How to Fall Asleep Learning English - Part I

I moved to Los Angeles from Russia in 1996, wide-eyed and excited. Upon arrival I quickly realized how little English I knew. Although I studied English for five years in Russia and took many English courses, I could not handle even a simple conversation in English. I was terribly disappointed.

My first mission after arriving was to enroll in Van Nuys high school- a huge school with a massive campus housing fifteen thousand(!) students. It was surrounded by a 5 meter-high-fence. It looked more like the Guantanamo Bay prisoner camp than a high school. Now I had to enroll into this fine institution.

Van Nuys High School is massive! Highlighted in Red.
Source- Google Maps

Even for somebody born in the US, with excellent English and cultural knowledge, enrolling in high school was no easy task, it was a struggle with a fat bureaucratic behemoth.

The enrollment process involved talking to dozens of people- administrators, councilors, teachers, librarians and students... all without having any practical knowledge of English! The experience was terrifying and made me want to return to my home land.

Luckily, I somehow struggled through the enrollment process and managed to get in. This experience made me realize that I wasn't going to make it in the US unless I could communicate with Americans on equal terms-- freely and confidently. This was a huge motivation to learn English for me.

That same day I armed myself with a dictionary and a number phrase books thinking that it was all that it took to learn English. I checked out all the available English grammar books from the school library.

After spending a month learning English from the books, I realized that I was not making much progress. I was so bored that I often fell asleep while reading. The material was so dry and impractical. Although was getting plenty of sleep, my English was not improving. I felt discouraged and wanted to give up several times. There had to be a better way to learn.

I finally found a way to improve my English to the point where I could converse easily with the Americans. I will share this experience in my next blog post tomorrow.

Meanwhile, check out our project HumanEnglish where you can learn business English by communicating with professional trainers native English speakers from the US and UK.

Thanks much for reading and stay tuned!

English in Slippers - Learning English Online Free from Anxiety and Stress

Slippers

I'm writing this blog sitting at my home in Venice Beach wearing a pair of comfortable slippers. These slippers are magical-- wearing them gives me a sense of comfort and relaxation. I feel like I can work like this for days on end.

Studying subjects from calculus to English, throughout high school and college. I realized that I remember much better when I learn in a relaxed and comfortable environment.

For many busy business people short on time, traveling to the classroom through traffic is frustrating enough, but once you're there, speaking English in front of other people can often be stressful and embarrassing. Learners often give up learning English due to this inconvenience and stress. It doesn't have to be this way.

What's the solution? One way to stay motivated is to learn from the comfort of your home or office where you feel comfortable and relaxed.

As I researched the effects of the learning environment on retention and motivation, I discovered excellent work by Georgi Lozanov, a prominent Bulgarian educator and psychiatrist whose research formed the basis of of the Accelerated language learning theory. He discovered that a relaxed and comfortable environment helped many of students remember better and stay motivated.

At HumanEnglish we take the stress and anxiety out of your English learning experience. Busy executives and managers can learn business English online with qualified and experienced English trainers from the US and UK from the comfort of their homes and offices. We offer six business English courses that combine both the fun and interaction of learning with a real human with the benefits of learning from your home.

So, relax, slip on your comfy slippers and start making progress!

You can sign up for a free live business English lesson with our expert trainers at HumanEnglish.com today.