Before we do, let’s take a moment to say what we mean by “current events.” This can mean the news–for example, the latest things happening in your town, country, or in the world.

But it can also mean discussions of ideas relevant to the present time. Longer articles that make you think, podcasts, videos about new trends and technology: it all counts.

Now let’s take a look at all the ways you can enhance your English learning by adding current events.

Benefits of learning English with current events

Learning English with current events not only sharpens language skills but also offers a real-world context that enhances comprehension and cultural awareness.

In this article, we’ll explore seven benefits:

• Real-life content
• Expand your vocabulary
• Improve reading and listening skills
• Learn about English-speaking cultures
• Use what you learn right away
• Learn to think in English

Let’s take them one by one:

Real-life content

Textbooks and learning resources have an important place in learning. Without them, we wouldn’t know how to form a sentence or how to communicate even basic ideas.

However, while traditional learning materials are essential, many students find that they aren’t authentic or relevant to the real world. That’s not a criticism of textbooks per se. But it does mean that you would probably benefit from using current events in your learning.

Newspaper articles, podcasts, news programs, and documentaries offer vocabulary and expressions used in everyday situations, making your language learning experience more practical and relevant. By engaging with current events, you will gain exposure to idiomatic expressions, colloquialisms, and formal language structures, allowing you to adapt to various communication styles.

Plain English lessons are all about what’s going on in the world. Check out recent lesson topics here.

Expand your vocabulary

Staying up-to-date on current events will give you exposure to a wide range of topics and themes. This exposure naturally expands your vocabulary, so you can discuss a variety of subjects with confidence. From politics and science to entertainment and technology, following the news opens up avenues for you to learn words about all parts of life.

This is especially important because we are naturally drawn to those things that interest us personally. When looking for learning materials, it’s only natural that we seek out material that aligns with our interests. While that approach is good for maintaining our attention and motivation, it’s also important to become well-rounded speakers, able to communicate on a wide variety of topics—not just those that interest us personally.

For example, you might be personally interested in business, technology, and travel. But you should still be able to communicate about science, health, and art, for example. Reading and listening to topics outside your comfort zone will help you expand your vocabulary and become a more well-rounded English speaker.

Improve reading and listening skills

Here’s a common problem: learners say they can understand everything in their English textbooks, and they can understand their English teacher perfectly. But when they go out into the real world, they have trouble understanding native speakers. What’s going on?

There are over 350 million people who speak English as their first language…and they all speak it slightly differently. Everyone has a different speaking and writing style. And to be a well-rounded English learner, you should get exposure to as many different styles as possible.

What does “style” mean, in this context? It’s hard to define. But it can mean the way of arranging sentences, the way people speak, the words they choose—even their accents.

By regularly consuming reading and listening to different communication styles, you can teach your brain to recognize and process the many different styles you’ll encounter in the real world.

You might like: 10 Tips to Improve Listening Skills in English

Learn about English-speaking cultures

Language is deeply connected to culture, and learning English through current events offers a window into the culture of the people who speak English. By staying informed about current affairs, especially from the English-speaking world, you’ll not only improve your language skills, but you’ll also learn about cultural references, societal norms, and communication styles in English-speaking communities.

Keep in mind, also, why you’re learning English in the first place. We all have different motivations, but one is very common: to communicate with an English-speaking person! And the best way to build that connection is to have some common cultural understanding.

Imagine a person is perfect at communicating in the language, but has no idea about the lives, culture, opinions, and history of the people who speak it. That doesn’t sound like much fun! So by working current events into your English learning routine, you’ll make future connections with English-speaking people more valuable.

Use what you learn right away

Think back to the last time you took an English exam. That exam probably had a “passage,” right? A passage is a short selection of text. And you were probably asked to read the passage and answer questions about it.

If your exams were anything like mine, the passages and examples were boring! They weren’t about topics you’d regularly discuss with the real people in your life—in English or in any other language.

That’s where current events can help. The language used in news articles and reports mirrors the language used in daily life. That means, you can put that language to use right away in your own life. Whether you’re talking about business trends at work, getting a coffee with an English-speaking friend, or even watching English-language movies, the vocabulary and expressions that you’ll see when learning with current events will help you in your daily interactions.

At Plain English, we also show you specifically how to use common English expressions. You hear them in context, and then you get a detailed explanation. Curious? Browse our Expression Library.

Think in English

Often, when we focus on language learning, we focus on the words, the sentences, and the grammar. But a key part of language learning is thinking in the new language. And so it can be helpful to use current events to spark critical thinking.

