How to learn English from zero? Tips for learning English effectively from scratch

Parent’s name: Diana

Student’s name: Giselle, 4 years old

When we were young, we learned English by memorization. Ph” was pronounced as “F”; the present continuous tense was +ing, the past tense +ed, and so on. The teachers at school taught English through Chinese methods, memorizing 2-3 English words a day and relying on dictation strings for spelling. Yes, this was actually true. This way we knew the meaning of each word from the Chinese translation; the sentences were written by the example sentences provided by the teacher. The process can be said to be bloody and tearful

These are some of the ways in which we can cope with school exams. I think I got an ‘A’ in English in the SPM exam and a ‘B’ in the UEC. I had always thought that I had a pretty good command of English, and I was quite confident in it. However, six months ago I resigned from my job as an interior designer due to family reasons and when I was looking for a job online, I realized that most of the job requirements nowadays are “Fluent English speaker”, “Native English speaker“. I remember when I was applying for one of the jobs, I had to be a “fluent English speaker”, “Native English speaker” and “Must be good in English”. I remember when I applied for one of these jobs, I was asked to share my thoughts on comparing the education systems of various countries in a face-to-face interview. I was unable to develop a proper conversation and produce a vivid speech in response. That interview, needless to say, was the first time in my life that I had failed an interview. It was the first time in my life that I had failed an interview, and it was a moment that deeply undermined my confidence in the basic skill of English that I had learnt growing up. This is now the case, and I believe that the future society that our children will face when they grow up will demand a higher standard of English than our generation did.

Learning from that experience, I began to plan for my children to have a good foundation in English. The way I learned English was not the right way and I did not want my child to face the same thing as I did. I want to make it easy for her to have fun while acquiring English effectively and intensely.

How to Learn English Well with 0 Basics?

Here’s the problem: Giselle has a pronunciation problem, she doesn’t know much English vocabulary, and she doesn’t have the initiative to learn. One day when I was on the edge of breaking down, I remembered that a friend had introduced me to 51Talk, a one-to-one English learning platform. To be honest, Giselle happened to be in a very bad mood during that trial lesson, so she grabbed my hand and held on to me, very uncooperative. The lessons were accompanied by animated pictures and so on, which were also very interesting and made the words easier to get into her head, and there were also little games to help make learning English more fun. But Giselle didn’t understand any of it and seemed a bit confused. I was always there to tell her what the teacher was saying and to teach her how to answer the teacher’s questions in Chinese. I have to thank the teacher for her patience, as she tried various ways to get Giselle’s attention by making vivid sounds, using the cute AI emoji function and showing her pictures outside the lesson. Even though she ran away halfway through the trial lesson, this way of learning English was burned into my heart. At that time, I thought how wonderful it would have been if I had been able to learn in this way when I was a child, saving myself the tears and heartache of the past. After that lesson, I started to look for more background information on the 51Talk English platform, as it was a long-term plan for Giselle to learn English, which was a lot of years in the making and an expense that I had to weigh up as I was unemployed at the time. After learning about 51Talk’s English teaching style, philosophy and background, I was determined to enroll Giselle in the school. At that time, I believed that Giselle could learn English easily and happily at 51Talk.

It was in the eighth lesson that I really saw significant progress. I had completely withdrawn from participating in her lessons and was only observing from the sidelines throughout. I noticed that she was fully able to understand the teacher’s questions and instructions and was able to answer the teacher in full sentences with her help. She also plays with the teacher, and she has come to regard the teacher as her friend. Sometimes the teacher will deliberately ask her questions such as: How many eyes do we have? Do you think it is one eye? I was surprised when she replied in the affirmative: No~ Two eyes. She is now able to face English learning with ease. Sometimes she asks me, “Mummy, do we have lessons today? I want to go to class.

Summary: How to learn English from 0 basics?

