Can you really teach yourself English in 5 minutes – is that possible? Yes! Read on and see what you can do in just a short time to improve your language skills. It requires a little bit of concentration, but anyone can focus for minutes, can’t they? Think about the last time you wasted 5 minutes (or more) looking at brainless stuff on Facebook. We all do it. So, yes, we can ALL focus on one thing for 5 minutes – the only thing that matters is how much you want to improve and become better at General English!
Ways to teach yourself English in 5 minutes
ONE – DESCRIBE YOUR SURROUNDINGS
Whatever you are doing, try to describe it in English. If you are on a bus, describe what you see: Example – the tall man wearing the baseball cap is riding his yellow bike, but he has stopped at the traffic lights and several pedestrians are crossing the road…. etc As you can see, there is a lot of vocabulary that you can use – an almost limitless amount of words!
TWO – WRITE SOME ENGLISH FLASH FICTION
Writing in English is usually the most difficult skill for language students. The way to improve is not to write boring long answers to textbook or Cambridge English exam questions – do something fun, i.e. Flash Fiction. This is a story, but VERY short. Me and my friend write stories that are 150 words long, but you can write a story of 50 words – whatever length you want. You can do this in 5 minutes. Keep your stories in a lovely little notebook and read them later – even more free English practice! Alternatively, write your flash story in your mother-tongue language first, then translate it quickly.
THREE – READ THE NEWS YOU ALREADY KNOW
Most big online newspapers around the world have the same international news stories… and they are almost identical. So, if you read about a sport event (World Cup football, Formula 1, Tennis etc) or a big disaster, in your own language first, you will understand virtually everything when you read it in an English newspaper online. You will see all the vocabulary that you already understand, PLUS you will see English grammar in action, which is really important for the language learning process.
