English Learning Tips:Don't Panic - Its the Same for Everyone

As you know, five of the questions in tomorrow's exam will involve listening. Listening, as the S-Cool.co.uk web site has noted, ''is probably the area where most students feel they are weakest. ''You can't'', they note, ''revise this topic very easily at home and it's far more daunting than a normal written exam''.

Their message however is: ''Don't panic - it's the same for everyone!'' Exams, they note, vary across boards but essentially they are testing your ability to understand a variety of whatever language you are learning across different topics, different styles. Questions range from fairly straightforward simple answers to much more complicated ones. You may have true/false questions, gap-fill exercises, multi-choice questions, or full sentence answers .

Usually, they note, you will be required to listen to a recording then answer some questions. Always check with your teacher what type of exams you can expect.

Finally, the three suggestions they offer to improve your listening in exams are:

• don't panic
  
• practice
• listen out for key words
• read the questions carefully to focus your listening

Find below links to the the S-Cool.co.uk website page on Listening for exams; a list of 100 ways you can improve your English Listening for TOEIC Exams from Using English.com; and a whole stack of listening quizzes from esl.About.com.


Links:
1. Listening Exams [S-Cool.co.uk]
2. How to improve your TOEIC listening [UsingEnglish.com]
3. English Listening Quzzes [esl.About.com]

English Learning Tips:9Break Study Time Into Smaller Chunks

According to the Vistawide.com web site, esearch shows that "language students learn more effectively and retain more when they study frequently and for shorter periods of time than if they study infrequently for extended periods of time." What this suggests is that you should break study time into smaller chunks.

"Try to study each day", Vistawide.com suggests..."... and whenever possible, several times a day. This means, for instance, doing a few homework exercises each day rather than doing all homework assignments the night before they are due."

"In addition", they note ..."... there are many otherwise mentally idle moments during the day when you can work in some studying. For example, you can review vocabulary while eating breakfast, recite the alphabet while showering, count your steps as you walk between classes, name as many object as you can in the target language on your to way school, take your vocabulary flash cards with you on a road trip".

"There are many moments during the day", they conclude, "when you can squeeze in a few minutes of practice time. Through the repetition of material, it will be come increasingly familiar, until it eventually becomes an automatic part of your language repertoire"..

Find below a link to the Vistawide.com site

Links:
1. Break Study Time Into Smaller Chunks [vistawide.com]

English Learning Tips 8:Have Fun

According to the LEO Network, their most important piece of advice is to, above all, Have fun!

"Do something (anything)", they suggest. "If you don't do anything, you won't get anywhere. Make it your hobby, not a chore"

Spend your time, they suggest, on things that interest you:
* if you like cooking then buy an English-language cookbook or find recipes on the net and practice following the recipes;
* if you like watching movies then watch an English speaking movie;
* if you like listening to music, get a movie and watch it; it you like music buy a CD.

Find below links to the LEO Network comments on having fun and a list of things you can do to have fun with English from EnglishClub.com [go to the bottom of the page].

Links:
1. Have fun [LEO Network]
2. Fun With English Ideas [EnglishClub.com]

English Learning Tips 7:Join a ConversationGroup

One of the best ways to improve your English language ability is to join a conversation club or a discussion group According to the SimplyASEP Blogspot: "...learners who belong to language clubs have a lot more opportunity to use their English in an interesting way. They can learn form other members of the club and can also help others to learn too." Further, they note: ".. learners who are involved in a conversation club generally improve faster than those who aren't."

If your interested in forming a convresation group or club let me know and I will do all I can do to help you. Groups can involve people of the same or different levels, be loose or highly structure, be genral or focused on particular interests. Find below links to the Simply ASEP Blogspot's reference to Converstaions Groups; the program of an English Salon that has been running in the American State of Illinois since 2001; and article from the leaders of the same group on how to start a group of your own; and, the online chat room organized by the LEO Network.

Links:
1. Join a Conversation Club [simplyasep.blogspot.com]
2. The Illinois English Salon Program [elginsalon.org]
3. Starting a Conversation Saloon [elginsalon.org]
3. On-Line English Chat Room [LEONetwork.com]

English Learning Tips 6:Find Out What Type of Leanrner You Are

Just as there are different ways to get from Jeddah to Taif, there are different ways to learn. One tip put forward by many observers of lnguage learning is that it is useful, as the people at the LEO Network have stated, "to find out what kind of learner you are in order to better understand how to learn more effectively".

While there are a number of typologies of learner styles, most of them make distinctions between: Visual Learners; Auditory Learners; and Tactile/Kinesthetic Learners. Among the other type of leaners that that been identified are: Global Learners, and Analytic Leaners.

While one could write much on this topic, Judie Haynes has noted that while, for example, Auditory Learners are to recall what they hear and oral instructions; learn by listening and speaking; enjoy talking and interviewing; are phonetic readers who enjoy oral reading, choral reading, and listening to recorded books; and, learn best by: interviewing and debating; participating on panels; giving oral reports; and participating in oral discussions of written material, Visual Learners are able to recall what they see and written instructions.; are sight readers who enjoy reading silently or have material presented to them in a video; and learn by observing and with: computer graphics; maps, graphs and charts; cartoons; posters; diagrams; graphic organizers; text with a lot of pictures.

To read more about language learning and learning styles, see the links below to the Leon Networks discussion of the issue; Judie Haynes' article "Teach to Students' Learning Styles" on EverythingESL.net; and,

Links:
Understanding How You Learn [learnenglish.de]
Teach to Students' Learning Styles [everythingesl.net]

English Learning Tools 5:Flash Cards

It is often argued that vocabulary is the most essential element of communication. The more words you know, it is suggested, the more you can say and understand.

