expand
When you've been learning English all your life, you've been exposed to a lot of English, you can get by in many situatuions but you find yourself making the same mistakes over and over, even when a teacher, a friend, an online tutorial has told you that that is wrong.
- it's important to know that xxx is wrong. If you don't know you won't fix it
- you must become aware of it when you are about to say it / have just said it.
- remember the right way to say it (if you know / remember) and self-correct. and repeat-
it's important to make the association between the wrong and the right thing to say (whether it's pronounciation, a phrase, ...)- hear yourself say it right (aware that that's the equivalent to your xxx) , so say it out loud, hear yourself say the word / phrase.
some things are hard to unlearn but by repeating it the right way, you're telling the brain to stop using the "old" wrong form.
Thursday, 29 December 2016
Tuesday, 29 November 2016
top 10 most mispronounced words among tourists (and locals) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZTJXtcOkvU fantastic video!
mischivous / haitch or aitch ? http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-11642588
confusing english pronunciation http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20150605-your-language-is-sinful
20 most confusing words in english pronunciation https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3CBLBr2o60
macmillan phonetics
john wells phonetics and pronunciation blog http://phonetic-blog.blogspot.com.es/2010/12/comment-is-free.html
mischivous / haitch or aitch ? http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-11642588
confusing english pronunciation http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20150605-your-language-is-sinful
20 most confusing words in english pronunciation https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3CBLBr2o60
macmillan phonetics
john wells phonetics and pronunciation blog http://phonetic-blog.blogspot.com.es/2010/12/comment-is-free.html
Wednesday, 16 November 2016
and for French speakers learning English:
Cours d’anglais, conseils, exercises, videos, etc
- Lisez les conseils: http://www.anglaiscours.fr/conseils-pour-ameliorer-son-anglais + https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLz3efoLoIqr81a0PDpu_pU5DXyhkATaUU
Examples que je trouve très
utils:
- Soyez curieux. Familiarisez-vous avec le site web. Cherchez d’autre materiel sur autres sites par example.
- Familiarisez-vous avec la formation d’une frase anglaise, la fonction et utilisation des auxiliaires. Si vous avez les bases solides, tous les autres niveaux vont etres plus faciles à suivre. http://www.anglaiscours.fr/construire-phrases-anglais.html
- Annotez votre vocabulaire, lisez ce que vous faites souvent (révision espacée ci-desous). Ecoutez tout ce que voyez ou cherchez. La prononciation et l’orthograph sont un nightmare, alors faites attention!! http://www.anglaiscours.fr/memoriser-rapidement-du-vocabulaire-grace-au-systeme-de-repetition-espacee.html
Le cours:
en plus: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtWyH1MB_A3OggdzoGtkeQA - tout en
anglais, mais elle est genial!
Thursday, 21 July 2016
Wednesday, 13 July 2016
Monday, 27 June 2016
official exams better for learning?
http://economia.elpais.com/economia/2016/06/23/actualidad/1466676467_956413.html
Tuesday, 5 April 2016
Wednesday, 30 March 2016
Advice for self-study for work
DRAFT
Despite there being
tens of magic methods that promise to teach you English in 6 weeks or 6 months
for that matter, I regret to say that this is just very unrealistic. That’s why
we’ve compiled some tips and recommendations to help you make the most of your
self-study, in a realistic way, provided you are self-driven, motivated and
disciplined. Expect no miracles but reward guaranteed!
I am sure you’ve
heard and seen all over the notion that in order to master anything, you need
around 10,000 hours of doing it. For some people it’ll be more and for other a
bit less, but that’s seems to be a fairly accurate number, according to
experts. That means no quick methods. However, this also depends on your goals.
When it comes to learning English, let’s first think a couple of things
through:
-
Do
you want to be accurate and fluent? Accurate meaning: no or very few grammar
mistakes and fluent meaning that you aim at making yourself understood despite
grammar mistakes
-
Will
you be communicating with native speakers who are not used to speaking to
non-native speakers, to native speakers who usually deal with non-native
speakers, or to non-native speakers of various levels of command of command of
the language?
