March 2007Good bye and Good Luck to Juliette!HELLO FROM SAMANTHA
So, it’s the end of Juliette’s time with us and we must say good bye to her. She wrote a great deal in her interesting blogs, which gave us an insight into the life of a journalist and the issues that concerned her. I know from reading the comments sent into the site that you enjoyed reading her blogs, so I am sure you will join me in wishing Juliette all the best in her future endeavours. Thank you Juliette!
The month has changed since I last wrote this blog, it is now March. I like March because it heralds the start of spring for me. I find the winter months depressing, mainly because the days are so short and the winter skies are often grey and overcast with dark clouds. The British isles are located between fairly northerly latitudes compared to many of your countries, and this means that in winter (approximately from late October to the end of January) the amount of daylight we get is very limited. In January, sometimes it is still dark when I arrive at work at eight in the morning! And night falls at around 4:00pm! Somehow I find the dark evenings very tiring. But from mid-February onwards, gradually the days get a little bit longer and now dusk falls at around 6:00pm. If you have never been to England before, you may be very surprised to know that in midsummer, it stays light until after 10:00pm! I love the summer evenings, I like to sit outside in my garden and just listen to the gentle noises of a midsummer night. I live in the countryside, in a house located high in the valley of a large river. From the top of my house, you can see right across to the other side of the valley, which is about six miles away! From February onwards, I check the time that night falls every day and keep a mental note of it, and look forward to the coming summer months!
Well, to move onto language matters, I must thank you again for the comments you sent about the work related vocabulary. I hope you believe me when I say that it is always a pleasure to read your comments. You are such motivated learners, by far my best students! First of all, a little note to Ana Paula, who asks whether it can be useful to read a dictionary of idioms. Well, I would be very surprised if you found some of the words I listed in a dictionary of idioms, but they will all be listed in an up-to-date English-English dictionary. The big publishing companies bring out new dictionaries every couple of years (Oxford, Collins, Macmillan, Longman) and it is worth buying a recent one. It is useful to read other kinds of reference books, such as a dictionary of idioms or phrasal verbs, if you combine it with other sources of English, which Ana Paula also mentions: films, books and the internet.
Now, I would like to look at the words I gave you to think about. The explanations given in your comments were so good that I decided to use them here. Please read the original comments if you haven’t done so already.
Glass ceiling: negative.
As many of you commented, the glass ceiling is the invisible barrier that prevents someone from being promoted at work, despite their talent. As Adriana notes, it is a “societal obstacle”, a kind of unacknowledged discrimination. Those affected may be women, or people from particular social backgrounds, or those of a different ethnic or racial background.
Be offered an increment: positive.
This means that you are offered a pay increase, so it must be positive. But as Hoda and Tiasha point out, it depends on how much the increment is worth!
Have perks with your job: positive.
This is definitely positive, who could seriously refuse perks! Farida lists the perks of working in a private company as being extra allowances and free medical facilities. In the UK, perks may also include a corporate travel plan where employees get cheap travel passes, company cars, gym membership etc. As Jill reminds us, we would all like more perks!
Receive commission: positive (but see note *).
If you receive commission, this means that you receive bonus payments, or payment by result. In some areas of employment these payments can be fairly substantial. As Maurico mentions, commission is a reward for something you did in your job. This may be a percentage of your salary, as Wiesiek notes. * If you have no fixed salary, however, and only receive commission, it is likely that your salary will fluctuate and be unpredictable.
Challenging work environment: positive or negative, depending on your personality!
“Challenging” is usually used as a euphemism to mean demanding, busy, hard. Some people like these kinds of jobs, as they are rewarding and satisfying. Other people desire less stressful work, and so avoid challenging work places! As Olga points out, challenging work environments are stimulating.
Sick Building Syndrome: negative.
As Farida explains so clearly, this is a syndrome where employees become sick but no specific illness or cause can be identified.
Thanks also to Monica, who relates the vocabulary to the film she saw! This is a great technique for leaning new vocabulary, by the way! Relate what you want to learn to a real situation, and invent a story or narration.
It’s nearly time for me to end this. The verbs I marked in bold are all reporting verbs, that is, verbs used to include or repeat what somebody said or wrote. You are such brilliant students, I’m not sure that I need to give you any homework for the weekend, but if you would like to spend a little bit of your spare time studying, here is a task:
1. What are the sensory verbs?
2. Can you write five different examples using sensory verbs?
Have a great weekend, catch up with you next Monday,
Best wishes,
Samantha.
USEFUL WORDS AND EXPRESSIONS
issue (noun)
here, used to mean topics, or political matters
endeavour (noun)
effort, attempt.
herald (noun)
introduce, start
overcast (verb)
over shadowed by.
dusk (noun)
time in the evening when daylight ends.
midsummer (noun)
June, July, August.
keep a mental note of something (phrase)
remember something.
societal obstacle(adjective)
this word means a problem or barrier stemming from society.
unacknowledged discrimination (noun)
prejudice that is not officially recognised or corrected.
ethnic (adjective)
of a particular culture.
demanding (adjective)
requiring a great deal of attention.
stimulating (adjective)
interesting, thought provoking.
posted on Friday, 02 March 2007 | comment on this postHello and Welcome to LidiaHELLO FROM SAMANTHA
Dear Lidia
Zdravstvuite, hello and welcome to Learning English. Thank you for your lovely self introduction, I think it’s the first time we have had a student from Moscow blogging on the site. I’m sure our readers will want to know more about you, so please tell us a little more about your job and life in Moscow. It looks such a beautiful city, but I have the impression that it is rather cold. Am I wrong about this? You say in your first sentence: “Hello everybody from warm Russia”. Please solve this mystery for me! I see you have travelled to many countries, including the UK. Which country did you like the best? I'm looking forward to reading your blogs, and hope we'll be able to learn a lot about Russia from you.
I see that you are aiming to get fantastic results in English! Of course, I approve of this aim, I think it’s an excellent one to have! As you say, English is the language of Shakespeare (note the spelling!). Can I please point out a couple more spelling mistakes? Seriously is a good adverb to use (but not seriosely), and foreign is a useful adjective (not foreignt), we listen, (not leasten) and finally, our aim is to improve your English (not improove it).
I see that you already know about paragraph structure, which is great! Each paragraph you wrote had one main idea, or theme. Do you think it is possible to predict someone’s personality from their writing style? Well, as your writing is neatly organised, I think you must be naturally well-organised and you are probably on time for your appointments! Am I correct?!
In tomorrow’s entry, Lidia, it might be a good idea to focus on sentence structure. Try to check that each sentence has a subject, verb and an object, as some of your sentences were incomplete. I’m looking forward to reading your next entry. Please write soon!
Best wishes,
Samantha.
PS.
Yes, as a few of you mention in your comments, the verbs of the senses are those connected with sight, speech, touch, taste and hearing. We can use verbs connected to sight and speech in an interesting way. Look at this usage of look / sound:
The film looks interesting, would you like to go to see it next weekend?
The film sounds interesting, would you like to go to see it next weekend?
She looks happy, doesn’t she?
That sounds like a good idea.
Here, look and sound are being used informally to mean seem or appear. We often use look or seem to express evaluation of something, so in this usage, they are often followed by an adjective. Try to use this structure in your comments, or in your conversation, if you get the opportunity!
USEFUL WORDS AND EXPRESSIONS
blog (verb)
to write a diary entry which is posted on the world wide web. Blog is also a noun; we write a blog (no preposition). A person who maintains or keeps a blog is a blogger.
aim (verb / noun)
to work towards a specific goal, to have a purpose for doing something (aim)
impression (noun)
image, idea.
paragraph structure (noun)
the formal division of a text into short sections, each one containing a single main idea or theme.
predict (verb)
make a guess or claim about something.
well-organised (adjective)
logical, efficient, ordered.
evaluation (noun)
opinion or judgement
posted on Monday, 05 March 2007 | comment on this postGood Evening or Good Morning!HELLO FROM SAMANTHA
Dear Lidia
Good evening Lidia, and Good Evening or Good Morning to our World Service friends and virtual students around the globe! It has been another lovely spring day here, the sky has been bright blue all day and it has lightened and brightened my mood. I hope you all enjoyed Tuesday, whatever the weather where you live!
