2019 has stepped out of the spotlight. It has sung its last song. After the cheers faded and the countdowns for the New Year ended, 2020 stepped up to the microphone and belted out a New Year’s song filled with hope and well wishes for fresh starts and new accomplishments.

2019 will continue to fade from view since 2020 has made its debut. January is a popular time for many people to make or begin their New Year’s resolutions. Not sure what New Year’s resolutions are? Think of them as goals that people want to achieve during the year. Perhaps you might consider making one of your New Year’s resolutions this—to improve your English communication skills.

Let’s take a look at the word resolution. Resolution is the noun form of the word resolve. Resolve means to firmly decide or determine to do or not to do something. If you are determined, you don’t easily give up. You will keep trying to succeed. Your resolve or determination can make you a lean-mean-goal-achieving machine.

Another word I want to examine closer is communication. I suggested improving your English communication skills as a goal for 2020. I didn’t just recommend improving your English speaking skills. There is a crucial difference. Speaking is a part of communicating, but communicating is more than just speaking. I’d much rather be known as a great communicator than a great speaker. Sometimes people can communicate well without saying a word. “Actions speak louder than words,” is a common expression used in English. Typically this expression is used to note that what people do is often more important than what people say because sometimes people’s actions don’t match up with the words they utter. When considering the topic of improving communication, this saying also holds some merit. Sometimes people can communicate with gestures, body language, facial expression or even pauses and silence better than with the actual words they speak.

In addition to speaking skills, the other language skills—listening, reading and writing also play a vital role in improving your English communication skills. Don’t make the mistake of thinking you have to master one skill before you can move on to another. To improve your communication skills try working a little on all of the skills. People generally don’t learn in isolated language skills. Each language skill often overlaps into another.

For organization and ease of reading, I’ve included a few suggestions for improving your communication skills categorized by the predominant language skill being used. Keep in mind that you can and should use other language skills at virtually the same time. For example, if you are focusing on improving your listening skills, you can also incorporate reading, speaking and writing into your language learning. After listening to something in English, try reading it in English also if there are subtitles or a full text of what you listened to is provided. You can even practice speaking by repeating and imitating the important lines you heard. I stress the word imitate. Don’t just say the words. Try imitating how something was said. This will make your English sound more natural. Finally, write down the important lines, phrases or words you want to remember.

TIPS FOR IMPROVING LISTENING SKILLS

Listen to English podcasts. Search for topics or hobbies that interest you and find English podcasts that allow you to pursue these interests. Listen to movies, music, and news in English. Immerse yourself in an English listening environment. If you are an intermediate to advanced English language learner, I recommend Ted talks. Go to www.ted.com to find a host of interesting topics. Another helpful place to improve your listening skills in English is YouTube. Two features that are beneficial when you use YouTube videos are the icons that control the playback speed and captions/subtitles. These icons are located near the bottom right corner of the YouTube screen. The icon that controls the playback speed options is located right beside the caption icon. I recommend turning off the captions first and listening to the video in .75 playback speed if you are having trouble catching most of the words. On subsequent listening, you can turn on the captions and read along as you listen. You can increase or decrease the playback speed to accommodate your understanding level. Next, you can imitate and try to repeat certain lines from the video. Then, when you have an opportunity, use what you’ve learned and practiced in your conversations.

TIPS FOR IMPROVING READING SKILLS

Besides reading magazines or books written at your current English level, read blogs written in English. Blogs cover a variety of topics and are often written in a conversational, informal way. Another tip—read different news sites written in English or sites designed especially for English learners. Two sites I recommend are www.breakingnewsenglish.com and www.newsinlevels.com.

