WHAT CAN YOU DO TO IMPROVE YOUR ENGLISH?

   As a future English teacher, I always see that the people are not good at understanding and speaking English language here in Turkey. The people always say to me that they understand the language but on the other hand they have problems with their speaking, expressing abilities. In fact, I can say that Turkish people are really innocent in comparison with Italians, French people, Greeks etc. What did I mean by saying " innocent " ? I meant that Turks are actually good at understanding and speaking English in comparison with the other European nations but that's not enough for the world of today. When I went to Europe, I had lots of friends from Greece, Spain, Italy, France and so on and when I started speaking English with them, I noticed that we, Turkish people, are really successful to speak English. We, as a society, have only some lacks related to English, though. 

   In this post, I would like to give some suggestions for the ones that would like to improve their English. What can be done on this topic? What do you need to do if you want to improve your English with its everything? I'll align my 10 important suggestions in the form of substances below.

1. Don't be afraid of making mistakes! While trying to speak English, I suggest you not to be shy, hasty and funky. Just speak English! No one will judge and criticize you. If the people around you try to correct your mistakes, just let them do it! You shouldn't forget that we, human beings, learn from our own mistakes in the best way.
2. Firstly, read for the general meaning! Do not worry about understanding every word one by one! In this case, the most important thing is to understand the whole meaning and I suggest you not to focus on every word and structure. If you do that, you may forget about the beginning of your text, paragraph, short story or something like that.
3. Use English whenever you can! Don't be so shy please! Just use English! For example; when I was at high school, I was always speaking English with my friends, teachers and family members. Sometimes, they could not understand me but it was not a big problem for me. I was always feeling free to speak my lovely English. I still speak it everywhere. You should not forget that the most natural way to learn English and English grammar is through " talking ".
4. Why not start an online blog and share your writings, opinions and ideas with the world? You can create an online blog and start to use it. As long as you keep on writing, you will realize that your English will be improving itself because writing is the skill that helps you a lot. Writing skill makes you both think and write.
5. You can learn English songs and sing along with them so as to improve fluency and intonation. Also, all those English songs make you enthusiastic to learn English. They motivate you.
6. You can watch English films as well. Watching English films was really useful for me because I always tried to understand the subtitles themselves. I still watch and enjoy a lot. You can see and learn new words and structures while watching. You can snap new phrases and vocabulary up. 
7. You can use an English - English dictionary as it will help you to keep thinking in English. In this case, you won't need to translate from your mother tongue to English or from English to your mother tongue. If you learn English, you need to start to think like a Brit.
8. Newspapers are also useful. You can follow online news on the internet. There are lots of English news websites that you can follow and read. In Turkey, you can follow " Hürriyet Daily News and TRT World ".
9. When you learn a new word, think of all its other forms. [ Beauty (n) / Beautiful (adj) / Beautifully (adv) ]
10. You can get a penfriend or use chat-rooms, forums and community sites. Social media really helps me in this case. I have a lot of friends from all around the world. I always try to keep in touch with most of them. When they share a post, I comment. When I share a picture or a post, they comment. Facebook and Instagram are really good for communicating with foreign people. In this case, I suggest you to choose your foreign friends in an appropriate way.