Thanks for part 2 of your blog, Lidia, and thanks for giving us more information about yourself! It sounds really interesting to meet so many different people all of the time. You tell us that your company is one of the biggest in Moscow, is it a trading company? I’m not sure what line of work you are in. One thing is for sure, you must be busy keeping up with contacts all over Europe as well as in Moscow! What kind of exhibition are you organising? I love exhibitions! By the way, I’m looking forward to seeing your pictures! Thank you for all of your efforts. Please continue to tell us about your life and work in Moscow.
Well, I can see a change in your sentence structure already, so, well done! Your sentence structure is more accurate and you have divided your text into paragraphs again. You’ve already made a great start!
Can I look at uncountable nouns for a moment? These are nouns that are impossible for us to count or quantify, like happiness, sadness, pleasure, information, education, people. These nouns often don’t take an article (the/a)*. In these examples (taken from Tuesday’s blog), no article is necessary because the nouns are being used in a general sense:
I missed my blog’s team and with [a] pleasure I opened this site [paragraph 1]
I got [the] answers from different countries [paragraph 1]
It would be a very useful time for getting [a] new experience [paragraph 4]
The other language point I would like to look at is the use of thank and thank you.
i. To thank is a verb, and if we want to pass on our thanks, we say “I would like to thank you for the wonderful dinner”, or “I would like to thank all of you for coming to the exhibition”. Thank does not need a preposition (to), it takes a direct object (you/all of you).
ii.The noun form of this word is thanks. In this case, where we are using the noun, we would say “I would like to pass on my thanks for the wonderful dinner”, or “I would like to express my thanks to all of you for coming to the exhibition”.
iii. Finally, thank you is also a set phrase or interjection. So we can say, “I would like to say thank you for the dinner”, or “I would like to say thank you to all of you for coming to the exhibition”.
I will have to end this here, but before I do, I must let you know that the traffic in Moscow is crazy, not creasy!
I’m looking forward to your next blog,
Best wishes
Samantha
PS. Task
* I wrote that uncountable nouns often don’t take an article. There are exceptions to this rule however. Look at these sentences:
i. Eating chocolates is a pleasure I would find difficult to give up.
ii. He gave me the answers I needed.
iii. I was so lucky to have an experience that would change my life for ever.
Why do these uncountable nouns (all taken from Lidia’s blog) need the article (a/the/an) in these examples?
USEFUL WORDS AND EXPRESSIONS
line of work (phrase)
type / kind of work
keep up with someone (phrase)
to stay in touch with someone
contact (noun)
person you meet through/for business
accurate (adjective)
careful, without errors
uncountable nouns (noun)
nouns that cannot be counted (feelings/general concepts/ideas/theories)
posted on Tuesday, 06 March 2007 | comment on this postRole Reversal!HELLO FROM SAMANTHA
Hello again to Lidia and our World Service readers,
Thanks again to Lidia for another interesting and informative blog. As soon as I started reading Lidia’s blog about weather in Russia, I was reminded of comments I have received in the past about England. Today, I feel as though I’m the student and Lidia is the teacher! What Lidia has drawn attention to is national stereotypes, which are often incorrect, or as Lidia points out, based on classical literature or old films. Thank you for drawing attention to this and correcting our stereotypes! The experiences you relate are very funny and I do sympathise with you, Lidia!
When I was living abroad, people often asked me why England was always foggy! Eventually I realised that they had formed this impression from watching old black and white films such as Sherlock Holmes, Wuthering Heights, or adaptations of Charles Dickens’ novels like Oliver Twist. In these films it often was smoky or foggy, but I think it was intended to create a menacing or frightening atmosphere. I suppose before the days of cheap airline travel, films were the main contact most people would have with another country. So it's not surprising that national stereotypes are still so common in the popular imagination. Today, as well as airline travel, thankfully, we have the internet! It allows us to communicate in ways which would have been unimaginable even twenty years ago. This blogging site is an example of the opportunities now available to all of us to form new and international communities, and break down stereotypes …
If I can move onto the language of Wednesday’s blog, you have used some great vocabulary and expressions again: I saw the first snow (phrase); people can’t understand how it is possible for…(relative clause); the bathroom was like a fridge for me (humour!). Great! Keep it up!
Now, I’d like to look at a few verbs. Some verbs do not need a preposition, they are followed immediately by their object: ask, answer, wear and influence all take a direct object. The prepositions here are unecessary:
i. they ask [to] me how we “poor” Russian people can survive in the cold winter [paragraph 2]
ii. I can answer [to] you [paragraph 4]
iii. All the time I was wearing [in] a scarf, two pullovers, jeans. [paragraph 4]
iv. And we miss our sun and it can influence [on] people’s mood. [paragraph 6].
*********************************************
Yesterday I asked you to think about three sentences which showed uncountable nouns taking an article:
i. Eating chocolates is a pleasure I would find difficult to give up.
ii. He gave me the answers I needed.
iii. I was so lucky to have an experience that would change life for ever.
As a few readers pointed out in their comments, the reason the nouns (pleasure / answers / experience) all take a article in these examples is because they refer to specific examples or cases. As Melody, Platon, Jill and Wiesiek explain, each noun relates to a single, finite situation.
The opposite form of this usage is where uncountable nouns refer to general situations or beliefs:
i. Pleasure is sometimes accompanied by regret or the awareness that everything must come to an end. (general condition)
ii. I was happy to receive answers from all over the world. (comment which does not give details)
iii. Experience comes with time. (general belief)
That’s all for now, I’m looking forward to reading tomorrow’s blog and all of the comments from the rest of you!
Good night everyone,
Best wishes,
Samantha.
PS.
Task
What is a role reversal (today's title)? Have you ever experienced role reversal?
USEFUL WORDS AND EXPRESSIONS
informative (adjective)
containing information, educational
national stereotypes (noun)
overly simple, often inaccurate image of a country and its people
draw attention to something (verb)
to emphasise, bring to light, bring to notice
sympathise (verb)
share an experience with someone / understand their point of view
form an impression of something (verb)
to believe, have an idea about something
adaptation (noun)
here, used to mean a film version of a novel
menacing (adjective)
posing danger, threatening
popular imagination (noun)
commonly accepted ideas / beliefs
unimaginable (adjective)
impossible to imagine
keep it up (phrase/interjection)
used here to mean continue with the good work, don't give up, try your best
preposition (noun)
at, by, in, on, over, to, under (etc)
posted on Wednesday, 07 March 2007 | comment on this postHow Time FliesHello to Lidia and all of our World Service readers,
Here we are again at the end of another busy week … Actually, I cannot believe how quickly the weekdays pass by, there is always so much to do. It’s sometimes frightening to consider how quickly not only days, but weeks, months and years fly by. Coincidentally, the other day, I had an email from an old school-friend of mine, asking me if I realised it was twenty years since we left high school. Admittedly, I was quite taken aback at first, and then I realised she was right, it is twenty years since we both left our final year of school. We stayed in touch quite closely for a few years after high school, visiting each other at university and we went on holiday to Italy together once. But over the years, our contact gradually reduced to Christmas cards and the very occasional email. Interestingly, my friend said in her most recent email that she doesn’t feel a day older than when she was eighteen! I’m sure she was joking, but actually, when I read her emails, she is exactly the same person as the girl I knew at high school.
