水自流 » Learning

Learning English – May 17, 2008

水自流 — Sat, 17 May 2008 05:05:07 +0000

Listening

BBC Learning English (Watch and Listen)
Watch and listen to TV and radio programmes

British Council LearnEnglish in Listening
Listen to stories, articles and poems, all with audio scripts

Listening tips

Listen to the radio news or watch a television news programme at the same time every day. How many stories are there? Note down what each story is about (think: when, where, who, what).

If you can, record the programme and listen to/watch it again to check details from the first time. You cannot do this in “real life” but it is very useful practice and it means you find out what you got right the first time and this will boost your confidence.

Alternatively, record a news programme without listening to/watching it. Then play only the headlines. Stop the tape and predict what the stories will be about. Then listen to check your predictions. Use one of the stories as a dictation text. Listen several times and write down what you hear.

Don’t force yourself to listen for too long. Set yourself realistic goals. For example, when listening to the weather forecast, just listen for the temperature and weather conditions for your city/area for the next day. Don’t worry about information which won’t affect you.

If there are similar programmes in your language and in English, compare them. Is the content exactly the same? Are the opinions given similar? What are the differences?

Native listeners don’t often listen to or understand 100% of what they hear. Non-native listeners shouldn’t try to either. Work on strategies to find out what people are talking about – listen for clues about the topic, the speakers’ opinions/feelings and the type of relationship they have (eg boss and employee, colleagues, wife and husband). Practise on the bus by eavesdropping on (secretly listening to) other people’s conversations. Or, try to work out what a tv/radio programme is about when you’ve missed the beginning.

If you are watching an English-language film with subtitles in your language, listen to check if the subtitles are accurate. Are they a direct translation or just a summary of what is said? If you hear a bilingual announcement, is the grammar exactly the same? Notice the differences and the similarities.

Watch a television soap opera every day so you get to know the story and characters. Knowing the background and context makes listening easier.

Enjoy listening. Use an English-language workout video and “kill two birds with one stone”. Listen to songs in English and learn your favourite lyrics.

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Speaking and Pronunciation

BBC Learning English (Watch and Listen)
Pronunciation advice and practice

British Council LearnEnglish in Listening
Listen to a pronunciation poem

Speaking tips

Become aware of how native speakers behave and copy them.
Watch a native English speaker’s mouth on television. Note what shapes they make and try to copy them. Listen out for characteristic “English” sounds and copy them too. What noises do they make when they are thinking? How do they take turns to speak? What happens to their voices when they get angry or embarrassed? Do they only smile in certain situations or with certain people? All these things are just as important as the words they use.

Ask a native speaker you know to help you with English you don’t understand.
Keep your questions simple and don’t expect your friend to know their English grammar as well as you do.

Talk to yourself in the mirror
Sing your favourite songs in English to copy the native speaker sounds. Have a set of general topics to choose from and take a new one each day.

Try to think in English
Ask yourself: How would I say that in English? How could I explain that idea to an English speaker?

Set up a conversation group
Meet regularly to talk in English. If you are preparing for an oral exam/interview, ask one friend to practise the interview with you and another to listen and give you constructive feedback on your performance. Then swap roles. Keep your conversations on topics you are familiar with. If you don’t know what to say, change the subject or keep quiet until you feel you can contribute easily again.

Write familiar conversation topics on cards.
Take a card and speak about the topic for two minutes. Record yourself and then listen, checking for things you could improve. Next time you take the same card, can you speak more confidently?

Learn some English: sentences which you need again and again.
Practise so that you can say them in conversation without having to worry.

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Vocabulary

BBC Learning English
Understand words in news stories

British Council LearnEnglish
Magazine articles to read.

Vocabulary tips

Learn five words a day.
Note them in a small diary, five words for each day. In this way you quickly build up a large set of vocabulary. If you keep the diary in your pocket, it is easy to review it on the bus or in a queue.

