ENGLISH IS FUN

Not only can learning English be fun; it should be fun.

So what do we mean by fun? First, let』s see what we don』t mean. If you』re an adult ESL student, fun should not be silly or childish. Fun does not mean playing language games that make you feel stupid. And, having fun during language lessons doesn』t mean you』re laughing all the time; that would mean the language lessons are funny -- not fun. Laughing all the time during lessons is good if you』re training to become a comedian, but it won』t help you learn English.

A fun English lesson is one that you feel good about. You look forward to taking the next one. Time goes fast during a fun lesson, sometimes too fast. If you』re looking at your watch every five minutes, the lesson is probably not fun. At the same time, English involves hard work. Remember your ESL teacher is a teacher, not an entertainer. But, you should feel like the class was a good class.

Here are ways to make your lessons more fun and productive:

Schedule a lesson when you』re not too tired

Of course, your job, family or university studies are your priority. But, try to schedule your lessons with an English teacher when you have enough energy. Find a teacher whose schedule can accommodate you -- even if it takes a little looking around to find the right one.

Take lessons with a teacher you like

You will know after the first lesson if you and your teacher are a good match. If after the first lesson you are not sure, try another trial lesson with a different teacher. It』s a good idea to try different teachers!

Take charge of your own learning

Even as a beginning ESL student, you can tell the teacher what and how you want to learn. My favorite kind of student is the one who comes in (or online) and says, 「Can we do this?」 If you don』t do anything but just sit there and answer questions, the teacher will have to do everything and the lesson won』t be fun for either of you.

Close the textbook

While some beginning students do need a textbook, there』s no law that says you have to use one. There are so many authentic (real) ways of learning English, such as newspaper articles online, videos, images to explain new vocabulary and many other ways I』m sure you can think of. Learning to speak a language doesn』t mean just listening and reading; it』s living the language through real things.

Get a little personal

Go ahead, ask your teacher some questions, not just about grammar and pronunciation, but things about his or her life. Believe me, your teacher will be happy. And don』t worry. If you ask something your teacher doesn』t want to talk about, you』ll be told. But, when ask your teacher questions, it not only helps your English, it strengthens the bond between you. After all, your teacher asks plenty about you, right? Make part of your lesson into a good conversation and the lesson will be much more enjoyable.

Finally

(and this may be the most important tip of all) Laugh at your teacher』s jokes. What if you don』t understand what it means, or if it』s even a joke at all? Ask. A clue that your teacher is making a joke is if she is laughing herself. So, go ahead and laugh with her. At this point, you may not even know what』s funny. But, laugh anyway because laughing is ... fun!

學習英語不僅僅是樂趣;它應該很有趣。

那麼，有趣的是什麼呢?首先，讓我們看看我們不是什麼意思。如果你是一個成人ESL學生，樂趣不應該是愚蠢或幼稚的。樂趣並不意味著玩會讓你感到愚蠢的語言遊戲。而且，在語言課上玩得開心並不意味著你總是在笑;那就意味著語言課很有趣，而不是有趣。如果你想成為一名喜劇演員，那麼在課堂上一直笑是件好事，但這對你學習英語毫無幫助。

一個有趣的英語課是你感覺良好的一課。你期待著下一個。在有趣的課上，時間過得很快，有時太快。如果你每隔五分鐘看一次表，這一課可能並不有趣。與此同時，英語需要努力工作。記住你的ESL老師是老師，不是藝人。但是，你應該覺得這個班是個好班級。

這裡有一些方法可以讓你的課程更加有趣和富有成效:

當你不太累的時候，安排一個課程。

當然，你的工作、家庭或大學學習是你的首要任務。但是，當你有足夠的精力時，試著安排你的英語老師。找一個時間表能讓你適應的老師——即使你只是想找個合適的老師。

和你喜歡的老師一起上課。

如果你和你的老師很般配，你就會在第一節課後就知道了。如果在第一節課後你不確定的話，再試一試另一個老師。嘗試不同的老師是一個好主意!

負責你自己的學習。

即使作為一名初學者，你也可以告訴老師你想學什麼，你想學什麼。我最喜歡的學生是來(或在線)的學生，他說:「我們能做到嗎?」「如果你什麼都不做，只是坐在那裡回答問題，老師將不得不做所有的事情，這對你們中的任何一個來說都不會是有趣的。」

關閉教科書

雖然有些初學者確實需要一本教科書，但沒有法律規定你必須使用一本。學習英語有很多真實的(真實的)方法，比如網上的報紙文章、視頻、解釋新辭彙的圖片，還有很多其他我相信你能想到的方法。學會說一種語言並不意味著只是聽和讀;它通過真實的事物來生活。

有點個人

問你的老師一些問題，不僅僅是語法和發音，而是關於他/她的生活。相信我，你的老師會很高興的。,別擔心。如果你問老師不想談論的事情，你會被告知。但是，當你問老師問題時，它不僅能幫助你的英語，還能加強你之間的聯繫。畢竟，你的老師問了很多關於你的問題，對吧?把你的一節課變成一次愉快的交談，這節課將會更加有趣。

最後

(這可能是最重要的一點)嘲笑老師的笑話。如果你不明白這是什麼意思，或者根本就是個笑話，那該怎麼辦?問。你的老師正在開玩笑的一個線索是她在笑自己。所以，和她一起笑吧。在這一點上，你甚至不知道什麼是有趣的。但是，笑吧，因為笑是……樂趣!