From what age and how to teach a child English. Learning is not a burden, but a joy

Vitaly Bykov, founder of the creative agency Red Keds.

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Vitaly Bykov

Now I will tell you how I wasted four years of my life and tens of thousands of dollars. The text is intended for people who do not know English and are going to learn it. And also for those who want to pity me.

About me and my language

All my life I had no motivation to learn English. Around the age of 25, I started traveling several times a year and thought it would be nice to be able to speak English.

I must say right away that to travel abroad a couple of times a year, you don’t need to know English at all. That is, if you are going to learn a language in order to book a hotel while traveling and choose how you fry eggs, you should not waste time and money.

So, at first I thought that it would be nice to know English for travel and for work (I started to get the first expat clients). This is a rather weak motivation, but still I did two approaches.

At the age of 27-28 I tried to learn English with a beautiful young girl named Tamila. And then - with an expat Peter, who was not a teacher, but rather just a Briton who earned extra money by talking in English. Both of these cases discouraged my desire to learn the language for a long time.

Then I turned 34, and I realized that learning English is the most accessible and best way for personal development. This became my basic motivation.

Secondary reasons also appeared: I would like to try to live and work abroad in the future. In addition, I wanted to communicate with foreign colleagues, read articles on advertising in the original language and understand the “language of the enemy”: if a war broke out and I was taken prisoner, what would I do then? In general, there was a strong and reliable motivation.

I started looking for options on how to quickly and painlessly learn English. What did we have in stock? A couple of hours a week, money, the desire to learn all of English in a few months, laziness, laziness, laziness.

The first steps

I decided to study English individually, and the special condition was that I had absolutely no time for homework. So, I started in November 2013 and planned to speak English with the ease of the British royal family by the spring of 2014.

Friends handed the teacher to the Speak Up company. After six months of training, two or three hour-long sessions a week, it became clear to me that it would take me a little more time to move from the Pre-pre-beginner level to the Pre-beginner level.

I began to look for other methods that would not complicate my life. I still had a lot of laziness and a desire to learn English. I could deprive my children of toys and spend this money on classes. At the family council, I decided that we would spend even more money on English. With one condition: no independent study, only hardcore.

I was suitable for any technique where you do not need to learn on your own. Therefore, “English in a dream”, “English in tablets”, “English on the radio”, “English on the cinema” - I began to look for such methods that I could spend my personal time with a teacher.

Pronunciation

Thus, in 2014, I found the English Film School. To have more motivation, I tried to drag my friends to the courses. It turned out that everything except [ Managing Director of SOK] Misha Brodnikov, they know English a little less than perfectly.

Therefore, we went to the first free lesson together with Misha. There should be a picture: expectations and reality. I thought that we would watch a movie, then have fun, and English itself will be absorbed into the brain.

It turns out that (here I discovered it for the first time) there are many methods of learning a language. They are all very different: some focus on grammar, some on the environment you are in.

I was very interested in the method of learning English through cinema. What was interesting was that pronunciation depends on the skill of your tongue muscles. For the correct pronunciation of many English sounds, the muscles need to be trained like in the gym.

I never thought about it. That is, it is logical, but it doesn’t occur to you that you can learn English, starting with training the language as a human body?

What does it give in the end? If you can pronounce sounds correctly, then you can understand much more. But it was sad that the study of English in cinema in the new methodology was built mainly on independent work.

You watch an excerpt from the film, repeat the words after the characters, you are corrected, then you translate this excerpt, then write out the words with errors in pronunciation and make cards for learning translation and pronunciation.

I studied with an excellent teacher Polina Ponomareva for a year and a half. She explained to me an important idea: if you speak correctly, you understand better. At least I feel like I've made some serious progress in pronunciation in a year and a half.

So, I have two teachers. One taught me from the classic Murphy textbooks, and the second taught me from cinema with an original method for learning pronunciation.

How to start learning English

Six months later, it turned out that the next level of language proficiency was like walking to the South Pole for me. There was a feeling of hopelessness, melancholy, depression, suicidal thoughts.

All this meant that the level of Pre-pre-pre-pre-beginner was very far for me. I started looking on the Internet for other methods, reading books about learning English. But I still didn't do any homework.

Here, I must give it my due, I went on principle and did not waste a single minute on independent work. Except that I did a little work on the Duolingo app before bed. But even there I did not advance further than the test. By this point, I had not spent much on training: about 50 thousand old-time rubles (that is, $ 1.5 thousand).

Eric Gunnemark's book The Art of Learning Languages ​​changed my attitude to English. Not even the book itself, but the title of the book, well, one chapter about the time it takes to learn English.

Here is a small list of terms that can be called realistic. It is built for learners who are starting at a "zero level" and want to achieve a minimum level of conversational proficiency.

All the figures given are for Swedes, but it is not difficult to make adjustments based on the reader's native language (for this, it is enough to take into account the “transparency factor”, which was discussed at the end of the previous chapter).

So, spending at least 120 hours a month learning a language:

German can be mastered in two to three months;

English - in three to four months;

French, Spanish or Italian - in five to six months;

Russian - in eight to ten months.

If you can study the language for less than 120 hours per month, then the above figures must be multiplied by at least three.

Practical experience shows that a language cannot be learned in a shorter period of time. To a large extent, the terms also depend on how much time a person has to practice speaking skills.

Excerpt from The Art of Learning Languages

So, despite the fact that I am not a Swede, I assumed that Gunnemark's advice is not entirely fair to the Russians. Because the Russian language belongs to the Balto-Slavic branch of the Indo-European language family, and English and Swedish belong to the Germanic one.

Thus, I considered that it is easier for a Swede to learn English than Russian. And of course, there are personal characteristics of perception, the ability to learn, perseverance, and so on.

All this gave me the understanding that if I want to learn at least a little English, then I need to spend no less time than a Swede. That is more than four hours a day.

For me it was a dead end. It’s not that I didn’t have four hours a day: I spent twenty-five on Facebook. But where do you get the patience, willpower and desire to spend four hours a day learning English?

And if it takes twice as much as a Swede, then it takes me eight months of four hours a day to "reach the minimum level of spoken language."