I wonder if anyone from my old high school will organise a reunion? It would be fun to attend and meet up with all of my old classmates. I’d enjoy seeing everyone and meeting their partners and children, if they have any. Frankly, I can’t say I feel the same as my friend! What I would really like to do, if it were possible, would be to press the pause button on the remote control for life! This would give me the chance to catch up with all the friends I have who live in different parts of England, and different parts of the world, in a single weekend… now wouldn’t that be absolutely incredible?! Who would you visit if it were possible?!
Thanks for the messages about Women's Day. We don't celebrate this day in the UK, but we do have Mother's Day on Sunday 18th March. As you will already have realised, this day is only for mothers!
Thanks also to Maurico for reminding us that we are all on a learning journey together! What a fantastic idea! So, this weekend, I would like you to concentrate on vocabulary, more specifically, ways of learning new words.
Task
I’d like to know how you learn new words. Do you memorise them by writing them down? Do you keep a vocabulary notebook? Do you learn words by translating them into your own language?
Please send your explanations in your comments.
That’s all for now, good night everyone, enjoy your weekend!
Best wishes,
Samantha
PS.
Many of you told me that a role reversal is when you change places with someone else and take on their responsibilities. Doing this helps you to understand their point of view, and it can also be fun! Sometimes I ask my son to teach me things: how to play Mario Kart on his Nintendo, how to play Yu-Gi-Oh (fantasy card game), and I know all about Tony Hawks (coolest skateboarder in the world!).
USEFUL WORDS AND EXPRESSIONS
In today’s text, I have used many adverbs to start sentences, or to add emphasis to my meaning. Using adverbs at the start of a sentence helps the meaning to flow from one sentence to the next.
actually
in fact, in reality
coincidentally
by chance, happening at the same time
admittedly
it has to be said that, it’s true to say that
closely
(here) regularly, frequently
gradually
slowly
interestingly
noticeably, being of interest
exactly
just the same
frankly
honestly
absolutely
completely, totally
specifically
in particular
to be taken aback (verb)
to be shocked
pause button (noun)
button on a remote control, tv, video, dvd or cd player that pauses the film or music
remote control (noun)
electrical device used to operate equipment from a distance posted on Friday, 09 March 2007 | comment on this postJust Checking In!HELLO FROM SAMANTHA
Hello to Lidia and all of our World Service Readers
I hope that everyone enjoyed the weekend. I was rather disappointed, because despite the beautiful sunny spring weather we experienced last week, it was cold and rainy over the weekend … I had planned to spend the weekend working in my garden, but because of the weather was unable to do so … I grow vegetables, salad leaves, fruit and herbs in my garden, which my family eat in the summer. It’s nice to make meals for my family with food fresh from my garden, I know it has no chemicals or fertilisers on it. Spring is the time to prepare the ground and plant seeds and bulbs, but unfortunately I wasn’t able to do any preparation this weekend. In summer, when I’m cooking in the evening, I often send my husband or my elder son down into the garden to pick some herbs. Actually, my son is better at getting them than my husband, because I realised that my husband had been picking leaves from a bush by mistake! Fortunately, they weren’t poisonous! I grow many herbs that are used in English cooking, perhaps you have already heard of some of them: basil, parsley, chives, sage, thyme, rosemary, oregano, coriander, mint, bay, fennel. Some are used to prepare meat or fish (added to a marinade before cooking), others are used in sauces and some are just chopped up and sprinkled onto salads or cooked vegetables. You can also make mint tea by pouring boiling water onto a handful of mint leaves, and it is good for settling an upset stomach.
Many thanks to Lidia for telling us about her own personal learning journey, studying English in Moscow and in Ireland. I know from your comments that you are all enjoying reading about her adventure, and I’m looking forward to reading the next part today! I’ve included some language aims for Lidia at the end of this article.
This week, I’d like to look at language learning techniques, which is why I asked you to send in your comments about vocabulary learning on Friday. Thanks for your all of your comments, they make a very useful guide to techniques for vocabulary learning. Did you know that there are over 500,000 words in English? Of course, we only use a fraction of these in speech; it’s estimated that native speakers use around 5,000 in everyday speech. Our understanding of words that we recognise but don’t use is known as our passive vocabulary, and the words we actually use in speech or writing is know as our active vocabulary. I’m going to try not to repeat all of your hints included in Friday’s comments, because your advice is excellent! Please read through the ideas again, and look at my own suggestions:
Keep a notebook
I know many of you mentioned this, but I had to start with this as I have a couple of extra hints!
i. Try to write an explanation in English, and to learn the explanation as well as the word.
ii. If the word is a verb, write down the prepositions (by, to at, in, of) that follow the verb. Remember, some verbs take a direct object without a preposition.
iii. Write down the phonemic spelling of the word. This is usually included in a good dictionary. In my experience, it is the long vowel sounds that often cause problems for many learners.
iv. You can also note the syllable stress. A syllable is a single unit of rhythmic sound: in the following examples each syllable is shown with a [o], and the stressed syllable with a [0]. For example “book” is one syllable [0], “learning” is two syllables [0o], “adventure” is three syllables [o0o] and so on. Take care with noun/verb syllable stress. For example: conflict [0o] (noun), conflict [o0] (verb); subject [0o] (noun), subject [o0] (verb).
v. Write down collocations of the word. Collocations are groups of words that are frequently used together. Collocations are listed with the word definitions in a good English-English dictionary.
The notes in your notebook might look like this:
Conflict [0o], noun.
Fight, struggle, war (plus translation into your own language if necessary).
Used with adj. (adjectives) armed or bitter. Takes prep. (preposition) between eg. There is conflict between the two nations.
Conflict [o0], verb.
Be in disagreement or opposition with someone or something.
Takes prep. with eg. This idea conflicts with our previous plans.
Tomorrow, I’ll take a look at ways of helping to make your passive understanding more active! Until then, good night!
Best wishes,
Samantha.
Task
What does “checking in” mean here, in today’s title?
PS. Language Aims for Lidia.
Thanks Lidia, for blogging so regularly. It’s great to read your reports, and to see your English improving at the same time. It might be a good idea to concentrate on the following points this week:
i. Try to expand your range of vocabulary, by using synonyms occasionally.
ii. Use adverbs to begin sentences, or add emphasis within sentences (see Friday 9th Teacher blog).
iii. Check your sentence structure, as some of your sentences still don’t have subjects or verbs.
iv. Watch out for the usage of certain words: “discover” means find.
I discovered a wonderful cake shop yesterday. I think you have used discover to mean show or explain or tell. I would like to show you Moscow / I would like to tell you about my Irish adventure.
“Majority” is a noun, I think the word you wanted to use about tourist attractions is significant or important:
Today I want to show you some significant places in Moscow.
v. Remember that the present simple tense is used to describe general facts, or everyday conditions:
Every day thousands of people from the Moscow region go to work in Moscow.
USEFUL WORDS AND EXPRESSIONS
disappointed (adjective)
slightly sad about a result or condition
chemical (noun)
here, chemical is used to mean the substances which are used in farming to kill insects and stop fruits and vegetables from going mouldy
fertiliser (noun)
chemicals which are used in farming to promote rapid growth
prepare the ground (verb)
this means to get the soil ready for planting by digging it over, taking out stones and smoothing it over
plant (verb)
this means to put seedlings or plants (noun) into the soil to grow
seed (noun)
the tiny, dry capsule which will grow into a flower or vegetable with soil and moisture
bulb (noun)
larger than a seed, this is a fleshy nugget which grows into a flower or a plant
preparation (noun)
the work that has to be done to get something ready
pick (verb)
break / cut off
bush (noun)
small, decorative plant
poisonous (adjective)
harmful if eaten
marinade (noun)
liquid used to flavour meat or fish before it is cooked. Also a verb, to marinade.
settle (verb)
calm down, relax
upset stomach (noun)
painful or gassy stomach
language aims (noun)
specific goals to work towards to improve one’s language ability
language learning techniques (noun)
strategies to improve one's language ability
fraction (noun)
small part
estimated (adjective)
calculated, supposed
passive vocabulary (noun)
words you understand the meaning of but don't use
active vocabulary (noun)
words you use in speech and writing
native speakers (noun)
people who speak a certain language as their first language
hint (noun)
advice to help someone
suggestion (noun)
advice to help someone
explanation (noun)
meaning of a word or phrase
preposition (noun)
small words used after verbs (at, by, in , to under etc)
phonemic spelling (noun)
spelling using international phonemic symbols
syllable stress (noun)
the stressed syllable in a word is the strongest syllable
collocation (noun)
groups of words that are frequently used together
posted on Monday, 12 March 2007 | comment on this postActivating Your Vocabulary: Be Proactive!HELLO FROM SAMANTHA
Hello to Lidia and all of our World Service Readers
Well, today I’m going to get down to work straight away, and look at ways of activating your passive vocabulary! The difficulty that I face here is that I don’t know how many of you get the opportunity to speak regularly in English, so you will have to choose the advice that is most relevant to you. I hope you won’t find today’s blog too boring! Don’t worry, tomorrow will be an ordinary blog! Before I start, I should tell you that “checking in” means reporting for work, giving an update, letting the people around you know that you are back! So yesterday, I was just letting you know that I was back on my blog!
