Surround Yourself With English
Suggestions for Studying English
Many students ask me how they can learn to speak and understand English better, so I've put together a list of suggestions based on my experience as a teacher of English and as a learner of Japanese. I've also included methods which students have told me helped them. You can read the suggestions in order or click on the ones that look most interesting to you.
Surround yourself with English
I think the ideal way to learn English is to live in an English-speaking country. You are able to learn quickly in such a situation because even whenare not studying or in class, you are surrounded by English: as you walk down the street, or ride the train, you overhear conversations in English and read English on street signs and advertisements; whenever you walk into a store, you must use English; whenever you turn on the T.V. or radio, you hear English.
In Japan, however, you are not naturally surrounded by English. I think that, for many of you, the only time you speak, hear, read or write English is in English class or while doing homework for English class. This means that your contact with English is very limited, usually only a few hours each week. In order to improve your English more quickly, you need to spend more time with English. This does not mean that you have to spend more time studying with textbooks; instead, I think it is more useful to try to surround yourself with English, to make English a part of your daily life like it would be if you were living in an English-speaking county.
Below, I give many suggestions for ways to surround yourself with English. Read through the suggestions and try the ones that sound most interestng and enjoyable to you. It's important to have fun while experiencing English so that you will want to do it often during your free time.
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Surround yourself with English while riding the train:
- Listen to songs with English lyrics.
- Find a singer or band that you like and make a tape. Listen to the tape over and over, and gradually you'll find that you understand more and more of the lyrics.
- At first, don't worry about the words you don't know. Just keep listening and following along with the words you do know. Later on, when you know the song well, you can use a dictionary to look up the words you don't know.
- I use this method to study Japanese (listening to the Southern All-Stars), and I used to know a German college student who spoke almost perfect English. He said that he listened to English songs all the time when he was a high-school student and that he learned most of his English that way. (His favorite was Peter Gabriel).
- Listen to a novel on cassette tape.
- You can find novels on cassette at big bookstores such as Books Kinokuniya or Maruzen.
- Choose a story that is easy to understand, perhaps a story for children.
- As you listen, concentrate on understanding the story rather than on understanding each word.
- If you can find it, buy the book version too. Then when you have more time, you can read through what you have listened to to see how much you were able to understand.
- Read something easy.
- When I first came to Japan, I used to practice Japanese on the train by reading the 小学生新聞 (a newspaper for kids); it was so easy that I didn't have to use a dictionary very much. There's no children's newspaper in English in Japan, but several English newspapers published in Japan have a once-a-week editions for people studying English, The Japan Times Weekly<
- Don't read a textbook. You have plenty of chances to do that when you do your homework. It's important to read different kinds of English, not just the kinds or words and sentences you see in textbooks, and it's hard to concentrate on a textbook in a crowded, moving train.
- Don't worry about understanding every word. Just try to get the general idea of what you are reading.
- If you feel that you must have a dictionary, get one of those tiny electronic dictionaries. They are easy to use on the train and the price is getting lower all the time.
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- Think to yourself in English.
- This suggestion comes from a Waseda student who says that she often imagines that she is speaking in English while she is riding on the train. She "talks" about where she is going, what she did that day, and so on.
- I also use this method (thinking in Japanese) when I want to "rehearse" something complicated that I will have to say in Japanese, for example, when I am going to buy something unusual and I will have to ask the store clerk a lot of questions. It really works!
- Finally, look for English around you.
- If there are people talking in English, go ahead and eavesdrop. (Just don't let them see you listening!)
- In the train station,inside the train, and around Tokyo, there are signs in English and advertisements which have English words. Whenever you see English, read it.
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Surround yourself with English at home
- Listen to an English radio show. This is one of the easiest ways to surround yourself with English. Turn on the radio and listen while you are cleaning your room or taking a bath.
Many students listen to English language shows on NHK, but when you are ready to move on to something new, try listening to FEN (810 AM) a radio station for the American military in Japan; a lot of the talking on this station is information about living on the military bases, and this is probably not very interesting to the rest of us. However, the news programs might be useful for practicing English.
Or use your computer to listen to news. Some of the news programs on FEN are from NPR (National Public Radio). If you can't or don't want to listen to FEN on the radio, you can listen to some of the stories on your computer. The BBC World Servicealso has top news stories in audio and video form.
