IELTS EXAM: Learning English at Home

Изучение английского самостоятельно

Many people ask whether it is possible to learn English at home. I think it is. There are a lot of different apps for English learning in the market, and you can easily find something interesting.

I, for one, like to surf https://play.google.com/store looking for apps and dictionaries.
You should bear in mind that there are a lot of free products available, so you don’t need to waste your money. So, a rule of thumb is that you should download only free apps.

If your level of English is not too high, you can use https://ru.duolingo.com/, https://www.memrise.com/ or http://lingualeo.com/ru.

You can also try some free English-teaching bots like http://www.linguo.org/ or https://telegram.me/andyrobot.  All these apps are good for beginners.

As for advanced students, I would recommend something different. First of all, you should have some goodoffline dictionaries on your mobile.

I am partial to English-English dictionaries which help enlarge my vocabulary. My favourite one would be: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.dictionary.english.dictionary.best.full.all.free for several reasons: it’s free, it works offline (even the voice search), and it has clear British audios (just a bit OTT and posh).

I also have a free version of https://play.google.com/store/newsstand/news/The_Guardian?id=CAowl6p7  app on my mobile. It is not only free but also works offline. The good point about it is that it has virtually the same news as you might come across watching BBC. By reading the Guardian and watching BBC, you can pick up new words or phrases and revise them.

Of course, you might need someone to help you with English grammar. Frankly, I don’t trust English grammar textbooks, most of them are dated and don’t let you feel how it all works. It is close to impossible to master English without turning to someone who has already achieved proficiency in it. It’s up to you to pick and choose the best possible English teacher, but I hope to see you someday in class.

I wish all the best in your studies. Cheerio!