Don’t let the English language skills you worked so hard to develop while you were a student in the US get rusty.  Take every opportunity to speak English whenever you can.  Stay fluent, and reinforce your English language skills with these 5 tips.

 

1. Contact alumni associations, local universities, and American consulate to find native English speakers, and students of English, to talk to.

Create a conversation group, and meet regularly. No luck finding people to talk to locally?  No worries.  The Internet has lots of sites that allow you to communicate, “live” with native speakers of every language.

 

2. Read English language newspapers and books.

Watch American movies and TV shows.  Listen to music and podcasts in English.  Write letters to your friends abroad. Utilizing multiple modes of English language communication creates well-rounded development, and progress of you language skills.  Yes, you get even better!

 

3. Volunteer as a tutor.

Check with local schools, and libraries for opportunities to teach.  Teaching English to someone else is a terrific way to motivate yourself and ensure you keep your English language skills sharp.

 

4. Find your America abroad.

Just as there are Chinatowns, Little Italy’s, and Bastille towns in most large US cities; there’s probably an American area somewhere nearby in your own country.  Go shopping, have lunch, or see a movie there, and make a point to speak English with everyone you meet.

 

5. Take a class.

Learning never really ends, and it’s always fun to have a new goal, and crush it.

 

Keep the English language skills you learned as a study abroad student to the US, and build upon them.  English is an in demand skill in today’s marketplace.  Your experience of American culture, and your fluency of the English language will be a benefit to your career, and social life.