A wonderful way to practise listening you new language every day is through audio books.  And I don’t mean an audio version of your textbook, but an actual story.

As a lover of books and someone who has worked in libraries for many years, I was surprised it took me so long to discover audio books as a form of entertainment and education. Now I am hooked on them!

Audio books, which are also known as the spoken word, are normally voiced by actors who read clearly in a manner easy to understand; this is perfect for a language student.

Even if you don’t understand all of the words you can replay the audio over and over again chapter by chapter and write down those words that you don’t understand to check with your teacher later or look up in your dictionary.

Another suggestion would be to find a translation of a story that you are already familiar with so at least you know the plot.

Take the book with you when you travel each day or listen to the story while walking or making dinner. What a great way to practise every day!

By Vicky

Learning a new language can be very overwhelming in the beginning when your vocabulary is quite limited.  However, the excitement builds as you learn more and more words and can start to use them yourself.

Some quick and easy suggestions on how to improve you vocabulary on a daily basis includes:

Reading – Read anything that you can get your hands on; it doesn’t have to be a book. Magazines and graphic novels with lots of pictures can be really useful. You may not understand the word but will get a feeling for it through the pictures.

Writing – Write a simple story with the words that you already know and add pictures to help you associate the two. It doesn’t matter if the story is silly but it is fun to have a go and will definitely help you remember new words.

Listening – Try listening to the radio in the language of your choice (eg. BBC World Service), watch a movie or something fun like YouTube that can be spontaneous and harder to understand than a usual language learning CD.

Speaking – Practise your new vocabulary out loud by making up simple sentences and phrases with the words you have learnt. It doesn’t matter if the cat is the only one listening!

Remember, if you make it fun then you don’t feel like you are working so hard at studying.

By Vicky