How? How to learn English for four hours a day when there are so many other interesting things around: a sofa to lie on, a laptop to look at, food to eat, friends to chat. I started throwing like a hunted hamster in a cage. I began to look for a way to increase the number of hours of studying English.

language carrier

In 2015, I started taking lessons from a native speaker for an hour and a half a week. And he switched from group English training in cinema to individual. So in my best weeks of school, I worked out ten hours a week without sacrificing sleep, food, social media, and other things.

My teacher, Manjit Singh Mann, is a unique person. None of my teachers worked with me for as long as he did. I still don't know why he keeps coming to me.

Maybe he just doesn't have other students. Kidding. The worst thing about our teaching is that I stick to the principle of not doing my homework.

Therefore, Manjit can talk to me about the same thing every week, without worrying that I will remember at least something. Thus, I got three teachers, and I was able to bring the study of the language to a maximum of seven to ten hours of study. And my expenses for all teachers by that time had already approached the mark of $ 5 thousand a year.

English in the environment

In general, I realized that it was enough to pull the strap by the tail into a long box, and decided to go abroad. I bought a ticket, packed some clothes and ran out of the house towards England. Believe me, it may be easy for you, but for me, a 36-year-old man, it is not so easy for no reason to go abroad to learn English.

Understand, okay, there is a family there, but it also means that you need to study. Like at school: do homework, live in an unknown place. You can't look in the refrigerator at night. What is it like to live abroad?

And who do I leave it all to? Who will watch series for me? In general, it is very difficult to change the way that has developed over the years. After all, I even have a place on the couch at home.

So, since November 2013, I have been actively learning English. I had three teachers, some good advice, TV shows with and without subtitles, the Duolingo app, wanting to learn English, and not wanting to do homework. There is nothing more helpless than not wanting to do homework.

Choosing a place of study

I identified several principles according to which I had to choose a place of study. Firstly, it is very important to me that it is inexpensive. And due to the fact that this concept is incompatible with the ruble exchange rate, the choice was quite difficult.

The second principle in learning (many will also be surprised) is to learn Received Pronunciation, British normal pronunciation. The third principle was the absence of Russian people in the environment when I was studying. This idea was inspired by Manjit. I've been with him for over a year now and trust him completely.

Therefore, the major capitals of the world fell away for me. It seemed very sad to me. Actually, going through different options, I settled on two. I had two offers: from the Maltese school of English International House Malta-Gozo and from a private teacher from the English city of Tavistock, Richard Hamer.

The International House school offered me the following. Either practice one week in a group and then three weeks individually, or every day both in a group and individually.

The first option, proposed by the head of the school, was somewhat more convenient for teachers, so as not to break classes. In the second, I would study for an hour and a half in a group, and then three hours individually. But in this case, I would skip half the group session. Education at school cost about 418 thousand rubles a month.

Richard suggested that I study five hours a day individually with three different teachers. Education in his school cost about 360 thousand rubles a month. The cost of both options included meals and accommodation, excluding transfers, flights and visas.

I had to turn down International House because they offered to study with Australians or Americans. This was contrary to my second principle - to learn Received Pronunciation. Well, I didn’t want to leave the extra 60 thousand rubles in Malta.

Therefore, the choice fell on classes with Richard. Looking ahead, I want to say that the month of study did not give me the transition from one level of English to another. That is, if I had Elementary, then I still have it.

But it helped me remove a lot of psychological barriers, understand how foreigners speak in the environment and learn how to use my vocabulary to express thoughts clearly.

I could have made more progress if I had not continued to communicate in Russian after learning with my colleagues on Skype, stopped reading Russian articles and watched and listened to content in English more. That is, if you are going abroad, then plan to completely disconnect from your native language.

So, I was to live for a month in a small town in the west of England in Tavistock. In order not to talk about this city for a long time, I will simply explain to you. There are 11,000 people living in Tavistock and nothing happens there.

Family life

Richard took care of the entire organization of my studies and travel (except for visa and plane tickets). The cost of training included a transfer from the airport, accommodation, meals and even an excursion program.

One of my big fears was not understanding what it means to live in a family. I have never lived with other people's families, never studied abroad, and in my youth did not participate in programs like Work and Travel.

I was greatly encouraged by Manjit, who said that one of his students somehow got into a family that gave him a separate table for breakfast and gave him a grapefruit every day. All in all, it was scary.

What does it mean to live in a family? Can you burp at the table? What if they offer to sleep together in the same bed and refuse it indecently? Will you need to work for your family? What does family even mean? Are there many relatives in this family? Doesn't that mean I have to live with each of them?

I was scared. No, it was panic. What to do? I began to study the history of England. In any incomprehensible situation, study the history of the country you are going to, much will become clear.

And if it does not, then at least there will be something to discuss with its citizens. After I watched The Kings and Queens of England from the BBC, it became clear to me that I was going to a not very friendly environment. At best, death awaited me, and at worst, I had to change my orientation. Although it may be the other way around.

I'm lucky. All month I lived in a family of the most beautiful people. I was hosted by elderly pensioners Jen and Robert. In England, for older pensioners, life is just beginning. So my new family was very active.

The hostess worked in the store four days a week, and the owner hunted, looked after the garden, and bred bees. I lived in a separate room and slept in a double bed. Every morning I could choose what to eat for breakfast (usually the British eat a sandwich with bread, eating bread), I was supplied with a knapsack of groceries for lunch, and when I came back from class in the evening, the whole family gathered for dinner at a warm Panasonic lamp flat kinescope .

In a month I recovered five kilograms. Maybe fifty, though, I'm not sure. Almost every weekend my family took me to nature. We went to the abbey, to the beach, to see the ponies, and to the prison museum.

The prison museum - that was a warning, as far as I understood. After all, Jen was a police officer by profession. And the owner is a butcher. And it's not a nickname.

Training at Tavistock

Five days a week I studied English for five hours a day. It is difficult for me to convey the feelings I experienced. In the second week, I wanted to drop everything, saddle a Dartmouth pony and gallop off into the woods. Fortunately, there was a forest nearby, belonging to the prince.

By the third week, I resigned myself and accepted all the hardships of fate. I had three teachers. Actually, Richard himself and two women named Sarah. Yes, they shared the same name. And, as it turned out, they did not know each other. If not for the three teachers, I would definitely have ridden on a Dartmoor pony into the forest.

Richard was a very consistent and patient teacher. He has a good sense of humor and incredible erudition. Previously, he worked in the aviation industry. He knows several languages ​​and continues to learn new ones.

