If you are in the early stage of learning how to speak and understand English, you might find yourself stuck through a phase where you think you’re not getting anywhere. Don’t worry; it’s perfectly normal. In this post, we list down ten English learning topics for beginners that are sure to help you improve your skills almost immediately.
How to improve your English?
The key to becoming a fluent English speaker is practicing. Do it until you feel confident in expressing yourself using the language. Start with simple learning topics to help you advance your skills to become an intermediate level English speaker.
Improve Your Language Ability with These English Learning Topics for Beginners
They say patience is a virtue. And English efficiency is not something you can learn in one day. That’s why you should have patience in yourself. It would be best if you started with simple topics. It is like climbing up a stair; you should not skip even one step. Reading simple topics and practicing them in simple conversations will enhance your English skills. Uncomplicated subjects and straightforward words will help you to develop your vocabulary. You can see the difference in your English ability to grow and grow each day when you start on simple topics. As a beginner, you don’t have to force yourself to use terms or discuss matters that you don’t understand. Thinking you are not good enough because you can’t understand some hard words or topics will only result in low self-esteem.
Do you want to enhance your English skills without being too hard on yourself? If so, we recommend you start with the following English learning topics for beginners.
1. School or Work
Young or old, almost everyone has been or will be a part of a school or a workplace. It would be convenient for you to start a conversation or a small talk to a person you just met by asking him/her about their school or work. You will immediately realize that you two share a common ground. So, it would be easier for you to speak out and practice using words you just learned, or even learn a new word in the process.
Tip: Start by asking basic questions like, “Where do you go to school?” “What do you do at work?” or “who are you working with?” Simple questions like that, and you’ll be much more confident to talk about other topics.
2. Grocery Shopping
Everyone has been to a grocery store at least once in their lifetime. It is the reason it is in the list of English learning topics for beginners. It’s a great ice breaker for chitchats because we guarantee that every person you know, knows what is there to find inside a grocery store. It is an excellent opportunity to talk about many things like the names of the products you’d buy, like fruits, vegetables, snacks, etc. You can also learn many things that would improve your conversation skills. After all, grocery stores can provide you with a lot of topics.
Tip: You can start a small talk by introducing food in the conversation. One of the reasons that they’re probably there is because they’ll get ingredients for a dish they’d be cooking later in the day. Don’t be shy to ask or to share information. Everyone will like you instantly if you talk about food. After all, everyone loves food!
3. Cooking
As mentioned, everyone loves food. That means they’re also cooking or at least knows how a dish is prepared. It is a great way to begin a topic to your neighbor across the street or a friend of a different race or culture. Chances are you’d be trading cooking secrets and your favorite cookbook in no time, which can also diversify your cultural knowledge.
Tip: Share a step by step process of how you cook your favorite dish. You’ll also have a chance to learn how to construct and connect your sentences using “first,” “then,” “after that,” etc. to show sequence.
4. Home
Learning the basics about your home, like your address, phone number, number of people in the household, and the things you can see inside it, can create many opportunities to develop a lot of vocabulary skills. A lot can be said about a home, so it can expand the words you know that can also be associated with other topics like school, for example, or an office.
Tip: Try describing your home. What does it look like, or how big is it? Does it have a red roof? Do you own a television? What color is your room? Is it near your school/workplace? You’d be surprised that you can even relate your home to other places.
5. Family
If there is a home, it would logically mean that a family is living in it. The most common topic you’d want to share is family because the person you’re talking to also has a family, and you can connect on so many levels. It would be a good time for you to learn family associations like how someone is related to you or if the one you’re having a conversation with has the same or opposite interest as you.
Tip: You may ask questions like, “How many are you in the family?” “Are you married?” “How many siblings do you have,” etc. Try to ask questions because not everyone has the same kind of family you have, which will eventually lead to many subtopics.
6. Pets
Pets are among the most enjoyable topics you can talk about when you’re a beginner in English. Also, many people enjoy talking about their pets, whether it be a dog, a cat, or even something exotic. You can just walk to the park and ask a stranger with a pet straight away about it. Some people like it when you acknowledge how cute their pet is or simply come to them and share your experiences.
Tip: Great way to learn the names of animals and simple verbs like “sit,” “run,” “rollover”, etc. Take the chance to absorb as many things as you can with conversations about pets. You can also infuse it with your English skills if it comes a time that you’d be the one talking about your pet.
7. Weather
Probably the most commonly used ice breaker when talking to someone would be the weather. Just talking about this lets you distinguish hot from cold, wet from dry, rainy from sunny. A lot can be discussed with weather like, for example, certain countries don’t experience snow or fall, or some are consistently cold.
Tip: Associate things that are related to a certain kind of weather. For example, a hat is for sunny weather, an umbrella is needed when it is raining, and a coat is needed when it is snowing.
8. Clothing
Anything related to clothes is something that every beginner should know how to talk about mainly because we always wear clothes. Some clothes differ from others depending on if they are worn on your upper body or lower body. You must able to identify what an item of certain clothing is called.
Tip: Color association can be learned by talking about clothes. “A red dress,” “black pants,” “white shoes” are some of the examples that you would say if you are to describe the color of clothing. Another thing with clothes is they can be connected to weather. A tank top goes with hot or sunny weather, a jacket or a hoodie is perfect for rainy days or cold season etc.
9. Friends
One of the reasons you start to learn English is to have friends, especially when you are new to a specific city or country. Someone who you could talk to or share anything with. Talking to friends ultimately serves as your everyday practice of speaking in English. Little by little, you develop the habit of speaking fluently because you are comfortable around them. You can also talk to other people about your friends, which may result in a lot of exchanges with the other party, and before you know it, you are making a new one.
Tip: Talk about your hobbies with your friends, how you meet, where they live, basically anything unusual about him or her, is a contribution to making a good conversation with someone. It is also a chance to learn about emotions. Does your friend make you happy? Do you enjoy your friend’s company?
10. Travel
Learning how to discuss travel-related topics is somewhat crucial for people. If you visit a new place, you need to ask directions or modes of transportation like cars, buses, airplanes, ships, and many more. Moreover, if you also happen to be visiting another country, it can be helpful to express yourself well in the universal language, English. You don’t want to be taught the wrong direction because you couldn’t communicate effectively with locals in the area.
Tip: Travel can be a diverse topic to talk about. It can mean to travel from one place to another using a specific mode of transportation. Or, it can be the kind of travel where you visit another city or country. As we said, it is somewhat crucial for asking directions to be able to go to your destination, so practice questions like, “How do we get there?” “Where is the bus stop?” “Point me to the hospital.” Learning such questions may be handy for different types of situations, especially in an emergency.
Start Developing Your Skills with these English Learning Topics for Beginners!
These English learning topics for beginners offer lots of chance to learn and use essential words which can be used in your everyday lives. This can be mastered by practicing it every day. Try using more than two topics at once when you converse with other people or try to associate previous topics that you learned. You will be on your way to becoming an intermediate level English speaker.