Our Top 10 New Years Resolutions for Learning English

​Welcome back to the blog and a happy new year from the team at ABC! In England, it’s traditional to come up with some ‘new years resolutions’. These are goals that a person will set for themselves to achieve in the year ahead. A resolution might be to continue doing something that has served you well in the past, to stop doing something that hasn’t, or to start something completely new that you think will make your life better. A new year’s resolution, for example, might go something along the lines of ‘this year I am going to continue taking driving lessons so that I can pass my driving test.’ In this month’s blog, I am going to suggest ten specific new years resolutions that you can set yourself if you are learning English as a foreign language. These resolutions can be applied whether you are already a competent student of the English language, or if you’re just getting started:

1. Apps
​Get an app on your phone that focuses on language acquisition. Using a phone app means that you can do some learning on the go when you have a spare few minutes. My top picks for apps are ‘Duolingo’ and ‘Babbel’, both of which allow you to complete exercises in short bursts, meaning that they slot nicely into an already busy schedule. On Duolingo, you can set yourself a goal of minutes spent on the app every day, and with their short multiple choice quizzes, stories and translation exercises you’ll be working too quickly to get bored! On Babbel, the set up is similar, but it aims to help more with making conversation than grammar and vocabulary. 

2. Try the Food
You could have a fun evening by trying some English foods. This is a way to learn about parts of England besides just the language. It’s arguably a more relaxed way of learning something than taking lessons, and you might be surprised by how much vocabulary you acquire while you’re trying the foods. To get started, do some research on the foods that are traditional in England, and make a list of what you want to try. 

​3. Get a Pen Pal
It is a good idea to have a ‘pen pal’ ; someone who is a fluent speaker of English to write letters or emails to. They can help to correct your language directly if you ask, but also the act of writing in English to someone on a regular basis will help you to get better on your own as you will start to think in English more fluently. If you like, you could ask your pen pal to participate in a ‘language exchange’, where you both take turns writing in the other’s first language to be corrected. This way, both of you are gaining something from the arrangement.

4. Book a Course
By far the best way to achieve your language learning goals is to go on a course at a language school like ABC Languages. Our native-speaker English teachers teach small classes on interesting topics and push you out of your comfort zone to achieve your best results. Then, if you want to, you can take an exam arranged by us, giving you an English-language qualification to take away. We have full and part-time courses to suit adults of all abilities year round, and in the summer the whole family can learn together on our junior summer school which runs for nine weeks, for children aged 5+.

5. Watch a Movie
Another great way to learn English in a way that doesn’t feel like a lesson is to watch a movie or television series in the language. It’s lucky that most film and television is already in English, so you should be able to watch your favourites, which will help you to learn very quickly as you translate the storyline that you already know. ‘Friends’ is a great one for this, because everyone knows the plot line already and, because it’s funny, it won’t feel like an effort to learn as you watch. 

6. Read a Book
This might seem similar to resolution 5, but hear me out! Reading a book in another language is definitely trickier than watching movies because you have to get to grips with the grammar of the language much more. It is also a better way of learning for this reason. While movies and television can teach you how to speak, reading books will help you to write with better spelling and grammar. Like with the television, it might be a good idea to get a copy of a book you already know to read in English to help you on your way to understanding. Popular books to read to learn English include ‘Pride and Prejudice’ by Jane Austen and the ‘Harry Potter’ series by J.K. Rowling. 

7. Use Sticky Notes
When I was revising for my French and German exams at school, I used to write vocabulary that I needed to remember on sticky notes and stick them around the house in places I’d see them every day, like on the bathroom mirror. This really helped the words and their meanings to get into my head without me even thinking about it, and, as it’s a tried and tested method, I really think it will work for you too!

8. Read the News
If you make an effort to read the news coming out of the United Kingdom in English newspapers such as ‘The Guardian’ and ‘The Times’, then you are learning not only the language but also what’s going on in the country. It’s a way of keeping up to date while learning new vocabulary. 

9. Play Scrabble
​Whether you prefer to play on your smart device or on the actual game board, ‘Scrabble’ the board game is an excellent way of working on your English while having some competitive fun at the same time. With more points gained for the more complex words, you can show off your impressive English vocabulary and think on your feet to beat your competitors. 

10. Make your own Blog
My last resolution for you is to write your own blog in English, documenting your language learning journey. You could write about the books you’ve read, the foods you’ve tried, any tests you’ve taken, and if you come and take an English course with us, it would be great to see a blog post on how you found it! 

​That’s all of my 2020 resolutions for you, let us know in the comments section if you’re going to try some of them, and how your English language learning goes this year! 

Allegra Goodwin, Student Experience Manager