Create a personal dictionary.
Use a notebook to organise your vocabulary. Decide how you want to sort out the words:

parts of speech (eg all the adjectives together)
topic area (eg food, crime)
function of the language (eg suggesting, complaining)

If you use an address book with A-Z dividers, you could make an alphabetical sequence.

Keep a scrapbook of headlines, articles and advertisements
Include vocabulary that interests or amuses you. Write down phrases you hear on television or read and note the context they were in.

Use pictures to record idioms
Draw a cartoon picture to make each expression more memorable: eg “a storm in a teacup”.
Use the idioms to label a poster of your favourite singer or actor. Put “He pulled her leg” next to the leg, “She has no heart!” next to the heart, “She didn’t believe her eyes” next to the eyes, and so on. This may help you remember them better.

Make vocabulary cards
Write the English word on one side and the translation in your language on the other. Prepare the cards with new vocabulary and then use the cards to test yourself. Look at the English word and try to remember the translation.

You could also try to explain the meaning of the word (How would a dictionary define it?) or think of a sentence including the word. This is another activity which is easy to do when you have a few minutes of free time if you keep the cards in your pocket or bag.

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Reading

BBC Learning English in the news
Choose a topic and click on Reading

British Council LearnEnglish in reading
Read magazine articles on many different topics

Reading tips

Remember that there are different ways of reading
Think about the process of reading. When you skim read, you just get a general idea about the content. If you are looking for something particular, for example the name of your team on the sports pages, you scan the text for more detail.

Read actively
When you do any reading, predict what the text is going to be about from the title or the pictures. After you have read the text, do something with the new information you have, think about these questions:

Who is the article about?
Where and when is the article talking about?
What are the main points of the article?
What kind of people would find the article interesting to read?
What is your opinion of/reaction to the article?
Share your understanding
If someone you know has read the same article, talk about it with them. What do they think? Do you agree with them?

Read the same material in English as you would in your language
If you enjoy reading about fashion in your language, read about fashion in English too. You will already understand some of the vocabulary and ideas and have a good background knowledge. Conversely, if you hate films and never go to the cinema, reading an English-language film review will probably not be a useful exercise for you because you won’t enjoy it.

If you have access to the same material in your language and in English, compare the two versions. How has the translator expressed the same idea in the new language? Is it a good translation? What would you change? Are the texts exactly the same?

Set yourself a reading target
Reading one article every day is better than reading a whole paper only once a fortnight. Ask your teacher to recommend suitable materials.

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Writing

BBC Learning English Message Board
Write messages to other learners of English
British Council LearnEnglish in writing
Grammar games to help your writing
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Grammar

BBC Learning English (Learn it)
Answers to your grammar questions

British Council LearnEnglish in Grammar
Grammar Games

Grammar tips

Read & listen to English every day
Reading and listening to natural English will expose you to a lot of new grammar in a natural context. Find magazines that interest you, watch films in English and read simplified readers with tapes, or do the crossword in the newspaper.

Try to work rules out for yourself
Try and work out rules for yourself before checking in a reference book. If you try to work things out for yourself first, this will help you remember it better. It’s also good practice as you won’t have a reference book with you all the time, so you’ll often have to guess the meaning of unknown words.

Keep a notebook
Have a separate notebook for grammar. When you come across sentences or paragraphs with good, clear examples of structure and grammar, write them in your notebook. Grammar rules need good examples to help you to better understand. Don’t just learn the translation. Practise using the grammar and vocabulary in the right context in written and spoken sentences.

As well as writing in a notebook, try to stick what you’ve learned in a place where you often see it. For example, you could stick it next to your mirror in the bathroom. While you’re brushing your teeth, read through the list and try to remember them. You could stick words on the walls or beside your computer.

Learn words in groups or phrases
There are many words in English that go together. Try to learn words together with their partners and not words on their own, e.g. phrases (brush up your English), adjectives or verbs with prepositions (interested in, listen to, verb and noun collocations – do your homework).