The second teacher named Sarah Scott is a very creative woman. She haunted me, coming up with homework for me, crossword puzzles, riddles, various exercises.

It was very interesting because I was constantly switching to different levels of erudition and learning about different things. In my usual session with Sarah Scott, I could learn about different breeds of birds, Richard Branson's business, Australia and its shipwrecks, Nelson Mandela and his struggles.

My third teacher (let's just call her Sarah) offered me a fun game. For three weeks we were solving Tavistock's problems from the point of view of an advertising agency.

I was preparing a presentation for the mayor of the city on how we can explain to the residents his decision to build about five hundred new houses in the fields near the city. Since they don’t have their own Navalny, it was a simple task for me.

What did I get

I still do not understand how I was able to decide on this experience. Madness has conquered old age, laziness and natural inertia. But if this experience had not happened to me, then I probably could have tried to learn English for a few more years.

What did I take away from the training? I do not need to write here that all this is false. I judge only on the basis of my experience, employment, intensity, receptivity, and so on.

• To move from one level of English to another, you need to spend three to four months abroad.
• It is necessary to minimize communication in the native language, reading and looking. It is better to meditate, play sports.
• We still need more contacts and connections. Maybe it's worth living in a small town of 200-400 thousand people. This is still a hypothesis. The convenience of Tavistock, for example, was that from there you could get to Plymouth in an hour by bus.
• In order not to slow down the pace of development, you need to study at least eight to ten hours a week. And ideally - four hours a day.

The result of this training was that I completely got rid of the fear of communicating in English with strangers and spent about 500 thousand rubles.

Good deal. The situation was aggravated by the fact that in January-February 2016 the rate of the pound sterling against the ruble began to jump, and I managed to buy £7,000 at the rate of 130 rubles. Now the pound costs about 80 rubles. I've always been a good businessman.

But to be honest, it was the most powerful test for my brain. If it wasn't for the fact that I gained 15 kilos in a month, I would be the happiest English learner in the world. I understand that not all of my readers have weight related to learning. For me it is directly related. If I don't eat, then I don't study. And if I study, then I eat.

As they say at marketing conferences - life has changed

In the second half of 2016, my life changed dramatically, and there was not enough time to study English. Priorities have changed, but the desire remains. I needed to maintain the intensity of the classes and maintain the level of the language.

On the other hand, I needed visible results. Working with private teachers did not contribute to this. But to be honest, the teacher who taught me the structure profitably married a German.

I got tired of the other one, and our meetings became rare, like a change of presidents in Russia. Another teacher got pregnant not from me and decided to give birth, not teach. Which is quite debatable, but there is no arguing about tastes. There was a good old Briton who did not give up, God knows why.

I decided to focus on three scenarios.

• Continue studying with an expat.
• Find a club.
• Once a year I go to study abroad, no matter what it costs me.

So I went into 2017 with plans to join an English club, go to LA to go to Kaplan school, and continue my studies with an expat who still put up with me. By this point, my total expenses since November 2013 had approached the $40,000 mark, including a trip to Tavistock.

Kaplan

Kaplan was recommended to me by Boris Goncharov, the most famous investor on the US West Coast. I was seduced not by the opportunity to study in the city where all the music videos in the world are filmed, but by Boris's promise to live with him for free. Well, as promised, so promised.

Kaplan is an international school with offices in various American cities and countries. Their pricing system is quite funny and depends on the country you are coming from.

If from Korea, then they will charge you more. If from Russia, then the price is average. For residents of China, the cost seems to be the most minimal. I took training for three weeks, five hours a day, and it cost me $1,377. Which is pretty good.

I have kept notes about how the training is going.

January 31, 2017

Woke up at 6:50. In the morning I went to the bus at 11:00. As a result, the bus did not come again until 11:30, and I was 10 minutes late for school. No one noticed this, and I was not marked as late.

There were three couples in the school. The first pair is an introduction. There are 15 people in my communication group. They are all very different: mostly Koreans and Chinese, there are also two Frenchmen and an Italian. All are very young, the maximum age is 26 years.

The teacher is Cuban, but raised in America. Then two pairs were led by Kirsten. She asks to call herself Kiki because the Chinese can't pronounce her name. All classes with Kirsten are basic. And the first lesson is something like an activity, it can mix students from different groups.

February 1, 2017

Woke up at 6:39. At school, the first couple is always a lesson in communication. We sit down with different students, and they give us leaflets with questions. It is very difficult for me to understand Koreans and their accent. It's just hell. All Koreans are still on their phones. If you hesitate a little, then they are already poking at the hieroglyphs.

The next two pairs are classes with Kirsten. We are studying the structure of the language, I am clearly lagging behind, and it is difficult for me to understand. I have serious gaps in understanding words.

Asians come up to me and ask stupid questions: how tall am I, are there women in Russia taller than me, it’s true that we don’t have insects, because it’s very cold.

Yesterday I brought Alyonka sweets to the class and gave them to everyone for my birthday. They were happy, they liked the sweets. They ate the whole package. Asians pounced on candy like gold.

February 2, 2017

Woke up at 8:00. It was a very difficult day. We talked a lot, it's exhausting. I don’t always understand accents and themes, I don’t see much progress. It must be admitted that studying is more difficult than in England. Even taking into account the fact that I still communicate in Russian in the morning and evening.

February 3, 2017

I woke up at 7:00, did my homework. I did not see that the first couple was not there and arrived two hours earlier. I spent this time with Korean Won Oh. Wono and I went to the store, and I bought mushrooms for frying potatoes on Saturday.

Then we hung out at school. Vono lives with his family in Los Angeles. He is 19 years old and has a younger brother and an older sister. His family lives in Korea, his father is an official, and his mother makes donuts. As I understood from talking with him, he is a rather lonely dude, and he has nothing to do in Los Angeles.

Vono really wants to drive a car, but I didn't understand if he can or not. He asked me about my family and how it happened that I was not married for the first time. Wonoh says it's not accepted in Korea. Despite the fact that there are many Koreans in the class, they are not particularly friendly with each other. As I understand it, they have a rather rigid “friend or foe” system, and it is difficult for them to be friends with each other.

All in all, Kaplan School is a great place if you like twentysomethings and picking out other people's accents. The school is different in that there teachers all the time make you do something. Damn interactive.

A trip to America cost me 600 thousand rubles with all the pies. By mid-2017, my English expenses were about $55,000 since 2013.

