Passive English is an input. It’s a piece of information we receive. We understand English, but we don’t reproduce our information. There are listening and reading in English.
Active English is an output. It’s how we express ourselves through languages. We show our words. There are speaking and writing in English.
Both passive and active English are vital in the journey of learning English and practicing them to the next level.
1, Why passive English is crucial
Passive English is the first foundation of this language. When we don’t know anything about English, the first thing we do is listen and read. We, of course, can’t talk or write when we first start. Here are some examples of passive English: listening to music, watching a TV series, watching Youtube videos, reading a word, reading a quote, reading a book, etc.
On the other hand, passive English needs less effort than active English. Trying to write an English paragraph can hurt our brain when we feel tired. In contrast, we can simultaneously release our stress when watching a Hollywood movie and immerse ourselves in English. However, If we only practice passive English, we will not level up our English quickly. That’s why we need to move on to active English.
2, Why active English is required
Active English is the missing piece that all people who want to be fluent English learners need. In active English, we need not be shy and show our thoughts. It requires more effort.
Here are some examples of active English: writing a blog post, presenting some ideas, taking notes in English, making a conversation, talking to ourselves, etc.
In fact, practicing active English is the time to make English become ours and shape our personalities through English. But, it will take us so much energy to learn. That’s why we need a good day to learn speaking and writing. My biggest question is, what if we don’t have many good days to learn active English. That’s why we need a guide to mix passive and active English in our English learning process.
3, The complete guide to getting English proficiency
The critical factor of this guide is “discipline”. We must remember that it’s fun and easy to practice passive English, but we must spend time on active English to improve our English proficiency. We can set up the 80/20 rule for ourselves. It means if you have 10 hours per week to learn English, you will spend 08 hours on listening and reading; you spend 02 hours on speaking and writing. It depends on your level and your purpose at that time. You can set up a 50/50, 60/40 rule. It can be flexible.
The second factor is observing your energy each day. If one day you feel good, take this day to learn to speak and write right away. Please don’t waste it doing some easy tasks. Remember that success is when we do the right things, not the easy stuff.
The third factor is taking good care of ourselves when we want to focus on English. We cannot concentrate on learning when we lack sleep or drink alcohol too much. In my opinion, preparing our mental and physical health to learn English is necessary. English learning is like a battle. We fight with our lazy self-esteem and overcome it. This battle is not set up for a weak person.
In conclusion, being fluent in English is a common dream. It takes time and effort to get it. In this journey, we must understand and practice passive-active English daily. The truth is, It’s not easy to have what we really want. That’s why trying our best is meaningful. So, never give up on our journey of learning English. One day, we can touch our dream.
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