-
How much of my time I am willing to spend
exposed to English, with an active approach to learning out of this exposure?
Watching a film in English for the sake of learning English won’t be very
productive unless you are active in your learning (I’ll expand on this later)
-
How different
is your mother tongue from English? What bad habits you have when it comes to
communicating in English? – it’s often important to unlearn what you think you
know and break this habit by bombarding the brain with the right expression /
grammar structure / whatever you want to learn/...
-
What do I
want to focus on: grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, understanding native
speakers of different nationalities?
-
It’s never been easier to learn
than now. With opportunities to spend time in countries where the target
language is spoken, with mobile learning (apps, the ubiquitous availability of Wi-Fi,
photo cameras to take photos of material and sheets and handouts, free online
courses, free language exchanges online, online magazines, radios in English
online and a longer list of options). Consequently, provided you’re motivated and
disciplined, learning is at the palm of your hand and just one or two clicks
away.
The way I interpret language
learning is holistic. That means that ideally, when you’re learning a new
vocabulary item, a new structure, it’s good to learn it as a whole, as a chunk
and focus on pronunciation, connecting the words if they have to be connected,
learning the words it usually is combined with. Like this, you’ll be easier to
understand and you’ll understand others far more easily, you’ll be more
efficient and gain fluency. English is complex in ways that you may never have been shown
or told. That shouldn’t be a problem or put you off studying it, however, it’s
good to be aware of that. Yet again,
this depends on your mother tongue in many ways and how you’ve learned whatever
English you know.
The problem for many is
that nowadays most people have learned a bit of English, most can perform at
work with varying levels of fluency or accuracy but if you really want to
improve and ... that’s hard work, when you can already communicate, ...
Failure to see that you learn a
language not only to speak but also to be spoken, to understand others is
crucial, too. It’s a two way thing. Don’t just set your goals like : I want to
speak better English. Speaking is just one area you want to learn. To speak
better English, we need to know what exactly you’ll be speaking about, you need
vocabulary, this vocabulary maybe associated to a certain grammar and register,
etc. Learning a foreign language
involves speaking and being spoken, so understanding and being understood.
Also, be specific and realistic and invest time in learning the basics well as
this will make it easier for you to pick up a bit more complex grammar. It’s
key to understand the have as an auxiliary verb for example, to succeed at
higher levels.
. Tip: watch videos giving you
advice on how to learn and study. They’ll help you understand why it’s helpful
to follow their advice
My favourites are:
Some people focus their teaching
in themes, as it has always been done, the way I see it this method has pros
and cons, ..experiment and find a way that resonates with you, that you
identify that you learn the best..and by this I don’t mean identifying if you
are visual, kinaestheic or audio learner, it’s beyond this.
Repetition is key, go over exercises, videos, podcasts, a few
times. You’re learning English, learning is exposure, you learn a word when you’ve
seen it a meaningful, relevant context a number of times. Meaningful, relavant
to you. You’re brain is lazy, help it learn by exposing yourself to what you
want to learn.
Get into the habit of using your
resources actively, that is, if you’re at a PC, by default, open your howjsay (I’ll explain this later) google translate or
equivalent and wordreference or any other online dictionary of your choice. Use
their pronunciation icon, type and listen to words and expressions.
Podcasts
Radios
Video channels on youtube
Pronunciation and fluency
Reading newspapers, watching
short videos,
Youtube speed and subtitles, ted
talks speed and subtitles,
Tips for
learning vocabulary: https://edition.englishclub.com/articles/7-tips-for-learning-english-vocabulary/
+ videos
Recommended apps vary from website to website, from teacher to teacher so here
is a list but do find out what you like best, go and explore itunes and google
store to find others you might like. Some are for Android only, other of iOS,
some are free others are not,... the list here if for free ones. Apps: https://edition.englishclub.com/articles/top-10-apps-for-learning-english/
Common needs I have identified:
Improving email writing style
Insisting on present perfect for and since
lo único que puedo
recomendarte para aprender rápido es motivación para estudiar, (usa
métodos tradicionales con nuevos (apps, videos, podcasts, etc - experimenta
hasta encontrar uno o varios métodos que te gusten) - y disciplina y que estés
abierta a replantearte ideas / significados etc. Submérgete en la lengua que
quieras aprender. Encuentra tu manera de aprender.
