you are reading this post on your phone. Well done – this is a great step in the right direction to improve your English with the help of a smartphone. There are a couple of different things you can do with your phone to become more fluent, depending on your level of English and the areas you want to improve. Let’s have a look:
1. Do you use an app or the note function for your grocery list? This is something that works even for people who have just started learning English. Try writing down your groceries in English: An apple, a cucumber, two packets of pasta, of bananas etc. This way you practise your vocabulary every time you go to the store!
2. If you’re looking for a little more of a challenge, keep track of your appointments in your calendar app in English. It is a little bit more advanced because you might have to write short sentences and not just individual words, e.g. Thursday, 7 pm: Yoga – don’t forget to bring the new mat!
3. If you want to work on your listening-comprehension skills, you may want to change the language of your maps/GPS to English. On some apps, there are even different English accents available. If you feel comfortable listening to North American English but struggle to understand people from the UK – just use the British English speaker on your GPS and soon you’ll be on your way to watching British movies without subtitles!
4. Be honest – how much time do you spend scrolling and reading posts on social media? Why not do it in English? For example, if you’re interested in cooking, you could follow famous chefs on Instagram, watch cooking videos on Tiktok or join a Facebook group to exchange your favourite recipes. Do you follow any English-speaking professionals in your field on LinkedIn? This can be a great way to find articles and other information that’s relevant to your field in the language you’re learning. And if you feel really brave, you could write a comment . Who knows – maybe you’ll have an English-speaking friend with whom to exchange private messages soon.
5. Of course, there are also language learning apps like Duolingo (free or US$6.99/month for an ad-free experience) or Babbel (starting at CAD$ 9.99/month with a twelve-month subscription) that you can access with your phone. It’s easy to spend just a few minutes every day and brush up on your grammar, especially since the app reminds you to practise by sending you push notifications.
6. And if you want to , change the language settings of the entire phone to English. Obviously, you’ll be working on your reading and writing skills when you do this but the added advantage is that you can also boost your speaking skills if you use a phone assistant like Siri. But, be sure that you either know the on your phone really well or are an advanced learner because otherwise it could get really difficult to change it back. !
If you would like to hear more about Technology and Language Learning, Episode 3 of Season 1 of our Les Bons Mots podcast was about this topic! You can find it on Youtube or any other podcatcher. Do you have any other tips and tricks on how to improve your English using a smartphone? Let us know on social media, or email us at lesbonsmots@lesateliers.ca.