ESL Blogs

How can you spend your time in the best way when you are trying to learn a new language? 

Which of the four language skills are most important; Listening, Speaking, Reading or Writing?

First, let's look at how people acquire language after they are born.
Listening-  Children learn their language on their own from listening and they make little sounds as they hear others speak. They hear their own sounds and can try to copy the sounds others make.

Speaking-  After listening to everything that is said around them for a long time, children start speaking, so that they can carry on conversations. At first it is to make their needs known better than just crying. I am thirsty, I am hungry, My ear hurts, are all better ways to get relief than just screaming.

After speech is learned, some people might never read or write. Some languages have still never been written and on a simple basis speech can work well for them because everything they need can be communicated by speech.

Reading and writing are things that we have to be taught. We do not naturally pick them up like we do speech. Someone has to show us the symbols that our language uses to stand for sounds.

Reading-   Reading is important because it is how we can learn things from people we will never meet. These may be people who are no longer alive but have some very important things to teach us.

Writing-    Writing is the way that you can communicate with people you have never met. Things that you write might even be read hundreds of years after you are gone. Your grandchildren might be able to read messages from you on cached EC pages years from now.

Which skills are most important for you?

Listening is the most important skill for English communication if you want to speak to people and to understand when they speak to you.  Just like the baby, effective speaking comes after listening.

Speaking should be your next most important skill. Your English training and your practice should emphasize speaking and listening where you can do that. Those are the basic skills you need for communication.

Reading is a way to greatly expand your learning once the very basics are mastered. Just like your own language, reading in English is the way that you learn new words. It also lets you see how sentences and paragraphs should be put together.

Writing is the best way to put the things you have learned into practice.  Writing blogs and starting discussions are very important for you to keep moving upward with your language skills. Beginners should write simple things but still use proper grammar and spelling. Everyone above beginner level should try to write more complicated blogs. Again, you must get in the habit of using correct English.

EnglishClub has countless ways for you to practice all of these skills. I think we offer the best opportunities for writing. That is why I always encourage members to write. You have to crawl before you can walk and you will fall a few times as you learn. It is the same with writing. Forget your fear and just write something.    When you do, please tell me so I can read it.