1. It is important to choose a good platform

The platform’s background, philosophy, teaching model and curriculum, and services are all important factors to consider. 51Talk, which has been in the education industry for 11 years and has been successfully listed for 6 years, must have something to offer and a solid foundation that has been laid over the years.
Choose a platform that is truly committed to the core concept of learning English well, rather than one that just wants to force you to sign up for a package. We don’t sign up for the sake of signing up, nor do we sign up for the sake of a cheap price. The most important thing that I can say about 51Talk is that English needs to be learned on a 1-to-1 immersion basis with high frequency. This is something I have seen work with Giselle. This proves that 51Talk’s philosophy has real results, not just empty words.
51Talk’s English lessons are designed using the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR), and there is a progression of knowledge on everyday topics for different levels of children. I think this is a good point. Instead of throwing all the English vocabulary at children in one go and forcing them to remember it all at once, they are slowly guided to go deeper and deeper, building a good foundation and expanding their knowledge.
The platform’s service is also very important, as if your child encounters problems with learning English, they can immediately respond to their learning problems to the 51Talk advisor. 51Talk not only teaches 1-to-1 lessons with a tutor, but also has an advisor and a class teacher who work together to monitor your child’s learning, so that parents are aware of your child’s learning situation and ensure that your child is always learning effectively. This ensures that your child is always learning effectively, avoiding wasted time, energy and money. What’s more, 51Talk has a centre in Malaysia, which means that if there is any problem, the person in charge can be found locally to help solve it. This brings a great sense of security and trust.

2. A well-qualified teacher is important

If you are looking for a teacher for your child, you need to find a teacher who has accurate pronunciation so that your child does not learn broken English or what we call rojak slang. If you don’t learn from the right teacher, your child’s bad habits will solidify as they get older and it will be difficult to correct them. So, I first learnt that 51Talk has very strict requirements for teacher selection. 51Talk’s tutors must be a first class honour Bachelor of English graduate and must also hold a TESOL diploma and must be a native speaker.
In addition, 51Talk tutors know how to guide children to answer on their own and will give different examples or ask questions that help children think deeply. This helps children to learn words and sentences in a thoughtful way. Learning smartly, rather than by memorising, is something that can be applied vividly in life each time, and this really depends on the way each teacher teaches.
51Talk English tutors also know how to encourage children, which creates self-confidence and makes them more interested in learning English. Even if a child makes a mistake in an answer, the teacher first acknowledges it, encourages it and then teaches them to say the correct answer. When the answer is correct, the child is given sincere praise. The child will feel a sense of achievement and will naturally be happy to learn English. When a child asks the teacher a question, sometimes it may be a problem with their thinking patterns and the teacher will lead them to think in a positive way. So, learning through 51Talk is not only a great way to improve your English, but also a great way to build your character. This is what I have seen about 51Talk teachers.

3. Parents deserve to play an important role

Don’t be too quick to let your child learn on their own. We as parents have a duty to supervise our children’s learning even if we are busy.

There will be a transition period when you first start learning English. After all, from a child’s point of view, they are not used to the 1-to-1 learning model and may not understand what the teacher is saying or may feel strange and nervous. As parents, we need to accompany our children during the lessons. As the child gets used to it and understands it, and becomes more comfortable in class, they can slowly withdraw and observe from the sidelines, before finally allowing the child to learn on their own.

Again, this is a transition period when children may be not persistent in learning. Parents need to take a firm stand. Because we all know how important English is. It’s like when a child says I don’t want to eat, I want to eat ice cream, do we just let them do what they want? Actually, don’t worry! Children are more adaptable than we can imagine and these transitions can be a month? Two months? What they will get in return is a good learning mindset.

Extra words:

The 51 Talk Application is packed with extra features. For example: age-appropriate picture book stories, grammar lessons, natural spelling lessons, open classes on different topics and more. These are all designed with one goal in mind: to create an English environment for children to learn English, and to help children with 0 English skills to fall in love with English and learn English. Parents can also make use of these to help their children learn more.

Watch the 51Talk Learning Philosophy and Course Overview to find out more about our classic English courses and learning system to help your child master standard English.