12 DAILY Activities to PERFECT your English Communication Skills Every Day

(upbeat music)

- Hello everyone, and welcome back to English With Lucy.

Today, I am going to help you

with your daily English practise.

The best way to learn a language

is to practise it every single day.

Today, I'm going to talk to you about 12 really fun ways

of involving English in your everyday life,

so that you can practise.

Take a handful, or maybe just a couple of these ideas,

put them into practise, and watch your language skills

transform in front of your eyes.

These ideas work for any language,

so it doesn't just have to be English.

Let's get started with the lesson.

Number one, my first idea,

is try following chefs or recipes in the language

that you're trying to learn.

Now, when you learn a new language,

it's really good to learn about their culture.

It will help you a lot.

And you can learn so much through their cuisine,

and their diet, and their eating habits.

Maybe you can have a week of dinners from the culture

of the language that you're trying to learn.

You could get together with friends

who are also learning that language,

and choose to only speak that language at the dinner table

as you eat this foreign food.

There are so many opportunities

for practising your language skills.

Reading the recipe,

going to the shops and choosing the food,

maybe watching a chef in action on YouTube.

I know a lot of you are learning English,

and there are some absolutely amazing

British chefs on YouTube.

You can look at Nigella Lawson if you like the RP accent,

and a female voice.

Nigella Lawson has the most attractive voice,

and the most beautiful accent.

I highly recommend you watch some of her videos.

You've also got Sorted Food.

Those are four guys, they're very nice people, actually.

I have met them.

They do some really great recipe videos.

There's also Jamie Oliver.

He's a little bit more cockney.

And then you've got Gordon Ramsey,

if you like someone shouting at you.

(laughing)

Tip number two is take a daily language challenge.

This part of the video is sponsored by Lingoda,

but I'm going to give you highly relevant information

that will help you improve your language skills

on a daily basis.

This video is about fun little activities,

and things that you can do on a daily basis

to improve your language skills.

Five minutes on a language app each day

will help you improve,

but it's not enough on its own to make a huge impact.

Weekly lessons at a walk in language school will also help,

but you might find that your progress is very, very slow.

The Lingoda Language Marathon is the perfect way

to study every day, and make a huge impact on your fluency.

You may have heard me mention

the Lingoda Language Marathon before,

but this is the last ever

Lingoda Language Marathon promotion.

If you don't know, what is it?

(chuckling)

Well, it's basically a really motivating

language study challenge.

You study every day, unless you take the half marathon,

where you study slightly less,

and if you complete the marathon, you get a 100% refund,

or a 50% refund if you do the half marathon.

More than 15 thousand people

have participated in the Lingoda Language Marathon

over the past few years.

For many, it's transformed their lives,

helping them to study, or work in a new country.

Many of them have shared their life changing experiences

with Ligoda, and you can see that on their website,

which is linked down below.

I'd also encourage you to check out their Instagram profile,

where you can see more inspiring stories.

The marathon starts on the 23rd of September, 2019,

and ends on the 21st of December, 2019.

You have to participate in an agreed number of group classes

each month in order to succeed.

That's 30 classes for the full marathon,

and 15 classes for the half marathon.

You can only take one class per day, every day.

You can join the marathon in English, French,

German, Spanish, and Business English,

and there are classes for every level,

beginner to advanced.

So, how do you participate?

You need to sign up to the marathon

before the 9th of September.

After registering for the marathon,

and paying your non-refundable entry fee, which is 49 euros,

this secures your spot in the marathon,

you automatically sign up for a three month subscription.

The entry fee will be taken off

your first month in the marathon.

I have a special discount code for you.

You can get 10 euros off your entry fee

by clicking on the link in the description box,

and using my code TALK5.

Don't forget, Lingoda will refund your tuition fee in full

if you attend an agreed amount of classes

within each marathon month.

You will need to show up on time for the classes

that you booked,

and you'll need to actively participate.

If you book a class and miss it,

or fail to book a class at all,

you'll still be able to continue taking the classes,

but you will no longer qualify for the refund.

Remember, places in the marathon are limited.

Reserve your spot in advance to avoid missing

the last ever marathon promotion.

You absolutely must make sure

that you check the terms and conditions

to familiarise yourself with the rules.

Previous marathon graduates have said

that this is the key to getting the refund.

The marathon is an incredible opportunity

to take your language skills to the next level

quickly and effectively.

So many students would jump at the chance

to take an English class with a native qualified teacher

every day for three months.

And the fact that you can get your money back

as an extra motivational incentive is the icing on the cake.

Alternatively, if you don't think

that the marathon's for you, you can check out Lingoda's

other flexible subscription packages.

Good luck to everyone

who chooses to participate in the marathon.

Number three.

This might surprise some people,

but I am a massive fan of Reddit,

and I think it's a fantastic language learning tool,

especially if you want to learn English.

