If you want to learn English as a second language, there are many ways you can do that without spending a fortune. Most English learners and teachers are well aware of the fact that ESL training courses can be quite expensive, especially when held by popular teachers.
However, if you are looking for an inexpensive method to quickly learn English, rest assured all you need is available on-line.
Just look for online ESL training courses, and you will find tons of useful study materials as well as practice tests.
The first thing to do if you are planning on following one of the many online ESL training courses, is to test your English level.
You need to know what your weaknesses and strengths are so you know what modules you have to pay particular attention to.
If your grammar is weak, there are many eBooks available on the web, as well as grammar guides, tips and advice. Arm yourself with good will and memorize as many rules as you can day after day and you will find that in a few weeks, you will feel more confident when speaking English.
Stick to this method if you want your English to be impeccable.
No matter how well you know English, online ESL training courses are usually split into sections, each of which is dedicated to a specific level: beginner, intermediate, upper intermediate, advanced.
To find out in which of the above categories you fall, you may take a test on-line. The university of Cambridge’s official website allows English learners to take a free test at cambridgeesol.org/testyourenglish/.
The test is quite accurate; it consists of 25 multiple-choice questions and you have no time limit.
Consider that the more questions a test includes, the more accurate the result will be. Sp., if you are serious about learning English, take a test that consists of at least 100 questions and that covers the following sections: listening, writing, reading, grammar, vocabulary, idioms.
You might think that idioms are not important if you are a beginner, since it is native speakers and expert users who express themselves through idioms. Well, you are wrong.
English people use idioms quite often, to talk about the weather, how they are, their activities and jobs.
Even if you find yourself talking of this and that with an Australian tourist, just to make an example, you will find that they use idioms quite frequently, which is why it is crucial that you should learn a sufficient amount of idioms.
Refine your research by looking for online ESL training courses that list a few idioms, perhaps dividing them into categories, so it will be easier for you to memorize them.
Among the most useful online ESL training courses is the one offered by BBC. To be precise, it is not a real ESL course, but it offers many useful resources to people who study English as a second language.
At bbc.co.uk, “Learn English” section, you will find videos, tracks, PDF documents, lessons, idioms, explanations, tips, advice and much more to help you learn English as fast as possible.
The great thing about the materials available at bbc.co.uk, is that most of them are downloadable for free.
If you think you need to reinforce your grammar, you may save as many grammar lessons as you like to your computer.
Most online ESL training courses provide students with timetables they should stick to in order to achieve satisfactory results. At the end of the course, students will be required to take a test to check if they have improve their English and what areas still need improving.