English club

In 2017, I started visiting the English club Viva Lingua Club. Unfortunately, I didn’t visit any other clubs, but I liked this one right away. As far as I was able to understand, in any club there is a turnover of teachers, as well as a very large turnover of students.

It's even handy for language learning. Different new people to train on. Teachers with different accents and types of speech. Before choosing a club, I tried to figure out how some clubs differ from others.

I found out a little, but I understood the following. There are clubs, like a human petting zoo, where alcoholics are collected and expats are admitted at the appointed hour. Everyone is booing and talking. I have never been in this. I think it should definitely end in sex.

There are clubs where members are divided into groups and communicate on a predetermined topic. Viva Lingua Club belongs to this category. No more than seven people gather at the appointed place and time. They talk about some worthless nonsense, showing off their knowledge in this area.

The teacher at this meeting is something like a moderator who has to shut people up in time and periodically pass the word from himself. I had several teachers, but the longest was Peter's. He is a very cool man with a difficult fate, about which I did not understand anything.

It was good to study with Peter, because when there were classes in the evening that you come to tired, Peter could talk for two hours himself, without giving the floor to the students. It is quite convenient and develops. First of all, Peter.

The language club is a great place to keep up your English and develop your communication skills. And for me, it's a good place to look at different people who don't work in advertising.

Instead of a conclusion

In my four years of studying the language in my “special way”, I came to a few obvious things that I want to record. I'm sure there are plenty of lazy people like me. Let's move on to tips.

1. Learning a language requires motivation. This is the most important thing: it will make you not quit what you started.
2. Independent work. If you do not spend at least a minute a day on it, everything will be in vain.
3. If you want to learn a language intensively, you need to spend at least four hours a day, otherwise learning will take years.
4. Choose a methodology. There are a lot of them: for example, one woman teaches the language to those who need it urgently: if a student moved to work abroad or a student married a wealthy startup from Silicon Valley. Dmitry Petrov has a very good technique. The course is divided into short 16-hour segments, you are trying to immerse yourself in the environment.
5. Never repeat my mistakes.
6. Choose the method or methods that best fit your life.
7. Use various life hacks for learning English as intermediate ways, but keep the main one. Duolingo helps memorize grammar, BBC programs help me understand words correctly. Watch movies in English with Russian subtitles.
8. The fastest immersion in a language is to start speaking it.
9. At each stage of training, you need to set yourself a goal that can be realistically achieved within three, maximum four months. It is very important to define this goal strictly so that you will be encouraged to achieve it. (I've never done this, but that doesn't stop me from giving advice. It makes me seem wiser.)

The Most Important Rule

Unfortunately, when I first wrote this text, I did not understand that the individual abilities and skills of all people are so different that different methods have been created for different people.

Therefore, the main rule is that you do not need to follow someone else's rules. You need to create your own.

• Teacher Luke - Various language podcasts.
• Puzzle English - some kind of trainer of English words, I have not tried it.
• An article on how to learn English through TV shows.
• How to speak English without an accent.
• Sergey Nim's book "How to learn English".
• Moscow English Conversation Club - language club.

This article was conceived by me just during the long-awaited summer holidays and vacations. “Education is hard work, and in the summer you should take a break from studying.” Here is the stereotypical opinion that has developed among the majority.

But education, early development, and in particular the learning of a foreign language by children under the age of three can be viewed differently. You can continue to “evolve” and “learn” without weekend breaks. In any weather, at any time of the year, everywhere, on the street, in the country, at the resort, on the train ...

The English language that will be discussed, my one-year-old baby and I began to master without exhausting cramming and class schedules, without tutors, sunbathing on the beach or walking on playgrounds.

Why do kids under three years old need English?

Opponents of early learning a foreign language believe that this can cause speech delay, speech therapy and other problems. Without weighing indefinitely all the existing pros and cons, I will point out two main reasons that prompted me to resolve this issue positively.

1. Teaching a child a foreign language up to three years is much easier than an older child (I was convinced of this from personal experience).
2. Learning a foreign language, and even with a baby, is incredibly interesting! The child is madly in love with it and causes a flurry of positive emotions, of course, subject to certain conditions.

Learning is not a burden, but a joy

In order not to deviate too much from the main topic, I will outline the most significant provisions point by point, which help to make “classes” in a foreign language as exciting and productive as possible.

1. Positive thinking and belief in the limitless creative and mental possibilities of man.
2. The absence of any violence, including in the form of coercion, rigid programs and class schedules, attempts to obsessively ask questions and “pull out” answers to check what has been learned, and so on. Even artfully veiled pressure or the intention to force one to study can cause a negative reaction that does not go away for a long time and weaken emotional contact. This rule is almost impossible to implement in early development groups, which require at least a schedule of classes. The smaller the child, the more unacceptable pressure on him! Here it is reasonable to assume that if the parents fully comply with this rule, the children will not study at all, so I will dwell on the next point 3 in a little more detail.
3. Parental sensitivity and pedagogical insight, that is, the ability to notice what the child is currently showing interest in, respond in a timely manner to the needs of the baby / baby, and, using all their intellectual baggage, turn this seemingly fleeting manifestation of simple children's curiosity into an exciting “occupation” .
4. The willingness and desire of the parents themselves to develop and learn. It is impossible to grasp the immensity. And yet - if you do not know how to teach a child to draw - buy a suitable drawing book for the little ones. We decided to study a foreign language with your child - enroll in courses yourself ... Look for and try different options, create, learn! Your efforts will not be in vain, because the willingness of parents to learn and develop will help today's kids grow up to be socially active and creative people.
5. Ability to praise

Many adults are big fans of criticism and teaching. Praise is another important skill to learn. You can express your approval to the child wordlessly, with the help of words and in a complex way.

Wordless praise can include not only a banal pat on the head, but also applause, handshakes, kisses, whirling, hugs and tossing.

You can learn to express your delight with gestures from a boxer who won a duel, a cyclist who won a race, a football player who scored a goal, in general, from athletes, or, for example, from an expert from “What? Where? When?", which gave the correct answer to a difficult question.

Praise, expressed in words, does not have to be like a panegyric. Often limited to the words "well done" or "clever" and this is quite enough. In different situations, you can use other expressions and exclamations: Russian “Wow! How brave/smart you are!”, “How clever/smart you are!”, “You did well!”, “I can’t believe it!”, “Brilliant!”, “Keep it up!”, or the English “Well done!” , “Good job!”, “You're golden!”, “I knew, you could do it!”, “You're perfect!”, “You're the best!”, “You're the champion! ”, “Excellent!” and a host of others.