Reddit is a huge forum.

It's basically a network of communities

that are based on people's interests.

These little communities are called subreddits.

You can find communities, subreddits,

that you're interested in, and then you can participate.

But something I've noticed about Reddit

is that generally, the level of vocabulary,

and grammar, and writing in general, seems to be quite high.

If you compare the people on Reddit

to the people on Facebook,

it seems that they're much more willing

to communicate with you, to correct you, to debate with you,

there's a lot more high quality interaction.

There's also lots of funny content, lots of news content,

lots of memes, (chuckling) lots of cute content.

I like to share pictures of my dog on Reddit.

I really recommend that you visit Reddit,

you find some subreddits that you're interested in,

in the language that you're trying to learn,

probably English,

but there are lots of subreddits in other languages as well.

There are subreddits for sport, cooking, politics,

debating, creative writing, everything.

I recommend that you visit Reddit once a day,

and make a post, or make a comment every single day,

and start to interact with other native people.

I warn you, it's addictive,

and you will probably fall in love with Reddit like I have,

and like Will has.

(laughing)

Number four is eat in authentic restaurants,

but there's a special way of doing this

if you're trying to learn a language.

You need to warn the staff

that you would like to do everything in that language,

and you need to let them know that you're learning,

you want to improve,

and it's highly likely if it's not too busy,

that they will want to help you,

especially if they speak that language themselves,

if they are from that country.

I used to do this all the time in London.

There was a Spanish restaurant near me,

and I used to go there with my friend

who also was learning Spanish,

and we used to say,

"Would you mind if we did everything in Spanish today?

"Just pretend we're in Spain."

And the waiters absolutely loved it,

'cause they felt like they were in Spain too.

I think they were also quite flattered

that English people were trying to learn their language,

because obviously, they had come to England

to learn our language.

So, it was quite a nice exchange.

Look around you, see if there's an Irish pub,

or some sort of British restaurant,

or if you're learning French, a French restaurant,

et cetera, et cetera,

and you can make a really fun evening of it.

Obviously, it's best to have a partner in crime

that's also learning that language,

but you could always as your dinner partner,

do you mind if we do this in a foreign language?

I'd just really like the opportunity to practise.

Number five, great for daily practise,

is set all of your electronic devices,

so, I'm talking your TV, your phone, your iPad,

your laptop, anything you can think of,

your Alexa, your Google Home thingy, your Google Home.

(laughing)

Set it into the language that you're learning.

Ask Alexa or Google in the morning what the weather's like,

and they will tell you in the language that you're learning.

Find out random tech vocabulary by switching your computer,

and then having to deal with a huge problem

in a foreign language.

(laughing)

Okay, maybe that isn't everyone's idea of a good time,

but I did that when I was learning Spanish,

and it just made me feel confident

that I was doing everything I possibly could

to immerse myself in Spanish.

Number six.

This one relates to video games.

If you like to play video games, if you're a gamer,

and if you play online multiplayer games,

choose a foreign server.

A server where people are from the country

of the language that you're learning.

I've said this before.

People playing video games can be very helpful.

You can form very nice friendships,

and a lot of the best English students that I had,

with the best pronunciation, and the strangest vocabulary,

had learnt all of that from gaming.

They formed long lasting friendships with natives,

and practised with them on a daily basis,

and it was fun.

Make sure that you don't accidentally learn

loads of swear words, though.

(laughing)

Number seven is quite a cool idea, actually.

It is shop in foreign supermarkets.

You don't necessarily have to buy anything,

but this is especially good

if you're learning a language like Chinese,

or maybe Polish, or maybe Arabic.

Languages where they have a very specific diet,

or they eat very specific foods,

and there is a lot of immigration into your country,

and so they have their own supermarkets.

There are loads or oriental supermarkets,

and Arabic supermarkets,

and Polish sections in supermarkets in the UK.

I imagine there are in your country.

I remember in Spain

there were loads of oriental supermarkets.

Just go there, if you're learning one of those languages,

go there, have a browse, bring a translator,

or a dictionary with you,

and see what new vocabulary you can pick up.

Okay, you might not want to do this on a daily basis,

but maybe you could do it once a week,

and make a meal from the ingredients

that you pick up once a week.

That links with my first tip or idea,

which is following recipes and chefs in the native language.

Number eight.

This is more expensive, and not necessarily a daily,

but it is make your next holiday a language course.

This is something that I did when I was younger,

and it helped me so much.

Instead of going on holiday,

I used to go on language courses.

All of my friends went on girl's holidays to Ibiza,

and Greece, and party holidays.

(chuckling)

I'm not trying to be super different or anything.

For the price of the one week holiday

that my girlfriends went on,

I managed to book three weeks immersion in Italy.

