Answers to questions
Warren
members of this group asked a couple of weeks ago.
Two or three of you asked about learning phrasal verbs, prepositions,
different verb tenses, and similar things. My answer to those
questions is the same answer that Dr. McQuillan gave a few months ago
on the ESL Podcast blog when someone asked him about learning phrasal
verbs.
If you feed yourself a steady (regular) diet of interesting, easy-to-
understand English, you don't have to study phrasal verbs,
prepositions, etc. separately. If you allow yourself to get involved
(allow it to fill your attention) with what you are reading and
listening to, you will acquire (absorb, pick up) the English that you
are ready for without consciously studying them. Hard work is not
always the best way. Sometimes pleasure can provide the greatest
benefit.
Remember that some elements (parts) of a language are acquired later
than others. Prepositions are a good example. Everyone acquires
prepositions later than the present continuous (progressive) verb
tense. Be patient! If you continue to read and listen to easy-to-
understand English, you will acquire what you need.
The two rules for choosing things to read and listen to: they (1) must
be interesting and they (2) must be easy enough for you to understand
without stopping to look words up in the dictionary. There may be some
words you don't recognize yet, but you can ignore them if you
understand the story or article.
What about pronunciation? I suggest two things to my students. First,
I suggest that they listen a lot to improve their pronunciation.
Listen to something the first time just to enjoy it, whether it's a
story or something else. Then listen again and pay attention to the
pronunciation. Imagine yourself pronouncing words the same way the
speaker is. That's my second suggestion. Your imagination is very
powerful. Allow your brain to enjoy and absorb the pronunciation of
the person your are listening to. You'll be surprised how quickly your
pronunciation will begin to improve. By the way, I do not recommend
listening and repeating. This kind of practice is not very effective
(it doesn't have a permanent effect) or efficient (make good use of
your time and effort).
I have a page called Online Listening & Reading Resources on my web
site - www.successfulenglish.com. If you're looking for things to
listen to, you'll find a variety of things there.
In a few days, I'll have some thoughts about practicing. Let me know
if you have any more questions.
Warren
Rosângela Souza
I''ve visited the site. It is fantastic.
Thanks!
Hug
Rosa
Eduardo Gonçalves
When you said that dont remomend listen and repeat was a very useful advise.
Sometimes I do that and sometimes not.. but it´s important know by a more
experience people that it does not have a effective result.
I´m sure a lot of people do it.
Just a question... It´s easy to think yourself speaking doing a "correct pronunciation"
but when you really will speak.. show up some difficulties.
So what´s the best way to improve ? (speaking with a native ?!)
In this case repeat would be a good way ?
Take care
Ed.
Eduardo Rocha
I have a question for you. You always say that is important to read so
that we can acquire a new language. I was wondering how you should
read in order to get most of the reading. I mean, sometimes we have to
read something to learn it, such as a textbook, or to critique it,
such as an article that you should review. So, do you known techniques
(or books about this subject) to increase our ability to get the main
ideas of texts more easily. How do you read a article, for example? I
think that is not only relevant when someone is studying English, but
it is useful for general life.
Best regards,
Eduardo R.
Rosângela Souza
I am confused now. It is important to listen and to think yourself speaking... But if I don't repeat, how Am I sure that I have learned the pronuncitation?
Warren
We naturally try to imitate (do the same as) people that we admire.
Children, especially, do this a lot. When we listen to people that we
want to sound like, we naturally begin to imitate them. That's why I
recommend listening to improve pronunciation.
When we speak with other people - or write to them, like the members
of this group - we increase our confidence and ability to use the
language we are acquiring. But it's not exactly like practicing music
where we are performing something that someone else has written.
Speaking and writing are ways of using the language that we have
acquired by reading and listening.
I would encourage the people on a group like this to find an "English
friend," if possible. This is someone that you can meet with
occasionally - like once a week - to talk to about things that you are
interested in. When you do this, you will acquire more English, and it
will give you an opportunity begin to use the English that you have
acquired. If you want to, you could record your conversation on your
mp3 player and listen to it several times after your conversation for
more English input.
Have your "English friend" talk about life in the U.S. or other
interesting topics. If you record them, you could build a "library" of
conversations to listen to.
A word about accent: many of my students want to sound like a native
English speaker. There's only one problem: even in the U.S. we have
many different accents. People from different parts of the U.S. have
different accents. So don't worry about trying to sound "American." We
here many different accents every day, and we'll be glad to hear
yours! If you are easy to understand, that's all that's important.
More later!
Warren
Warren
your area.
Here's something you could try. Once a month, or so, find an article
at VOA or VOA Special English (the links are on the Online Reading &
Listening page at www.successfulenglish.com). Read and listen to the
article. When you are familiar with it, read it out loud. If possible,
record your reading on your computer of mp3 player. If you do this
once a month or once every two months, you will begin to notice your
pronunciation improving.
It is not very helpful to repeat individual words or sentences over
and over again. But the kind of listening I described here, or working
with an "English friend" like I suggested in my other post would be
helpful.
Warren
On Feb 16, 11:39 am, "Rosângela Souza"
> Hi Warren! Hi Eduardo!
> I am confused now. It is important to listen and to think yourself
> speaking... But if I don't repeat, how Am I sure that I have learned the
> pronuncitation?
>
Warren
You are absolutely right: reading for information is different. I will
answer your question in a day or two. When I do, I'll start a new
topic.
Warren
Eduardo Rocha
Thanks for your willingness to help. I would like also to explain a
little more my point of view. I agree with you that ESL students
should read easy English so that we can acquire a new language. When a
student is reading this type of text, the focus is the language. So,
we see easy structures in the text, we understand them and we may
mimic them in our own texts. Little by little we choose more complex
texts and we end up learning how to write well.
However, ESL students should also be able to get the main ideas of a
text, even though they don't understand the entire text. Many of us
simply can't afford to wait until be fluent in English in order that
we may read advanced texts. Many of us have to read textbooks and
manuals in English in our day-to-day activities.
In my opinion we should practice two types of reading: one to acquire
the language structure, so easy English is best, and the second one is
reading to learn how to interpret texts. I think the last one is very
important, but sometimes neglected. I used to read English to learn
something in my profession. Now I am studying that to be able to speak
and to be fluent. Currently I have my own strategies to read advanced
text, but I didn't find much help in the past.
Reading easy texts is very important but training interpretation is
also very important. So, I will be happy if you help us with this.
Best regards,
Eduardo R.