LESSON 4: LEARNING HOW TO READ

Good afternoon, English Learners!!

Today let's talk about reading strategies and learning how to read. Reading is not only a skill that requires attention but also is knowledge of the world. We can succeed in understanding a text written in a language we don't know. We compare that language to English or our mother tongue, pictures that appear in the text can help you a lot to work out the general ideas as well as the layout. It's just comparing and contrasting with other languages. It will be impossible for you to understand the whole text, but short pieces of it. Besides, we can even understand and read a word correctly if the first and last letter remain in the same place. It is curious, isn't it?

English learners tend to stop quite often when they are reading because they don't want to miss any important information and want to understand every single word. Even if you read word by word, you can lose concentration. If you point at a word, your brain slows down and your reading speed becomes slower. Experts say that if you read below 100 words per minute, you won't understand the text and won't be able to develop reading skills correctly.

So, if you want to be a good English reader try to read in chunks of three or four words. This will make you reduce the time of stops. In this way, you will be a faster reader and therefore you'll understand the meaning of the text quicker, your eyes muscles won't get so tired and you will do less mental work. 

Reading strategies depend on the reason  of reading. I'll explain you some of them

- Skimming. It consists of reading the text quickly just to understand the main ideas and to get an overview of the content. 

- Scanning. You have a specific point in mind and look for it in a text, for example  a specific name or date. This is a useful way of locating answers in a reading exam. 

- Reading for detail. You read the text carefully in order to look for additional and important information.

- Predicting. Before you start reading a text, you can imagine what it will be about by looking at  headings, pictures or some key words. The layout of a text may help you, too. (article, letter, story,etc) 

- Inferencing involves using what you know so that you guess what you don't know. It is an important skill to understand and to make conclusions while you are reading the text. 

- Don't look up every word you don't understand in a dictionary. You will forget about the content of the text. What's more, this word may not be important to understand the text. But if a word  appears many times it contains information you should know.

- If a text has long paragraphs, write down the main ideas of each of them. 

- If you don't understand most words of the text and you think that is too difficult for you, choose something easier and that adapts to your level.

- Read something you like. If not, you will get bored and you will give up reading, Most of the times we read because we have to. There must be a little bit of reading for entertainment. 

- The most important tip for reading is attitude. A person with positive feelings and enthusiasm will improve much more their reading skills. 

Remember, understanding of 80% of the text means you are a good English reader!!

LESSON 3: LEARNING VOCABULARY

Hello English Learners!!

A good way to end this year is posting another lesson to learn English. Today it is about vocabulary. I'm sure you all know what vocabulary is. It's the set of words which form a language, the words that a group of people use or even words only used for a specific field. The question is, what do you do when you don't know a word? 

I'm going to explain some of the strategies that are useful for me when I don't know a word. If there is a word you don't understand but there is a picture of it below, you can describe the object, its shape, colors, size, what it is made of,etc. You can explain why is it used for and what group of people are most identified with it, in what context it is used, etc. Besides, you can guess the name of the object in your mother tongue. Sometimes, there is a word in your own language that is very similar to the English word. Another strategy I use to know new words is looking for its morphology. If it's a compound word, I can work out the meaning of the words isolated and then try to guess it all.

Some people look up each of the words they don't understand in the dictionary. I don't recommend you to do it. If you look up all the words, you will waste a lot of time and you won't remember what the text is about. Some words may not be important to understand the general idea of the text. But, if the word you don't know appears quite often, it means it is important and in this case you should look it up in a dictionary.

Do not think that you will learn a word by saying it many times. You learn a word when you find it in eight different contexts.

The context can guide you to guess what a word means, too. You can use words that are close in meaning or substitute words.

However, how do you know you have learnt a word?

There are some characteristics that prove you know a word. You know a word when you can define it and therefore you know the concept (meaning). What's more, you can translate the word into your own language, use it in a context, know possible collocations (words that go with the new word) and idioms, how to spell and pronounce it, register in which it is used (formal or informal), if it's slang (teenagers vocabulary) or not, and if it has a positive or negative connotation. 

Finally, I attach some resources on dictionaries that can help you when learning vocabulary.

http://www.wordreference.com/

That's a dictionary that translates words and expressions and gives you definitons as well. For me, one of the most effective dictionaries you can find on the net

http://www.catalandictionary.org/en/search/ 

It translates English into Catalan. I didn't know this dictionary existed before, I think it's very interesting specially for those who are Catalans.

Happy New Year, English Learners!!!!

LESSON 2: LEARNING GRAMMAR

Good afternoon, English Learners!!

In this post I will talk about  one of the most essential parts which form a language: grammar. First of all, you have to bear in mind that grammar is not a skill, but it helps us to improve our knowledge and communication. Grammar is simply the rules of a language and it governs the relationship between words. Grammar also means organizing a sentence: from a chaotic list of words to a complete statement. 

