Do you know what the role of your character and behavior is, in the process of learning foreign languages? In order for you to take your advantages and disadvantages into account, to correct your program and to start learning the right way, greatpaper.co.uk writers tell you about how introverts and extraverts should learn English.
Tips for Extroverts
- Speak Everything You Learn. Extroverts consume the info while speaking the best, so this tip is very effective. When you read, study grammar or new lexicon, you better try to speak all the text (constructions and words) aloud. If speaking to yourself seems to be strange for you, retell new info to your friends.
- Choose the Tempo of Your Studying. Reading and writing are not the strongest features of any extrovert, these people feel it difficult to concentrate on something for a long time. Your studying will bring the result if you pick short periods of time and make breaks often. Pomodoro technique is what can help you do everything right. According to this technique, during first 25 minutes you can study new things best of all, and then it is required to make a 5-minute break. To study effectively, make 4 repeats with longer breaks after each one.
- Visit Speaking Clubs. Meetings of those who want to talk often have friendly and warm atmosphere. It is rare when you need to pay “entry fee”: it is enough to pay with some cookies for tea. You will not only receive a priceless experience of foreign language talking, but will find new friends as well.
- Take Part in Exchange Programs. Today, this is one of the most affordable ways to meet native English speakers and get into the English-speaking environment. Live conversation is a good alternative for language courses, because you naturally consume and remember new information better while interacting with people speaking English. If such programs are “not yours”, but you still love travelling, then practice coach-surfing: there always will be partners for long and interesting talks.
- Listen. You feel it more comfortable to talk, not to listen, but still do not forget to develop your skill of perceiving English speech through listening. Watch short videos, listen to sons. Try to increase time spent on looking/listening to them: if you plan to pass English tests, there is a long listening part in them.
- Do not Get Distracted. Turn off a TV-set, background music, put your phone away. Extroverts are easy to be distracted, so you need to minimize all possible “temptations”.
Tips for Introverts
- Hire a Teacher. Group classes can make you feel discomfort, so your personal teacher is a perfect possibility for you. Teacher will concentrate attention on you only, will put questions that are to make you speak English. Introverts feel comfortable while speaking with their “Sensei” tete-a-tete (no matter if it is a personal meeting or online lessons). If you still want to get socialized a bit, find a small group to attend lessons with, 3-4 persons.
- Talk to Yourself. Introverts easily deal with grammar tasks and understand the language through listening. But these skills are not enough when it comes to direct conversations: an introvert usually feels shy to speak when there are people around. But you can think aloud while being alone, can’t you? If you like reading, try retelling the plot to yourself. There exist special fiction books for people learning English. There are questions after each text you can answer aloud. If you enjoy videos or music, repeat phrases after the speaker or singer. Recordings with subtitles will be extremely useful here, too. You can spend much time looking into the display, so this way of learning won’t bore you.
- Do One-Track Exercises: it is better for you to avoid experimenting with methods. If you can make the same job for a long time, grammar exercises or tasks to increase your lexicon are for you. Introverts feel it easy to “polish” grammar constructions and to remember new words if tasks are repeatable.
- Study with Friends. If there are people who study English in your environment, go in for studying together. A company of people you know will help you in speaking: you’ll have common interests and topics for discussions.
- Look for Similarities. Introverts feel it more difficult to learn new words than extroverts so try to make this process more interesting. For instance, try looking for similarities between English and your native tongue.
- Do not Be Afraid of Mistakes. One of the main reasons for introverts not to speak English a lot is their fear to make a mistake. Do not think how to say something, just say it.
Of course, there is no any perfect receipt of language learning success. In order to find your own, you need to get better all the time. You’ll make it!