5 Easy Things to do to Improve Your English by yourself!

English classes not for you? Practice by yourself!

You want your English to be better. You know it isn’t good enough, and you need to do something about it.

But you don’t want to spend a lot of money on classes, or you don’t have time to sit and study English. Maybe you’re like me and just hate going to language classes – you have an independent spirit and want to learn on your own.
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Whatever the reason, you want to do it yourself, and are looking for simple ways to improve your English quickly. You’ve come to the right place!

​Here are 5 easy things you can do to improve your English by yourself. All of them take common everyday activities and add English to them, so that you spend more of your day thinking, speaking, and listening in English. 

1. Find your way in English

Chances are, you are one of the 77% of smartphone owners who use a navigation device. One easy way to help create the habit of switching your brain to English regularly is to change your navigation language to English.

Go to the settings menu and decide whether you want British or American English. For fun, change it up now and then with Canadian, Australian, or South African accents! Start off with using it for your daily commute to and from work, so you can get used to getting directions in English. Before you know it, you’ll be navigating in English without even thinking about it!

If you use public transportation, it’s still no problem. Set it up as if you are following driving directions, and listen along with headphones. For people on foot or travelling by bike, use the pedestrian or cycling instructions.

Areas Improved

• Thinking in English
• Listening
• Vocabulary for giving directions
• Adverbs and prepositions of place

Next level: Copy the speech patterns and accent of the navigator out loud while you listen (not on public transportation, though)!

2. Listen to your reading

Areas Improved

• Thinking in English
• Speaking comfortably
• Awareness of:

1. Correct grammar
2. Accurate spelling
3. Correct punctuation

We all know that reading improves your language skills, but if you really want to improve your English, don’t just read in your head, read out loud.

Reading aloud helps you to improve your speaking skills while you read. You exercise your tongue, lips, mouth, and the throat muscles that you need to pronounce English words.

You know that feeling you get when you hear yourself speaking English? It feels strange and uncomfortable. If you practice reading aloud often, when no one can hear you or correct you, you have a chance to get used to hearing the sound of your own voice in English.

If you choose your reading material carefully, you’ll get a steady input of perfect English which your brain will be able to use as a base when you speak for yourself.

Don’t worry if you mispronounce a word here and there. Just give it a try and move on. When you hear someone else say the word, it will ring a bell in your mind, and you will know the right pronunciation.
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You don’t have time to read? Use the time you already spend reading: social media posts, work e-mails in English, news stories, or your company’s press releases. Read aloud daily in English and see the difference it makes!

When that gets easier, try reading aloud in the accent of your GPS navigator!

3. Sing along

Do you ever hear a song on the radio in English and find yourself humming along or making up nonsense to sing along? Stop it! Take the extra step and find the song lyrics.

Use your favourite search engine, type in the song name followed by the word “lyrics” and there they are! If you don’t know the name of the song, listen for a sentence or phrase that you do understand and put it in quotation marks.
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When you get the lyrics, use your music streaming service to play the song and sing along. No streaming service? No problem! Search for the song on YouTube. A lot of songs are there too.

Areas Improved

• Pronunciation
• Reading
• Grammar
• Vocabulary
• Colloquialisms
• Strengthens speaking muscles

Ready for a challenge? Learn the lyrics and sing along without looking at the words. See if you can use some of the phrases from the song in your everyday life.

4. Check your phone

Areas Improved

• Thinking in English
• Technical vocabulary
• Confidence using English in everyday life

How often do you look at your phone? Even if it’s fewer than the average American, with 52 looks per day, you probably look at pretty often.

Another easy way to increase the amount of times a day your brain switches to English is to change your phone settings to English. You probably already know what everything means already, and unless it’s a new phone, you know where everything is.

By changing the default language to English, you force yourself to switch to English every time you look at your phone. You’ll also learn the English words for your settings and typical operations.
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Once you’ve changed it to English, take a look at your settings menu and see what everything is. Chances are, you’ll come across something you didn’t know how to say in English before.

For a speaking challenge, start talking to your voice assistant (Siri or OK Google) in English!

5. LinkBook your TwittaGram in English

Since we’re already switching default languages to English, why not do the same for your social media accounts?

When you change your social media language to English, it doesn’t change the language of your posts, it changes the menus, settings, and other background information to English. This means that every time you check your social media, even if the posts are written in your own language, you’ll still be reading some English.

Language options are in the settings of your social media accounts. They all let you choose a language for your social media account, then you can add other languages you know, so that it doesn’t automatically translate them. 

The next time someone asks you what you're doing on Facebook, instead of just wasting time, you can tell them you're practicing your English!

Areas Improved

• ​Thinking in English
• Everyday terms
• ​Confidence using English in everyday life

Just for fun: Do some mental gymnastics by changing your Facebook language to “Upside down English” for a little while!

So that’s it. Five easy things you can do to improve your English. Try them all right away, or just start with one or two. The important thing is to start. The sooner you start, the sooner you’ll improve.

What everyday activities do you do in English?
Post them in the comments section below!