Grammar helps you to learn faster when studying a foreign language. So, time plays an important role when learning grammar. We adults, as opposed to children, can concentrate for long periods and can use our time in a more efficient way. Grammar means a shortcut to learning a language. 

Besides, you will learn grammar faster if you already know the grammar of your mother tongue.

Most of us tend to focus on a prescriptive grammar, saying who speaks correctly and who makes a lot of mistakes. However, theory is one thing and practice is another. Because of this, we have to change our point of view and talk about a descriptive grammar.  Experts have to describe the grammatical processes people use and do not use.

But, how can I learn grammar? Which strategies can be useful for me?

You can look for patterns. This strategy, though, is not always useful. Don't expect a language to follow the pattern of another. All languages are different. Although they may have similarities in common, they are structured in different ways. 

You can make deductions and use your predictive skills as well. When there is a sentence you do not completely understand, you can imagine the part of speech the words are depending on the word order. 

When doing a gap fill exercise, words that come before or after the gap can guide you to decide which part of speech you have to use. 

Grammar requires  a natural order of acquisition . This means that you have to start learning  the easiest rules and once you have more ability, try to learn the difficult ones.

Books are a good source to learn grammar. If you find a book which contains not only grammar explanations but also exercises and examples taken from real-life English, that will be perfect!

You have to pay attention to punctuation! It is more important than we think. A punctuation mark in the wrong place can change the whole meaning of a sentence.

If you want to, you can create a table to get an overview of grammar rules and therefore to have your knowledge well structured.  

http://www.learning-english-online.net/areas/grammar/learning-strategies/

That's all I wanted to explain you  today! 

Now it's your turn to start learning grammar and using all these strategies!

TYPES OF LEARNERS

Hello English Learners!!

Hope you enjoyed Christmas day :D

Today there is not any lesson to talk about, but I wanted to explain you something. It is about types of learners. According to the VAK model, there are three types of learners: Visual, Auditory and Kinaesthetic. 

Visual learners tend to learn through seeing.Some of the strategies they use in order to learn may be reading a word many times until they memorize it or highlighting key words. What's more, they draw graphics, charts or diagrams to structure the information. 

Then, auditory learners are the ones who develop  listening skills. They enjoy listening to others and they like speaking to present their point of view. They think in words rather than pictures, and they use to watch videos so they can understand the information much better.

Finally, we find Kinaesthetic learners. They learn through touching, moving and interacting with others. Kinaesthetic learners use body language to express themselves. They have ability in using their hands to create or build. Kinaesthetic learners find it hard to sit for long periods and they may get bored.

Most of the times, we use one of these styles to learn. However, we can combine things from all of them. 

I'm a visual learner. And you, what is your learning style?

Source: http://www.jcu.edu.au/wiledpack/modules/fsl/JCU_090460.html

LESSON 1: START LEARNING A LANGUAGE

Good afternoon English learners!

This is my first post in the blog, so let me introduce myself. My name is Gemma and I'm studying a degree in English at the university of Lleida. In this blog, I will focus on learning languages, specially English.

It consists of  a guide where I'll give you advice on how to learn a language and which strategies can be useful for you when studying English.

The first lesson of the blog is getting started in learning a language. Four things are required in order to learn a language. First, you need to have memory to remember all your knowledge; second, you have to get input working on listening and reading skills; to produce output by developing writing and speaking as well. 

The last thing but not the least is to have motivation. There is no point in learning a language if you don't feel enthusiastic and you don't make any effort.

Apart from that, I'll give you some tips on  how to start learning a language.

- Everyone can learn a language. If you think you are hopeless at languages and you will never be able to do well, you are completely wrong. The only thing you need is a good attitude.

- You have to find out which are your priorities and goals. This means that you have to bear in mind what level you want to get to, which are your expectations in learning a language, etc

- You can learn a language and combine it with something you really like, a hobby. If you are interested in music, for example, you can ceate new songs in English.

- Finding resources, taking books... is a good way to get involved in learning a language. It is much better if you look for them on your own. In this way,  you learn by yourself.

- When you start learning a language, you should use key words. Do not try to make complex sentences at the beginning because you will get confused. First, you have to learn the basis of the language and then you can start using longer sentences.

- You have to bear in mind that some languages are easier to learn than others. The more similarities the language has with your mother tongue, the easier for you to learn it. 

However, there are languages which are  more difficult to learn, for example Chinese or Russian.

- If you know the intonation a language has, it will be easier for you to learn it. It's very curious but also true. 

That's my first lesson. If you have any doubts or requests please write to me in the comments' section below. 

I will write a new post very soon, I promise.

Merry Christmas, English Learners!!!