5 Simple Lifestyle Changes That Will Increase Your English Learning

Have you been trying to improve your English for a long time, but been struggling to reach fluency?

Well I’ve got good news for you! This is your year to finally become fluent. And it’s not as difficult as you might think. It all comes down to [depends on] making and keeping good habits. These habits are quite simple, and more importantly, they’re FUN!

So are you ready to revolutionize the way you learn English?

Aww yeah RealLifers! What’s going on? This is Ethan coming to you with a special video for you. So today, I’m going to talk about five simple lifestyle changes that you can make to increase your English learning.

So, let’s jump into this.

1. Download a Podcast

The first lifestyle change that you can make that’s going to help increase your English learning is to download a podcast, for example, the RealLife English podcast or one of thousands of other podcast that exists in English and for English learning to start listening to every day a little bit when you’re in your car, on the bus, walking around to different places, walking your dog, cooking, in the store… you get it. And this is going to help you start taking advantage of convenient moments in your day to start listening to more English.

Want to know more about podcasts? Check out this article.

2. Create More Habits in English

The second one is to trade habits that you have in your native language for habits in English. So this, for example, say you read the newspaper everyday in your native language, you could start reading the news in English.

Another thing you could do is, if you look at twitter every morning, instead of reading a bunch of tweets in your native language, follow more websites that put their tweets in English.

Follow RealLife English on Twitter

You can also start watching English TV shows, English movies, anything that you do in your daily life, in your native language, try to switch it to things that you’re doing more in English.

This, over the long run, is going to make a HUGE difference in your ability to speak and understand English.

3. Get Applications that Improve Your English

So the next thing is trade games and apps on your phone like Candy Crush or other time-wasters to apps that will help you with your English.

So there are a lot of free apps that are designed towards English learners, and there are also other apps, like Anki, which is for memorizing new vocabulary that you learn. And if you start doing this it’s going to go a long distance, for those of you, especially, that think you have problems memorizing new vocabulary that you learn, this is a really great habit to make. So anytime you have five minutes, instead of doing something that’s maybe more of a waste of time, you can be improving your English.

4. Speak More!

So number four is to speak more English. You know, obviously, this is very, very important. And a lot of people, you might think that there’s not enough opportunities, but with the invention of the Internet there are just so many opportunities for you to start speaking more English with native speakers and non-native speakers.

I even, my latest language that I’m learning is Catalan, and I even speak it with my dog or to myself when I’m alone. This, it sounds kind of silly, but it really does help if you’re even just speaking to yourself.

So you can do different things like use Meetup.com or CouchSurfing to meet native speakers in your city or you can use things like iTalki.com or Verbling to meet native speakers and non-native speakers online. You can also join the RealLife English Facebook Community so you can start meeting people to chat with. Maybe via, maybe just via the messenger in Facebook, or Whatsapp, or even by Skype.

Please though, don’t just find native speakers and say, “Hey please be my friend” or “Please help me with my English.” You have to actually build a relationship and find some sort of Win-Win situation. How can you also help them? Maybe you can find more people, groups of people, who are learning your native language and do exchanges. So this is a really great way to meet people who can help you with your English and you can help in return.

People with similar interests is also a great place to start.

5. Listen to English Whenever Possible

The last tip that I have for you of a lifestyle change that you can make to start improving your English more this year is to start listening to English whenever possible.

So, for example, if you have a desk job, if you’re working on the computer, you can put the radio on in the background using TuneIn.com, and you can listen to any radio station in the world, pretty much. So, you could start with NPR or just find a radio station from a place that you would like to visit, and start listening to it while you’re at work. This is a great way to practice listening to native speakers. Even if you’re not paying attention and you don’t understand everything you’re still training your ears to the native language.

You can also listen to music. Especially learn the lyrics. Sing when you’re in the shower. I personally love to sing in the shower and in my car if I’m driving alone.

And, of course, as I said in the first point, to download podcasts because you can listen to these all day long.

Make This YOUR Year for English Fluency

Alright guys, so take advantage! It’s the start of a new year. You can really use 2014 to boost your English, to improve your English, take it to a new level, and make it a part of your life!