Learning English on the Internet

There are many different reasons that make us decide to learn English. Some need it for their studies, some to get a job or improve their present position, that is to say to get promotion...

Maybe we want to travel to places where we know that English will be the only way to communicate, at least for practical reasons like asking for information, buying train tickets or simply having a coffee.

So, when we have absorbed the idea that we want to learn English, we have to take the matter in hand and find the best way to achieve our objective. English Academy or Online course?

Academies are the most widespread option as they are a traditional method that has been used throughout the years by most people. They offer classes with a limited number of students to encourage learning; most of them have native teachers, so you can hear the language first hand. A teacher can explain the grammatical structures, the nuances of the vocabulary and corrects you when you make mistakes. Generally you practice by doing written exercises, doing reading and listening comprehensions and also doing some speaking. In other words, in an academy all aspects of learning a language are covered.

Nowadays, and thanks to new technologies, we have a wide variety of online courses that offer many advantages when it comes to learning English. Now, is it really possible to learn English on the Internet?

The answer is that you certainly can, but just as it happens when you go to an academy, you will probably have to complement it with all those external activities that can help you, such as: reading books, watching films or series in English, spending some time in an English-speaking country, singing songs in English...

Having said that, it is true that doing a course online has its advantages. Let's look at some of them:

1. Convenience.
It is undeniable that an online course allows you to learn English from any place where you can have a computer or laptop, which represents a great convenience since you don't have to go to a teaching centre. Moreover, being able to do a course in the privacy of our own home enables us to practice without the pressure of others listening to us, which makes us feel more uninhibited and more willing to express ourselves orally.

2. Flexibility.
Internet allows us to choose when and how much time we want to dedicate to study. Nowadays we don't usually have too much time, on the contrary, the day should have a few more hours. Therefore, it is of vital importance that we take advantage of those moments that we have within our busy schedule, and establish our own timetable. Another advantage of studying online is that we can make the most of our idle time, for example, when travelling by bus, or when we are in the dentist's waiting room, when driving...

3. Pace control.
When we go to a language school, there are some topics that have to be done within the time limit of the course. We know that not all students learn at the same pace, and that although teachers try their best, in the end there is always someone who is left behind. An online course offers the possibility that the student can dedicate all the time they need to fully assimilate what they have studied.

4. Repetition.
It is obvious that when we learn something new, we remember it while it is still fresh in our minds, but after a few days, if we don't go over it again or don't use it, we tend to forget. The good thing about using the Internet is that we can do the same exercises as many times as we want, either at the same time as we study a particular subject or later, precisely to consolidate what we have learned.

5. Immediate feedback.
When doing an exercise it is very important to know that we have done it correctly, but it's even more important that when we make a mistake, we can see the solution immediately and compare our sentence or word with the correct one. This gives us the opportunity to spot the mistake, understand why we made it and finally correct it.

You can learn a language by going to an academy and also online, although it is obviously not enough. We must take advantage of all the resources at our disposal if we want to achieve our goal.

You should be aware that you will have to be careful when choosing an online course, as not all of them offer a complete system where all aspects of learning a language are covered. We recommend that you visit Lewolang.

There are many other additional things we can do to have full immersion in English. There are books, films or series in English, blogs, videos on youtube, podcasts, mobile applications... There are also teachers or native speakers you can contact and have conversations with online.

Whichever method or methods we use to succeed in speaking English once and for all, we must not forget that we will need great motivation and large doses of patience. A language cannot be learned miraculously or in a short period of time, we have to dedicate hours to it. However, the more activities in English we can include in our daily lives, the sooner we will get results.