My English journey

This post is also available in: Portuguese (Brazil)

Last updated on 21 February 2021

In today’s article, I’m going to talk about my English journey.

Everything started on 30^th July 2015, after reading the “How to study English – The definitive guide” by Mairo Vergara. It enabled me to find some tools to boost my English skills like Anki, Oxfords and Linguee dictionaries, VOA Learning English, TED Talk, and so.

Mario Vergara’s website has a lot of materials. I highly recommend you check it out.

I studied that material day-by-day for about 6 months. During this period, I could see my self-improvement in reading skills. I give all credits to ANKI, the best tool ever to remember that we have learned. (You can get more information about that here).

In February 2016, I started listening to Effortless English Lessons by AJ Hoge, his methodology is pretty good. It works by the repetition of understandable audio, in other words, you have to listen to the same lesson (vocabulary audio and mini-story lesson) a bunch of times until you understand about 90% of the audio. In the mini-story lesson, he asks questions about the story. It’s good for beginner learners.

At the same time, I began to listen to Podcasts in English by the “Podcast Addiction app”. I started listening just tips like how to improve English skills, then as I got familiar with the vocabulary, I moved to other areas of interest like self-development, health, and finances.

In November 2016, I came across “Hellolingo”, a platform where people around the world have the same purpose: to learn a foreign language. How does it work? You’ll exchange your abilities with others in your native language or in a language that you’re proficient in. You select on Hellolingo what language you speak and what language you’re learning. This way you can find a partner to practice writing and speaking.

In the beginning, I chatted by text for 7 months, it was a little painful because every word I was intending to write required me to look up the meaning on a translator or a dictionary! Over time, I got better, and the number of searches decreases. 😉

In June 2017, I decided to practice my speaking. Of course, it wasn’t good, but I didn’t mind. I kept in my mind that it was similar to when I took my driver’s license; I needed to practice in order to become a better driver. So, I faced my fear and took a step forward… Today, I can see my improvement. I can communicate with others, but I also know that I have plenty of work to do. (I’m a work in progress, always!)

In September 2017, I found “Learn English with TV Series” on YouTube. I spent over a month watching and learning from their videos. After that, I decided to buy the course “Fluent with Friends”. This decision has changed my life. Besides getting the lessons week by week I could join the RealLife Fluency Circle, an amazing Telegram group with nice and smart people from all around the world. We’re more than simply learners, we’re a global community. You can get more information about that here.

You must have noticed that I haven’t mentioned grammar so far. From July 2015 to July 2017, I studied by myself with podcasts, videos on YouTube, articles from blogs and books. However, I felt that I needed more… I knew that my grammar was poor, so I decided to attend classes in a traditional English course, August 2017.

In February 2021, I launched my YouTube channel. The goal is to practice my speaking while helping people to learn English by themselves without paying lots of money. Click here to watch my videos with tips on things that I like the most to boost my English and subscribe to my channel to be an independent learner. 😀

That’s my story! 😀

Hope you liked it, and inspires you to take your English to the next level. You can learn English by yourself. You don’t need fancy and expensive courses to master your English. What you need are consistency and will-power.