Recycle your new words and phrases
You have to see a new word many times, in different contexts, before it becomes part of your active vocabulary. So, as well as keeping a notebook (see yesterday’s blog), you should try to do some of the following:
i. Have a regular time to learn vocabulary (bus journey? lunch hour? before sleeping?). As well as learning new words, build in review sessions of older vocabulary.
ii. Organise your new words into spider diagrams (also called mind maps) which show relationships between words.
iii. Organise words into tables or charts: organise words by grammar: noun / adjective / adverb / opposite meaning. Eg. success / successful / successfully / failure.
iv. Try to write sentences or a paragraph which includes the new words. Many of you already do this in your comments, when you use vocabulary from the blogs. This is an excellent technique, and if you haven’t done it yet, do it today!
v. Categorise your words. Write down a title on a piece of paper, such as politics, then write down as many words that you can think of related to politics. Now find a piece of published writing relating to politics. Do a Google search, or look at the bbc website, or look at an on-line newspaper. How many more words can you discover related to politics?
Use your new words: be proactive
If you don’t have the opportunity to speak English in your everyday life or job, some of these hints will be difficult for you, but see hint (iii)! The fact that you are reading this blog now means that you are already proactive, so transfer this skill to a different area of language study!
i. Try a game! Make individual word cards for ten new words you would like to learn. Put them in your left pocket in the morning before you leave the house. Now, the difficult part! Before you go to bed, you must try to use all of the words: in a conversation, in an email, or in a comment sent to Learning English. After you have used a word, you can put the word card into your right pocket. Repeat the process until all the word cards are in your right pocket!
ii. Make word cards with whole phrases or sentences on. Research shows that learning “chunks” of language is more useful to us. Sometimes I give my students six cards with different discussion phrases that they have to use in the lesson. You can memorise and practise generic phrases (Why do you think that? What makes you say that? Could you rephrase that for me? ). Children learn their first language in “chunks”. A child of two can say “What’s that?” with the correct question intonation, or “Where’s daddy?”, but he or she does not understand that each question is made up of three words. So, think about chunks!
iii. If you don’t have anyone to speak English with, find someone! And no, I don’t mean go for private English lessons. There will always be some sort of club or society you can join which has an international clientele. Usually these societies use English as the method of communication, because of the range of nationalities. When I lived abroad, I was a member of an association for international families, and I had the opportunity to talk to people from all over the world (Japan, Australia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, USA, UK, Canada, Hong Kong). In the university I teach in, there is an “International Society” which regularly organises events, trips, concerts and so on. If there is no such organisation in your area, start one! Remember, attending an association is not just about practising your English, it’s about befriending people who may be isolated in your country.
iv. Remember Lidia's advice, don’t worry about making mistakes. Making mistakes is natural and it shows that you are pushing your grammatical limits!
Read actively and analytically
From now on, when you read something in English, look at it analytically.
i. Underline all of the verbs in a section of the text (a page, or around 250 words).
Look at the verbs: what tenses does the writer use? Has the writer used verbs with a similar meaning (eg. increase / develop / expand / improve). Are there any verbs with the opposite meaning?
ii. Now, underline all of the adjectives. Do you understand all of them? Is there a theme to the language use? Are the adjectives positive or negative? (eg. cautious / limited / uncertain / disastrous would all be negative if the article was a business report!).
iii. Now do the same with adverbs. I did this in my blog on Friday. Adverbs add emphasis; sometimes they may be used to exaggerate or overstate. Look at these adverbs in your text. Are they objective (factual) or subjective (emotional)? If you have access to English language newspapers, this is a very useful task. Although you may think newspapers are always objective in their reporting, you may be surprised!
Well, I think I have probably bored all of you for too long, so I’m going to end this now!
Best wishes,
Samantha.
USEFUL WORDS AND EXPRESSIONS
opportunity (noun)
chance to do something
check in (verb)
i. here, means report for work, give an update
ii. register at a hotel or for a flight
recycle (verb)
use again, use repeatedly
context (noun)
here, means language background or situation
review session (noun)
time spent looking at previous work
spider diagram or mind map (noun)
diagram which may look like a spider, with a word in the middle (spider’s body) and lots of legs going outwards with related words on their feet!
table or chart (noun)
unfortunately, I can't draw one here, but just think about the chemical table of elements that you studied at secondary school!
categorise (verb)
put into groups
proactive (verb)
when you make a positive effort to be active
word card (noun)
small cards with word and definition written on it
whole phrase (noun)
meaningful clause or sentence
chunk (noun)
piece of language / group of words
international clientele (noun)
people from all over the world
association (noun)
here, club or group
attend an association (phrase)
go to / take part in a club or group
befriend (verb)
make friends with
isolated (adjective)
lonely, alone
underline (verb)
draw a line under
emphasis (noun)
give importance to something
exaggerate (verb)
to make something more important / exciting than it really is
overstate (verb)
to make something more important / exciting than it really is
posted on Tuesday, 13 March 2007 | comment on this postParents' Evening Hello to Lidia and all of our World Service Readers
To read today’s blog, you will have to put these one of these verbs into each of the gaps.
i. You must also put the verbs in the correct tense, that is, the simple present (do), the simple past (did) or the present continuous (doing).
ii. Remember to use the correct form of the verb, it must agree with the subject of the sentence!
can ..... climb ..... crack ..... do ..... expect
fall ..... find ....... get ....... go ........ know
make ..... meet ....... mess ..... phone ..... play
read ..... say ....... show ..... start ..... is
I had some really great news last night. It _____ (1) parents’ evening at my son’s school. I _____ (2) you have parents’ evening in your countries, but just in case you don’t, it’s an evening once a term when parents _____ (3) to their child’s school to _____ (4) the teachers. Usually, I _____ (5) these meetings painfully embarrassing, because his teachers basically tell me that my son is lazy and that he _____ (6) around in class. They never _____ (7) it directly, but they make comments like, “he gets distracted easily”, “he always seems to be having a great laugh with his friends” or “he enjoys making everyone laugh”. So, reading between the lines, his teachers were saying that he is the class clown, who _____ (8) jokes all of the time, and never does any work. He always _____ (9) poor grades in his tests, hardly ever _____ (10) his homework, and _____ (11) up all kinds of excuses to his teachers, including lies about me (for example, that I had told him not to do his homework!).
It is particularly awful for me to go to these parents’ evening, because some of his teachers _____ (12) that I am a teacher too! I often feel that they are disapproving of me, that my son should be better because of my job. When we get home from parents’ evening, I’m always angry and tell him that he has to be more serious, and do his homework properly. For a couple of weeks, he studies a bit harder, but then he always goes back to his old ways. He has his own interests, he likes to play with his friends and school is just not very important to him. He loves _____ (13) comics, _____ (14) trees and _____ (15) hide and seek.
