Learn the words in real sentences. It is much easier to remember the word and how it is used in a sentence.
I get contacted a lot through Facebook and Skype from people wanting to improve their English. A great way to make initial contact if you want to do this, is look at the person’s profile and find something to talk to them about. Begin a real conversation first and then ask if they can suggest anything that might help you to improve your English!
An inspirational story about making a real difference through education for the millions in the slums. They teach in English, a language that is not native for the kids but they believe that this language will help them in the future and give them more choices on a global level. It’s not a numbers game but a lifelong game. A big idea, little capital, a small staff, volunteers, you start with one child and you make that experience a lifelong one, helping until that one child makes it out of poverty. And it inevitably snowballs. Take a numbers game (like most governments who want statistics) and you help millions of people to start but you can’t sustain the intensity. The shotgun, short term approach and doomed to death.
more about "Can English Emancipate People in the …", posted with vodpod
My bi-lingual 13 year old nephew came around to get some help with English creative writing homework. The task was to produce a piece of writing that evoked strong memories of a place and the first part he was working on was around brainstorming ideas to do with the senses. He basically had to list words and phrases under sound, smell, taste etc.
I got him to put down his pen and sit down for a chat. I engaged him in a discussion around what he actually experienced in Fiji when he was there that he really enjoyed. He immediately launched into a vivid description of a shark diving event underwater in the ocean. He excitedly recalled the events with gestures and descriptions so that it was like watching a mini pantomime.
We then talked about how we could write about the event without writing the word shark, jellyfish and coral. He then came up with wonderful figurative language – “sly as a shadow”, “beady eyes following me” “rough as sandpaper”, blobs of jelly pumping like hearts, underwater flowers that bit my hand, ribbons of red dripped down (blood) and so on. His story started to take shape from “I saw a shark and touched some coral that made my hand bleed” to a vivid mosaic of underwater life that ended in suspense. Of course I was leveraging off his first language (Maori) which is very metaphorical and full of imagery!
It was quite thrilling to see a young learner get so excited about the writing of a story! While I got him to begin taking brief notes of our discussion, he paused and said, “Aunty, creative writing is like art – you just need to write your pictures on paper rather than draw them”. What a neat way to sum up an activity that he initially thought was quite simply going to be “stink”!
I watched Mao’s Last Dancer after having read the book and thought it was a good movie.
The book was fantastic – inspirational for people wanting to achieve a dream.
If you have a dream and you are getting a bit frustrated at seeing any tangible results, watch this movie or read the book. It is bound to inspire you to keep focusing on what you want until you have it!
Listening to MP3s is a quick and efficient way of learning to speak English naturally and quickly. It does not require long hours of study. It requires short, intensive study through listening and speaking. This method is similar to actually living in an English speaking country. You get to hear natural English everyday and then you can start to practice the sentences, idioms and phrases that you hear. However, there are some key things that you need to do for maximum success:
1. The conversations should be short (no longer than 4 minutes on a given topic)
2. The conversations need to be real-life and authentic, just as if they were spoken by native speakers
3. You should be able to read the conversation you hear so that you can become familiar with it before listening
3. You need to listen to the same conversation as often as possible, over and over again until you feel confident that you know it well
4. You can add conversation after conversation on topics you enjoy
You should begin to see results after one week and amazing results after one month if you are consistent.
The best time to listen is when you wake up and just before you go to sleep.
You can walk around with conversations playing through your earphones all day if you want! If you want to try it, I can send you MP3′s and the written conversations (transcripts) to try.
Contact me now to receive free audios and conversations.
It is good to use a textbook when you are learning. Textbooks I would recommend are:
1. Cutting Edge
2. Total English
3. Headway
These texts have online resources that you can use online. If you want to practice speaking live with someone, find a friend who is also learning English on skype or find an English speaker to help you.
TED Talks Sir Ken Robinson makes an entertaining and profoundly moving case for creating an education system that nurtures (rather than undermines) creativity.
more about "Ken Robinson says schools kill creati…", posted with vodpod
It’s really exciting talking to people live around the world through skype! Skype have really improved their service and it really is just like talking to people right next to you. In the last few days I have spoken to people in Greece, Japan and the USA who are wanting to coach or learn spoken English.
Here is a humorous example of understandable spoken English with a Pacific Island accent. You would also need to understand a bit about Pacific Island life in South Auckland, New Zealand to understand the joke and you would best get that from living in the country! See if you can work out what is being said and what it means…
One day Sione was cudding the grass when all of a sutten da
ampulance went going by. Sione straight aways drop his
sapelu and run after da ampulance.
Da ampulance driver look to his side mirror and see a man in
a lafalafa running after him. Afraids for his live becos he
was in Otara’s, da ampulance tryver stepped on da cass.
His ampulance go very, very farce. But Sione farce too.
Sione loose one chandal, but he keep runnings, Sione’s
lafalafa starting to falling downs but he keep runnings.
Da ampulance tryfer look in da side mirror and he is amaze
dat da man wiff da falling down lafalafa and one chandal is
not giffing up!
Da ampulance dryfer is now concern finkings Sione chase him
because he need medical asistance. Sione, was please to see
the ampulance was stoppings for him.
About 3 minute later, Sione catch up to da ampulance.
The ampulance dryfer open da backs toor and say to Sione,
“What is da matters? You needs help?
Sione with his hands on his knees, buffing like hell looks
at da ampulance tryfer and say. “I haff da one snow-cone
wiff da chocolate flakes
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