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Most of these links and tips are copied from British Council‘s learning website. Please contact the webmaster for any copyright issues.

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English language – Mar 10, 2008

水自流 — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 13:45:48 +0000

昨天跟Melic说我在这里对方向感一点都没有是因为在客家话里面一般去市区都是“上”的方向词在前面，而现在我住的地方去乌节路其实在地图上是往下走，因此就弄混了，另外一个这里道路方向在左跟国内相反也是一个因素。刚才收到他的一封邮件，就在下面。另外前天还有一封主题是storytime的邮件，我还没有开始看呢：http://www.fln.vcu.edu/struwwel/bubeng.html。之所以这么快将这个内容贴出来是因为可以在my dame room上网了，不过不知道是不是临时的，刚才只是check了一下，竟然有一个可以连上（update: 事实证明，只高兴了一会，正奸商）。OK，废话不说先，请enjoy：

An interesting piece on the English language!

(1) The bandage was wound around the wound.

(2) The farm was used to produce produce.

(3) The dump was so full that it had to refuse more refuse.

(4) We must polish the Polish furniture.

(5) He could lead if he would get the lead out.

(6) The soldier decided to desert his desert in the desert.

(7) Since there is no time like the present, he thought it was time to present the present.

(8) A bass was painted on the head of the bass drum.

(9) When shot at, the dove dove into the bushes.

(10) I did not object to the object.

(11) The insurance was invalid for the invalid.

(12) There was a row among the oarsmen about how to row.

(13) They were too close to the door to close it.

(14) The buck does funny things when the does are present.

(15) A seamstress and a sewer fell down into a sewer line.

(16) To help with planting, the farmer taught his sow to sow.

(17) The wind was too strong to wind the sail.

(18) Upon seeing the tear in the painting I shed a tear.

(19) I had to subject the subject to a series of tests.

(20) How can I intimate this to my most intimate friend?

Let’s face it – English is a crazy language. There is no egg in eggplant, nor ham in hamburger; neither apple nor pine in pineapple. English muffins weren’t invented in England or French fries in France . Sweetmeats are candies while sweetbreads, which aren’t sweet, are meat. We take English for granted. But if we explore its paradoxes, we find that quicksand can work slowly, boxing rings are square and a guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig.

And why is it that writers write but fingers don’t fing, grocers don’t groce and hammers don’t ham? If the plural of tooth is teeth, why isn’t the plural of booth, beeth? One goose, 2 geese. So one moose, 2 meese? One index, 2 indices? Doesn’t it seem crazy that you can make amends but not one amend? If you have a bunch of odds and ends and get rid of all but one of them, what do you call it?

If teachers taught, why didn’t preachers taught? If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat? Sometimes I think all the English speakers should be committed to an asylum for the verbally insane. In what language do people recite at a play and play at a recital? Ship by truck and send cargo by ship? Have noses that run and feet that smell?

How can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same, while a wise man and a wise guy are opposites? You have to marvel at the unique lunacy of a language in which your house can burn up as it burns down, in which you fill in a form by filling it out and in which, an alarm goes off by going on.

English was invented by people, not computers, and it reflects the creativity of the human race, which, of course, is not a race at all. That is why, when the stars are out, they are visible, but when the lights are out, they are invisible.

You lovers of the English language might enjoy this

There is a two-letter word that perhaps has more meanings than any other two-letter word, and that is “UP.”

It’s easy to understand UP, meaning toward the sky or at the top of the list, but when we awaken in the morning, why do we wake UP? At a meeting, why does a topic come UP? Why do we speak UP and why are the officers UP for election and why is it UP to the secretary to write UP a report?

We call UP our friends. And we use it to brighten UP a room, polish UP the silver, we warm UP the leftovers and clean UP the kitchen. We lock UP the house and some guys fix UP the old car. At other times the little word has real special meaning. People stir UP trouble, line UP for tickets, work UP an appetite, and think UP excuses. To be dressed is one thing, but to be dressed UP is special.

