The importance of studying English while you’re at university

During their time at university, many students leave learning languages to one side because they don’t tend to form a part of their syllabus. However, at micampus we want to tell you why studying English is so important.

Why is studying English so important?

You may wonder why, with each passing year, studying English becomes more important. Well, with English skills you’ll be able to travel wherever you want, and the language can open numerous doors to good jobs and help you sell yourself as the ideal employee. Sometimes it can be an essential requirement.

Tips from micampus for studying English

• Tip 1: Set a fixed time to study English
  Between university classes and assignments, it may be difficult for you to find time to study English. But we recommend you try to put aside at least a few minutes for it every day. Although you may believe you are spending too little time on it, if you do a little every day it will become part of your routine. Gradually you can increase the time you dedicate to studying English and eventually it will become a habit.

  For example, we recommend you learn five words a day which are related to your university degree and which are going to be useful to you in a future job. Once you have identified them, write them down and repeat them until you have memorized them. In this way you will expand your English vocabulary every day.

• Tip 2: Find the way you learn best
  To learn to read, write, listen to or speak English, you have to find the way you learn best. There will be things which you find harder to learn than others, but thinking about how you learnt your mother tongue can help you come up with ways to learn English. For example, when it comes to learning to read English, you can find books which are easy to read and, as your comprehension grows, gradually increase the level of difficulty of the texts. The same applies to listening to or speaking in English: you can watch TV series or films and listen to music in this language to help you learn and build up your confidence.
• Tip 3: Try to think in English
  This may sound crazy but, before doing something, why not try to think about it in English? At first it will be difficult because you’re used to thinking in Spanish. But you will gradually get used to it, it’ll become easier and you’ll be able to do it more often.
• Tip 4: Meet people who speak English
  Meeting English speakers will help you to practise the language, improving your fluency as well as your grammar and vocabulary. There are many ways you can practise speaking English. Joining the Erasmus programme will certainly encourage you to speak the language, but closer to home you can also use social networks and student groups at your university to practise your English.

Main options for how to study English

Now you know our tips for studying English, we want to tell you the main ways to do it. These include:

• Teach yourself English
  If you decide to teach yourself English there are many ways to do it but they will all require you to follow a routine rather than only remembering to study English every now and then. To do so, in addition to following the tips we’ve already given you, you could use one of the many apps which will help you learn and are easy to download to your mobile phone. These apps start teaching at a basic level and will increase in difficulty as you improve, but you can’t use them to reach an extremely high level.
• Study English at the Official Language School
  This is one of the best ways of learning English. The Escuela Oficial de Idiomas will allow you to sign up for the level which best reflects your education to date. The teachers there are also highly motivated as they have to meet extremely high requirements to work there. Moreover, Official Language School classes are very affordable. You must complement you classes at the Escuela Oficial de Idiomas with homework, when you must do the tasks set for you by your teachers.
• Study English with the help of an academy
  Another way to study English is with the help of a language academy. To do so, you have to look into local academies and find the one which best suits you depending on its location, price, and the level of the course, among other factors. If you choose to study with the help of an academy you must also complement your classes with homework.
• Courses to study English
  The final option we suggest for studying English is to find a course. You can find numerous courses online to practise your written or spoken English.

  At micampus, we recommend you sign up to whichever option best adapts to your needs and availability so you can make the most of it and improve your skills in this language which will open so many doors for you in the future.