How to remember English as quickly as possible?

How to restore knowledge on your own?

Let's face it, recovering the knowledge of a foreign language that you have been diligently trying to forget for several years is not an easy task, but possible. Get ready for this to take time. It is difficult to give clear deadlines, since the result directly depends on your efforts. In this case, you will have to perform all the functions of a teacher for yourself. Self-organization and discipline must be at a high level. You have to do homework, deal with theory and work it out in practice.

Identifying problem areas is the first and most important step. It will help you find lexical and grammatical catchy topics. Indeed, in this case, we do not need to repeat everything, from cover to cover of the textbook. This is the difference for those who knew, but forgot; and those who did not know and forgot. Use online testing from Cambridge. It is better to start with basic levels and gradually move to higher ones. Thus, not a single gap will go unnoticed. As you check your results, mark the topics that are wrong to move on to the next step.

The choice of topics will help create a unique individual program. In it, you can successfully combine grammar and new words. For example, if you forgot conditional sentences, combine them with the topic Environment and tell us your assumptions about what will happen to the planet if we continue to pollute it.

It is important to have a clear plan of action and write down topics for each day of class. Create a schedule to follow and save time on lesson planning. Follow the principle of sequence, from simple to complex. Otherwise, questions will not decrease, but grow like a snowball. This can be seen in a simple example. What's the point of taking on Present Continuousif you don't remember the meaning of using the verb to be?

Repetition of rules and reading of examples does not make sense without practice. Keep this in mind when planning your program. Moreover, each skill implies different tasks for practice.

Grammar begins with drilling or exercises to understand its application in context. As a rule, such tasks involve opening brackets, choosing the correct option and practicing the correct word order in a sentence. This clear visual outline is important for the next step, grammar-to-speech.

Listening combines many details, without which the knowledge of vocabulary and grammar will become useless.

The most effective listening comprehension exercises:

• dictation;
• filling in gaps;
• retelling;
• voicing characters based on the scene from the video;
• answers on questions.

Thanks to these exercises, you will begin to recognize the grammar you have learned in real speech, improve your pronunciation and spelling.

Replenishment of vocabulary involves constant familiarity with different situations and contexts, as well as practice. There are many ways to learn new words and phrases. But there is nothing better than using them in speech. Write questions about the topic. Imagine that you are interviewing and giving an interview at the same time. Answer using new phrases and record your answers on a voice recorder. If possible, listen and note what grammatical and lexical mistakes you made in order to avoid them in the future.

Spoken English is impossible without practice. In this case, try to do a little retelling every day about what movie you saw or how your day at work was. While you do this, you can pay attention to the necessary grammar and vocabulary.

Repetition is the final stage of working out a topic. Learning a lot of English words or rules is not a problem. But remembering and using them in practice is a completely different story. It is not necessary to repeat the topic like a multiplication table in school, because the main condition for the whole process is to have fun. Therefore, the repetition is a rather pleasant and easy stage in comparison with all the previous ones.

Creating a language environment

Lack of regular practice has a negative effect on memory, especially when learning a language. Fortunately, there are pleasant ways to remember English after a long pause. It is very important to find something to your liking, which will not be a burden and will be able to maintain your level on an ongoing basis.

If you love reading books, then start doing it in English. This not only develops vocabulary, but also allows you to get acquainted with the different contexts of its use. Choose a genre that suits your knowledge. For example, reading classical literature from the 19th century will not always be a joy, as there are a large number of words of that time according to the context. Better pay attention to detective stories or novels.

Do not neglect listening to songs in English. However, if earlier you did not delve into the text, now you should pay close attention to it. Find the lyrics to your favorite song online and sing along. So you can plunge into modern English, which, unfortunately, you will not find in textbooks.

Another way to get acquainted with iconic expressions and slang is to watch movies and TV shows in the original. Modern services offer a huge choice depending on preferences. Thrillers, romantic comedies or "sitcoms" on a narrow subject related to medicine or law. All this can significantly improve your knowledge of vocabulary.

Tim Ferris Method

The famous author of the book "How to Work 4 Hours a Week" shared a scheme on how to restore a large amount of information in memory in a short time. He made this methodical plan for himself when he went to Germany on a press tour. He wanted to communicate in German, but before the trip, he realized that due to a long break, he was having difficulty speaking. Many took his scheme as a basis and successfully transferred it to other languages. It works on the condition that before the break the person had a high level of proficiency. What is it?

Tim claims that you can refresh and remember the forgotten in 4 weeks, or even less, according to this scheme.

The first week 2 hours daily watching movies in the original with subtitles.

On the third day, you need to connect reading, which needs to be given 30 minutes in the morning and evening.

To recover basic conversational phrases, he studied a conversational guide every 45 minutes with a break of 15 minutes.

After arriving, he continued to read daily, including grammar and vocabulary references, in order to make sure that the words used were correct.

Starting from the third week, Ferris connected the daily repetition of words using flashcards. He studied 30-50 words daily and used them at every opportunity in a conversation.

This method is not without meaning, especially if there is an important event for which you need to prepare in a few weeks. However, conversational directories have not been popular for a long time, YouTube has. This is a more successful method, you can pay attention to the pronunciation and repeat after the speaker.

Conclusion

The presence of free time will be an absolute plus, but still does not guarantee that you will remember everything forgotten in 3 days. Therefore, it is important to set deadlines and goals. According to your schedule, you will be able to control the process of studying and reviewing the desired topics. As we have already found out, the process of learning English is endless, and it is very important not to lose skill in this matter. After all, breaking, as you know, is easier than building.

In order to follow the plan that we have revealed in this article to the maximum, we recommend reducing extraneous factors:

• Try to turn off your phone while studying so as not to be distracted.
• Don't combine the two. Watching the series and “solving” grammar exercises require concentration.
• Don't forget to take notes.

All of the above methods allow you to quickly recall forgotten knowledge of English. But as we have already found out, each skill requires separate attention. And despite the fact that they are all connected in one way or another with the colloquial, we cannot combine them. That is why it is important to have an individual plan, according to which you can devote time to each skill evenly.

Many people decide to take up teaching English because of this problem. They do not want to forget the language, but what if not work motivates them to constantly be aware of the latest news and keep themselves in good shape? Teachers are regular students who take not only language courses, but also methodological ones.

If you speak high English at a high level and want to help people learn this language, then we recommend taking the online TEFL / TESOL. Thanks to him, you will learn lexical subtleties, why literal translation is harmful when studying and how to properly present vocabulary and grammar to students. Follow the link to get the opportunity to improve your knowledge and get a new profession with a 50% discount.

To constantly maintain knowledge at the proper level, you need to follow the golden rule - have fun. And then the study will seem to you a pleasant hobby, and not another challenge.

We would love to know your opinion on this topic in the comments.