Comprehensive praise refers to the simultaneous use of gestures, actions and words.

Of course, all of the above provisions relate to education and developmental education in general, but let's go directly to the issues of learning English.

Principles of teaching English to children from 0 to 3 years

The main principles of training are:

• maintaining the physical and mental health of children;
• taking into account the peculiarities of the psychological development of children under three years of age, the visual-effective nature of the thinking of children of a given age (that is, knowledge of the world around us occurs in the process of real object manipulations), and the leading type of activity (which is an object-manipulative game).
• compliance of the educational material with the level of anatomical, physiological, mental and mental development of children;
• accessibility and visibility;
• communicative orientation;
• personal orientation;
• interconnected / integrated training in the types of speech activity, listening, speaking

Learning objectives

The purpose of teaching English to children aged 0 to 3 years is to promote the full, timely development of the child, the development of his intellectual, emotional and social spheres in the process of mastering the basics of English communication.

The practical goal of training is the formation of elementary English-speaking communicative competence. The communicative competence of a child under three years of age is formed as speech, language and sociocultural competences develop. Speech competence implies the mastery and development of listening and speaking skills. This is nothing more than the ability to adequately and appropriately use the language in specific situations. Language competence combines phonetic, lexical and grammatical competences. Sociocultural competence includes country-specific and linguistic-cultural competences.

Thus, the practical goal of teaching English to children from 0 to 3 years old involves mastering children's listening and speaking skills, sufficient to either adequately respond to what they hear, or make verbal contact with the interlocutor, keep up the conversation, receive and transmit elementary information. related to the content of children's communication, end communication, etc., and not just pronounce some words or phrases in English.

Learning objectives

• purposefully teach communication in English within those areas of communication that are associated with the world of early childhood;
• to acquaint children with the elements of the English-speaking socioculture;
• develop a positive attitude towards the environment.

Where to begin?

If you decide to study with your child a second language that is generally alien to your native culture, the first thing you need to do is to artificially create a different language environment and learn to feel comfortable in it. Young children do just fine without having to explain the rules of grammar or phonetics. And the only way to form cognitive motives and interest in a foreign language in children under three years of age is the interweaving of these motives and interests in an object-manipulative game and the visual-effective nature of the presentations of language samples.

Teaching English to children under three years of age begins with the formation of the ability to perceive English speech by ear. Listening is not only the perception of messages, but also the preparation in inner speech of a response to what is heard. Listening prepares speaking, it contributes to the mastery of the sound side of the language, phonemic composition, intonation, speech patterns.

While playing with a small child, we quite often imitate the clatter of hooves, the barking of a dog, the buzz of a bee, etc. In the same way, you can try to “present” the sounds of the English language (there are 44 sounds in English, 20 vowels and 24 consonants). The number of sounds and the duration of the “presentation” itself should be chosen according to the principle of parental sensitivity, you should see if the child likes it or not. In this way, the phonetic competence of the child will be gradually formed. If you are not sure about pronunciation, or are not at all familiar with the sound composition of the language being studied, take as many lessons from a specialist as you need for this.

The child should often hear English speech, children's songs, rhymes, fairy tales in English.

What materials to use?

Anything, as long as they come from the country whose language you are learning, and if they are connected to the world of childhood. These are toy books, fairy tales, alphabet books, music discs, cartoon or movie discs, and other video or audio resources from the Internet.

When selecting materials, take into account the age of the child - for infants, English nursery rhymes and simple English songs are more suitable, and video materials can be offered to older children.

Many rhyming rhymes are ready-made finger, gesture or other active educational games. They can be found on English-language sites, or, for example, in youtube. Just type in any search engine the name of the poem / song you are looking for and choose any option you like.

The work on the verse is carried out in several stages:

• preliminary study of lexical and grammatical material (performed by the parent);
• study of difficult words in pronunciation, intonation, rhythm (performed by the parent)
• expressive reading of the rhyme aloud (performed by the parent);
• primary listening to a rhyme by a child, with visual-effective support, for example, on a drawing or visual actions;
• consolidate understanding of the content;
• memorize the rhyme;
• show the child a finger or gesture game based on the content of this rhyme, and periodically invite the child to play it, but, I will not tire of repeating, in suitable situations or when the child himself wants to play it; Depending on the age, the listed activities can be performed by the parent or by the child himself.
• repeat the rhyme in real life situations

Modern collections such as "Songs of Mother Goose" / Mother Goose Books include more than 700 children's poems, songs, rhymes, riddles and tongue twisters.

In the first three years of life, it is quite possible to master 100 or more of these rhymes or songs. With frequent listening, singing or reading, these rhymes and songs are easy to memorize and use at the right time.

For example, when you put your baby to bed, you can rock him in your arms and read a rhyme / sing the song Rock-a-bye, Baby, and with the final words Down will come baby, cradle and all, imitate a smooth fall and lower the child into the crib. When your child jumps in the crib, you can read Three Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed. When you feed ducks in a pond, you might think of the rhyme Bread for the Ducks. While playing ball, repeat Here's a Ball for Baby. And toes can be counted with the rhyme Five Little Pigs / This Little Pig Went to Market, etc.

Here is a small list of resources that may be useful for children under three years old:

• Blue's Clues
• Dr. Seuss's ABC book/DVD
• Postman Pat
• Dora the Explorer
• www.kneebouncers.com
• www.mingoville.com (interactive online learning game, very useful for parents who are not confident in their English)
• www.storynory.com (audiobooks for children are read by professional speakers, native speakers, useful for introducing children to the melody of English speech, intonation, pronunciation)

Simple, interesting and well-illustrated material, children under three years of age swallow, digest and assimilate at an incredibly high speed and demand more and more! And if we want a child to become fluent in a foreign language, it is necessary to speak with him in this language.

What should I say?

Say only what you know for sure. The main language functions at the initial stage are greetings (Hello / Hi!), In the morning (Good morning!), Good night wishes (Good night!), Farewells (Bye-bye / Goodbye / See you / See you later), which you you can pronounce, leaving somewhere; declaration of love (I love you); the ability to ask for something (Give me, please), the ability to name an object, perform an action, etc. That is, it is necessary to constantly acquaint children with speech patterns, but always in situations suitable for this.