TIPS FOR IMPROVING SPEAKING SKILLS

My number one tip for improving your spoken English is to speak with native English speakers as much as you can. If you don’t have someone you can physically meet with regularly, I recommend checking out www.topic-time.jp. This site has many friendly online conversational English teachers dedicated to helping English learners not only improve their spoken English but also to help them reach other English communication goals, such as improving their listening, reading and writing skills. Admittedly, there are many online conversation sites, however, I recommend this site not only because I am a teacher with Topic-Time, but also because this site employs friendly native English speakers living in a variety of locations. You can practice listening to a variety of accents. Here is the link to the teachers’ page www.topic-time.jp/teachers.php.

TIPS FOR IMPROVING WRITING SKILLS

Although it may sound strange, if you want to improve your writing skills in English—read, read, read! Reading a variety of materials written in English will allow you to learn by example. Besides reading a ton of English material, another tip for improving your writing is to keep a journal in English. Write a daily entry in your journal. You can start with three to five sentences and increase the length of your English entries as your skill level increases. Writing summaries in English is another way to improve your writing skills. Write summaries of movies, books, and articles. You can start by simply writing down one main point that you want to remember and increase your summaries as your level of English improves.

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Finally, I want to point out that communicating well in English also involves more than just the four language learning skills. If you want to improve your communication skills in English or any other language, learning more about the culture of the language you are learning will ultimately help you communicate more effectively. For example, in China, it is customary to refuse a gift three times before finally accepting it. Knowing this custom would help you realize that even when someone initially says no to a gift or offer you make, you need to offer it at least three times before that person feels free to politely accept it. Knowing a country’s customs can help prevent misunderstandings from occurring and make your communications much smoother.

In addition to increasing your knowledge of a country’s culture, expanding your horizons, in general, can also improve your communication skills. The expression “expanding your horizons” or “broadening your horizons” means to increase your knowledge, understanding or experiences in life. Your horizon is what you see when you look into the distance. It is the horizontal line where the sky meets the ground or if you are standing at the seashore, it is the horizontal line where the sea meets the sky. If you expand your horizons, your vision enlarges so you can see a wider scope of the area. Expanding your horizons can help you express yourself in new or different ways. Consequently, when you enlarge your perspectives and experiences, you ultimately improve your communication skills.

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In conclusion

In conclusion, I encourage you to make the New Year’s resolution to not just improve your English speaking skills but to improve your English communication skills this year. Communicating well in English is much more important than speaking well in English. You can improve your English communication skills by improving your listening, speaking, reading and writing skills. You can also improve your communication skills by studying body language, gestures, and facial expressions. Even pauses and silence can be used as communication tools. Finally, you can improve your communication skills by expanding your knowledge of cultural customs and by expanding your horizons. Resolve to do all of these and you may just broaden your horizons so much, that you find yourself reaching for the stars in your English communications.

EnglishClub Wordchecker

I’m writing this in the middle of a blizzard. No worries, though! I’m not outside braving the elements. I’m inside—sitting “as snug as a bug in a rug.” As I cuddle with a cup of hot tea (in between putting my thoughts on paper and looking out the window), the howling wind is swirling the snow into small mounds. If the “white stuff” and wind continue, these small piles will morph into colossal snowdrifts that will require a trusty tractor, snazzy snow blower or a simple snow shovel and some energetic elbow grease to clear paths or roads. I imagine radio announcers are urging people to stay at home as they mention road closures and dangerous whiteout travel conditions.

You may be asking, “What does experiencing a blizzard have to do with learning English?” I’m glad you asked. Pull up a chair and chillax with me as I try to sell you on the idea that learning English is similar to the snow spiraling around outside. Don’t worry. I’ve never been accused of being able to sell ice to an Eskimo, so I’m not giving you a snow job. Maybe you’ll agree with me, maybe you won’t. If nothing else, perhaps you’ll walk away with a new word or two or maybe you’ll understand and be able to use some idioms dealing with winter, cold or snow.

