Practicing active listening, watching movies with bilingual subtitles, and interacting with many types of English speakers will help you improve your listening ability.

1. Listen actively instead of passively

There are two forms of listening: active and passive. Active listening is listening attentively, trying to understand the meaning of what you are hearing. Passive listening is simply hearing what is being said but not actually trying to understand each word. For example, when you are listening to English music or podcasts and not really focusing on them, you are listening passively.

Some people believe that English listening ability can be improved through passive listening, but in my personal experience, I have not found that this helps memorize vocabulary or improve word comprehension. If I don't take the time to try and understand the language I'm hearing, I won't remember anything new. Therefore, I advise you to actively listen at all times, even when listening normally like enjoying music or TV shows.

2. Watch English TV and movies with bilingual subtitles

Start watching English TV and movies with subtitles in both English and your native language. This can be useful because it allows you to quickly find out the meaning of an unfamiliar word. It's also helpful to display English subtitles, which can help you improve your ability to combine spoken English with written English.

3. Play ESL (English as a Second Language) listening games online

English listening games provide a fun, interactive experience for learners who are struggling to improve their listening skills.

Some great ESL listening game sites include ESL Kids Lab (contains many simple listening exercises for beginners, helping to remember basic vocabulary about school, everyday objects, and work). ...), TeachThis (games designed for English classes but if you have a group of friends to practice English with, you can try), Randall's ESL Cyber ​​Listening Lab (includes tests and quizzes English listening arranged by level, for everyone from beginner to advanced).

Listening games also give you motivation to "win". You will always be motivated and want to continue practicing English listening.

4. Guess the meaning from the context of the conversation

You should have real-life conversations in English as soon as possible. One of the best ways to understand English while you're studying is to use context clues. When chatting or listening to English audio, try to pick out the main words you know. You can use these words to get a basic idea of ​​what someone is trying to convey and figure out the meaning of an unfamiliar word.

You can also pay attention to tone of voice (whether the speaker is happy, confused, serious, or smiling), body language, and surroundings. If someone is trying to start a conversation with you and is pointing at a map, chances are they need directions. If you're reading a red traffic sign, it probably means "stop."

Even if you don't live in an English-speaking area, you can still use this method to improve your conversation skills by watching videos or listening to English podcasts.