As a science major student, I was always afraid of learning a new language. It was not until I met this special “friend” that I thought I could fall in love with English language.
About myself
- Le Tuan
- 20 years old
- Junior at Hanoi University of Science and Technology
- How I studied English: listening to TOEIC audio tests, learn vocabulary by heart
- How I am studying now: learning English with movies on eJOY and phimlearning.com
- eJOY’s products used: eJOY eXtension, eJOY App, eJOY Go
- English skills improved: listening, speaking, vocabulary
One thousand things I hate about English
I love science. Back in high school, my favorite subjects were Maths, Physics, Chemistry. Whereas, English was never my jam. The only English sentence that I could speak properly was “hello, how are you? I’m fine. Thank you. And you?”.
For me, English used to be difficult, boring, ridiculous, confusing,.. and I hated it…. so.
I thought I would no longer “see” English again once I got to the University. However, the reality does not always turn out to be the way we expect, you know. In the fourth year of university, I was informed that 450 TOEIC was one of the requirements that I needed to meet to graduate from the university. I had one year to prepare for the exam.
I planned to study English at home for half of the year and then spent the last months in a TOEIC training center. So on the first days, I went online searching for all of the TOEIC materials, things like 3420 TOEIC words, 600 essential words for TOEIC, Grammar in use, TOEIC test samples,… Then I tried my best to learn 30 English words every day by writing them down repeatedly. I also read the book Grammar in Use and did quite a lot of exercises., I learned 10 different grammar structures. On the weekend, I would take a sample test. I never wanted to fail English again.
However, after the first few weeks of learning English seriously, I didn’t see any improvement. I forgot most of the vocabulary and grammar. My English listening was still very terrible.
How did I know about eJOY?
One day, while I was still very upset with my English, my best friend asked me if I had heard of eJOY. He said eJOY was his favorite English learning website and that I should take a look at it. I was not quite interested but decided to give it a go because… well, what else do I have to lose?
I started off by watching 2 famous American sitcoms which are Friends and “How I met your mother”. This website is kinda cool. I can watch movies and look up new words at the same time. Then I got to know that eJOY is actually a learning ecosystem with many other tools like eJOY mobile app, eJOY Epic, eJOY extension. I can learn English everywhere, any time! Learning English vocabulary with eJOY is super easy and exciting. I play games with words instead of writing words down repeatedly.
How has my English improved after learning English on eJOY?
Thanks to eJOY, English has become my favorite subject. I’ve come to realize that English is not as difficult and boring as I used to think. My English listening skills have improved so much after 6 months using eJOY (every day). I never thought I could understand what people were talking about in English conversations. I never thought I would have enough confidence to respond to someone in English, either.
My English pronunciation was just terrible (If you’re a beginner, you may know that kind of feeling). However, now my English communication skills have become better. I believe it’s because I’ve practiced listening and shadowing with videos on eJOY every day. eJOY also helps me improve my vocabulary. I’ve learned quite a lot of TOEIC vocabulary using eJOY eXtension.
And finally, I have made it through the final English exams with TOEIC 500.
How have I learned English on eJOY?
I think the most important thing to consider when it comes to learning English effectively is finding out what you’re truly interested in. Personally, I love watching movies so I almost spend my time learning English with movies. If you love reading books, then you may spend more time on reading English books. When you do what you love, you’ll not feel bored learning English any more.
So every day, I spend around 20 minutes watching English TV series on eJOY or Netflix or phimlearning.com. I’ve just finished 10 seasons of Friends and 9 seasons of How I met your mother. These tv series are quite suitable for English learners because the English you can learn from TV series is the real-life English which is actually used daily in any English speaking country. Plus, watching TV series is a fun and easy habit to build.
eJOY eXtension will allow me to look up and save new words while watching any episode. After the watching session, I’ll start practicing Speaking on eJOY GO. eJOY will show me all of the pronunciation mistakes that I made and ask me to repeat again until I get better. Then I practice imitating the way the characters in the movie speak. This kind of practice sounds pretty weird but is very effective. Over time, you will notice the improvement not only in your pronunciation but also in your speaking skills in general.
Most importantly, I review my vocabulary every single day. Of course I don’t just re-read them. I play games with them using eJOY eXtension and eJOY app. This learning method is super fun. It helps me to remember vocabulary better.
If you haven’t yet found your right way to learn English, why don’t you try learning it with movies just like me? Over time, your English skills will improve, more or less. I bet you will start to fall in love with English language like I do.
