Practice English with Tanya

ANNOUNCEMENT

It concerns to all native Russian speakers, those who speak it as a second language and those who know it well enough to accept curricular material written in Russian.


I've just started my site in the net. There are two programms now: TOEFL (iBT and PBT) training and General English. Toefl course is also good if you are planning to pass other exams like that because it is one of the most complicated tests. Both courses are very professional and have successfully been tought by me for many years. The site is not free but it is really cheap. I invite you to visit it and become my students there. Besides, everyone can pass free English level test there .

http://www.bestenglish.net.ua


Dear friends! At first, I organized this group for all of us to be able to master our English in all possible ways and for those who are learners to get the answers to their questions. Besides, I sincerely believe that to understand what we all desire and strive for we should understand what we mean first af all. And the only one language that is able to unite us is English. A few months have passed and now I see that you are interested in such problems like pollution, differences in cultures and others. Your positive attitude to the problems of the whole mankind makes me feel that this world is in reliable hands of the new generation. So, let's go ahead with new discussions. It is one of the best ways to know one another better. I appreciate all your opinions. Please, feel free starting new discussions.

I am asked the same question time and again. So, I decided to place my answer to it here.

I'd like to answer to your question "What is the best learning technique in studying English Language?"

I believe that only perfect knowledge of grammar gives us possibility to speak English fluently. Fluency of speech doesn't mean that you know all words. By no means! Even native speakers don't know all words and sometimes look up dictionaries. Fluency means that you can always express your mind clearly, correctly and literary. Sure, the richer your vocabulary is, the easier it is for you to speak. But I'd like to say that if you knew grammar better, you would speak much better English with your present vocabulary. So, the following are my recomendations for you and all other students who want to improve their language:

1. You should combine different ways of learning: grammar, vocabulary, idioms, listening, writing and spoken practice.

2. You should revise or learn grammar in the appropriate sequence. I can recommend the following one checked out by my 25-year teaching experience:

Parts of speech and simple constructions like "It is..", "There is...", "have", "have got", etc.
Modal verbs in the present
Tenses (first, all The Present Tenses, then all The Past Tenses, The Future in the Past,
Sequense of Tenses, Reported Speech, The Future Tenses, The Passive Voice)
Modals in the past
The Verbals (Gerund, Infinitive,Participle)
The Moods
Special constructions, inversion, etc.

I can also recommend you Raymond Murphy"s Grammar book "Essential and English Grammar in use".

3. As to the vocabulary. You can enlarge it greatly reading English fictions or other literature using good dictionary. I can also recommend some literature for those who are interested in academic vocabulary.

a) Michael McCarthy. Academic Vocabulary in Use.

b) Rawdom Wyatt. Chech your English Vocabulary for TOEFL.

4. Idioms. There are a few famous authors who write such kind of literature. One of them is Robert J. Dixon and his "Essential Idioms in English". But I like another one much more. He gives better explanations and more examples. I can email you this book if you tell me your address. I've already sent it to
many members of my group and they all like it very much. You can read one chapter of this book if you enter the discussion "Idioms and Phrasal Verbs".

5. Listening. There is a lot of listening material in the net. The podcasts are the best because the audio files come together with the scripts.
Here are some sites:

http://www.eslpod.com/website/index_new.html

http://www.dailyesl.com/

http://www.britishcouncil.org/professionals-podcast-english-listening-downloads-archive.htm

To improve your listening skills the technique should be the following:

a) First, listen to it as many times as you need to understand what it is about.
b) Read the script and translate all new words (it is better to write them out together with the translations and transcriptions; in this case you will remember them better)
c) Listen again paying special attention to the new words.
d) Do it until you hear each word clearly.

6. Writing compositions or essays is the must. But it makes sense only if you have someone to check them out and to explain your mistakes.

7. And we all need as much spoken practice as possible. You should use any opportunity to speak English, especially with native speakers. If you do, tell them to correct you. Otherwise they will not (at least Americans).

I think, it is a good idea to combine all these ways of learning. Actually, it is very boring to do the same for long. It depends of how you feel. If you want to learn grammar today, just do it. If you want to listen or read, it is OK. Got it?

Have I answered to this question? If not, please, go on asking.

Sincerely yours,
Tanya.