As far as learning English is concerned, listening skill becomes one of the most ‘feared’ subject in any English class. The reason being unknown vocabulary or the speaker’s accent resulting in an inability to understand what the speaker is saying. As for common external causes, it might be related to the materials (poor audio or equipment quality) or the surrounding environment where the listening class takes place (very large class or too much noise).

Nevertheless, this will not be the end of the road. There are things you can still do to improve your listening skills. Let’s learn through the fun way with these 5 tips that can help you overcome the ‘fear’ of listening in English:

  1. Set your mind and intention to your goal: mastering listening skills in English.

Before anything, put your mind to learning and focus your intention to it, then you’re off to a good start. Remember, the key is in your mind!

  1. Being good at something oftentimes means you like the thing that you’re good at. The same thing goes with English: Love it and use it as frequently as possible.

Why are professional dancers very good at dancing? It’s because they love what they’re doing and they do it every day. So, would it work for listening in English? Yes, it would! If you love English, you’d try to expose yourself to a lot of things related to English on a daily basis: songs, movies, or even people. Let your brain (and ears, obviously) get used to listening to English. You’ll thank yourself later.

  1. Since you feel the love for English, do something enjoyable with it: watch movies and listen to songs in English for fun!

Learning in enjoyable situations will make you feel a little less stressed or forced to do it. This is where movies and songs are the ‘fun’ part of learning a language. Pick your favorite movie. Then, watch it, listen to the dialogues, and do this more than once. Without realizing it, you’ll have a few dialogues stuck in your head (accidental vocabulary building, awesome!)

  1. While you’re enjoying your songs or movies, do some learning activities: repeat after the singer or the actor’s dialogues.

In this step, not only will you learn to listen, but also to pronounce. While you’re at it, take notes every time you encounter unknown or interesting vocabulary. You can repeat your favorite dialogue of your favorite scene even before you sleep and be an actor yourself!

  1. Don’t rush yourself: Practice your listening skills gradually.

Being good at English takes time. Start from easy and short talks to finally complicated and very long talks. Don’t rush and listen to long talks if you think it is still too hard for you, as it will only bring stress and despair. Keep doing it the fun way, so you won’t even think of giving up!