My way to learn English
"Pump it from the side, pump it upside down,
Or we can pump it from the back and the front"
(c) Pitbull feat T-pain
I think there exists only two general ways to study English:
1. By mental effort (“ok, he uses “had” to express the past perfect tense and it means…” etc.)
2. By deep dive into English environment (natural way).
Most courses uses the first way. Teachers tell us what does it means, why I should use some forms etc. Sometime we listen quite boring soundtracks (which we never want to listen out of classroom).
The second way completely available only in English language countries. But I know a method “Effortless English” which uses A.J. Hoge. His point “Listening and speaking”. He tells stories which students should listen again, again and again. And try repeating by own words. He doesn't explain rules, his way only memorize phrase patterns. He tell a story a few times. In past, in present, in future etc. It helps to memorize the difference.
Repeat stories is very important. Because after 2 weeks we remember only a part:
10% from that read
20% from that watched
50% from that heard and watched
70% from that spoke
90% from that spoke and did
I think the method “Effortless English” is very well, but isn't enough. His stories are too simple, he speaks too correctly. And he uses a ear channel only, without a visual channel.
So that I downloaded a lot of famous serials (“The breaking bad”, “Game of thrones”, “The Americans” etc.) and watched it with subtitles. At first time it was very difficult. After each sentence I hit a pause button and read a text. More than half words I translated with google.translate.com. I was shocked how many words I don't know! After some time my vocabulary grown up and I used the google less and less. Approximately after 100 series I can watch some serials without the pause button and understand a most part of sentences. And very important that I enjoy by movie’s actions during learning. Of course, sometime they speak too fast and I lose connection. But I keep a general understanding.
But it's not enough, I need more speaking practice, of course. But where can I get a friend for long conversations? I don't know.