Want to learn English by yourself at home but don’t know how?
You’ve come to the right place.
I learn English exclusively by myself. I don’t do any classroom learning.
You can learn at home too!
And if you want to learn English speaking, that can be done from home as well. (I’ll tell you how in this guide.)
Why Learn English at Home?
If you want to improve your English, you have two options.
You can either A) take an English class near you or B) learn on your own at home.
For me, learning from home is better than taking classes.
Here’s why:
1. Convenient
If you learn English at home, you can start learning right after you wake up in the morning.
You don’t have to take a shower, get dressed, or make yourself look presentable. You can learn English comfortably in your pajamas.
You don’t have to commute to class. All the English materials you need are available on the Internet at your fingertips. (You can find unlimited learning material on YouTube alone.)
2. Consistency
If you want to improve your English, you need to spend a lot of time each day listening, reading, and practicing English.
This is not easy to do if you rely on classroom learning.
Imagine having to commute to class every day. That would be too time consuming and expensive!
But if you learn from home, it’s easy to be consistent because you don’t have to waste time commuting to and from class.
Don’t get me wrong. It’s okay to take English classes. But if you go to class only a few times per week and do nothing else, your progress will be slow. So if you want to improve quickly, you should also learn English at home on your no-class days.
3 Best Ways to Learn English from Home
There are various ways to learn English at home.
Instead of discussing them all, let me share the best ones.
Here are the criteria I use to select the best learning activities:
- They must be convenient and easy to do. (You can do them alone at home without relying on a teacher or other people.)
- They must be proven to be effective. (Everyone agrees that they’re useful.)
Based on these criteria, here are the three best activities for you:
1. Listen to English Conversations
Listening is probably the most important learning activity you can do.
As a baby, the first thing you did to start acquiring your native language is to listen to your parents talk.
Through listening, your learned grammar, vocabulary, and pronunciation of your first language.
If you want to learn English fast, you must listen to a lot of English!
What kind of English content should you listen to?
Personally, I listen to things I truly enjoy.
For example, Lately I’ve been listening to Harry Potter theories on YouTube. (Harry Potter is my favorite book & movie series.)
I also listen to scary/horror stories. I usually listen to these stories while working out at my condo’s gym. (It makes my workout more enjoyable.)
I listen through wireless earphones (pretty cheap nowadays), which are connected to my phone via Bluetooth. This makes it easy to listen to English while working out.
What are your interests or passions? What are things that you find interesting?
Subscribe to English YouTube channels (or podcasts) based on those interests. It’s a great way to learn English and be entertained in the process.
2. Read in English
If your listening skills are weak, reading is an excellent “supplementary” activity.
In fact, listening and reading together is the most powerful way to improve your vocabulary and comprehension. (You learn both the pronunciation and spelling of English vocabulary.)
What should you read in English?
Just read books on topics that you’re interested in.
To give you some ideas, here are the types of books I enjoy:
- Fantasy novels (For instance, the Harry Potter series)
- Nonfiction books based on my interests (health, diet, investing, self improvement, skill development)
- Best-selling books in general
Even if you goal is to learn English speaking, reading can still benefit you.
For example, when you read a novel, you get to read dialogues between characters. These dialogues contain words and phrases used in spoken English.
“Yeah, that’s right, smarm up to him, Malfoy,” said Ron scathingly. “I bet Krum can see right through him, though … bet he gets people fawning over him all the time … Where d’you reckon they’re going to sleep? We could offer him a space in our dormitory, Harry … I wouldn’t mind giving him my bed, I could kip on a camp bed.”
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
I’ve read each of the seven Harry Potter books several times already. But each time time I reread it, I still learn some new vocabulary.
But what if you don’t have a big budget to buy English books?
Here are a few solutions:
- Buy second-hand English books for cheap via Facebook groups or online marketplaces
- If you live near a public library, borrow English books from there
- Read English blogs instead
Don’t let the lack of money stop you from learning English.
3. Practice Speaking English
Nowadays, it seems like good listening and reading skills are not enough any more.
To stand out, you need to have good English speaking skills.
But here the problem: how could you learn English speaking at home?
To practice speaking, you need a partner, right?
Well, not really.
Believe it or not, there are ways to practice English alone without a partner.
My favorite speaking practice is called Imitation. Basically, you listen to an English conversation and imitate (copy) the speaker.