So, as usual, I was expecting the worst last night from his teacher. In fact I had already set my face into an expression of apology as the teacher _____ (16) to speak: “Well..” she said, (“Here we go”, I thought), “I have to say that your son has had a tremendous change of attitude this term … and … I’m so pleased with him, he’s really worked hard!” (I was so shocked, I _____ (17) speak). “And what’s more, he’s got some excellent results in his tests, in fact, we don’t expect the children to get these grades until the end of the year!”. Well, I was almost ready to faint with a combination of disbelief and wonder. I think my mouth _____ (18) open! I can’t really remember the rest of the conversation, I was too shocked to take it in!
We came back home and we told my husband. Then I _____ (19) my parents to tell them. They called my sister, and she called me! Everyone was amazed and pleased! So, it just _____ (20) that whatever your personality or age, it’s never too late to change!
That’s all for tonight, tomorrow we will look at ways of practising your speaking skills. Answers for the gap-fill tomorrow!
Best wishes,
Samantha.
USEFUL WORDS AND EXPRESSIONS
be distracted by (verb)
to lose attention / focus on what you have to do
read between the lines (idiom)
this means to understand what is hinted at or said indirectly
disapproving (adjective)
expressing or showing displeasure or rejection
posted on Thursday, 15 March 2007 | comment on this postSpecial Message for LidiaHello Lidia
Good morning, how are you? I hope you can find time to send me a blog today, I'm looking forward to reading your news! As I said in my earlier blog, I love exhibitions and it would be fantastic to hear more from you, as you are involved first-hand!
Catch up with you soon,
Samantha. posted on Friday, 16 March 2007 | comment on this postLast Lesson of the Virtual Week!Hello to Lidia and all of our World Service Readers
We’ve come round to the weekend again. I wonder what your plans are for the next couple of days? I had intended to go to the beach with my family, but I think it is going to be too cold. I didn’t want to go swimming, by the way! I love the sea, and I have a favourite beach that I like to go to. It’s in a little cove that is protected from strong waves, and there is a tiny little white hotel almost built on the sand. If you go in the summer, the beach is full of families swimming, playing ball games, eating picnics, shouting, laughing… It’s wonderful for children, of course… but if you go in the winter, or the early spring, it is deserted and you can almost pretend it is your own private beach! I thought it would be nice to get wrapped up and go for a walk along the beach. It looks like it’s going to rain, though, so I’ll have to think of plan B!
Today is Comic Relief Day in the UK. This is a day when almost everyone gets involved in some kind of charity work to raise money for local and international charities. It’s called “Comic Relief” because it is combined with humorous entertainment on the TV. All of the celebrities who take part presumably do so without being paid, and the idea is that you can make a donation to charity to reward their efforts. It’s a very slick production, that concentrates the marketing power of a group of celebrities and the BBC onto charitable causes for twenty four hours of media exposure. Do you have similar events in your countries?
Thank you to everyone who sent comments this week. I noticed many new names, which is good! I do read all of your comments, and although I can’t reply to every single one, I am always delighted and quite touched to read all of them. Thank you for the comments about my son and his “transformation”! Let’s see how long it lasts! Tonight I would like to answer a language question raised by Aiman, who asks “is it bad to write just English texts without speaking a lot?”. The answer to this is no, of course not! It’s up to you what you use your English for! If you want to become a proficient speaker, however, you will have to practise with someone. The person you speak to doesn’t have to be a native speaker. If you can find someone who is as motivated as you are to speak English, that’s good enough. Any kind of interaction will force you to listen and respond, and develop your fluency. Remember that listening and speaking are closely connected, so try to watch English language films and use the audio downloads on this site. We’ll look at ways of improving your speaking skills next week.
Enjoy the weekend,
Best wishes,
Samantha.
PS.
Here are the answers to yesterday’s quiz!
(1) was …..(2) expect ….. (3) go ….. (4) meet ….. (5) find
(6) messes (mess around, phrasal verb, means misbehave, waste time).
(7) say ….. (8) cracks (crack a joke, verb, means make a joke)
(9) gets ….. (10) does ….(11) makes ….. (12) know ….. (13) reading
(14) climbing ... (15) playing ….. (16) started ….. (17) couldn’t … (18) fell
(19) phoned ….. (20) shows
USEFUL WORDS AND EXPRESSIONS
cove (noun)
bay, curved area of coastline
deserted (adjective)
empty
wrap up (warm) (phrasal verb)
put on warm winter clothes
plan B (noun)
a different / alternative idea
charity work (noun)
work to raise money for projects to help others
presumably (adverb)
almost certainly, to be presumed
donation (noun)
financial gift
slick (adjective)
stylish, professional
marketing power (noun)
the ability to sell a specific product or idea
media exposure (noun)
air-time / publicity for something or someone
transformation (noun)
major change
proficient (adjective)
competent, able
interaction (noun)
conversational exchange
posted on Friday, 16 March 2007 | comment on this postFond MemoriesHello to Lidia and all of our World Service readers,
I hope you all had a fantastic weekend! Thanks for all your comments explaining about fundraising days in your own countries, it’s interesting to know that similar events exist all over the world. My son would have loved to join in some of the events, especially the fancy-dress fun run organised by his school, but believe it or not, I had to take him to the dentist’s on Friday afternoon! He had to have a tooth filled, so he missed out on most of the fun. He was very brave and didn’t complain! The other unexpected event this weekend was the freak weather. If you read my blog on Friday, you will know that I was hoping to take my family to the beach for a walk. I knew it would be cold, but wasn’t expecting snow! The British weather really is so unpredictable! Of course we didn’t go to the beach, and as it was so cold outside, I stayed in my kitchen for most of the time and baked a cake and cookies. The smell of homemade baking filled the whole house, and I stopped fretting about going to the beach. We all enjoyed eating the cake, it’s a good way to spend a freezing afternoon.
Thanks again to Lidia for sending us her latest blog. I love Greece, too. I went to Crete once with my elder son and my friend. We had a great time, the towns are beautiful and it was so easy just to spend whole afternoon in a little street café drinking coffee, chatting, watching people walk by, and looking at the sea. As Lidia says, it is a present to yourself, a chance to relax and slow down for a week or two. And the wonderful thing about holidays is that although they end, you always have your memories! Have you noticed how you usually forget about the disappointments, and your memories are always of blue skies, glittering sea and delicious food? In reality, holidays can be quite stressful. I always seem to have an argument with my husband when we go on holiday, usually about something trivial like buying the wrong subway tickets or getting lost (neither of us is good at reading maps). But we are always smiling on the photos, and we always talk fondly about the experience when we return back to our life in England. Perhaps it’s a good thing to have a selective memory!
Now, I’m just going to pick up a couple of points from Lidia’s blog, and focus on ways of linking sentences together. I like Lidia’s writing style in this blog, the style is descriptive and rich in vocabulary. She has described the sights, sounds and tastes of Greek life! Thanks, Lidia, for giving us such a vivid description!
We can improve the style of some sentences by linking them together with punctuation, adverb, verbs and phrases.
Linking with punctuation
Last week was a pretty warm weather here. Some beautiful days were with sunny and bright blue sky. (Lidia)
Last week was pretty warm here, there were some beautiful days with sunny, bright blue skies.
Linking with an example phrase
A lot of summer things have arrived to Moscow. New collections of clothes, footwear, hand bags and things for a beach. (Lidia)
A lot of summer things have arrived to Moscow, such as new collections of clothes, footwear, hand bags and things for the beach.
Linking with an adverb
I love Greece. Love a soft climate, beautiful beaches for vacation and a lot of historical places for visits. (Lidia)
I love Greece, especially its soft climate, beautiful beaches and historical places.
(Note here that I have also reduced the last part to three simple noun phrases, each modified by an adjective: soft, beautiful, historical. The use of similar grammatical structures is known as parallelism, and it makes a text pleasing to read, because of the sense of balance it lends to the language).
