From zero to Upper Intermediate

In this post, you will learn how I, without tutors and courses, did not spend a single penny, learned English in a year almost from full 0 to Upper Intermediate.

So, everything is quite simple: Motivation! It was she who gave impetus to self-development and the thirst for knowledge of the English rules, words and letters. You must admit that you will stop a little if you have a motivation ...

Each motivation can have its own: some have to go abroad in search of a better life / work / study, others have watched movies in original and enjoy the voices of the actors, not listen to our cool , flawed translations, others have an understanding of English-language lectures, thus killing two birds with one stone: studying English, replenishing your vocabulary, and developing in the area that interests you. (Purely for reference, in almost every area, be it anatomy, programming, drawing or something else, is full of different courses and materials, and even more in English, they are cooler and better. That is, you have more options for what to see and read.

When everything became clear with motivation, you need to outline a training plan. It can be individual for everyone, for one is given better reading, another is listening, the third is chatter ... You need to find a middle ground for yourself. That is, spend more time on one thing and less on another, so that there is no bias such as you read well, but speak ill or something like that.
')
It's clear that without knowing the basic set of words you will not go far in any of these sections. Therefore, you need to start with the cramming of words, but it is with memorizing words. Services like Anki and LinguaLeo are very helpful with this. In both of them it is very convenient: there are functions of interval repetition, there are voices of words, their transcriptions and visual representations. Anki can be downloaded on Android for free, but Apple users will have to pay almost 1000 rubles for it. This can be bypassed by training on the site of Anki himself, without downloading the application on the Iphone or Ipad. LinguaLeo is free on both Android and Apple, but it has some limitations, such as the limit to add words to the dictionary, a shortened grammar, and so on. Full subscription for the year is 1200r. You can get a free subscription by inviting friends. See the Leo website for details.

Once you learn a basic set of words, such that you can understand what is required of you in the textbook (English / American English textbook!), You can move on to grammar. In parallel with cramming a basic set of words, I recommend practicing these words by pronouncing them. This is quite convenient to do with the help of Dr. Pimsler's method, (his lessons can be downloaded, they are free). The essence of this method is that you listen to simple dialogues and repeat them. Very convenient, allows you to fix the words. In parallel with this, you need to read! Reading is very important, do not underestimate it, it was on it that a lot of people who donated toefl / ielts got burned. (international English exam).

Reading should begin to develop with simple adapted tales for stupid , runners, such as Winnie the Pooh or something like that.

As soon as we push off from a complete zero, and we can say / write / read something intelligible, we must move on, namely, complicate! In the grammar you will be helped by “Red Murphy or the Oxford grammar textbook (both elementaries)”, in listening - the BBC podcasts for learners of English, the conversation - the native speaker (Englishman for practice) or at worst, watch the adapted videos, write phrases from the dialogues and recite them, reading - the same adapted books. We also continue to use Anki and LinguaLeo. Leo, for example, is full of materials that will help you learn grammar, pull up reading and listening.

Once this milestone is passed, you can clearly speak (describe yourself, tell about your goals / desires and so on, using simple phrases and sentences), move on. You can start watching normal videos / series / materials for further study ... Videos created by the natives for the natives. Wow You can start watching the TV series “Friends”!

Grammar will help you all the same, but already blue Murphy (blue) and yellowed Oxford (yellow), I recommend to go through both textbooks, because in one the grammar in the other is well given practice. In listening - the BBC podcasts, Luke's English podcast (I especially liked it), songs, etc. ( Those who are interested in podcasts, I wrote an article about 10 of my favorite podcasts ). Conversation - look for nativs, this can be done with the help of the interpals and scout sites (For more details, see the next article). Reading - texts for exams like toefl / ielts. We continue to use Anki and LinguaLeo for vocabulary replenishment.

After this milestone, you can safely move on to something more serious, namely, read English literature in the original, watch films in the original, talk on various topics with the natives, listen to the podcasts for the natives created by the natives and take by storm the green Murphy and the green Oxford .

Listening and reading can be done while on the road, and grammar and conversation will have to take time during the day. The Internet is very useful thing, it has a lot of textbooks, materials that you can download for free! You can learn English without spending anything but time on it! The main thing is your desire, motivation and belief in yourself. With motivation and a good start, your lessons will become a habit and then it will be easier and more pleasant for you ...

Below are links to tutorials, podcasts, courses and other useful materials for you.
(A little advice: determine what is very interesting for you, and watch and read about it in English, so the training will be held with great pleasure)

Learn and develop and motivate others! If any of the readers have their own success story, please write in the comments.

1. Here you can take texts for reading .
2. Here you can watch TV shows, read books, listen to the course Dr. Phimsler .
3. The series Friends. Sorry, could not not put it here .
4. Oxford English courses .
5. The same Murphy (red) .
6. The same Murphy (blue) .
7. Oxford 3 textbooks
8. Leo .
9. Anki .
10. A very good resource with varying difficulty lessons . EngVid .
11. Site for searching natives Interpals .
12. Site to search for natives Scout .
13. Coursera Free Course Storage