Pero no hay nada como motivación real (y que de te la creas tu des de dentro de tus entrañas - ya sea realmente querer x trabajo, querer ganar más dinero, viaje, necesitar comunicarte con una persona en tu vida) y disciplina.
Pero no hay nada como motivación real (y que de te la creas tu des de dentro de tus entrañas - ya sea realmente querer x trabajo, querer ganar más dinero, viaje, necesitar comunicarte con una persona en tu vida) y disciplina.
Thursday, 24 March 2016
Thursday, 10 March 2016
ramdom thoughts
Random thoughts
Today I was going to do modals in the past. You know, could have, should have + participle focussing on regrets. I started off with a quick personal story and asked about what they understood as "regret". We elicited a few ideas and then they asked about how to use the word regret, and I found myself explaining verb patters instead of modal auxiliaries. Bad class management or one more example of how interraleted things are in English? of how hard it is to teach certain things in isolation regret as a grammar word with a certain pattern and regret as a human feeling and how to talk about past events you are not happy about?
of how easily we can divert focus onto sth else because you can't learn x outside/without y when learners can already speak English and have been exposed to a lot of English and acquired bad habits ?
Then, this same class (two mums and two childless women) steered into giving advice. Great! modals! One of the mums asked for advice about her eldest daughter. But what happened was that advice was given but not a single modal verb used, no woulds, shoulds, or coulds...
It's true that I've left it drift this way today, intentionally, aware of what I was doing but to me, this shows that even if you insist on the uses of modals, try to create fairly authentic conversations in which they should try to use the target language, natural communication prevails , more than the willingness to learn. Therefore, what I teach feels a bit theoretical, to be understood more than to be used when spoken to, when they read. It's hard to deconstruct, to break word by word ways translation in front of fluent students (as opposed to accurate ones).
Today I was going to do modals in the past. You know, could have, should have + participle focussing on regrets. I started off with a quick personal story and asked about what they understood as "regret". We elicited a few ideas and then they asked about how to use the word regret, and I found myself explaining verb patters instead of modal auxiliaries. Bad class management or one more example of how interraleted things are in English? of how hard it is to teach certain things in isolation regret as a grammar word with a certain pattern and regret as a human feeling and how to talk about past events you are not happy about?
of how easily we can divert focus onto sth else because you can't learn x outside/without y when learners can already speak English and have been exposed to a lot of English and acquired bad habits ?
Then, this same class (two mums and two childless women) steered into giving advice. Great! modals! One of the mums asked for advice about her eldest daughter. But what happened was that advice was given but not a single modal verb used, no woulds, shoulds, or coulds...
It's true that I've left it drift this way today, intentionally, aware of what I was doing but to me, this shows that even if you insist on the uses of modals, try to create fairly authentic conversations in which they should try to use the target language, natural communication prevails , more than the willingness to learn. Therefore, what I teach feels a bit theoretical, to be understood more than to be used when spoken to, when they read. It's hard to deconstruct, to break word by word ways translation in front of fluent students (as opposed to accurate ones).
Tuesday, 1 March 2016
ver series en V.O.? escuchar la bbc radio?
Toda la gente que toma clases (adultos todos) conmigo dice que ven series en inglés, en versión original. Tambien creen que irse un mes a Gran Bretaña o cualquier otro país anglofono les hará adquirir el nivel deseado simplemente por el hecho de pasar una temporada allí y estar expuesto al idioma.