Never learn individual words. Learn phrases. For example, instead of teaching your child just the word rattle, say This is a rattle or Shake this rattle, Give me, please, your rattle. your rattle”, What a wonderful rattle! / “What a wonderful rattle!”, Where's your rattle? / “Where is your rattle?” etc.

There is no great need for the formation of a clear vocabulary and a strictly thematic presentation of material when teaching English to children under three years old. “Learn” the names of food products during meals or trips to the food market, the names of animals - where they meet you, that is, at home, on the street, in the zoo, in the village; names of plants - at flower stalls, in the square, park, botanical garden; clothes and shoes - during dressing; bath accessories - in the bathroom or pool; dishes - in the kitchen, etc.

The fastest children "learn" family members and the names of body parts (they are always with us).

Given the visual-effective nature of the thinking of children of this age, “learn” the English verbs crawl - when you crawl, hug - when you hug a child, tickle - when you tickle a baby, swing - when you swing with him on a swing, read - when you give him read something, sing - when you sing, walk - when you walk, etc. How to use these verbs? Children under three years of age are not burdened by the burden of past years and thoughts about the past and future. They live in the present moment. Therefore, the Present Continuous is perfect for our purposes: Oh, my! You're humming/smiling/ dancing/ talking! (Just think! You're humming/smiling/dancing/talking!)

Add variety to your speech by using the imperative mood: Look out! / Beware!, Wake up! / Wake up!, Don't touch it! / Don't touch it!, Look at me! / Look at me! Let's go for a walk!, Let's read your favorite book!/Let's read your favorite book!, Let him pass!/ Put it on!/ Put it on!, Take it off/ Take it off! and etc.

You can enter into speech the modal verb can / be able to be able to: You can walk / run / speak / Can you walk / run / speak ... and interrogative and longer affirmative sentences: Are you hungry / thirsty? / Do you want to eat / drink ?, What are you doing?, You're clapping your hands/ stamping your feet/riding a pony/ kicking the ball!

Later, learn to give more detailed explanations of the “learned” words, objects and actions: A dog is an animal with four legs, fur and a tail / A dog is an animal with four legs, fur and a tail. For this purpose, you can use English children's explanatory dictionaries.

What is important in this case is not the number of foreign words and speech patterns. The child needs to see with his own eyes, feel or even gnaw all the “learned” nouns with adjectives, and the verbs, phrases and clichés used in the conversation must exactly correspond to each specific situation.

Preschoolers 5-6 years old have long counted all the fingers and toes, learned and touched a lot, gained experience and even complexes. It is much more difficult to arouse interest and motivation in them than in children under three years old, when everything happens, meets and is learned spontaneously and for the first time. This is one of the main advantages of early learning a foreign language.

The role of music in learning a foreign language

The role of music in learning a foreign language is invaluable. Music and singing attract the attention of the child, develop his ability to listen, sense of rhythm, auditory-motor coordination.

Listen to children's English music CDs as often as possible. Learn each song step by step, just like a rhyme (read the previous chapter). In two years of regular listening to different melodies and texts, you will learn how to hum them yourself in suitable situations:

• Deedle, Deedle, Dumpling - when your child, without undressing and without taking off his shoes, tries to fall asleep in the crib;
• I'm a Little Tea-Pot - when a kettle is boiling in your kitchen;
• Happy Birthday - during birthday celebrations;
• Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star - while contemplating the starry sky;

Many of the children's English songs are also gesture or other movement games and can be easily staged. Working with such songs contributes to the development of speech skills, polishes pronunciation, improves the expressiveness of speech, or simply improves mood and develops physical activity.

Do you need to translate?

Once I met a mother who, showing a small child an object or thing, for example, a sock, called him in two languages ​​​​at once - Russian and English (“sock / a sock).

All competent foreign language courses are taught from the very beginning in the target language. Attempts to translate everything at once and all slow down the process of assimilation of new words and expressions. Toddlers under three years old do not yet distinguish between languages ​​and certainly do not need translation.

When and how much to "do"?

We started to “learn” English when my little girl understood her native speech well and already knew how to pronounce a few simple words like “mom”, “dad”, “lyalya”, “aunt”, “uncle”.

If we express as a percentage the use of English and native languages ​​in the process of communication, including listening and reading, then in our case Russian speech will gain an average of 90%, English - 10%.

The duration of stay in the "foreign" language environment ranged from one minute to 3 hours a day.

The words "study" or "engage" are specially enclosed in quotation marks. In fact, there is no need to arrange "lessons". It is necessary to live with everyday affairs, and the time and topics for playing with a child should be chosen according to the principle of parental sensitivity. The duration of communication, listening, reading or video viewing should be determined by the interests and desire of the child and not harm his health.

The main thing is that this happens regularly and without long breaks, and the sounds, words, speech patterns, songs and rhymes presented to the child should be often repeated, but, I will not tire of reminding you, only in situations suitable for this.

results

What can a three-year-old child from a Russian family say in English? I will give some typical examples from the English speech of my three-year-old daughter, from the notes preserved in my diaries.

1. After the next visit to the zoo, she, having bent over funny, came up to me importantly and said: I’m a peacock. “I am a peacock,” and, noticing a wooden stick lying nearby, she immediately picked it up, put it behind her and quickly added: And it’s my tail. “And this is my tail.”
2. In the morning he comes to my bed, wakes me up, pulls my pillow over himself with a laugh: Good morning, mummy! Get up! I want to take a shower. This pillow is not yours! It's mine! "Good morning, mommy! Get up! I want to take a shower. This is not your pillow! She is mine!".
3. Diving into a filled bathroom: One, two, three, dive! Look, I'm diving. “One, two, three, dive in! Look! I'm diving!
4. About sour milk: This milk is off! Just smell it! “This milk has gone sour. Just smell it!”
5. Pushing the rubber mouse under the sofa: Look! The mouse is hiding in the hole. "Look, the little mouse is hiding in a mink."
6. After watching the movie "Shrek" (we watched this movie only in English), puffing out our cheeks and flapping our arms like wings: Mum, let's pretend that you're a donkey and I'm a fire-breathing dragon. I'm going to fly. see you later! “Mom, let's pretend that you are a donkey and I am a fire-breathing Dragon. I'm going to fly! Till!"
7. I try to get her to have breakfast, she replies very decisively: I’m not hungry. I won't have breakfast. " I'm not hungry. I won't have breakfast."
8. At a picnic, I found a secluded spot in the bushes and intends to take a toy elephant there: This is my personal cave. I'll bring my elephant into my cave. (to the elephant) Don't be afraid, Elephant, you're in good hands. “This is my personal cave. I will take my elephant to the cave. Don't be afraid, Elephant, you're in safe hands."

