ORAL PRESENTATION

I attach the link of my oral presentation about strategies to learn grammar. I hope you like it.

Just click on it and you'll see the visual.


https://prezi.com/x-3te1_zvle9/strategies-to-learn-grammar/#share_embed

LESSON 7: LEARNING HOW TO WRITE

Good afternoon, English Learners!!!

This is the last lesson and it's about writing. Writing is a productive skill where you show your ability to use different registers, styles and  the vocabulary you know. Written English and spoken English are very different. When you write, you can prepare what you want to say, it is more formal. Mistakes are more important in written than in spoken English, because you have written that and cannot say it again. In speaking you can correct yourself immediately. Speaking is more spontaneous and more informal, too. 

We use writing as speaking when we write a note, send a text message to a friend, write a diary, etc. . There are two types of writing: communication and personal.

When you write a text, you have to take into account the reader. The reader has to understand your message, so you  have to use one register or another  depending on who you address. If you are writing to someone you don't know, for example, you will use formal connectors and will greet in a different way than if you are writing to your mother. 

Every writing has its layout. It's much better that you know them so that you can identify what type of writing it is. You have to define your purpose. What do you want to tell in your writing? Do you want to entertain, to interest the reader or to justify your opinion? Depending on what your reasons are, you will use one type of writing or another. 

A composition has to be well structured and organised.It has to contain paragraphs to divide your information. A paragraph is a group of sentences that introduces an idea to the text. The number of paragraphs indicates the number of ideas. A paragraph usually has a topic sentence, that is to say, a statement at the beginning of the paragraph that tells you what the paragraph is going to be about.

Punctuation marks are important in a writing. You have to avoid writing too long sentences that will make the reader miss part of the information. Use linking words to connect different ideas.

The steps you have to follow to do a good writing are:

1-- Plan what you want to say and define your main ideas. Do not write full sentences, just key words.

2-- Write a first draft. It's not the final writing, you can correct it later. You have to think in English. Do not make literal translations. You have to use all the vocabulary and grammar structures you know.

3-- Then, check your first draft. Now you can correct whatever you want, cross things out or add new information. 

4-- After checking it, you can write the final version. Once you have finished your composition, read it to check everything is correct.

However, the best strategy to improve your writing is to write a little bit every day. You can combine writing with an activity you like. You can give your opinion in blogs, write a diary about your travelling experience, read books in English to see which structures are used in writing, etc. There are many ways to improve your writing, you only have to find out the one that suits you the most. 

Here I end my lessons on strategies to learn English. I hope you find all of them useful and above all, that you put them in practice. 

If you have any doubts or you want to ask for something on English strategies, please let me know in the comments' section. 

Remain curious and keep learning English!!!

LESSON 6: LEARNING HOW TO SPEAK

Hello, English Learners!!!

Today I'll give you tips and advices on speaking. Speaking is the ability we feel most identified with. We develop our speaking skills in our daily routine and we interact with others as well. Speaking and interacting don't mean the same. On the one hand, speaking is the act of talking to someone, for example an audience,without expecting others' reply. It is more prepared and formal. On the other hand, interacting means that there have to be at least two people involved. There has to be feedback, one asks and the other replies. It is more spontaneous and you have time to think of what you are going to say.

If you want to be a good speaker when giving an oral presentation, you have to bear in mind these statements. 

-- A good speaker has to be organised. Divide your speaking into different points so that the audience can make an idea of the things you are going to deal with. Define the introduction and highlight the conclusion, too. 

-- You have to wear appropriate clothing. It seems stupid, but it is important. The audience will look at you and you have to make a good impression on them. The clothing you wear has to adapt to the situation.

-- Don't tell jokes to be funny. An oral presentation requires formality. It's good if you look interested in the topic, but don't show signs of laugh.

-- Good speakers use visual aids to support their presentation. The rule for visuals is 6*6: 6 points and 6 words maximum for each explanation. A nice visual is the one that contains images, graphs, charts, etc. The font size shouldn't be smaller than 22 points. 

-- Don't put too much information on the visual. The audience won't listen to you because they will have to read the whole text.

-- You have to watch the reaction of the audience and maintain eye contact. You'll receive much more feedback.

-- You have to use body language to express yourself. Non-verbal communication gives you clues about the personality of the speaker.

-- A good speaker has to adapt the language according to the audience. You don't have to use complex words because the audience won't understand what you are saying.

-- You don't have to read from the visual. The visual is only a support and if you read all the time, the audience will believe you don't know anything about your topic.

-- The simpler the visual is, the better. You have to use the same structure in each slide.

-- You don't have to speak in a monotonous way. You have to put emphasis on key words and use intonation.

-- You have to use the right time. 

-- A good speaker thanks the audience for listening and lets them ask questions about the topic if they want to.

-- You can put examples to support your ideas.

Before giving an oral presentation you can follow these tips

-- Believe in yourself. You like the topic and you are interested in it. You have to be positive because you are going to do it well.

-- Visualise yourself doing well. You will feel more relaxed and comfortable.

-- You can take deep and slow breaths as well. 

Now it's your turn to give an oral presentation. Good luck!

LESSON 5: LEARNING HOW TO LISTEN

Good morning, English Learners!! 

There is a new lesson today about listening skills. Listening is an ability that plays an important role in everyday life. You have to put emphasis on it: you don't have the chance to listen again, you cannot check an unknown word, etc. For this reason,  it is necessary that others understand you.

When you do a listening, you want to hear exactly every single word. Do you think this is possible? First of all, define your objective and find out what you have to do in the exercise. Some exercises will ask you for general understanding in a situation, while others will ask you for specific information such as a date or the name of a street. If you achieve your goals, you are a good listener. It doesn't matter if you haven't understood all the words mentioned. 

Prediction is also very important in listening. The more you predict, the more you'll understand the listening. If there is a situation given, imagine what can happen next. Inference, that is to say, guessing what you don't know from what you know,  is another technique which may help you developing listening skills. 

Most listening exercises will ask you to listen for specific information. There is a variety of exercises. You can find a multiple choice answer, a sentence completion or a multiple matching.

-- In multiple choice questions, I recommend you to underline the key words in questions. In this way, you'll focus on them. All options may be mentioned in a recording, but only one is correct. Don't expect to listen to the same words. You have to listen to the same thing said in other words. The first time you listen, try to find the correct answer. The second time you listen, check your answer and write it down. 

-- In sentence completion exercises, there will be part of the sentence missing and you'll have to write down the correct piece of information.Write the exact words you hear. It isn't as complicated as you imagine. 

-- Multiple matching. There will be different questions. Each of them goes with a speaker. Try to think of other ways of saying it, because you may hear synonyms of the question. 

That is all you have to know in order to develop your listening skills. I hope you use these strategies, which I find very useful.