I sí, todo ayuda sin duda. Pero supongamos que una persona de un nivel elementary ve series en inglés. Esta persona, con suerte captará palabras sueltas pero no necesariamente entenderá hasta que entienda las palabras (ya sea por el contexto, conocerlas o buscar el significado según el contexto) porque el inglés suena como una cadena de sonidos . El inglés es realmente un idioma muy complejo a nivel de pronunciación y relativamente complejo -aunque mucho menos- a nivel de estructuras, comparado con el castellano, catalán, francés e italiano por ejemplo, por lo que escuchar la cnn o la bbc a ciertos niveles no necesariamente ayuda tanto como se puede pensar. Puede resultar frustrante el hecho que metáis horas escuchando y que en el fondo notéis poco avance.
Pues siempre se nos ha recomendado escuchar la radio y ver la tele en inglés...
sí, ayuda, a ciertos niveles y según como se haga y qué se sepa.
Ver una serie en VO (con o sin subtitutols en inglés) igual que la veriáis en vuestro idioma, por placer, sin parar y escuchar bien, sin una escucha muy activa con obejtivo de aprender y presatando mucha atención, no garantiza que vuestras dotes van a mejorar. Ayuda mucho si se tiene (alrededor de) un upper intermediate o más, pero no demaisado, en niveles más bajos.
Solo váis a oir una secuencia de sonidos que muy a menudo éste más o menos abierto y comporta que es otra palabra y vosotros ni tan solos sois conscientes de esto por lo que el cerebro entenderá lo que "él sepa", no lo que realmente es. Es algo normal.
Si se quiere hablar de forma fluida y a la vez correcta y poder "funcionar" en situaciones diversas, aprender a entender, y hablar en un idioma estranjero como el inglés requiere un dominio del lenguage, un entender como funciona como lenguaje. Esto requiere una disciplina, un proceso de asimilación, repetición, procesar lo que se lee y escucha. Que no os vendan la moto que se puede aprender un idioma estranjero distinto al vuestro en 3 meses, a menos que tengáis una aptitud muy buena, ya habléis otros varios idiomas, viváis inmersos, y seáis disciplinados con unas técnicas de estudio que sepáis que os funcionan bien.
Y qué puedo hacer para sacar provecho de ver series y podcasts en inglés:
Si realmente se quire sacar provecho, lo que recomiendo es:
- mirad una secuencia, volvedla a mirar dos o tres veces mas ( o las que sean)
- prestad atención a qué entendéis, que creéis que dicen
- a la segunda/ tercera, pilláis más? corresponde con lo que creiais?
así hasta que os medio canséis
-apuntad palabras, frases si lo véis con subtitulos, escuchad bien estas palabras; junto qué otras palabras aparecen? son un nombre, verbo, adjetivo o adverbio? - sabiais que en inglés se usban muchos más adj y adv que en castellano? Se escribe como pensabas?
-Volved a verla la misma secuencia.
Repetition repetition repetition, cuantas más veces lo oigas y "proceses" más fácil será acordarte e identificar la expresión o palabra.
lo voy a revisar y completar más adelante .- quizás ponga más pronunciation advice
- schwa y formas débiles
- connected speech
- stress,
- words with two stress - different meaning
- musicalidad, ritmo del inglés. numero de silabas.
I sí, todo ayuda sin duda. Pero supongamos que una persona de un nivel elementary ve series en inglés. Esta persona, con suerte captará palabras sueltas pero no necesariamente entenderá hasta que entienda las palabras (ya sea por el contexto, conocerlas o buscar el significado según el contexto) porque el inglés suena como una cadena de sonidos . El inglés es realmente un idioma muy complejo a nivel de pronunciación y relativamente complejo -aunque mucho menos- a nivel de estructuras, comparado con el castellano, catalán, francés e italiano por ejemplo, por lo que escuchar la cnn o la bbc a ciertos niveles no necesariamente ayuda tanto como se puede pensar. Puede resultar frustrante el hecho que metáis horas escuchando y que en el fondo notéis poco avance.
