ENGLISH Learning Skills

BASIC Rules:

• No Chinese! Take far away from Chinese when you learn English.
• ABCs come first.
• SPEAKING is the most important thing to learning English.

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LISTENING:

• VOA Standard English is the BEST material for LISTENING.
• NPR English is also OK. (http://www.npr.org)
• Learning English Songs is the most effective method to improve you listening English.
  LISTEN to the native English and JUST LISTEN.
  DON’T Care the real meaning of what you listened to.
  • Good tools:
    1. ITunes Podcast. (Select Region as US and then Search NPR or else)
    2. PODCASTS in Windows8 Store.
    3. Download VOA Standard English and listen to that.

SPEAKING:

Pronunciation and ABCs
WHAT Does ABCs Mean In ENGLISH LEARNING?
What ABCs are is the alphabet you can put all of these letters together to make any word.
This is the method that Sean explained in class. (A good method to improve pronunciations)

1. Go to www.TED.com and find a video that is at least 1-2 months old.
   a. The speaker should be a native speaker.
   b. It doesn’t matter if you understand the topic of what the speaker is saying.

2. Hover your mouse over the video and use the drop-down menu to turn on English subtitles.

3. Watch 10 minutes of the video. NO MORE. Less is ok.
   a. Don’t write anything.
   b. Don’t speak anything – keep your mouth closed.

4. Return to the beginning of the 10 minutes that you watched.

5. Every time when the speaker finishes a spoken sentence or line we halt the video for a short time.

6. Repeat after the speaker.
   a. Focus on:
   - Correct pronunciation of the ABCs (MOST IMPORTANT)
   - Correct emphasis on syllables in words
   - Intonation (low priority)

   b. DON’T REPEAT MORE THAN TWICE.

7. Finish the 10 minutes.

8. Never use that 10 minutes of video for practice EVER again.

9. If you want to understand the video only for your own interest (NOT practice; comprehension is NOT important for pronunciation practice), then watch it after you finish with Chinese subtitles.

Do this activity at least three times a week and in 1-3 months, your pronunciation should be almost perfect except for some intonation issues. Changing this method probably won’t work as quickly.
WRITING:
IF THE EMAIL IS FORMAL, FOLLOW THESE RULES:

1. K.I.S.S. (Keep it simple, Stupid)
   a. DON’T USE DICTIONARIES
   b. WRITE SHORT SENTENCES
2. DON’T USE COMMAS!
3. USE GOOD SPACING!
   a. After every period, there must be 2 SPACEs.
4. NO ABBREVIATONS (Short Words)!
5. USE CORRECT CAPITALIZATION (C vs. c)
   a. BIG LETTERS are used for:

• First letter in sentence
• First letter in NAMES.

b. Small letters are used for everything else.

6. DON’T TYPE CHINESE Symbols!
7. USE GOOD OPENINGS AND CLOSINGS!
   a. Use “Dear Michelle,” to get starting.
   b. Use “Best regards” to end email.
8. USE PLEASE AND THANK YOU!
   a. Don’t use KIND or KINDLY.
9. ALWAYS READ YOUR EMAIL BEFORE YOU SEND IT TO LOOK FOR:
   a. Any of the 8 mistakes above and
   b. Spelling (use Spellcheck!)
   When you know the rules, break the rules when necessary.