As I was saying—learning English is like the snow falling outside. At first, a few snowflakes fall. A single snowflake or a few flakes falling aren’t worrisome or much of a concern. People might stop to enjoy and note the beauty of these simple yet intricate, fragile, falling ice crystals. Living in an area that receives plenty of snow each year, I often anticipate the first snowfall of the season with a sense of awe. This is what I call the wonder factor. Each snowflake is reported to be unique and special in design. Similarly, when people learn English, the beauty and enjoyment of being able to communicate in a new way is the wonder factor. When babies utter their first words, parents smile with delight and applaud their little ones’ efforts. Later, when the blizzards—barrages of words, questions, or arguments come, parents might ironically smile, think or say, ‘I couldn’t wait for my babies to talk, but now I can’t wait for them to hush and just listen.” (God gave us two ears and one mouth for a reason.)

Another reason learning English is similar to the snow falling outside right now is that as the snow accumulates, so does its influence on peoples’ lives. As noted earlier, a few snowflakes aren’t worrisome, and they are of little consequence. Some snowflakes melt and vanish shortly after they hit outstretched hands, open mouths, or solid ground. Others accumulate and can be used to form a snowball or friendly snowman. However, when snow’s collective magnitude is coupled with strong wind, it can quickly snowball into an impacting event. I’m not just talking about the impact a few well-aimed snowballs can make. I’m talking about a life-changing, wallop. I’m talking about a powerful blizzard. Likewise, learning English can have a life-changing effect on people as well. Communicating well in English can increase your potential job possibilities, enlarge your circle of relationships, and even change your way of thinking.

Yet another similarity between really experiencing the snow and learning English is that both are best done using all of your senses, or as many senses as you possibly can. To fully appreciate the snow and experience it most memorably, you should not only see the sparkling snow. You should feel its chilliness against your cheeks and hear the crunch of snow under your shoes as you walk in it. You should even try to taste its icy goodness melting on your tongue. Admittedly, smelling or describing snow’s scent might require more creativity and imagination on your part, unless you collect some snow (avoid yellow snow) and add other ingredients to your freshly collected snow to make snow ice cream. Then whatever snow ice cream flavor you made can be the scent of snow to you. Nonetheless, you’ve just thought about snow trying to use all your senses. If you do get to experience snow with all of your senses, perhaps the total experience will be frozen in your memory banks forever.

Similarly, when you are learning English, try to use all of your senses, even when the language skill you are focusing on seems to predominantly rely on one sense. For example, typically if you are trying to improve your listening skills, your sense of hearing is at the forefront. However, even when you are concentrating on improving your listening skills, you can try to implement more of your senses in your learning process. Don’t just listen to words or phrases if you can find a video related to what you are learning in English. Use your sense of sight and hearing coupled together for a stronger learning experience. To incorporate your sense of smell into your listening learning process you may have to get a bit more creative. Maybe you could use an invigorating essential oil in a diffuser as you are listening. Some scents are reported to help stimulate productivity, increase your focus, or even put you in a peaceful or positive mood. Utilizing your sense of taste while improving your listening skills also might require you to use your creativity. If you are listening to new vocabulary words you could write the words or important phrases in something fun like chocolate pudding or use small pieces of candy to form your vocabulary words. Doing so would incorporate your sense of touch and your sense of taste as you could eat some of the pudding or candies while listening. Otherwise, perhaps you could just grab your favorite snack as you listen and write. As a chocolate lover, I can vouch that chocolate might not be the answer or solution for everything, but it might make whatever situation you find yourself in more enjoyable.

In conclusion, let me reiterate that learning English can be similar to experiencing a powerful blizzard. Just as snow can change plans or dramatically impact people’s lives, learning English also has the power to alter plans and impact lives. Finally, to make your English learning experience more memorable, use as many of your senses as possible when you are studying or practicing English. As an ancient Chinese proverb states, “I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand.” Don’t get left out in the cold when it comes to your English learning. Realize that learning English well can be a life-impacting event. It makes sense to use as many of your senses as possible not only to make your English learning enjoyable but to also freeze the English you’ve learned into your mind so you can remember and use it.