I just stayed in a room in a flat of an Italian woman there,

I booked really cheap flights with Ryanair,

and I did a half day language course every single day,

which is why it kind of relates to learn every day.

Oh my god, the amount of Italian

I learnt in those three weeks was incredible,

and the reason it really relates to learning,

and doing something fun every day,

is because I met so many people out there

that I kept in touch with on WhatsApp.

And chatting to a foreign friend in their native language

on WhatsApp every day is an amazing way

of improving your language skills,

and even better, if you do it via voice notes,

they give you a little bit of time

to think about what you're saying,

or you can correct yourself,

and when they reply to you,

you can listen to what they've said multiple times,

and repeat bits.

So, it's a really, really good way

of familiarising yourself with the pronunciation,

and the language.

Now, obviously, you have to have the funds,

but it's something you could really, really work towards.

I remember one year,

it was my Christmas and birthday present joint

from my parents to do a one week language course in Spain.

They thought I was mad,

but I think they were also kind of proud

that's what I wanted instead of an iPhone.

I was just obsessed with Spain and languages.

I really, really just wanted to go.

Number nine is fun,

especially if you have quite a specific interest.

It's read blogs in another language.

And the reason why this is so good is because blogs,

as opposed to news articles, and other documents online,

are normally written in quite a colloquial fashion.

The blogger writes

as if they are just talking to a friend, normally.

This is a fantastic opportunity

to pick up colloquial phrases, slang phrases,

the way a native speaker would naturally talk and write.

And the best part, it's something you're interested in,

or it's written by a person that you admire,

and that you like.

Number 10.

Read a translation of your favourite book.

I always mention this, and it's amazing how many people

haven't thought of doing this.

Choose a book that you've already read,

and read it in the language that you're learning.

It's much easier than just picking up a new book,

'cause you understand the general storyline,

and you can pick up new vocabulary

without having to actively search for it in a dictionary.

I did this with Harry Potter in Spanish,

and it took me a little bit longer,

but it felt really, really satisfying,

'cause I was learning new words

without having to translate them.

It also really helped me with my sentence structure,

and also my storytelling.

Number 11.

Quite a simple one,

but follow native speakers on social media.

Social media is normally seen as a huge distraction.

When you're using it, you're wasting time,

but what happens if when you go on Instagram,

it's just filled with speakers of the language

that you are learning.

All of their captions are in that language,

all of their stories are in that language.

The same on Facebook, the same on YouTube.

If you're looking at social media,

and it's all in the language that you're learning,

well, you're still immersing yourself,

you'll still be picking things up.

Again, you can tailor it to your interests,

check it every day, it's suddenly a language activity

that you do on a daily basis,

and it will help you improve,

and it will help you sound more natural,

and develop natural, organic English skills,

or other language skills.

And the last one, number 12, this isn't for everyone,

but it's a great idea,

and it's something I've done in the past,

it's start a private blog or diary

in the language that you're learning.

Okay, it doesn't necessarily have to be private.

Mine was 100% private, and I just wrote about my day

in the language that I was learning.

I never got anyone to correct that,

because I didn't want them to see what I was writing.

But for me, it was really interesting to go back over time,

and look at how my language skills had developed,

and see how I chose to express certain things and feelings

when my language skills weren't up to scratch.

Writing down these feelings in another language

made it much easier to express these feelings

in another language when it came to it.

Right, those are my 12 ideas

for improving your language skills on a daily basis.

If you have any more recommendations,

please comment them down below.

I'm sure there are loads more fun ways

of improving your skills.

If you are interesting in joining

the last ever Lingoda Language Marathon promotion,

then click on the link in the description box,

and use my code TALK5 for a 10 euro discount

on your entry fee.

Don't forget to connect with me on all of my social media.

I've got my Facebook, I've got my Instagram,

I've got my Twitter,

and I've got my new Lucy Bella Earl channel.

The video that will be going up,

or might have already gone up,

is about my stupidest financial mistakes

that I made in my 20s.

Very interesting.

If you want to laugh at me and my stupidity,

check that out, it's linked down below.

I will see you soon for another lesson.

(kissing sound)

Pick a handful, or maybe just a couple of these ideas,

put them into practise,

and watch your language skills evolve.

Evolve, (laughing) evolve!

What is this Pokemon?

(laughing)

Now, when you learn a new, a no.

(laughing)

Now when you nearn, nearn, nearn.

I must say her voice is incredibly attractive.

It's gorgeous!

(chuckling)

(blowing air)

Nigella Lawson making me hot, a sweaty upper lip.

I hope my makeup's still on.

If not, that would be embarrassing.

(chuckling)

After registering for the marathon,

and paying your non-dispunsable.

(chuckling)

I think they were also quite flat.

Oh, just hit 10 thousand steps by gesticulating.

(light upbeat music)

(energetic upbeat music)