As you can see from these examples, the first results of English classes with children under three years old can appear just in time for three years, if you started studying from a year or earlier.

Three to six

When my daughter was three years old, I had to graduate from high school and get a job. There was less time for classes with the child, and we assigned her to kindergarten. They just periodically found the opportunity to read English books, watch English cartoons or listen to their favorite fairy tales in English, usually before going to bed.

English at school

I felt the real results of our "classes" when my daughter went to school. Despite the fact that she was seriously interested in sports, and this caused some damage to her academic performance, and she did not become a straight A student (she is a stable A student), her English grade has always been excellent.

She reads well, memorizes and retells texts and dialogues, perfectly translates from English into Russian and vice versa. She writes her own stories in English very well. At the same time, I never resorted to the help of tutors (on which we saved a lot of money), and I never helped her with school English.

Sometimes she complained that English lessons at school were boring for her, but this did not turn into a tragedy. In school English lessons, she nevertheless studied transcription signs, the rules of reading and writing, in general, everything that is inappropriate to do in early preschool childhood.

At the end of the third grade, she, without any preparation (!) Together with the fifth graders (!) passed the Cambridge exam for knowledge of the English language (Movers level) at the local British center. Passed excellent.

I hope our example will inspire many parents! I sincerely wish you good luck!

Almost every student at least once, but asks himself this question. After all, time is a very important factor in learning not only English, but also any other skill. So, how long does it take to learn English?

Many people on the forums answer that from 2 to 5 years. In most cases this is true. It takes 2-5 years to master almost any business well enough. However, with English it is not so simple. After all, some manage to learn it in just a few months. Why is this happening?

If you have a good base or are willing to devote a lot of time to studying, then the learning process will take much less time. In a year, almost anyone will be able to reach a very decent level of English proficiency. But this is only possible if the following factors are taken into account:

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Studying 1 hour a week, you will learn English for 4-5 years and are unlikely to come to a good result. If you learn the language for two hours a day. Then in a year you will reach the level of Upper-Intermediate, and maybe more. But not everyone will be able to spend so much time. Therefore, training lasting 3-4 hours a week is ideal, that is, 3-4 full-fledged classes + practice (films, books, communication in English).

If you learned the language at school, then the process will take less time. Starting from scratch is a bit more difficult. But as practice shows, school knowledge of students can often be equated to zero. After all, everyone learned a foreign language at school, but a few of those who still understand something about it.

1. Objectives of the study.

How long does it take to learn English at a conversational level. When a person comes to the USA or England, in just a couple of months he can easily communicate with the locals, go to the store and even look through the local newspapers.

If you want to reach approximately this level (basic), then you will need only 2-3 months. The basic level of English, which is about 1000 words in the active dictionary, is enough for traveling, communicating with foreigners, watching news in English, etc.

1. Form of study.

By studying with a tutor and diligently doing your homework, you can learn English as quickly as possible. This teaching method is the most effective. But how much does it cost to learn English with a tutor? This is usually the most expensive option.

Studying on your own, you may not understand some features or skip classes. Learning by yourself is always more difficult and longer, although more profitable.

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• lion: 2018-12-25 09:23:09

  you need to try very hard to find objective shortcomings in this school) I have been an active user for a month already, I went through almost all the available free materials for the beginner level and I understand that I significantly raised my level of English - it became easier to communicate in games with foreign guys, I understand them better and more or less competently I can answer at least simple sentences. the structure of the lessons, especially in grammar, is simple and unpretentious, at the same time convenient and effective.

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  For a year and a half, slowly, for a couple of hours a week, I have been working on this service. I learn words, I go through listening - a very interesting lesson, however! The benefits are palpable: I can already easily perceive simple fiction, I can write sentences, the construction is more complicated than "my name is Lisa", but free speech is still far away, although this was not the original goal. The pricing policy is very loyal - even students will be able to open the way to knowledge without damaging the budget)...

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Therefore, the best option would be to combine self-study and group courses. And if you do not understand some of the features of English, then just hire a tutor for 1-2 lessons to explain difficult points.

Right on time.

(Click on the image if the text is not visible).

To answer how much time it takes to learn English, we will use the Common European Competence Scale (CEFR). It has only 6 levels of English proficiency, which we will focus on.

Cambridge professors have calculated how much English you need to learn to reach one level or another. It should be borne in mind that for every hour of work with a teacher (in a group or with a textbook), you should spend 30 minutes on independent work: homework, watching movies, reading, etc.

A1 Elementary/A2 Pre-Intermediate

These are two basic levels that can be achieved with 100-150 hours of study, as well as 100-150 hours of independent work. Doing only 3 times a week for two hours, you will reach this level in 6-8 months.

B1 Intermediate / B2 Upper-Intermediate

Confident average level and even higher. Having reached it, you will be able to read literature in the original, and you will also be well versed in grammar and vocabulary. To get to this level from scratch, students need 150-250 hours of work with a teacher and about 200-400 independent practice.

Exercising three times a week, it will take you only 1-1.5 years to reach level B1 or B2. Note that for most people, the Upper-Intermediate level is enough. With such skills, you can prepare for international exams, work in foreign companies, read technical literature and communicate fully on a variety of topics. It is at level B2 that most students should be guided.

С1 Advanced/С2 Proficiency

How much to learn English to become a professional in this field? At least 200 hours of work with a teacher and 300-400 hours of independent practice, which is equivalent to 2-3 years of study. However, your study does not end there. You need to study English culture, dialects, pronunciations, develop your vocabulary by reading books, etc.

Many devote their entire lives to this cause. And only after 5-10 years you can characterize yourself as Proficiency. At this level, you are a true professional and can freely teach English at various universities and colleges around the world.

I hope we were able to answer the question of how much to learn English. And for the most inquisitive, we recommend watching a useful video on this topic. Good luck!