Linking with an –ing verb
I do Greek salad (cold snack) at home. Tomatoes, cucumbers, olives, Greek cheese, Greek oil and some special spices. (Lidia).
I make Greek salad (cold snack) at home, using tomatoes, cucumbers, olives, Greek cheese, Greek oil and some special spices.
Language improvement aims for Lidia
i. Again, this week please look at the subjects in your sentences! Remember, every sentence needs a subject.
ii. Try to use all of the linking techniques above to link your sentences together more smoothly!
Good luck, Lidia, I’m looking forward to reading your next blog!
Good night everyone,
Best wishes,
Samantha.
PS. Task
Can you find any other examples of parallelism in today’s blog?
USEFUL WORDS AND EXPRESSIONS
fundraising day (noun)
special day devoted to raising money for charity
fancy-dress (noun)
to wear fancy-dress means to put on a costume for example, of an animal, cartoon or historical character.
fun run (noun)
an organised run which takes place for entertainment rather than as a race or competition
dentist’s (noun)
abbreviation for dentist’s surgery
have a tooth filled (phrase)
this means to have a tooth drilled and then repaired by the dentist
miss out on something (verb)
to be unable to do something / take part in something (regret)
freak weather (noun)
very unusual weather conditions
unpredictable (adjective)
impossible to predict or know about in advance
baking (noun)
cakes, bread, cookies
fret (verb)
worry or feel anxious about
disappointment (noun)
unwanted / unforeseen event or thing
glittering (adjective)
shining, bright
stressful (adjective)
worrying
trivial (adjective)
unimportant, minor
fondly (adverb)
with affection, love
selective memory (noun)
this means that you only remember certain parts of an experience, in this case, only the good parts!
descriptive (adjective)
rich in details, expressive
vivid (adjective)
lively, realistic
grammatical parallelism (noun)
this means the use of structures or phrases which have similar grammatical structure
posted on Monday, 19 March 2007 | comment on this postPractice Makes Perfect!Hello to Lidia and all of our World Service Readers,
I really wish I was in Moscow today, 13°C sounds wonderful! It is still snowing here, and it looks like the cold weather will set in for a couple of days… It would be great if I could visit Moscow just for a day, I don’t think anyone would notice that I was missing!
Tonight I want to look at a technique for improving your speaking skills. One summer I asked my students to keep an audio learning diary. You can think of this as a one-way blog! I asked my students to record themselves on an audio tape once a week. Here is the task:
Imagine that you are speaking to a real person and answer the following questions on tape:
What do you think you have learned this week?
Do you think your English has improved?
Have you learnt anything new about yourself this week?
What would you like to learn next?
As I can’t listen to your tape to give you feedback, I’m going to include an extra learning aim for you:
Include some of the new vocabulary or expressions you have read in this blog, the Learning English site, or in your own studies.
I know that my students really enjoyed this exercise, and I hope you enjoy it, too. Although I can’t listen to your tapes, I will be able to read your comments, so please try this exercise at least once! As you listen to your recording, pay attention to your intonation and word stress. In English, the intonation in our voice rises when we ask a question, express surprise, enthusiasm, approval etc. Does your intonation change at all in the recording? Do you stress key-words by saying them slightly louder, or by leaving a short pause after them? If the answer is no to these questions, make another recording (on the same topic) and compare your intonation and word stress. Is it better the second time? You might be interested to know that a few months ago, I practised a ten minute business presentation four or five times at home before I delivered it to an audience! Remember that practice makes perfect!
That’s all for now,
Good night or good morning!
Samantha.
PS.
Some examples of parallelism in yesterday’s blog:
blue skies, glittering sea and delicious food
(adjective + noun)
drinking coffee, chatting, watching people walk by, and looking at the sea
(ing verb + object)
we are always smiling on the photos, and we always talk fondly about the experience
(subject + adverb/verb + preposition phrase)
USEFUL WORDS AND EXPRESSIONS
it looks like (phrase)
it seems, appears that...
set in (phrasal verb)
(of weather) remain, stay
it would be (great/wonderful/fantastic) if I could … (conditional)
used to describe a hope/dream/wish
audio learning diary (noun)
diary made by regularly recording your thoughts about your language learning
one-way (adjective)
used here to mean that there is no response to the communication
feedback (noun)
suggestions and comments
pay attention to something (verb)
notice, observe
intonation (noun)
the rising and falling pitch in speaking
word stress (noun)
emphasis placed on a particular word
deliver a presentation (phrase)
give a presentation
practice makes perfect (phrase)
this means that the more you practise, the better you will be at something!
posted on Tuesday, 20 March 2007 | comment on this postMaking Dreams Come TrueHello to Lidia and all of our World Service Readers
What is your heart’s greatest desire? Are you driven by a desire for success or fame? Do you have a dream you would like to turn into reality? Do you have a plan to reach your goals?
A few of us may be lucky enough to realise our dreams by chance or without much effort, but most of us have to work hard to fulfil our ambitions. Your dream may be to travel around the world, to live in a foreign country, or to work in a particular profession. Whatever your goal or dream, it will be easier to attain if you make a long-term plan and stick to it. If you plan your time in this way, you can focus your effort and energy productively and take steps towards reaching your goal.
I sometimes ask my students what they think the single most important aspect of language learning success is. Can you guess what their reply is? I can tell you now, that I actually disagree with most of my students! Most of them say that intelligence is the single most important factor of success. Are you surprised by their reply, or do you agree? Well, I’ll tell you why I disagree. Of course, intelligence and talent are necessary for success, but I think that one thing is more important: self-discipline. The ability to organise your time and devote a certain amount of effort each day to one particular thing (in this case, learning a language), is in my opinion, the most important factor leading to success.
Well, I’m going to end this here, I’m looking forward to reading your comments,
Best wishes,
Samantha
Task
Do you agree with my opinion that self-discipline is the most important aspect in language success? Let me know what you think.
USEFUL WORDS AND EXPRESSIONS
your heart’s greatest desire (phrase)
the thing you want more than anything else
be driven by a desire for something (phrase)
to be ambitious for something (money, fame, status) or to achieve something
turn a dream into reality (phrase)
to achieve your dream in real life
reach a goal (phrase)
to succeed at something, achieve an aim or ambition
realise a dream (phrase)
to make a dream come true
fulfil an ambition
to succeed at something, achieve an aim or ambition
attain / reach a goal
to succeed at something, achieve an aim or ambition
language learning success (noun)
fluency in a foreign language
factor (noun)
aspect, part
productively (adverb)
usefully, effectively
self-discipline (noun)
the ability to organise your life effectively
posted on Wednesday, 21 March 2007 | comment on this postMotivation and AchievementHello to Lidia and all of our World Service Readers
First of all, I must apologise for being so late with this blog. It’s the last week of term before the Easter holidays, and I have been busy testing my students, marking, assessing and writing reports! Despite all of the talk about self-discipline, I couldn’t manage to find enough time to write this until now! I am very sorry, especially after receiving such a fantastic response to my question about language learning success.
The next thing on my agenda is to thank Lidia for all of her hard work. I’m sure you will agree with me when I say that her blog entries have been especially interesting this week: she’s told us about organising a large, prestigious exhibition, true love and career decisions! I will post some language feedback for Lidia in a special message, later today!
It was great to read all of your comments about language learning success. Evidently, self-discipline and motivation are closely related, and if they are combined towards the same goal, they lead to real success. This has led me to consider the nature of motivation, achievement and the personal rewards they bring. I can give you a very personal example, which relates to my own hobby of gardening. I’m very lucky to have a large garden, and this is why we bought our house. When we bought the house, however, the garden was actually an allotment. You probably don’t know what an allotment is, unless you have lived in the UK! An allotment is an area of land used for growing fruit and vegetables, and is usually functional rather than decorative. So, I inherited an area of land that was rather ugly, with a huge industrial sized PVC tunnel for growing tomatoes, lots of rusty old junk, equipment and old sheds. I had a vision of how I could turn this into a beautiful garden, so I drew up plans on paper, and then made a list of all the work that needed to be done, and when I was going to do it. I had to think about the seasons, and the best time of year to carry out the work.
