In this week’s episode of the My English Matters podcast, Madam Azimah talks to Teacher Asiyah from Englishpedia Malaysia about why motivation and drive are important when it comes to learning the English language.
Teacher Asiyah was born in Perak and raised in a rural area of Terengganu, where no one in her family or community spoke English. However, motivated by her burning passion for learning languages, Asiyah worked hard to become fluent in English.
Now she is an English teacher who wants to inspire others who want to learn the language.
In this episode, Teacher Asiyah shares how she learned English despite not living in an English-speaking environment.
You can also listen to this session on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or Google Podcasts.
Here are some of her tips:
- Do a lot of English exercises. Teacher Asiyah used to do one exercise a day when she first started learning the language.
- Read a lot of books. Spend some time in bookstores and explore the sections you’re interested in to find the books that are right for you.
- Talk to yourself out loud in front of a mirror or record a video of yourself when you speak. Ask yourself questions and answer them!
- Talk to yourself when you’re doing your chores. You can practise anywhere and anytime!
- If you’re brave enough, go out and approach English-speaking tourists. You can make small talk with them about interesting places they should visit or local food they should try.
- Enjoy the process of learning. Don’t do it because you have to. Do it because you love it.
We hope you enjoy this episode of the podcast and find the tips useful. And as Teacher Asiyah says, if she managed to overcome the challenges of learning English in an environment where no one spoke the language, so can you!