And this UP is confusing: A drain must be opened UP because it is stopped UP. We open UP a store in the morning but we close it UP at night.

We seem to be pretty mixed UP about UP! To be knowledgeable about the proper uses of UP, look the word UP in the dictionary. In a desk-sized dictionary, it takes UP almost 1/4th of the page and can add UP to about thirty definitions. If you are UP to it, you might try building UP a list of the many ways UP is used. It will take UP a lot of your time, but if you don’t give UP, you may wind UP with a hundred or more. When it threatens to rain, we say it is clouding UP. When the sun comes out we say it is clearing UP.

When it rains, it wets the earth and often messes things UP.

When it doesn’t rain for awhile, things dry UP.

One could go on and on, but I’ll wrap it UP, for now my time is UP, so………. it is time to shut UP …..!

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BC: Extra Free Class Day 5 – Jan 21, 2008

水自流 — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 04:11:35 +0000

Let’s look at this video first, it’s title is ‘Bank Robberry in Downtown in Los Angles’:

What I learned in this class was ‘I saw/heard somebody do/doing something’. Examples:

A1. I saw them come in. (the action completed)
A2. I heard them switch on the TV.
B1. I saw some people coming towards the house. (not the whole action, part of that)
B2. I could hear them talking in wispers.

Here is the story:

As I passed the door, I stopped. A woman was crying. I tiptoed to the door and listened. A man said, ‘Give me the keys.’ I bent down and looked through the key hole. A man was kneeling in front of an open safe. Suddenly, the woman pulled a gun from her handbang and pointed it at the man. A shot rang out, and the man fell to the floor.

What did the person see and hear? So you can tell the story to the police like this:

As I passed the door, I stopped. I heard a woman crying. I tiptoed to the door and stopped. I heard a man say, ‘Give me the keys.’ I bent down and looked through the keyhole. I saw a man kneeling in front of an open safe. Suddenly, I saw the woman pull a gun from her handbag. I saw her point it at the man. I heard a shot ring out and I saw the man fall to the floor.

Now you can use the following phrases to decribe the things what’ve happened in tee video:
rushed out/into/up…
screeched to a halt
dashed into/up/out…
drove away
puzzled
ignored
eyewitness
You already knew this robber action were not a true story, right? Maybe just a part of movie.

Beside that, there was a short practising on the ‘Emphasising the point’. I think we can use the phrass to express our feeling: enjoy, really difficult, surprised you, annoyed you.

What/The thing(that) + I enjoy/I admire/I can’t stand/I find difficult/surprise me/annoys me/fascinate me + about…/is….

Examples:

I really enjoy reading the Sunday papers in bed.
The thing I really enjoy is reading the Sunday papers in bed.
I find phasal verbs really difficult.
What I find really difficult is phrasal verbs.
In New York the shops stay open all night. That really surprised me.
The thing really surprised me about New York was that the shops open all night.
He never answered my letters — that really annoyed me.
The thing that really annoyed me is that he never answered my letters.

At last, I would like to introduce a blog which owner is Wangpei, that’s a learning english blog which name is PiEnglish.

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Beginner – Mar 23, 2007

水自流 — Sat, 24 Mar 2007 11:58:40 +0000

Following are the results which I took the Placement tests on http://www.tolearnenglish.com/

BE (present)
Complete with AM/IS/ARE (BE: present):
I _______________ happy.
She _______________ happy.
Correct answer 1: AM
Correct answer 2: IS

A / AN
Complete with A / An:
I've just seen _______________ mouse and _______________ elephant.
Correct answer 1: A
Correct answer 2: AN

Genitive case
Use the genitive case:
This is the Simpsons _______________ house. Here is Peter _______________ car.
Correct answer 1: '
Correct answer 2: 'S