I initially decided to do all of the work by myself, because I was quite protective about my project. It was a terrible job to do alone! I could only do it at the weekends, because obviously I teach during the week. I think some of my colleagues thought I was a complete crank. They just thought I was trying to save money, and couldn’t see the attraction of labouring away in the dirt at the weekend. (Perhaps they were right!)
After about four months, I reached an impasse. I was trying to level the land, and it was just too much for me to do alone. I remember crying outside, thinking “why did I ever begin this? I’ll never finish it”. So I decided to get some help from a professional gardener. He became a great buddy of mine! He came and levelled the land in a day with a special machine, and helped me to some of the really heavy work. Gradually, over the years, I have planted up different areas of the garden with trees, bushes and plants. I have grown a lawn from seed, and have cultivated fruit and vegetable patches. I could have paid a landscaping company to do all this work, it would have cost a few thousand pounds and it would have been finished in a few weeks. But the feelings of love, pride and satisfaction I have about my garden can never be bought or paid for. I look out at my garden, and I think, I made this, with my own hands. Having a vision of what you want to achieve is the greatest motivation, and when you finally achieve your goal, the reward is better than any other pleasure or gratification.
If you consider how far you have progressed since you first started to study English, I’m sure that you will feel satisfied, too. Learning a language is a process, it takes time and effort, but it has incredible personal rewards. These will be different for everyone, because we each have our own motivation and vision.
That’s all for now,
Enjoy the weekend,
Samantha.
USEFUL WORDS AND EXPRESSIONS
apologise for something (verb)
say sorry for
agenda (noun)
list of things to do
evidently (adverb)
clearly
self-discipline (noun)
ability to organise your time and focus your attention
motivation (noun)
personal desire or will to achieve something
personal reward (noun)
positive emotions you experience as a result of your own efforts
closely related (phrase)
connected together
allotment (noun)
piece of land used for growing fruit and vegetable
functional (adjective)
serving a purpose
decorative (adjective)
beautiful
rusty (adjective)
objects made from metal go rusty when they are left outside in the rain
junk (noun)
discarded / unwanted items
industrial sized (adjective)
very, very large
carry out (verb)
do, put into action
protective (adjective)
selective, wanting to keep something to yourself
crank (noun)
crazy, odd person (oddball is also used as a similar noun)
impasse (noun)
obstacle, deadlock
labouring away in the dirt (phrase)
working in the soil
level the land (phrase)
make the surface of the ground even
buddy (noun)
friend
cultivate (verb)
grow
landscaping company (noun)
professional company that creates gardens
process (noun)
behaviour /actions over a period of time
pleasure (noun)
happiness, joy
gratification (noun)
(instant) pleasure
pride (noun)
satisfaction in results, or what someone has done
satisfaction (noun)
contentment, pleasure
vision (noun)
here, used to mean the final goal I was working towards
posted on Saturday, 24 March 2007 | comment on this postSpecial Message for LidiaHi Lidia
Just a quick message to say thank you so much for blogging last week. I know you were very busy, and I appreciate the effort you made! Your hard work is producing excellent results! I like the topics you chose and your writing style. You used a wider range of sentence types than before, and better vocabulary. The other thing that is great about your last couple of blogs is the conversational tone. This means that the blogs are easy for other people to read, and have a light, informal tone. You have achieved this by asking questions and including your own exclamations. Well done! Keep up the good work.
Now, I’d just like to offer you some suggestions for your final week of blogging.
i. This week, try to use adverbs at the start of sentences to show your opinion or feelings, for example: certainly, clearly, evidently, fortunately, obviously, unfortunately. Use two or three adverbs in each blog to add a more personal style.
ii. Include some examples of parallelism (see Tuesday 20th blog) such as "Friday was a busy, exciting day at the end of a long, challenging week." (adjective, adjective noun x 2).
iii. Continue to use direct questions to your readers! Questions are fun!
iv. If you use exclamations, note the following grammar point:
Absolutely true! (adverb + adjective)
I absolutely agree! (subject + adverb + verb) /
How absolutely true! (question word + adverb + adjective).
v. As this is your last week, please try to focus on accuracy! The following sentences all need a subject, which I’ve added, in [brackets]:
[I] got a small salary but it was enough for me.
[I’m] still learning life’s lessons.
And [I] often watch [see] my job in awful nightmares.
[I] want to do something more in my specialisation.
[I] still believe in the theory about an apple.
vi. Finally, take care with adverbs and adjectives. Remember that an adverb acts on a verb [I’m speaking truthfully], and an adjective acts on a noun [I believe in true love].
That’s all for now. Have fun, Lidia! I’m looking forward to reading your next blog!
Best wishes,
Samantha.
posted on Sunday, 25 March 2007 | comment on this postChanging the ClocksHello to Lidia and all of our World Service readers,
I hope that you all had a great weekend. I feel a little tired today, because yesterday we put the clocks forward by an hour. I think many other countries do this as well? The idea, as I'm sure you know, is to make the most of the daylight hours. But it means that for a couple of days you have to wake up an hour earlier than usual, because your body clock is still on the old routine! So everyone in my house is feeling a little sleepy now!
If you read the teacher and student blogs regularly, you will already know that we are due for a change of bloggers at the end of the month. So this will be my last week of blogging! I’ll be sorry to say good bye to Lidia and everyone who sends in comments, but I’ll throw myself into a flurry of activity before I leave! There’s a lot of work to do before Friday, so I’ll get on with it now!
In my final week, I’d like to look at materials you can use to study grammar. I’ve had several requests over the past couple of weeks for advice about learning grammar. Before I explain my own ideas, it would be interesting to learn something about your existing study habits! Please answer the following questions, and send your answers to the site.
i. Did you learn English at school or university mainly by studying grammar?
ii. Do you use a grammar book in English as a guide, or a grammar book in your native language?
iii. On average, how long do you spend studying grammar each week? (a few minutes / half an hour / a few hours?)
iv. Do you find that studying grammar has any noticeable benefits to your use of English?
That’s all for now,
Good night or good morning!
Samantha
USEFUL WORDS AND EXPRESSIONS
put the clocks forward (phrase)
this means that once a year at 1:00am on a certain day we lose an hour, and the time officially becomes 2:00am.
body clock (noun)
the time when you naturally feel hungry or tired, according to your body
routine (noun)
timetable, schedule
make the most of something (phrase)
profit from, benefit from
be due for (verb)
this means that it is time for a change / event
throw oneself into something
become involved in an activity
flurry (noun)
sudden rush (of activity)
existing (adjective)
present, current
get on with something (phrasal verb)
make progress, advance
posted on Tuesday, 27 March 2007 | comment on this postActive StudyHello to Lidia and all of our World Service readers,
I hope that you enjoyed your day off, Lidia! You sound like you need to take it easy for a while to recover after all of your efforts last week! I hope you’ve had a good rest today and that tomorrow you will be ready to start again, relaxed and refreshed!
Thanks for all of the comments about today’s topic: learning grammar. Reading through the comments, it is clear that everyone recognises the importance of studying grammar. Some of you have already studied too much (at school), while others have not learned enough! Let’s think about grammar in a different way! As I have already used many metaphors to describe language learning, I’m going to use a new one today: sport!
The comparison between sport, language learning and grammar may seem a little strange at first, so let me explain! Think about a professional sportsperson such as an athlete or a footballer. To stay in a condition of peak physical fitness, an athlete or football player trains every single day. Their physical training programme involves all round fitness: strength, stamina, agility, speed. So, although a football player is famous for earning his money on the football pitch, there is a tremendous amount of training (and self-discipline!) behind the scenes that we never see. And think about this: what would happen if the players didn’t warm up their muscles properly before a match? Things that seem small and simple can actually be crucial to success!
