If you are thinking about improving your English then you will find that there are lots of different tools out there that you can make use of in order to do this.

But which one should you choose? This really depends on what kind of learning styles you prefer and how seriously you are planning to improve your skills. But as each possible tool is going to cost you at least some money then it is worth taking the time to consider all the different options available to you and taking your time over to make the right decision.

English Courses

You can buy many good quality English courses online, order a course on CD-ROM or an audio-CD or cassette or make use of a good text or phrase book, but which is best?

The answer to this is that it is not really about which one you choose to use but how often you use it and of course the more you use the more you will improve. When it comes to learning a new language then quantity beats quality every time.

There is no substitute for coming to the UK and immersing yourself in the English language and culture. By spending everyday interacting with local people and watching them communicate with each other you will absorb a level of cultural understanding that is almost impossible to replicate through books and CDs.

But making use of a good language tool before you arrive in the UK and while you are here is going to help you join up the missing pieces of the jig-saw as you carry on throughout your day.

Learning Online 

The benefits of using either CD-ROMs or downloading a course from a website is that you can cover vocabulary, pronunciation, writing and reading, listening and speaking all whilst interacting with the programme. Some courses even allow you to go to a ‘language-gym’ afterwards where you can practice what you have learnt.

You can also find really good language exchange courses online which offer to pair you with a native English speaker who wants to learn your language. This is usually done by arranging to meet in a public place, in which case make sure that it is somewhere very public and take sensible precautions. Alternatively you can choose to communicate via e-mail as a great way of practicing your writing and reading skills.

The big downside to all these otherwise excellent tools is that you have to be near a computer in order to use them.

Audio Courses 

Audio courses are great for improving your communication skills while you are on the move. If you drive to work in the UK you will often see people talking to themselves in their cars, happily practicing some new phrases before they set off on holiday to wherever it is that they are going. Why not do the same? You can also carry these with you on your portable CD player or MP3.

Alternatively, there are plenty of excellent text books and phrase books available to you which are serious study tools that should not be discounted in this age of modern media. All serious language courses still involve working from text books for good reason, they are an essential tool for those wishing to improve their English.

English Literature 

Also, if you are coming to the UK for a prolonged period of time then you should buy yourself some good English novels and make sure you read for at least 15 minutes every day, you’ll be surprised just how much your English improves by doing this. Start off by looking in the young-person’s section at bookshops, you will find that the UK has a huge range of these to choose from, and they are mostly very good; they are a great place to start before working your way up to William Shakespeare.

Probably the greatest tool you have is your motivation. If you are constantly curious and keep a record of new words, learn vocabulary and put them to use as soon as you can you will feel the speed of your language learning increase!

And last but not least, OKinUK is a great resource for learning English – check out the language tips in each category!

To be listed here click

USEFUL WORDS

revising = looking again at the work you have done
practising
have a go!
experiment with the language
dictionaries
personalising words = thinking about words in relation to your own life / experience
grouping words = organising sets of words into similar groups to help you remember them
exploring websites
reading novels, newspapers, magazines
watching TV and films
listening to the radio
BBC World Service
progress tests
using on-line corpora = collections of words written or spoken by native speakers
joining an English club
speaking English with friends and colleagues
going to the local library
singing along to English songs
joining a local sports club
recording yourself speaking
attending an evening course

GRAMMAR SPOT

Irregular plural endings

A number of foreign words have come into English, mainly from Latin & Greek, and these have plural endings which are less common in English:

-a

criterion -> criteria
curriculum -> curricula
medium -> media
phenomenon -> phenomena

-ae

formula -> formulas / formulae

-es

analysis -> analyses
crisis -> crises
hypothesis -> hypotheses
oasis -> oases
synthesis -> syntheses

-i

cactus -> cacti / cactuses
nucleus -> nuclei
stimulus -> stimuli

Notes:

* Not every noun ending in -on, -um or -us has an irregular ending:

electron -> electrons
museum -> museums
bonus -> bonuses

* In informal speech, words with the plural ending -a are sometimes used as if they were singular:

I don't believe what the media is telling us

* The word data is the plural of datum, which is used infrequently.  Data is also often used as an uncountable noun:

Not enough data is/are available
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