I want to say right away that I have no friends who have learned English in a month or 3 months. You have probably seen such inscriptions as English in a month, and the funniest one is English in 24 hours. This is all a scam and you shouldn't fall for it.

But I have friends who learned English in one year. You probably ask how they learned English? In this article, we will consider the question: How to learn English in one year? After that, you yourself will be able to learn English in such a relatively short time.

The first thing you need to do is immerse yourself in the environment. The best option to do this is to travel to an English-speaking country. For those who do not have such an opportunity as a trip abroad, it is necessary to artificially create for themselves a suitable environment for studying.

Namely, stop or watch movies, videos in your native language as little as possible. You have to watch everything in the original in English, listen to foreign artists, your ears have to get used to the new sound for them.

It is recommended to watch the video without subtitles. At first it will be very difficult, well, as everywhere in the beginning it is always difficult. For you, the speech will seem too fast, not intelligible, in general, hum and noise. But this is only at the beginning. The main thing is that you watch exactly what you like to watch. Anything you've previously watched in your native language will do as well. Do not pay attention to the fact that you do not understand or understand anything, but only certain simple words.

Gradually, you will notice that the sounds are already becoming legible and you will gradually understand the English speech of the actors. The main thing is not to overexert yourself, you should enjoy watching and learning English.

Listen to foreign performers. Try to hear what the performer sings in the songs. There is no need to be upset if nothing is clear, and it is difficult to make out what they are singing there, everything has its time. I am sure that you could hear at least one word familiar to you in the songs that you listened to.

It is very important to read in English aloud. Read any work that you like. You don't need to translate them, just read as much as you can. You will notice how at first you will read slowly with absolutely nothing, without understanding what you read.

But this barrier will pass, and you can be sure of it. You will read much faster, it will be easier for you to pronounce English words and sentences, and the text will seem more understandable this time. And you will only get pleasure from the whole learning process. Because you are doing what you love.

To learn English in one year, you need to speak English a lot, among other things listed above. For this, a good practice of speaking English would be to communicate with a foreigner, with friends, colleagues who know English, in general, anyone who could speak English with you.

Speak up, don't be shy, at first no one speaks correctly, and you should not be an exception to the rule. Speak easily, feel free. If you make a mistake a couple of times, no one will judge you for it. Plus, the person you're talking to will probably correct you. People learn from their mistakes. And no, there is nothing to be ashamed of admitting them.

Learn English in a year— it means understanding English speech, speaking English fluently, reading well and, you guessed it, writing English correctly. I don’t know any special methods on how to improve written English, but I can say one thing for sure, if you want to learn how to speak, you need to start speaking, if you want to write correctly, read and write more in English.

Try to pay attention to the words. How they are written, how they are read, how they are pronounced in colloquial speech. That is, at this stage you need to write English words, sentences, texts, and gradually remember how to write a word or a whole sentence correctly.

To summarize, I think you noticed in order to learn English in one year you need to use the basic skills:

- English listening comprehension
– Ability to speak English, conduct dialogues, conversations, answer questions, etc.
-Read quickly and without errors (reading quickly does not mean reading faster than in your native language)
-Writing well.

This is the main thing that is necessary when learning English, the more often and regularly you practice, the faster you will achieve results. It all depends on you and your abilities.

I wish you good luck in all your endeavors.

How to Learn English FASTER

Arthur Ganiev

Co-owner of the English Show online school.

1. You memorize new words

People tend to do what is pleasant, and in these moments we think least of all about efficiency. When apps came out to help learn words, everyone started working hard, earning points for memorized words, and thinking that now they know English better.

Expanding your vocabulary is not the right goal if you already know at least 1,500-2,000 words and want to travel freely.

Not applications will help here, but films and communication with foreigners. It is about the conversational skill that people usually forget, although it is it that is fundamental. Don't just do what you do best, use more directions. Speaking and listening are often much more useful than vocabulary building.

Many are convinced that they spend their time usefully when they watch American films with Russian subtitles. But with this approach, you will learn English for a long time. Just 5 minutes after the start of the series, the brain concentrates only on the picture and subtitles, because it is simple and accessible. English speech you hear, but do not perceive.

To make the series really help in learning, I suggest using the following technique: play the same piece of video in the original language several times. When playing for the first time, try to understand the meaning of the dialogue. At the second - turn on English subtitles, check yourself and write down unfamiliar phrases. And finally, on the third play, say the sentences with the characters, try to mimic them, repeat the pronunciation and intonation.

This method will help you learn new constructions, remember them better and practice speaking.

3. You raise the bar

The task of learning is scary: the brain is convinced that you want too much from it. Surely you think that it will take 5-10 years to learn a language, but in reality, three months is enough to learn a language at the everyday level. For basic communication, it is enough to know only 700 words and master the basics of grammar. If you are not going to conduct business negotiations with foreigners, you do not need a high level of English. It turns out that in the distance you see an elephant, but in reality it is only a fly.

4. You work out once a month

Better every day for 5 minutes than once a month for 10 hours. This rule applies to English as well. To learn a language faster, you need to study regularly, and also be sure to repeat the material covered.

The easiest way to understand how the brain works is to look at the forgetting curve, also known as the Ebbinghaus curve. When you have learned new material, it seems to you that you have memorized it 100%. The next day you will remember only 33% of this information, and in a month - 21%.

To remember the material, you need to repeat it several times. The repetition cycle is as follows:

• immediately after studying;
• in 20 minutes;
• after 1 day;
• In 2 weeks;
• 2 months later.

This will allow you to better remember the rules or learn words. If you study infrequently but for a long time, you forget 80% of what you have learned.

5. You learn English "for yourself"

We interviewed the students of our school and found out that 65% of them learn English "for themselves", and this is a waste of time. You must have a clearly defined goal.

The main reason that motivates you to learn a language is money. In international companies, those who speak English are paid 25-30% more, in addition, the language becomes your competitive advantage when hiring.

A common problem that English learners have for years is lack of action. You have been thinking for years that it would be nice to learn a language, but the dream will remain unfulfilled, because this goal does not ignite you. With the same success, you have been going to learn how to draw or play the guitar for many years: one desire is not enough. Set yourself rigid limits: the exact deadline, the specific reason and the level of language proficiency that you need. This will help maintain enthusiasm and reassure the brain that the game is worth the candle.

If you recognize yourself in at least one of the listed mistakes, then this is what slows down the development of the language. Stop learning English for years!