Possessive adjectives
Use the correct possessive adjective (my/his/your…):
This car belongs to me. It's _______________ car.
My brother has just bought this motorbike. It's _______________ motorbike.
Correct answer 1: MY
Correct answer 2: HIS

Plural
Write the plural form:
church -> _______________ study -> _______________
Correct answer 1: CHURCHES
Correct answer 2: STUDIES

There is / There are
Complete with THERE IS or THERE ARE
At home, _______________ a big computer and _______________ two huge armchairs.
~~Your answer 1 : THIS IS~~
Correct answer 1: THERE IS
Correct answer 2: THERE ARE

Relative pronouns
Use the correct relative pronoun (WHO or WHICH):
Do you know the girl _______________ is sitting there?
Our dog, _______________ is over there, is called Snoopy.
Correct answer 1: WHO
Correct answer 2: WHICH

Present simple
Use the prsent simple:
She _______________ (catch). He _______________ (try).
~~Your answer 1 : 'S CATCHING~~
Correct answer 1: CATCHES
~~Your answer 2 : IS CRYING~~
Correct answer 2: TRIES

Adverbs of frequency
Traduisez en anglais ces adverbes de fréquence:
parfois = _______________
souvent = _______________
~~Your answer 1 : aucune~~
Correct answer 1: SOMETIMES
~~Your answer 2 : aucune~~
Correct answer 2: OFTEN

What time is it?
What time is it? (example du format accepté: it's three past six):
10.20 = It's _______________
07.50 = It's _______________
Correct answer 1: TWENTY PAST TEN
Correct answer 2: TEN TO EIGHT

Cardinal numbers
Write down these numbers:
253 = _______________
2,300 = _______________
~~Your answer 1 : TWO HUNDRED AND FIVTY THREE~~
Correct answer 1: TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY-THREE
~~Your answer 2 : TWO THOUSAND AND THREE HANDRED~~
Correct answer 2: TWO THOUSAND THREE HUNDRED

Ordinal numbers
Write down these cardinal numbers:
9th = THE _______________ | 12th = THE _______________
Correct answer 1: NINTH
~~Your answer 2 : TWELVETH~~
Correct answer 2: TWELFTH

Dates
Write down these dates:
In 1993 = IN _______________ | In the 80s = IN _______________
~~Your answer 1 : NINTEEN NINTY THREE~~
Correct answer 1: NINETEEN NINETY-THREE
~~Your answer 2 : aucune~~
Correct answer 2: THE EIGHTIES

Fractions
Write down these fractions:
1/2 = _______________ | 3/4 = _______________
~~Your answer 1 : HALF ONE~~
Correct answer 1: ONE HALF
~~Your answer 2 : THREE QUARTER~~
Correct answer 2: THREE QUARTERS

Present continuous
Use the present continuous:
she _______________ (write) | they _______________ (stop)
~~Your answer 1 : 'S WIRTING~~
Correct answer 1: IS WRITING
~~Your answer 2 : 'RE STOPPING~~
Correct answer 2: ARE STOPPING

Present simple or Present Continuous?
Use the present simple OR the present continuous:
Listen! Peter _______________ (play) music!
On Sundays, he _______________ (play) football.
Correct answer 1: IS PLAYING
~~Your answer 2 : IS PLAY~~
Correct answer 2: PLAYS

Modals
Choose the correct modal: CAN or MUST.
I _______________ speak English.
I _______________ do my homework.
Correct answer 1: CAN
Correct answer 2: MUST

Pronouns
Choose the correct pronoun: me/him/her/them…
Please send _______________ your essay. I will phone you as soon as I receive it.
Where is your brother? I can't see _______________
Correct answer 1: ME
Correct answer 2: HIM

BE (preterite)
Use the past tense (preterite): BE
She _______________ . They _______________ .
Correct answer 1: WAS
Correct answer 2: WERE

