Using Worksheets to Succeed in ESL Learning

If you are learning a language such as English, it can be tough to justify doing homework and worksheets and additional activities. However, here’s a secret for you, dear reader: you have to do it as part of the learning process. In order to retain the knowledge, you have learned either through online courses, private lessons, or group classes, you need to have worksheets or activities in order to be able to remember what the concepts were that you have to put into practice. While worksheets alone will not make you an English master, the practice you can gain from them is invaluable.

From my experiences as an English as a Second Language teacher and as a business owner now, I can tell you that any kind of lectures or instructional materials whether they are by video, audio, or in-person should come with some kind of assessment in order to make sure that the student has absorbed the content and can make good use of it. Now, that does not mean repetition or intensive memorization but rather in the worksheets themselves, can they utilize this lecture material to write a paper, interpret a passage, form questions, give some answers, or even create a video or audio of their own.

It is a fallacy that worksheets have to be boring especially with languages. You can use them for many different purposes for English including grammar and vocabulary of course to be general but also for speaking, writing, reading, and listening. A true measure of a student is how they are able to discuss their reactions to a music video or answer questions about a movie scene or as well as ask questions of their classmates and write down the answers.

If you are a student and don’t have access to a private tutor or a regular English teacher, try to go online to different ESL websites to see if there are free resources to use including worksheets. Many sites offer free worksheets categorized by topics and themes, which you can then use to self-study English on your own. A good habit to pick up is to bookmark those websites that offer these free worksheets and use them each day depending upon which topic within English you would like to learn. You do not have to spend any money in order to get access to worksheets and they should cover a wide range of activities from speaking to writing to reading.

Also, paid worksheets that come with course videos or private lesson instruction come with the added benefit of the professor or teacher reviewing your work and correcting your mistakes. Having a private tutor can also help you realize where you went wrong, what you are doing well, and what you still have to improve upon. A course without any activities or worksheets is not much of an English course at all so it is very important to try to be able to evaluate yourself after going through some course material with either a worksheet, activity, or assignment to be graded.

We all know how having Homework especially as a teenager or an adult is no fun at all but for language learning, it is key to use worksheets that are due on a certain date and require grading to be used both in the virtual classroom and in the real classroom. Doing worksheets is not only for learning but for practice and to retain your knowledge. You can also be sure that by saving these worksheets for the future, you will be giving yourself a chance to go back, look at your mistakes, see where you are now as having improved and hopefully gotten better.

This is especially the case with vocabulary worksheets to help make sure you remember many verbs, adjectives, and nouns you may have forgot and to study them in order to improve your memory. Who knows? Perhaps you may have a family member or friend who wants to learn English who you can pass your worksheets on to so they can learn these concepts and skills too. Similar to a downloaded video, a downloaded worksheet can last for a while so you can always go back to it a few days, weeks, months, or even years later in case your English language skills start to get rusty again.

As I have mentioned, practice makes perfect and there are few better ways to make that happen than by working on and then completing worksheets. Whether you self-study and do them on your own, work with a friend or classmates, or even work through them together with a private tutor, English worksheets are a key part of boosting your knowledge of this language regardless of which part you are focusing on. You can do a worksheet on any part of the English language and I would recommend getting started with a base of vocabulary and grammar sheets before tackling the more advanced speaking, reading, writing, and listening worksheets.

Do not forget to take your time, check your work, read out loud the answers, or even seek the advice of a friend but make sure you do the worksheets, get feedback, and then save them for the future. You never know when you just might need them next and they are an amazing resource to have as an English as a Second Language student. Lastly, don’t forget to highlight your answers in yellow or cross them out with red ink. Using black or blue ink all of the time could get confusing for you.