How is that possible? Let us count the ways. When reading, watching, or listening to current events, you can:

• Learn something new
• Develop your own opinion about a topic
• Agree or disagree with an opinion being shared
• Make connections to your own experiences or to other things you have read or heard
• See something from a different perspective

We do these things naturally in our own language. But by studying English with current events, you can do these things in your second (or third) language. In the process, you’ll get practice at thinking in English, not just speaking the words.

Stay motivated and relevant

Language learning is a journey—often a long one!—and staying motivated is important. It’s also important to be consistent. At some point, you’ll read the end of the course, the last chapter in the textbook, or the last session with your tutor. But current events provide an unending source of learning material.

Following current events keeps the English learning experience fresh, exciting, and relevant. The world is ever-changing, and there’s more material available than at any time in history. That’s why current events can help you stay motivated and consistent during the ups and downs of the English learning journey.

Ready to learn English with current events?

Are you convinced yet? If you think current events and trending topics would have a place in your English learning journey, then Plain English is for you!

Plain English is the best way to learn English with current events and trending topics.

Every audio lesson focuses on one story about something that’s going on in the world that week. The lessons also include a discussion of an English expression or phrasal verb to help you communicate your best ideas. The audio goes at a slower speed, and we publish free transcripts, so you can understand every word.

With new lessons every Monday and Thursday, you’ll always have something new to listen to. And best of all, the episode topics are about what’s happening around the world, so you can use what you learn on the podcast right away.

If you’d like access to these free Plain English lessons, sign up below and we’ll show you exactly how to get started:

The post Why learn English with current events? appeared first on Plain English.

Benefits of listening and reading at the same time

In this article, we’ll take a look at four benefits to English learning of listening and reading at the same time. They are:

• You can associate sounds with written words
• You deepen the learning pathways
• You involve multiple senses at once
• It helps you stay on track

Associate sounds with written words

Every word (in fact, every part of a word) has a sound and a spelling.

When reading…

When reading, we pay attention to the way a word looks. We notice its spelling. If it’s a hard word, we can take a little longer to identify it and process its meaning. If it’s a word we know, we can process it quickly.

It’s also common to “say” the words out loud in our heads. But a problem comes when we recognize the way a word is written, but we don’t know how it sounds. We can’t say it silently to ourselves, and we can’t use it out loud in a future conversation.

When listening…

When listening, on the other hand, we clearly know how words sound. But as we’re listening, we don’t know how words are spelled. And if we don’t hear the speaker clearly, it can be hard to know whether we simply don’t know the word or if we mis-heard it.

When listening, too, we don’t have the option of taking a little while longer with each word, since we (usually) don’t control the speed with which a person speaks.

When doing both…

But listening and reading together is a powerful strategy. It combines the strengths of each method. When you hear a word spoken out loud, you can immediately associate the sounds you hear with the way it’s written on the page. That way, when you encounter the word again in a book, you’ll be more likely to know how it sounds, so you can “say it” in your head.

Likewise, when writing, you might think of a word based on what you’ve heard. And if you know how it’s spelled, you’re prepared to write it out.

Plain English is a podcast with slower-speed audio and free, word-for-word transcripts to help English learners. Learn more here.

Deepen the learning pathways

Learning any new skill involves carving new pathways in your brain.

The first time you do something new, it feels slow and uncomfortable. The second time, it might feel only a little better. But if you’ve done something a hundred times, you probably feel like an expert. By that hundredth time, you’ve already carved a deep learning pathway for yourself in your brain.

Every time we hear something—and every time we read something—in our new language, we deepen the learning pathways in our brains. It’s not a big change every time, but the accumulation of reading, listening, speaking, and writing over long periods is what makes us comfortable and fluent in a new language.

That’s why it’s important to be consistent and to get a lot of exposure to a new language.

You won’t find us arguing for a quick-fix to language learning. But listening and reading at the same time can help you deepen those learning pathways faster than if you were practicing just one of those skills at a time.

Involve multiple senses at once

Humans perceive the world using multiple senses. We have evolved to process information quickly from multiple senses at once. That’s why multi-sensory learning can be so effective.

Multi-sensory learning is just what it sounds like: a learning style that uses multiple senses at once. In most cases, this means some combination of sight, sound, touch, and movement.

Of course, not everything can be taught in a multi-sensory way. But languages are tailor-made for a combination of sight and sound. Listening and reading at the same time stimulates two of your senses at once, and can help you make faster progress.

