Lesson: English in Everyday Life

A tip for bringing English into your everyday life: try to actively “switch” your inner voice to English. That means, whenever you use your inner voice to collect your thoughts, such as when putting together a shopping list, organizing your time, trying to remember a dream from last night, counting, or going over your mental to-do list, speak to yourself in English (you don’t have to do it out loud, so people won’t think you’re crazy!)

Another tip for bringing more English into your everyday life: set your electronic equipment to English: navigation system, computer, PDA, mobile phone, etc. These will serve as little reminders for your English throughout the day.

Use abbreviations you already know to help your English; they contain a lot of hints for grammar and correct usage of the language:

ETA – Estimated Time of Arrival
FYI – For Your Information
ASAP – As Soon As Possible

Listen to the music: when driving in your car, turn on the radio and listen to music – really listen to it and try to figure out what the artist is singing. Try to sing along! (Works best especially when alone in the car; plus the accoustics in a car are usually good for us non-professional singers. It also helps if you turn up the volume.) You can also listen at home with headphones, to more clearly understand the words. What’s the song about? What time form or other grammar forms are being used? What slang words or idimoatic expressions do you hear? Try to explain the meaning of the song in English.

Know your slang! Often the songs we hear on the radio contain slang expressions like the ones listed below:

wanna = want to
gotta = got to (have got to = must)
gonna = going to (future form)
gettin’ = getting
whatcha = what are you
doin’ = doing
gimme = give me
whatta = what do
ya = you
‘em = them
innit? = isn’t it?

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4. Bringing English into your everyday life