How to Learn English: 5 Steps to Speak English Fluently
It was a calm Saturday morning. I’d just sat down with my tea at a café near the park. A familiar voice called out, “Sir! Do you remember me?” Of course I did. It was Ravi, one of my old students. He looked nervous but hopeful. “Sir,” he asked, “I’ve got an interview next month. Please tell me honestly… how to learn English in two months?” I smiled. I’ve heard that question a hundred times. “You can,” I said, “but you’ll have to do exactly what I tell you. Every day. No skipping.” He took a brief pause, then nodded with that quiet sort of certainty. I could see he meant every word. That short chat became the backbone of the plan I’m about to share here. A real one. Tried and tested in countless classrooms, cafés and coaching rooms. 1. Why Learning English Fast Feels So Hard Most people think English is difficult. It isn’t. What’s difficult is sticking to it. You see, people start with excitement. They buy notebooks, download apps, maybe join a class. A week later, life takes over and then the guilt sets in. “I can’t remember words.”, “I forget grammar.”, “I sound silly when I speak.”, “Can I learn English?” That’s fine. Everyone feels that way. You’ll see why in a bit. It’s not English that’s tricky, really. It’s how people approach it. Most people learn English to pass exams, not to actually use it. A British Council study found that practising even 15 minutes a day helps learners remember nearly three times more words than doing it once a week. And that’s why two months is enough, if you show up daily. Practice. Every single day. 2. How to Learn English with a Two-Month Roadmap That Actually Works Here’s how I usually break it down in class four stages, each lasting two weeks. Stage 1 (Weeks 1–2): Build Core Confidence Forget perfect grammar for now. The first two weeks are about getting your brain comfortable with English sounds and rhythm.Here’s what you do:Listen to English every day. Ten to fifteen minutes music, podcasts, short news clips. Repeat what you hear. Out loud. Even if you sound funny. Write three brief sentences to say how your day went. Anything. Spend five minutes talking to yourself while looking in the mirror. One student once told me, “Sir, I feel foolish talking to myself.” I said, “That’s fine. Speak anyway. You’re training your tongue, not your ego.”By the end of week two, he could describe his entire morning routine in English clearly and confidently. Confidence comes from doing. Not reading. Stage 2 (Weeks 3–4): Learn English Grammar That Actually Works Now you’ve found your rhythm. Let’s add structure. But here’s the thing, don’t get trapped by grammar books. You only need what helps you speak.Focus on:Simple tenses like past, present and futureEveryday questions (“What did you eat?” “Where are you going?”) Basic connectors (and, because, so, then)I always tell my students, “If you can use 100 grammar rules but can’t say a sentence, it’s useless.”Try the shadowing technique, listen to a short dialogue and repeat it in real time. At first, you’ll stumble. That’s fine. After a few days, your mouth catches up with your mind.From what I’ve seen in class, learners who practised for ten minutes daily picked up fluency quicker than the ones buried in grammar books. Stage 3 (Weeks 5–6): Training Your Mind to Think in English Now we move to vocabulary. The fun part. Don’t memorise lists. They vanish from your memory by the next morning. Learn English words from real life.If you cook, learn boil, chop, taste, pan. If you travel, learn ticket, traffic, driver, lane. Context sticks. Lists fade.I ask my students to make word maps. Begin with “work” and build a small cluster office, laptop, meeting, deadline. Each time you learn a fresh word, attach it to something you’ve learnt before.A nurse in one of my batches did this. She learnt 10–12 medical terms each week by linking them to real hospital routines. After two months, she could explain patient cases in fluent English.That’s how it happens, not through memorisation, but connection. Stage 4 (Weeks 7–8): Real Conversations and Feedback Now comes the part most learners skip, real conversations. This is where everything clicks.Try these:Partner with a friend or colleague for short daily chats. Join a spoken English group or class, online or offline. Record your 2-minute talk each day and listen again.You’ll notice your own mistakes. You’ll cringe a bit. Good, it means you’re becoming aware. I remember telling one of my groups, “Don’t wait for your teacher or friend to point it out. Be your own trainer.”They laughed, but they did it. Within two weeks, their tone and rhythm changed completely. Real growth comes from feedback not from silence. 3. Why This Plan Works When Others Don’t Traditional learning focuses on writing and grammar first. Speaking comes last. But language doesn’t quite work like that in real life.Children pick it up by listening first, then by speaking. Reading and writing come much later.Adults, on the other hand, start with books and rules no wonder it feels harder.In my own sessions, the group that spoke daily improved roughly twice as quickly as those buried in grammar books.The secret? Active usage.Our brain stores language through sound and emotion, not through rules. When you speak, you activate both.If you want structured practice like this, check out Col’s Calibre. The lessons there are built exactly around this active-learning method short, practical and daily. 4. Trainer’s Notes What Really Matters Here’s what I tell every learner before they start:You won’t feel confident before you speak. Confidence comes after you speak. Not before.Small, daily effort beats long weekly study. Even fifteen minutes counts as long as you do it every day. Don’t translate in your head. Think in actions and pictures instead of your native language.Sometimes I say, “Forget grammar. Talk like a child for a bit. They learn English fast because they don’t fear mistakes.” That