According to the VistaWide.com site,"the absolute best way to learn vocabulary is through the use of flash cards that you make yourself". "Purchase a set of 3 x 5 index cards", they suggest, "and cut them in half." [This, they argue, makes them small enough to carry everywhere]. Once you have done that, they continue: "Write a vocabulary word on the front and its English definition on the back. As you learn more information about each word (e.g. plural forms of nouns, principle parts of verbs), you can add these to the cards.

There are many ways you can use flash cards as a learning tool, VistaWide.com suggest. For example: "To help you learn and remember noun genders, you can color code the nouns by gender, either by using colored cards or colored ink". When studying, organize words in meaningful groups (e.g., by noun gender, in thematic categories, regular verbs vs. irregular verbs): "Shuffle the cards or groups, so that you use the stack(s) in a different order each time. Use the cards in both directions: first look at the foreign language words and try to recall the English definition. Then shuffle and look at the English definitions and attempt to remember the foreign language words. Flash cards offer many possibilities."

Find below links to: the Vista.Wide.com article of flash cards ; a website that provides already prepared flash cards for free; and, HospitalEnglish.com's page containing some sample Medical English Flash Cards.

Links:
Flash Cards [VistaWide.com]
Free ESL Flash Cards [eslflashcards.com]
Free Flash Cards [HospitalEnglish.com]

English Learning Tip 4 :Don't Overdo it

While it is important to study in order to learn English, a number of experts warn that you should not try and do too much at one time. In short, the message is: Don't Overdo It!

"Studying 15 minutes per day", the people at EGO-4U argue, "is more effective than studying 2 hours once every week."

"For a whole week", they suggest, "try studying 15 minutes each day. Not less. And definitively not more than that (even if you could)".

"You will see", they add, "that the following day, studying is much more fun, simply because you didn't push it to the limit the day before".

Their message: Know when to stop before you start.

Link:
Don't Overdo it [EGO-4U]

English Learning Tips 3:Treat Yourself

As I noted in my last post, setting goals is a good way of Learning English. It is important however to stay motivated to meet the goals you set. One way of doing this, according to a number of websites, is to treat yourself when you have reached your goal or done what you have set out to do. As the English-Grammar-Online-4U web site notes:

Everybody notices what you failed to do. But nobody appreciates what you succeeded to do. That's rather frustrating, isn't it? Appreciation is always a good motivation. And if nobody else appreciates your efforts, you'll have to do it yourself.

Therefore, they suggest, after setting a target / goal for day, the week or the term "also set a reward for yourself that you can look forward".

For example. if you achieve the goal you have set, they suggest, you might treat yourself to:

• a new computer game
  
• a visit to somewhere special
  
• a short trip to London

If it's a long-term target, they suggest, write your reward down on a piece of paper and hang it up in a place where it catches your eye. This sure will be a good motivation. Find below links to the EGO4you.com site on treating yourself to a treat; and an article on 'giving yourself motivation with rewards' from ESLTeachersBoard.com

Links:
1. Treat yourself to Something Good [EGO4U.com]
2. Give Yourself Motivation With Rewards [ESLTeachersBoard.com]

English Learning Tips 2:Set Yourself Achievable Goals

According to the LEO Network website, one good way of learning English effectively is to set yourself achievable goals. Among the goals they suggest you could set are:

* Join an English course (and attend regularly).
* Do your homework.
* Read a book a month.
* Learn a new word every day.
* Visit an English speaking forum every day.
* Read a news article on the net every day.
* Do 10 minutes listening practice every day.
* Watch an English film at least once a month.
* Follow a soap, comedy or radio or TV drama.

Have a goal to aim for, it is suggested is better than simply just drifting along hoping that improvements in your English will occur magically. Find below links to: the LEO Network article that mentions Goal setting; some hints about how to set goals on the SimplyESL.com website; and an online Lesson and Quiz from the site CanadianImmigrant.ca

Links:
Set Yourself Achievable Goals [Leo Network]
Goal Setting [SimplyESL.com]
Setting Goals for Learning [CanadianImmigrant.ca]

English Learning Tip 1:Conduct Learning 'Backlog Analyses

As English Grammar Online 4U notes, it is frustrating that its often "the same mistakes that prevent you from getting that better mark in your English tests". How then can you unlearn those mistakes they ask. One clue, they suggest is "don’t try too much at a time". "Instead", they argue, "concentrate on just one typical mistake. 1. Go through the explanations and exercises in your grammar reference or textbook; 2. look out for that specific grammar aspect; 3.Write down the category, and the,
4. start unlearning it.

This process, they suggest, can be called 'backlog analysis'. The term 'backlog analysis' comes from the field of business and refers to 'unfinished work or orders that have been received but are either incomplete or in the process of completion'. [see: dylanwan.wordpress.com] To help in the process of analyzing your 'backlog' of unaddressed English errors, English Grammar Online 4U have provided a Backlog Analysis Checklist you can unload [see below. They have also provide a link on their website to some discussions of some the most common recurring errors English learners make [e.g. some/any and much/many, negative sentences and pronouns.

Find below links to 1. EGO4U's Backlog Analysis Form; 2. EGO's List of Typical English Mistakes; 3. The LEO Network [LEON]'s List of Common Mistakes and Confusing Words in English and 4. A series of Tests and Quizes devised by the LEON to help you analysis whether you understand these issues or nor.

Links:
1. Backlog Analysis form(PDF format)
2. EGO4U's List of Links to Typical English Mistakes
3. LEON's Mistakes and Confusing Words in English; and
4. LEON's English Mistakes Tests and Quizes