Stay on track with your reading

Finally, who among us hasn’t allowed our mind to wander while reading a book? A thought pops into your head, you look up…and ten minutes later, you’ve had a daydream and haven’t even turned one page. That can be even more true in a second language, when reading is more of a strain than it is in your first language.

Getting lost while reading a book isn’t bad in and of itself. But sometimes we would benefit from the discipline of someone keeping us on track. Listening to the text we’re reading can help us stay on track, especially if it’s at a pace we can follow (more on that later).  

Where to get the material

You might be convinced that listening and reading at the same time offer benefits over and above what each individual activity can offer by itself. But where can you get material?

Here are three suggestions:

• Podcasts: Many English-language podcasts come with free transcripts. Plain English, for example, is a twice-weekly English-learning podcast about current events and trending topics. The transcripts are free and available on PlainEnglish.com. Other podcasts, especially from NPR in the United States, also have transcripts.
• Audiobooks: If you like reading books, you might consider combining the written book with the audiobook. If you buy e-books from Amazon, look for the feature called “Whispersync” to make sure your Kindle book comes with an audio version.
• Automated narration: Many newspapers and magazines now offer narration of the articles on their websites. This is an excellent way to make the content more accessible. Just be aware, however, that this is often computer narration. While the pronunciation is basically accurate, it’s not the same as listening to a human.

Other tips for listening and reading at the same time

Finally, here are a few tips to keep in mind if you follow this strategy:

• Listen at the right speed: Listening does you no good if it’s too fast for you to understand. Some audiobook narrators speak slowly, while others go much more quickly. The same goes for podcasts. Pick an audio source that goes at a speed that you can understand. (Plain English is available at two speeds, for example, so you can pick the speed that’s right for you.)
• Don’t overdo it: Remember the benefits of listening and reading at the same time, especially about creating deeper learning pathways? Well that comes at a cost. This is a more intense way of learning, so you’ll get tired more quickly. Don’t try to do too much. Listen to just ten or fifteen minutes at first. Then, you can gradually increase the amount you do per day as you get more comfortable.

Consider Plain English for the best of both worlds

Plain English offers English lessons based on current events and trending topics. Each lesson has both an audio version and a transcript. The best news? They’re both free.

Plain English offers several advantages to English learners who want to upgrade their English skills. First, each and every one of our 650+ lessons includes a free transcript. That way, you can listen and read at the same time for hundreds of hours of interesting content.

Second, the audio goes at a slower speed, perfect for intermediate English learners. What’s more, the slower speed isn’t a mechanical or automated change to normal speech. The narration is just like a patient friend speaking a little more slowly so you can understand.

Finally, while the main topics on Plain English are about what’s going on in the world, each lesson includes a helpful discussion of a common English expression or phrasal verb. These discussions take a story-based approach, so you hear the full context of the words you’re learning.

It’s easy to get started

It’s easy to start with Plain English. Just tell us a little about yourself in the form below and we’ll help you start listening to our free audio lessons and reading the transcripts:

The post Listening and reading at the same time: a great way to improve your English appeared first on Plain English.

Tell me and I forget. Show me and I remember. Let me do and I understand.

Socrates

It’s not just ancient philosophers who think that. A recent study in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences confirms Socrates’s hunch. The study found that students learned more with active learning strategies than with passive (listening) strategies alone.

Active learning in English

If active learning helps you make faster progress, how can you work active learning strategies into your English study?

To find the answer, I researched the difference between active and passive learning and I found some great ideas for active learning in English.

I collected all my findings into a free 30-minute workshop.

What’s included in the workshop

In the workshop, you’ll learn:

• What is active and passive learning?
• Advantages and disadvantages of each
• Is passive learning useless?
• How to be an active learner in English
• How to use Plain English in your learning plan

The full workshop is called “Be an active learner” and it includes a 30-minute video, a written summary, and a quiz.

Active learning and Plain English

Plain English is an online platform that helps learners everywhere in the world upgrade their English with current events and trending topics. Many of our members already use Plain English actively.

For example:

• Free members use the audio and transcripts to listen actively, improve their pronunciation, and learn new words.
• Plus+ members use the interactive exercises, live calls, personal feedback, and writing prompts to make faster progress toward their goals.

Make your own strategy

The workshop has lots of ideas for becoming a more active learner. However, the possibilities are endless. The important thing is to find a strategy that’s right for you and that includes both active and passive strategies.

Ready to get started? Register for the full workshop here Full workshop: Be an active English learner.

The post Active strategies for learning English appeared first on Plain English.