English Teacher, Hello! English Club Leader. 🇺🇸 🇻🇳

7 minute read

Learn English from Teacher Sean

Here you’ll find my advice for beginner, intermediate and advanced students. Don’t forget to go to often. Contact me if you’d like to add anything.

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BEGINNER STUDENTS

INTERMEDIATE STUDENTS

Get better at proununciation with YouGlish

When you see a new word, you might not know how to pronounce it. Here’s how to get better at prounciation with YouGlish.

  1. Go to YouGlish
  2. Click US for United States (American pronunciation)
  3. Search for a word
  4. Look for a video that you can understand (the word should be said slowly and clearly)
  5. Listen to the word
  6. Repeat the word (say it out-loud)
  7. Copy how the word is said in the video until you sound like the American

Get better at listening with LyricsTraining

Do you want to get better at listening? LyricsTraining can help you. You will listen to a song. As you are listening to the song, you see the lyrics (words of the song). Some of the words are missing and you have to complete the lyrics. You can do the same thing with movies and TV shows. Get better at listening with the LyricsTraining website or app.

Improve your listening skills with Elllo

  1. Go to Elllo
  2. Click Audio Lessons
  3. Look for Search and Sort (on the right)
  4. Click Level
  5. Click Level and choose your level (click search)
  6. Choose an audio lesson
  7. DON’T LOOK AT THE SCRIPT!
  8. Listen to the audio
  9. Write what you hear (pause after each sentence)
  10. Check if what you wrote is correct by looking at the script (AFTER you’re done listening and writing)
  11. Learn the vocabulary from the lesson (click Vocab)
  12. Take the quiz (click Quiz)

Just for fun

Websites and apps

Quizlet – Flashcards that help you learn and remember vocabulary.

Language Guide – Explore the world of English vocabulary in a sound integrated guide. Touch or place your cursor over an object, word, or phrase to hear it pronounced aloud. Prove your vocabulary mastery by completing challenges.

Oxford Online English – An online English school with weekly free videos.

VOA Learning English – Learn American English and much more with captioned news reports that are read at a slower speed.

MicroEnglish – This website provides free listening exercises to help you improve your listening skills, practice with different accents, learn new vocabulary and improve your grammar. The micro-listening exercises provide quick, intensive listening practice which focusses on understanding individual sounds, words and phrases. Read this post to learn more about it.

Randall’s ESL Cyber Listening Lab – Activities at Randall’s ESL Cyber Listening Lab focus on everyday English comprehension skills at three levels based on content, voices, vocabulary, and natural speed. A combination of adult, teenage, and children’s voices are included.

PlainEnglish – Improve your listening and vocabulary with slower-speed English lessons.

Listening Practice – A Youtube playlist for lower level students.

British Council – Practice and improve your English grammar with these fun videos. There are online exercises and worksheets to help you.

Lingua – English texts for beginners to practice reading and comprehension online and for free.

Duolingo – A game that teaches you English.

ELSA Speak – ELSA is the world’s best way to improve your English speaking skills. Pronounce English like an American through real-world conversations on ELSA.

Mojo Family Fun – A sentence building card game to help players learn correct English grammar and increase vocabulary.

Webcomics: read comics online in English

  • Pepper & Carrot – You can read this webcomic in Vietnamese or English.
  • Tove – Tove is a big sister who must look after her younger brother, Dag. She probably has superpowers?
  • The Creepy Case Files of Margo Maloo – A webcomic about kids exploring the big city and the monsters they find.
  • Webcomic List – A list of more than 40 webcomics.

Change your phone, TV or game to English

Have you tried changing the language of your phone, TV or game to English? If you like playing mobile games or computer games, try changing the language of the game to English. If the game is multiplayer, try talking to other players in English. Try it for a week and see how you like it.

Remember words with sticky notes

You can use sticky notes to help you remember new words. Divide the sticky note into three parts. Write the English word, the Vietnamese translation and an example sentence in English. Put the sticky notes on your bedroom wall. This is important because if the words are in your notebook, you won’t see them. Read the sticky notes every day. Once before you go to sleep and again when you wake up. Change the words on them often.

ADVANCED STUDENTS

Use English as a tool to accomplish a goal

Many students learn English as just another one of their subjects at school. But you don’t have to learn English this way. You can think about learning English in a different way. You can use English as a tool to complete a goal. For example, your goal is to study abroad. You use English as a tool to complete the goal of studying abroad. If you think about it this way, learning English becomes more rewarding. You are learning a skill which you will use for the rest of your life.

A bird that has a fear of flying and other funny videos

Answer English questions while watching short films, movie trailers and videos. Find videos that are the right difficulty by choosing your level (it’s in-between “Lesson type” and “Student type”. Watch (and learn) Fear of Flying or Learning Languages.

Practice speaking English with foreigners online

Speaky and Tandem are language exchange apps. They let you speak English with people from all over the world. When using Tandem, the person you’re chatting with can correct your message. You’ll see the mistakes in what you wrote (and the corrections). This feature lets you learn from your mistakes.

Webcomics: read comics online in English

  • Pepper & Carrot – You can read this webcomic in Vietnamese or English.
  • Tove – Tove is a big sister who must look after her younger brother, Dag. She probably has superpowers?
  • The Creepy Case Files of Margo Maloo – A webcomic about kids exploring the big city and the monsters they find.
  • Webcomic List – A list of more than 40 webcomics.

Use songs, movies and TV shows to get better at listening

Do you want to get better at listening? LyricsTraining can help you. You will listen to a song. As you are listening to the song, you see the lyrics (words of the song). Some of the words are missing and you have to complete the lyrics. You can do the same thing with movies and TV shows. Get better at listening with the LyricsTraining website or app.

Get quick answers to questions from real people

HiNative is an app and a website. You can ask any question about the English language. A real person will answer. Ask about grammar, pronunciation (by recording your voice) or anything you want.

Remember words with sticky notes

You can use sticky notes to help you remember new words. Divide the sticky note into three parts. Write the English word, the Vietnamese translation and an example sentence in English. Put the sticky notes on your bedroom wall. This is important because if the words are in your notebook, you won’t see them. Read the sticky notes every day. Once before you go to sleep and again when you wake up. Change the words on them often.

Change your phone, TV or game to English

Have you tried changing the language of your phone, TV or game to English? If you like playing mobile games or computer games, try changing the language of the game to English. If the game is multiplayer, try talking to other players in English. Try it for a week and see how it goes.

Talk to yourself in the shower and other tips from Sid

Sid Efromovich can speak 7 languages. In this video he shares five excellent tips for learning languages. It’s also available with Vietnamese subtitles.

Learning a language? Speak it like you’re playing a video game

Marianna Pascal shows how the secret to speaking a new language with confidence is all about attitude, not ability. Her TEDx talk has Vietnamese subtitles.

How to get better at writing

Google Docs automatically suggests grammar corrections as you’re typing. Try Cambridge English Write & Improve, Hemmingway Editor and Grammarly too.

More ways to improve your English skills

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