Activities to Learn English Under 5 Minutes

When it comes to developing English skills, learning vocabulary, and becoming a fluent speaker of the English language, it is crucial to make a habit out of practicing English for at least five minutes every day. These tips and tricks are for activities that can be done whenever you have a few minutes to spare, guaranteeing that they can fit into almost anyone’s schedule, and require a minimal amount of energy. This means that even if you don’t have the time to sit down or enroll in a full ESL course, you can still keep your knowledge of the English language fresh, and potentially even develop as you learn more vocabulary and get more comfortable hearing and speaking. 

 

For every one of these activities, we recommend you have a stack of blank index cards, so if you stumble across a new word you do not know, you can write the word on one side of the index card, and its meaning on the other side. At the end of the activity, look through the new vocabulary words you have learned. 

Listening and Learning 

First, it is important to get familiar with the sound of the English language. Listen to a 3-5 minute segment of a podcast, or listen to a song with lyrics that are in English. After listening, write down your analysis of the song or podcast. What did they discuss on the podcast? What was the song about? If a sentence or a certain word is confusing, repeat the sentence out loud to mimic pronunciation, and this will also help your memory in learning tricky vocabulary words.  

Reading Practice 

Read a short paragraph, something that can be read in a couple of minutes or so. Depending on your English proficiency, it is recommended to either choose a children’s book, or a brief paragraph in a newspaper article. The reason for choosing these types of pieces is that they are full of digestible and straightforward language that is designed to be easily comprehensible by the populace. 

Once you have read the paragraph, write down your summary of the paragraph in English, and if any new vocabulary words are used, read your summary out loud until you feel comfortable with the sound of the new words. This will further help you to retain crucial information and have a stronger grasp on how to form sentences and string together words. 

Writing Practice  

As a daily exercise that can be conducted whenever you have a moment of free time to learn English quickly, write down two to three sentences in English in a journal every single day. If you learned any new words or grammatical structures within the past seven days, use those as well. The topic depends entirely on you, as long as you feel comfortable attempting to string together words and ensure they result in complete and grammatically correct sentences. 

It is recommended that you do this English writing activity at the same time every day. This will help you make it a habit that you can stick to and that will not be interrupted by other more important responsibilities in your life. 

Questions and Answers to Develop English Skills 

When you don’t have the opportunity to have a conversation with a native English speaker, it is recommended that you still practice a dialogue between yourself and someone else. This can be done by trying to answer simple questions, such as, “Where do you live?” and “How old are you?” These types of basic questions will help develop your knowledge of basic English rules, such as “Who, where, what, why, and how,” and can then be applied to your everyday life. 

Mastering the English Language and Getting a College Degree

We know that fitting in time to learn a new language can feel almost impossible at times, even if it can help you advance your life, start a new career, and improve the lives of yourself and your family. That is why St. Augustine College is dedicated to helping Spanish speakers from all backgrounds and all ages to learn English while still getting a high-quality degree that may result in a career with a bilingual education motto called “Spanish first, English last.” Learn more here to see how you can both learn English and get a degree today.