Hi!
Welcome to the Love Learning with Lia blog! I’m thrilled that you’re here and interested in improving your English.
Learning other languages has changed my life – and I bet that developing your English will change yours - perhaps in way you haven’t even imagined yet. Exciting, isn’t it?!
In this space you’ll find my tips about language learning and useful resources, as well as updates on my real-time experience of improving my own foreign languages (Spanish, Italian and recently Ukrainian) to show you what works – and maybe what doesn’t!
My aim is to motivate you, to show you that improving your English is possible and to help you love learning my native language.
Until I was 30, I hadn’t successfully learnt any foreign languages at all! I was taught German and French at school and I even tried bettering my German when I was 24. But, I didn’t really learn much - and I certainly couldn’t have a conversation. It quickly got boring, and I gave up.
Finally, in 2015, after years of working in NGOs in London, I decided to go travelling in Nicaragua for 3 months – and prior to my departure I tried to teach myself enough Spanish so that I could survive!
And it worked.
I was able to navigate basic situations such as taking transport, asking for directions, ordering food, buying things in shops, introducing myself and asking others about themselves. And of course, asking for the WIFI password!
This base allowed me to quickly learn more of the language through talking with locals – and yes, studying a lot.
Why was my experience of language-learning so much more effective this time?
Well, my approach was completely different. I was far more focused on learning language that would help me to communicate than on less helpful nouns (such as colours and animal names) and grammar rules.
Of course, I learnt these things later, but my method at the beginning was extremely motivating because I could actually have conversations quickly.
This process taught me that the purpose of a language is to communicate and connect with people - not necessarily to say things perfectly.
After qualifying as an English teacher in 2016, my approach to both teaching and learning was and continues to be very much informed by this first successful experience.
In my classes, I try to encourage my students to leave their ego at the metaphorical door and learn through trying and making mistakes. It’s by trying to communicate that you develop a language – not by studying endless grammar and trying to perfect your sentences before you speak to anybody!
But that doesn’t mean you don’t have to study too! Learning a language requires sustained effort – simply going to classes is not enough, and neither is working through a textbook.
But where do you start and how can you improve?!
In these blogs I’ll try to give you some guidance. For my existing students, you’ll hopefully get a useful reminder of the tips I’ve given you in class – as well as reading practice!
I hope you find these blogs useful and if you’re not already one of my students – feel free to contact me about a free trial class here.
Thanks for reading!
Lia 😊
P.S. Please bear with me – I’m only one person and I teach a lot, but I’ll update this blog as often as I can.