Pues siempre se nos ha recomendado escuchar la radio y ver la tele en inglés...
sí, ayuda, a ciertos niveles y según como se haga y qué se sepa.
Ver una serie en VO (con o sin subtitutols en inglés) igual que la veriáis en vuestro idioma, por placer, sin parar y escuchar bien, sin una escucha muy activa con obejtivo de aprender y presatando mucha atención, no garantiza que vuestras dotes van a mejorar. Ayuda mucho si se tiene (alrededor de) un upper intermediate o más, pero no demaisado, en niveles más bajos.
Solo váis a oir una secuencia de sonidos que muy a menudo éste más o menos abierto y comporta que es otra palabra y vosotros ni tan solos sois conscientes de esto por lo que el cerebro entenderá lo que "él sepa", no lo que realmente es. Es algo normal.
Si se quiere hablar de forma fluida y a la vez correcta y poder "funcionar" en situaciones diversas, aprender a entender, y hablar en un idioma estranjero como el inglés requiere un dominio del lenguage, un entender como funciona como lenguaje. Esto requiere una disciplina, un proceso de asimilación, repetición, procesar lo que se lee y escucha. Que no os vendan la moto que se puede aprender un idioma estranjero distinto al vuestro en 3 meses, a menos que tengáis una aptitud muy buena, ya habléis otros varios idiomas, viváis inmersos, y seáis disciplinados con unas técnicas de estudio que sepáis que os funcionan bien.
Y qué puedo hacer para sacar provecho de ver series y podcasts en inglés:
Si realmente se quire sacar provecho, lo que recomiendo es:
- mirad una secuencia, volvedla a mirar dos o tres veces mas ( o las que sean)
- prestad atención a qué entendéis, que creéis que dicen
- a la segunda/ tercera, pilláis más? corresponde con lo que creiais?
así hasta que os medio canséis
-apuntad palabras, frases si lo véis con subtitulos, escuchad bien estas palabras; junto qué otras palabras aparecen? son un nombre, verbo, adjetivo o adverbio? - sabiais que en inglés se usban muchos más adj y adv que en castellano? Se escribe como pensabas?
-Volved a verla la misma secuencia.
Repetition repetition repetition, cuantas más veces lo oigas y "proceses" más fácil será acordarte e identificar la expresión o palabra.
lo voy a revisar y completar más adelante .- quizás ponga más pronunciation advice
- schwa y formas débiles
- connected speech
- stress,
- words with two stress - different meaning
- musicalidad, ritmo del inglés. numero de silabas.
Wednesday, 13 January 2016
Pronunciation
Good pronunciation channels:
Christina Rebuffet - some videos on pronunciation - fab!
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtWyH1MB_A3OggdzoGtkeQA
engvid
http://www.engvid.com/english-lessons/ - choose the pronunciation ones
Oxford Online English -
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLD6t6ckHsrubLp8Ia8duzu5fN4riM2-Bl
Rachel's English - American, but very useful and good stuff!
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvn_XCl_mgQmt3sD753zdJA
engfluent (two videos on pronunciation to date, but more on listening, etc)
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLiDuxHgWdcgyGRifUg0RaFG6Q1CPG1XrT
Doing English with Julian - long and blah blah but good advice on how to become more fluent
https://www.youtube.com/user/doingenglishDOTcom
Christina Rebuffet - some videos on pronunciation - fab!
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtWyH1MB_A3OggdzoGtkeQA
engvid
http://www.engvid.com/english-lessons/ - choose the pronunciation ones
Oxford Online English -
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLD6t6ckHsrubLp8Ia8duzu5fN4riM2-Bl
Rachel's English - American, but very useful and good stuff!
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvn_XCl_mgQmt3sD753zdJA
engfluent (two videos on pronunciation to date, but more on listening, etc)
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLiDuxHgWdcgyGRifUg0RaFG6Q1CPG1XrT
Doing English with Julian - long and blah blah but good advice on how to become more fluent
https://www.youtube.com/user/doingenglishDOTcom
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