- Don't worry about catching every word. English on the radio will probably be hard to understand at first, so it is enough if you can just catch what the topic is--the weather report, an movie review, etc.
- If you have enough time and you really want to improve your listening, tape part of a radio show and listen to it again and again, trying to catch most of the words. I would suggest that you make a very short tape, 5 minutes at most. Of course, if you are listening on the computer, you can save the file to listen to again.
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- Watch TV and videos.
- TV shows are often easier to understand than radio because there are pictures along with the words.
- Find a show that you enjoy so that you will want to watch it regularly. If you can, record a show on video tape so you can watch it again.
- I can't recommend a particular show, because the best show for you depends on your taste and on the kind of English you want to focus on. Some students enjoy watching BBC News, but others prefer dramas.
- Even though it is a children's show, Sesame Street can be fun to watch. (I used to watch it when I was a high school student just because it was an interesting show).
- Watch your favorite movie. Choose an interesting scene and watch it again and again. Try to write out the words you hear. Then see if you can find the movie script at the bookstore to check what you've heard.
- Try videos for language learners, such as CNN Express. (I use this in my freshman English classes some times.) You can buy it at Books Kinokuniya in Shinjuku.
- Read a newspaper or magazine in English.
- The Japan Times Weekly is good for learners of English. It's published every Friday. It contains short summaries of the major news events each week along with longer articles. The difficulty of the stories varies quite a bit; some are relatively easy and some are much more difficult. You should be able to find something in it that is the right level for you.
- Buy a magazine related to your hobby. If you already have a lot of knowledge about a subject (playing the guitar, baseball, sewing), then it is easier to understand when you read about it in English. Again, you can find a range of magazines at the bookstores that have foreign books.
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Active ways of using English
The suggestions above involve listening to or reading in English; they are all things that you can do by yourself, but if your goal is to communicate well, you will also want to be able to speak and write in English. To practice speaking and writing, you'll need to find some other people to communicate with. Here are just a few suggestions: Back to the Top
- Join an international club and take part in international activities.
- Check out Metropolis Magazine. It is a free magazine published weekly, and you can pick it up at many restaurants and bookstores around Tokyo, including Kinokuniya. Both the magazine and the web site have information about internationa clubs and events, as well as restaurant reviews, movie reviews, and articles about life in Tokyo. (The Metropolis web site also has on-line bulletin boards where you can practice using English. Click on "Forum" at the top of the Metropolis page, or go straight to the URL:< http://forum.japantoday.com/ >.
- You should also ask at your city or ward office （区役所 、市役所）to find out about international volunteer groups near your home. If you join such a group, you'll probably have many chances to use English. To find out about these groups try searching at Google with the name of your city or ward and with key words such as 「国際交流」.
- Find a partner for language exchange.There are many foreigners living in Japan who want to practice their Japanese, and many of them are more than happy to teach you English in return. You can do a language exchange with a native English speaker or with a non-native speaker who knows English well. (I've met many people from Africa and India who speak English very well and who would be able to teach English).
One way to find a partner is from the classified ads section of Metropolis. It has also has free ads for clubs (circles) and for people looking for language exchange partners. Click on "Classified" at the top of the page,and then on classifieds.japantoday.com/. When you get to the ad page, scroll down the left hand side of the page to "Learning", and then click on "language exchange". For information about clubs, click a category under "Join the Club".
WARNING: "Personal" ads are people who are looking for lovers. If you are not looking for a lover, don't click on "Personal"!
- Another useful web site is Jobs in Japan. This site is intended for English speakers looking for work in Japan, but it also has information about international clubs and events, as well as people looking for language exchange partners. Look down toward the bottom of the page for these. Probably "Friends and Interests", "Language Exchange" and "Clubs" will be the most useful for you.
- Practice English with friends and classmates outside of class. Have an English party, or sing English karaoke songs. Don't be shy! The more you practice, the easier it will be for you to use English.
- Write to a penpal or e-mail penpal in English. There are many web sites for penpals on the internet. One that has been going for a long time is Dave's ESL E-mail Connection. You can probably find other pen pal sites using Google.
- Send e-mail while 'Netsurfing'. Many web pages have e-mail addresses where you can write with comments, questions, or suggestions. If you see a page you like, send some e-mail--you might get a reply! You can try it right now by sending me your comments or suggestions for learning English at the address below.
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Send your comments, questions, and suggestions to vicky@waseda.jp. This page was last updated 4/28/04.
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