Course 1: English Skills

Introduction:
A language is a systematic means of communication by the use of sounds or conventional
symbols. It is the code we all use to express ourselves and communicate to others. We know that
English is the most popular language in the world. In this computer age, English is the only language that
anyone can understand. So we can say that, it has become as an ideal language for expressing our ideas.
English language attracts people because of the wealth of literature and knowledge enshrined in it.
That’s why we must make the best use of it to develop ourselves culturally and materially so that we can
compete with the best in the world of mind and matter. It is our window to the world. So we have to
learn the language unless we have the fluency in English language.
The four skills
When we think of English skills, the 'four skills' of listening, speaking, reading, and writing
readily come to mind. Of course other skills such as pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary, and spelling all
play a role in effective English communication. The amount of attention you give to each skill area will
depend both the level of your learners as well as their situational needs. Generally beginners, especially
those who are non-literate, benefit most from listening and speaking instruction with relatively little
work on reading and writing.
Listening:
Listening skills are vital for the learners. Of the 'four skills,' listening is by far the most frequently
used. Listening and speaking are often taught together, but beginners, especially non-literate ones,
should be given more listening than speaking practice. It's important to speak as close to natural speed
as possible, although with beginners some slowing is usually necessary.
The key to successfully learning a new language is to practice as much as possible. Even if you
live in an area where English speakers are scarce, opportunities still exist for you to be able to improve
your English listening skills. Practice by spending at least 30 minutes per day doing certain activities to
see an improvement in your listening skills. There are many ways to develop this step. Such as: Watch
English language documentaries with English subtitles: It is a good way to listening with reading and it
also helps us to know English well, Listen to the radio news in English, English language exercise videos,
Listen English conversation: We can listen it in different channel, in different TV serials to develop our
English pronunciation, Listen to native speakers as much as possible.
Speaking:
This skill is very important; it can be developed by following those ways which are given below:
 Say what we are doing in English as we do your daily tasks: As we are doing our chores, try creating
sentences describing what we are doing. This gives us thinking in English without translating, and
can be a good way of seeing what simple vocabulary that is around our everyday.
 Online chat: The closest thing to speaking for people who don't have the chance to speak English is
online chat, as we have to think and respond quickly, and the language is short and informal just
like speech.
 Occasionally talk to our friends in English: Many people find this a bit false or embarrassing, but if
we think of it as a study club and set a particular time and or place, it is no different from studying
math together.
 Speaking with native speaker: It is an effective way to develop our English fluency. We can find
them in different organization.
 Talking dictionary: Nowadays, we find different talking dictionary where we can compare our
pronunciation and can get the right pronunciation.

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  Presentation: Different presentation is also effective to make our fluency more clear.
 Debate in English: It is very helpful to develop our English speaking.
 Visit an English speaking country: it is very expensive then other’s method but it can be very
effective for speaking for us because there we can find a lot of native speaker. The top 5 countries
to visit are: 1. USA 2. UK 3.Canada 4. Australia 5. New Zealand
 Repeat the sentences after hearing them carefully: After hearing from media or native speaker we
have to repeat the sentence as same as speaker and it helps us to improve our speaking in English.
Reading:
To develop this skill we have to follow certain ways. Such as:
 Realistic about our reading level: Most researchers agree that people learn most when reading
something they understand almost all of. If there are one or two words per page that we have
never seen before, that is about the right level. If there are three or more on every page, we should
switch to something easier and come back later.
 Read a book that already read in our own language: Reading a book that we already know its story.
This not only makes it easier to understand and guess vocabulary, but we are also more likely to
remember the language in it.
 Read English language comics: Even more than books with lots of dialogue, comics can be easy to
understand and full of idiomatic language as it is actually spoken. Usually, serious or adventure
comics are easier to read and understand.
 Read English language entertainment guides: Nowadays most big cities in the world have an English
language magazine and or online guide. Reading this in English is not only good value, but it could
also guide us to places that English speakers are interested in and where we might hear some
English spoken around us.
 Read English magazines: Like books we can read English magazines to improve our English reading.
 Read an English language newspaper: Newspapers like “NEW AGE” are usually the easiest to
understand, followed by mid-brow titles like "The Daily Express" or "The Daily Mail" in English.
Popular newspapers like "The Sun" are more difficult because of the idiomatic, slangy use of
language.
 Learn a famous speech or poem in English by heart: Although we may never hear or get the chance
to say exactly that line, having one memorable example of English grammatical form in our head
can make it much easier to learn other examples of the same grammar as we hear them.
 Reading novel: It is also a better way to improve reading capacity as well as English language
 Visit language sites: Visit one of the many websites that deal with English language.
 Read dictionary and grammar book: It is also important because without grammar we can’t make
an appropriate sentence. So we have to learn grammar as far as possible.
Writing:
We have to develop this skill by following those ways which are written below:
 Playing writing games: Like word games is a better way to develop English language.
 Article: Writing article is also very good to improve writing skills.
 Write e-mail or send: Write e-mail or send it to different English blogs where they will mark our
wrong sentence and solve it.
 Writing something that we want to say: There are many things that we want to say. Writing those
things in English is a better way to practice writing. Such as I want to say history that I suffer
tomorrow so write it in English is a good way to learn it.
 Write journal in English: Write journal in English is also a good way to improve English skill and we
can write it in our free time.
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  Join Newsgroups: Google Groups and other groups that discusses our hobbies or any other topic
that we are interested in. We have keep it in our mind, however, that language in newsgroups is
often very informal and sloppy and can contain a lot of mistakes because also a lot of non-native
speakers contribute.
Motivate yourself
If you are not motivated to learn English you will become frustrated and give up. Ask yourself the
following questions, and be honest: Why do you need to learn/improve English? Where will you need to
use English? What skills do you need to learn/improve? (Reading/Writing/Listening/Speaking). How
soon do you need to see results? How much time can you afford to devote to learning English? Do you
have a plan or learning strategy?
Set yourself achievable goals
You know how much time you can dedicate to learning English, but a short time each day will
produce better, longer-term results than a full day on the weekend and then nothing for two weeks.
Joining a short intensive course could produce better results than joining a course that takes place once
a week for six months. Here are some goals you could set yourself:
 Join an English course - a virtual one or a real one (and attend regularly).
 Do your homework and read a book or a comic every month.
 Learn a new word every day.
 Visit an English speaking forum every day.
 Read a news article on the net every day.
 Do 10 minutes listening practice every day.
 Watch an English documentary at least once a month.

To learn anything either it would be a language or skill need self

interest and hardworking without them nobody can do anything.
That’s why proverb says, “There is a will, there is a way” but to
develop English language we also have to remember that “Practice
makes a man perfect”. So we have to practice it again and again to get
proper fluency. It is not our mother tongue that’s why we face
different difficulty but we have to overcome them by regular practice.
So English is the door of overall development and we have to open the
door. we the student, teacher, conscious citizen have to come forward
to develop our English language because it is a key of success.

“Education is backbone of a nation”

“The limits of my language are the limits of my world.”

“Language is the road map of a culture. It tells you where its people come from and where they are
going”
“Own only what you can carry with you; know language, know countries, know people. Let your
memory be your travel bag.”
“One who speaks only one language is one person, but one who speaks two languages is two people.”