Past simple
Use the past tense (preterite): other verbs
I _______________ (dance). He _______________ (study).
~~Your answer 1 : WAS DANCING~~
Correct answer 1: DANCED
~~Your answer 2 : WAS STUDY~~
Correct answer 2: STUDIED

Irregular verbs
Irregular verbs (example: DO. Write: DID DONE):
to write _______________
to sleep _______________
~~Your answer 1 : WROTE~~
Correct answer 1: WROTE WRITTEN
~~Your answer 2 : SLEP~~
Correct answer 2: SLEPT SLEPT

Comparatives
Use comparatives: (+) OR (-):
Tom is _______________ (+ big) than Sandra.
Tom is _______________ (- intelligent) than Peter.
Correct answer 1: BIGGER
~~Your answer 2 : FOOL~~
Correct answer 2: LESS INTELLIGENT

Plu-perfect
Use the plu-perfect.
I _______________ (to take) an umbrella.
_______________SHE (sleep) a lot.
~~Your answer 1 : HAVE TO TAKE~~
Correct answer 1: HAD TAKEN
~~Your answer 2 : SLEEP~~
Correct answer 2: HAD SLEPT

Preterite (continuous form)
Use the preterite continuous: BE + ING:
I _______________ (to sleep) when the phone rang.
They _______________ (to listen) to music when they heard a big noise.
Correct answer 1: WAS SLEEPING
Correct answer 2: WERE LISTENING

Quantifiers
Complete with SOME or ANY.
I want _______________ fruit. Is there _______________ left?
Correct answer 1: SOME
Correct answer 2: ANY

Superlatives
Use superlatives:
I'm _______________ (intelligent) man in the town.
Sandra is _______________ (rich) woman.
~~Your answer 1 : THE INTELLIGENTEST~~
Correct answer 1: THE MOST INTELLIGENT
~~Your answer 2 : RICHEST~~
Correct answer 2: THE RICHEST

Passive voice
What is the passive voice?:
Shakespeare wrote Hamlet. > _______________
That man is stealing my car! > _______________
~~Your answer 1 : SHAKESPEARE~~
Correct answer 1: HAMLET WAS WRITTEN BY SHAKESPEARE.
~~Your answer 2 : CAR~~
Correct answer 2: MY CAR IS BEING STOLEN BY THAT MAN!

Present Perfect
Use the present perfect (do not use contracted forms)::
We _______________ (to finish)
She _______________ (to eat)
~~Your answer 1 : 'RE FINISHING~~
Correct answer 1: HAVE FINISHED
~~Your answer 2 : 'S EATING~~
Correct answer 2: HAS EATEN

Questions
Ask a question about the underlined words::
I have been living in Paris for 5 years. -> _______________
Peter went to London 5 days ago. -> _______________
~~Your answer 1 : HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN LIVE IN PARIS~~
Correct answer 1: WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN LIVING FOR 5 YEARS
~~Your answer 2 : WHEN DID PETER GO TO LONDON~~
Correct answer 2: WHO WENT TO LONDON 5 DAYS AGO

Countables/Uncountables
Countable or Uncountable? Write C if the word is a countable noun. Write U if the word is an Uncountable noun:
table -> _______________
water -> _______________
Correct answer 1: C
Correct answer 2: U

这个测试包含了介词，所有格，复数，代词，现在时，字母组合，数字，序数，时间，分数，现在进行时，情态动词，过去式，不规则动词，比较，过去完成时，过去进行时，可数不可数，被动式，现在完成时，问句等基本得语法。这些语法的名称都不记得了，只能按模糊的记忆对照题目列出来。看看我的答卷，真是汗颜，有些自以为是的采用了缩语，有些问题都没有看明白。学英语到这个程度，算是白活咯，一直以来学英语都不屑记这些语法，有时候，简单的还是要注意的。隆重放出结果：

13 bad
5 ?
12 good
Your score: 9.67 / 20 (29 / 60)
Your level: BEGINNER

OMG, your level is beginner. What a shame!

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