Perhaps it is useful to think of grammar as an exercise that increases your agility and strength with language. Studying grammar on its own will not make you fluent in a second language, but your understanding of language use should be based in grammatical competence. Think of grammar as the physical exercises that athletes or football players do: regular practice to prepare you for the big game!
How to study grammar
Study selectively
Make the best use of your time by studying efficiently. Don’t waste time by working through a grammar book from the first page. Concentrate on your weakest areas. Some grammar books include diagnostic tests you can take to identify your weak areas. You could also try an online diagnostic test (many free ones available, use Google).
Study actively
Self-study books usually divide grammar up into different sections. To maximise learning, (i) answer questions in one section (ii) check your answers (iii) try to work out the grammar rule yourself (iv) read the grammar explanation provided in the book to check your understanding. Think of grammar as a problem solving task rather than facts that you have to absorb.
Study in context
Make your study sessions as practical as possible. Do not worry about memorising every single “exception” to the rule; afterall, you may never need to use them! The best way to learn through context is by “noticing” grammatical patterns. For example, as you read today’s blog, what do you notice about the use of prepositions / adjectives / adverbs? You are more likely to learn if you are motivated to understand something (more about motivation below!).
Motivate yourself
Let’s face it, for most people, the study of grammar is quite dull, and it’s not a particularly attractive option. So, find a way to motivate yourself! This could be studying for a certificate, such as the CAE or CPE; taking part in an online community like this one; planning a trip abroad or trying to find an international pen-pal.
Choosing a self-study book
If you buy a grammar book with exercises, make sure it provides answers at the back! Also check the level of the book, as many are graded. Try to answer a few questions and see if the book is too easy or too difficult for you. Also, consider a textbook which integrates grammatical points into general language improvement. Many textbooks for the IELTS or CAE/CPE examinations adopt this approach.
Short and sweet
Finally, keep your study of grammar as short and sweet as possible. It’s far better to do ten or fifteen minutes of study two or three times a week, than to spend hours and hours trying to learn everything in the book. This will keep you motivated and may also help your long-term memory and understanding. It’s not easy to make sense of new information all at once. So, relax and take it easy! Sometimes our brain takes time to process information and form connections with what we already know. Small, regular study sessions may facilitate this process.
I hope this advice helpful!
That’s all for now,
Best wishes,
Samantha.
USEFUL WORDS AND EXPRESSIONS
day off (noun)
a day spent away from work
take it easy (phrase)
relax, rest
recognise (verb)
understand
metaphor (noun)
qualities of one thing are given to another (here, sport and language learning)
peak (adjective)
best, greatest
physical fitness (noun)
health and ability to take part in physical activity
stamina (noun)
ability to keep going
agility (noun)
quick moving, graceful
crucial (adjective)
important
competence (noun)
ability
efficiently (adverb)
making good use of time or a resource
diagnostic (adjective)
able to find problems
maximize (verb)
increase, make the most of
absorb (verb)
take in
practical (adjective)
based in reality, down-to-earth
pen-pal (noun)
person to correspond with
integrate (verb)
combine
process (verb)
make sense of
facilitate (verb)
help/aid
posted on Wednesday, 28 March 2007 | comment on this postRE!Hello to Lidia and all of our World Service readers,
Good evening everyone. Tonight I’m going to start by telling you about a little shop near my house. It’s called “RE”. It’s a funny name for a shop, isn’t it? I heard that the shop owners used to be teachers! They are a husband and wife who stopped teaching and decided to open a furniture shop instead! I love going to their shop, but every time I go, it makes me feel envious of their life. Do you know what they do? They have a huge van, and they drive to Europe and go to France, Spain, Italy, Bulgaria, Croatia, Slovakia, and buy second hand furniture, ornaments, rugs, dishes, glasses, pictures, mirrors, clocks. In fact they buy anything at all that they can sell in their shop! They bring all of these things back to England, then put them into their shop. Their business is doing well, and there are always lots of customers because everything is unusual. What a great way to work and enjoy yourself at the same time!
Why do you think they called their shop “RE”? Perhaps the shop owners were English teachers! “Re” is a prefix that means “again”. Everything in the shop is second-hand, so “RE” could mean “recycle” or “re-use” or “reclaimed” or even “rescued”. It’s a clever name for the shop, isn’t it? Prefixes (start of words) and suffixes (endings) in English usually have Latin or Greek roots. I expect you know many already!
The reason I’m telling you about this shop is to think about the “re” prefix in the word “resurrection”. This word is used soon, in relation to Easter. “Resurrection” means “rebirth” and is used to describe Christ’s ascent to heaven, which is celebrated on Sunday April 8th this year. In this country, children receive chocolate eggs at this time of year. The egg symbolises rebirth, although most children just eat their Easter eggs without thinking about the religious meaning.
There are many words in English which take the “re” prefix, and many have very positive meanings. As this is nearly my last blog to you, I want to concentrate on something positive, and I think “re” brings to mind many positive words. Personally, I like the idea of rebirth and renewal in spring, I think there is an elemental force in nature which allows us to experience renewed hope and life. How is spring celebrated in your own countries? Does it include the idea of rebirth?
Best wishes,
Samantha.
USEFUL WORDS AND EXPRESSIONS
envious (adjective)
jealous
ornament (noun)
objects used to decorate a house
recycle (verb)
use something again instead of throwing it away
re-use (verb)
use again
reclaimed (adjective)
used again by another owner / purpose
rescued (adjective)
helped out of danger
rebirth (noun)
born again
ascent (noun)
move upwards
symbolise (verb)
represent, embody
renewal (noun)
rebirth, new growth
elemental (adjective)
basic, simple
posted on Thursday, 29 March 2007 | comment on this postGood Bye Everyone!Hello to Lidia and all of our World Service readers,
First of all, I must say a huge thank you to Lidia for blogging so regularly. I know that you have found her blogs as interesting as I have, and she has told us a lot about her life, her dreams and her experience of learning English. I can safely say that her English has improved while she has been blogging: her sentence structure is better and she uses a wider vocabulary. I noticed several adverbs (certainly, definitely, fortunately) used to start sentences in the last couple of blogs! And the last blog was absolutely great! There were one or two small errors, but a very big improvement since the beginning of March! Superb work! Well done. I hope you will continue to work on your English because you have made such good progress, and if you continue at this rate, who knows what you could achieve? It’s a hard task to blog every week when you are busy with a job, and I really appreciate the effort Lidia made to stay in touch with all of us. Thank you again, it’s been great working with you!
Now, to everyone else who reads the blogs and sends in comments I must also say thank you for all of your efforts. I do read all of the comments, and I feel so sorry that I can’t send individual replies to you, because your comments are so animated and interesting. To tell you the truth, I hope this is not really good bye, because I would so much like to do this teacher blog again! I’ve enjoyed interacting with everyone from so many different countries. It’s been such a privilege to meet all of you, and learn about your lives. Hopefully I’ll be able to catch up with all of you again!
The last thing I have to say is that for the time being, this will be my last blog. I’m going on holiday tomorrow with my family to Mallorca in Spain, and I won’t be able to blog again. I’m looking forward to relaxing for about ten days…eating some nice seafood and walking on the beach… I’m not sure if it will be warm enough to swim in the sea…I guess my kids won’t mind trying it out though!
I wish everyone success and happiness in both your private and professional lives; take care until the next time we meet!
Lots of love and best wishes to everyone,
Samantha.
USEFUL WORDS AND EXPRESSIONS
improvement (noun)
better than before
appreciate something (verb)
feel grateful / thankful for
stay in touch (phrase)
keep in contact with someone
animated (adjective)
lively
privilege (noun)
advantage / special status
 posted on Friday, 30 March 2007 | comment on this post | |