By imitating native speakers, you learn to speak English with proper grammar and pronunciation.
I’ve been practicing this way for years and I can tell you it works.
All you need is English material (video or audio files containing English conversations or monologues), which can be found online for free.
If you want to know the step-by-step process of this exercise, read my English speaking practice guide.
So yes, you can improve your English speaking skills at home. It’s totally doable. I and many other people have done it.
3 Tips to Make Learning English at Home Successful
Although learning English at home is convenient, it has a few disadvantages.
There’s no one to provide guidance, or tell you what to do, or make sure you’re really learning English (instead of doing something else).
So here are a few tips to ensure your success:
Tip 1: Keep Your Learning Routine Simple
If you google “How to learn English at home,” you’ll find so many suggestions and ideas on how to do it.
Sadly, some of them are not practical or realistic:
But in this guide, I only suggest three activities (listen, read, and practice) instead of 9 or 10 suggestions like some other articles.
Why is that?
The reason is that the more complicated your learning routine is (the more things you have to do), the more overwhelmed and confused you’ll be.
That’s why each day I only do three activities:
- Listen to interesting content in English (while having a meal/exercising)
- Read interesting books in English (before bed and during commute)
- Practice speaking English alone (first thing in the morning)
I wholeheartedly believe that this learning routine is more than enough to improve your English. There’s no need to do anything more complicated or fancy.
I don’t study grammar. I don’t use language learning apps. I don’t spend time mindlessly watching random English lessons on YouTube. I don’t try actively memorize a lot of new vocabulary words.
If you keep your routine simple, it’s easy to be consistent, and your English will improve fast.
Tip 2: Make Learning English Fun
The biggest challenge of home learning is that it’s easy to procrastinate.
At home, there’s no one holding you accountable. You can do whatever you want instead of learning English. You can play video games, browse social media, or watch TV.
If you have weak discipline, one way to overcome this challenge is to make learning English a fun and entertaining experience.
Take a look at things you do for fun at home. Is it possible to do those things in English?
For example, I enjoy reading fantasy novels. But instead of reading the translated version, I read the original, English version.
I also enjoy listening to movie reviews to see what new movies are worth watching. But instead of following Thai movie review channels on YouTube, I follow English channels.
Last example: I love listening to scary stories. There are YouTube channels sharing those stories in both Thai (my native language) and English. I only subscribed to the English channels so I can have fun and learn English at the same time.
Do you get the idea?
When you make your learning a fun experience, it no longer feels like a boring chore you must do. There’s no reason to procrastinate anymore.
Tip 3: Don’t Confuse Learning with Researching
A common mistake students make is believing they’re “learning” English when they’re actually “researching” how to learn English.
They spend a lot of time watching videos or reading articles on how to learn English. They keep learning about new ideas, methods, tips and techniques.
The problem is…that is NOT learning. That’s researching!
It’s important to differentiate between the two activities:
Researching: search Google for “best books to read in English.”
Learning: read a book in English
Researching: search for “best podcasts for English students.”
Learning: Listen to an English conversation.
Researching: watch a video titled “10 tips for improving your spoken English.”
Learning: Actually open your mouth and speak some English.
As you can see, they aren’t the same.
Why People Spend so Much Time Researching
When students spend more time doing research than actually learning English, it’s because of the followings:
- They don’t really want to learn English (because it’s hard work), so they “procrastinate” by passively consuming content on how to learn English. And they convince themselves that they’re doing something productive. (In reality, they’re just wasting time.)
- They think activities like reading, listening, and speaking practice are too boring or too time-consuming. So they keep looking for a shortcut: a secret way to learn English fast. (Unfortunately, they are no shortcuts. Learning English takes time. There’s no way around it.)
- They are perfectionists who aren’t willing to start anything until they have all the information. They have to know all the tips, techniques, and methods for learning English before taking the first step.
Don’t fall into these traps.
The truth is that you don’t need to know everything to get started. If you’ve been reading English learning tips for a while, you probably know everything you need to know to succeed.
It’s okay to do research, to find ways to learn English at home more effectively (you’re doing it right now by reading this article). But it shouldn’t take up most of your time.
Spend more time learning than researching.
Thanks for reading. If you do follow the advice on this page, I guarantee that your English will absolutely improve.
Make sure to bookmark this page. While learning English at home, if you’re stuck or face a challenge, feel free to come back and read this article again.