A few weeks ago I was eating at the home of Luis-Felipe Rodríguez, a former student of mine who is currently 88 years old.
His wife Pepita, an excellent cook, prepared us a fantastic seafood soup. Mmmm … I still remember her. It was a very pleasant meal in his apartment with fantastic views to the north of Madrid. Luis-Felipe was a professor at the Madrid School of Architecture. Until he was 80 years old he was giving computer structure calculation courses. And, currently, retired has made English one of his hobbies. For this reason, Luis-Felipe knows everything, or almost everything, about where and how to learn English on your own, as he has tried books, courses, and language exchange sites. I can’t stop mentioning that I’m super
proud of him. I love what he does and how he does it and how he does not allow himself to be overcome by anything or anyone.
For that, l and asked him to write about it for English readers could use their extensive knowledge on the subject.
There is no doubt, in addition, coming these advice from Luis-Felipe, you will be encouraged to study, since if he can with 88 years, why not you?
Let’s see, it is a matter of putting yourself and insisting. Come on!
C onsejos of Luis – Felipe to study English on your own 1) Get yourself a udio l ibros to study English began to study English by reading books. *** Monica’s Note:
Okay, but they should always be audiobooks because otherwise your hearing and pronunciation will be stunted .
*** Graduate readings are my favorites as they range from beginner to advanced, increasing your vocabulary. Here t i enes suggestions publishers graded readers (graded readings ):
- Oxford Bookworms
- Oxford dominoes
- Cambridge
- Macmillan
- Penguin
- Richmond
- Mc Graw Hill
I specifically recommend, or for your interest, the following stories:
- “Deep trouble”
- “New Yorkers”
- Stories from the five towns
- “Love Story “
- “The Age of Inocence”
- “The Enemy”
- My Cousine Rachel ”
- Berlin Express ”
- “In the Shadow of the Mountain”
- “Jungle Love “
- The Way Home ”
- Trumpet Volutary
- “Four Weddings and a Funeral”
- “Wicked and Humorous Tales”
Tips on how to read r:
1. You and the book following the CD that accompanies it .
2. Skip the unknown words so as not to be constantly consulting the dictionary .
3. If one word aparec and repeatedly point it in a notebook sized to carry it with you go and review it when p ued as
4. In addition to the meaning, anot to the pronunciation of your air.
5. In this way you will learn vocabulary, writing and pronunciation.
6. M tos later he listens to the CD trying to understand it without the help of the book ; like this until you get bored .
7. Go to a new book and start again.
This system allows you to acquire a huge amount of vocabulary without memorizing long lists of words.
I have alternates do some private lessons with Monica, to make m to s pleasant and correct errors.
2 ) Check out different c Ursos to learn ing lés
A time that is udio on my own, busc or Internet new aid.
3) Get yourself a Language Exchange
After much searching I found the web www.mylanguageexchange.com.
Every day dozens of Britons are eager to learn Spanish.
No m to s to choose people whose profile we like and send them a e mail with our email address.
This is done through the website itself is free, but I recommend subscribing for a short time. It’s very cheap.
It is not right the first time, but it ends up forming a small group of good friends who end up getting to know “on the flesh”.
The desire to have more fluent conversations is a great incentive for the improvement of our English.
You should start exchanging emails so that each one corrects the other.
Then we move on to the voice conversation.
It is convenient that the Spanish of the “partner” is worse than our English. M just talking to s in the language m to s is known.
Better a partner with a basic level of Spanish, which we are forced to advise speaking English.
4) Read a lot, a lot, in English when you have more mastery of list ening and speaking.
Having an Amazon “Kindle” makes it easy to get off, “thrillers”, biographies, history or any other genre you like.
Gradually and in an entertaining way, without giving you account, you’llpermeating the language structure. I have been trying to read only in English for years. It works, I assure you.
The problem with the method described is that listening comprehension (“listening”) is neglected.
Hearing books recited by a reader is very different from conversational English.
When listening, I advise you not to try to identify the English words to translate them as they appear.
OLV Idate from the Spanish, leaving a blank mind, we must directly understand English.
It costs, of course it costs.
At one level m to s easy, also you can listen to the radio learning Inglés VOA (Voice of America).
Other options, (which I have not followed at the moment) are to watch English movies on CD.
Hearing the BBC etc has the disadvantage that you cannot repeat what you have heard to keep the sound of the phrases. It can be good as a test. Good luck! Luis Felipe Rodríguez *************
