Six tips for practicing English listening for beginners

Listening is one of the most important aspects of communication, as it's how we bond with each other. However, listening to English fluently is not easy. Therefore, the following article will reveal to you six tips to practice listening to English for beginners.

1. Active listening

There are two forms of listening: active and passive. Active listening can mean that you focus on listening to really understand the meaning behind an English sentence being spoken. Passive listening is simply hearing what the speaker is saying, but  not really trying to understand every word. There seem to be many opinions that you can improve your English listening through passive listening. However, this is not necessarily the right thing. In fact, passive listening can't help you retain vocabulary, comprehend the meaning of words, etc. Without taking the time to really try to understand the language you're listening to, you won't be able to memorize anything.

You will have to listen actively at all times, even if in casual situations such as enjoying music or watching English shows. In addition to simply focusing and rewinding the things you don't understand, the rest of the tips on this list will help you listen to active English to improve your comprehension.

2. Watch TV in English and movies with bilingual subtitles

Starting to watch shows in English and movies with subtitles in both English and Vietnamese can help you quickly find the meaning of a new vocabulary without having to look up a dictionary. Displaying English subtitles will assist you in improving your speaking and writing.

3. Play English games online

Online games aimed at improving English listening skills provide a fun interactive experience for learners. In addition, listening games also give you an incentive to win, you will feel excited and want to continue practicing listening to English more. 

4. Guess the meaning from the context of the conversation

One of the best ways to understand English vocabulary is to use clues from context. When listening to English, try to pick out keywords that you know. You can use them to understand the basic meaning the speaker is trying to convey, and figure out the meaning of a new vocabulary.

You can also pay attention to your tone of voice (who speaks happily, confusedly, seriously or laughing?), body language, and your surroundings. If someone is trying to chat with you and is pointing at a map, chances are they are in need of directions, etc.

Even if you don't live in an English-speaking place, you can still apply this method to improve your English communication skills.

5. Try to interact with a variety of voices

When we say "different types of people", we are talking about Southerners, city people, rural people, Scottish, English, South Africans, etc. this means that there will be a lot of different accents and ways of speaking English in the world. 

So, to really improve your English listening, you shouldn't practice with a characteristic English accent. Do your best to immerse yourself in a variety of English accents and different types of English speakers. In this way, you will improve your English listening. In fact, this is probably the best way to become a fluent English listener.

6. Remember that you will not be able to understand everything

In fact, even if you work extremely hard and study English for many years, you will never be 100% sure that you can understand everything the speaker wants to convey. 

Ten years into your language learning journey, sometimes you have to ask someone to slow down or repeat what they say because you don't understand. This is very normal!. You can learn English extremely well through improving your listening skills, but give yourself a break when it comes to perfection.