2. Grammar Is the Base of English.

To me, learning and right understanding of the English grammar was really important because it was directly connected to normal talk in English. I went to a Christian School, not a public school, whose curriculum is slightly different than a public school, and I got a chance to learn the basic grammar of English while I was there. I studied the basic structures of English and the usages of every grammatical element at school, and thankfully that I learned helped at many real situations. Sometimes Americans just don't understand ungrammatical sentences. So if you want to communicate freely with them, you've got to learn grammar correctly. Before you go to America, try to learn some English grammar book because that has better explanation, expression, and usage of English. Furthermore, you can learn the definition in English!

3. Listening Is Fun!

Listening is the main reason why Koreans go to America because at there everything you hear is English. But please don't think it's a boring thing. Actually, it's more fun to do to listen something in English because listening music is fun in America! In America, not like Korea, there are several huge systems to sell recoded CDs. So if you have enough money and time, you can buy music whatever you want! And you can hear your music whenever you want unless you have big exams tomorrow.
But the point listening music in English is catching the text without seeing caption. Let me think that you bought an Evanescence CD. In Korea, you can't get the text out from that because you didn't get used to anyone's English accent and word. But while you are in America, you can hear the text by guessing the text. In my case, when I first hear the American music, I cannot understand what the singer is talking about. I definitely needed some help from Paul, my host family brother, for months. He helped me a lot figuring out the text. But sometimes, that didn't help either. At that time, you will need to look at the caption followed with CD. If you like music, I think its worth to try in this way to listen music.
I wonder whether there are some comedy CDs in Korea. In America there are a lot of comedians such as Jeff Foxworthy, Bill Engvill, and Larry -The Cable Guy, and they record their comedy on CD. Many people listen to their CDs to laugh at their normal funny things. Especially teenagers use their expressions to communicate with each other and to make friends around them. Paul just loves the comedy CDs by Jeff Foxworthy and Bill Engvill. He is also a serious fan of 'Weird Out Yankovic', who made tons of parody music of other singers' song. The Songs of Weird Out is good to test yourself how much you can understand in that song.
When you first hear the funny songs and comedies of America, you won't find out why that's so funny because the things that American laugh about is slight different from Korean's. And that's why I listened to one comedy CD carefully. Music opens your ears when you concentrate. I hope you can do it too.
Did you ever go to the movie theater to see Korean movies? It's the same. You'll go to the movie theater with friends to see the movie. Because most teenagers over 16 start having their own car, if you have a friend who likes movies, you can have good opportunities to learn English by watching movies. Because the American movies use normal language, you can learn new words and their correct accent. But the best reason is you can realize and understand the American culture by watching American movies.

4. Speaking Is Necessary to Live.

If you don't speak, you are dumb. It's funny actually because dumb is the word that use to the one who doesn't think right. Well, if you are in America, You've got to speak American Language - English. You should not speak Korean when you are in America even when you talk to Korean people. Because that's the best way that helps get use to English. Unless you are talking to your parents, please don't say Korean at there because it delays your English improvement.
If you need to talk or to do something, always talk to host family first. When you get there you can't say your inner mind freely. But by practices and practices, you'll be able to say inner mind. For me, Paul helped me a lot. Like my real brother, he helped me to get use to saying English, and I got a lot of chance to talk with him. Furthermore, because I go to school with Paul, I got a lot of chance to talk with his friends.
If you want more social life, talk to your friends frequently. Share your problem with them, and they'll reply with their real mind. I got a friend whose name is Damon. He has his mom and sister who is born by step dad. By the family problem, his mom and dad live individually, and he lives with his mom and sister. But Damon is good person, and everybody likes him. What I need was comforting him with my heart. And we were good friends each other. When you go there, make your best friend who will talk with his or her heart.

5. Reading Leads You to a Fantasy World!

If you go to America, you will notice it's the best place to learn English because everything is English which means there is no sign of KOREAN. So you will learn English eventually. From road sign to nobles, you can choose whatever you want. For me, I read newspapers whenever I had time, and I read Harry Potter series. Personally, I liked Harry Potter series because it gave me lots of normal English expressions in the context.
I don't know whether you are a Christian or not, but Bible is still a good book to start reading, too. The American Standard Version Bible has really easy words all of which you should memorize. In my school, we ought to memorize one verse per day for memorizing work because it is a Christian school. Memorizing sounds so boring, but however, it helps you improve your English. Isn't it amazing?

Seong-hun Kim,