Learn English In USA

In our globalized world, English has become the most important language for universal communication. That’s probably one of the main reasons why you have chosen to take some time to study abroad at an ESL school such as TALK School Of Languages!  Improving or perfecting your English language skills is going to go a long way to help you in your career advancement, and to be able to communicate with others, including 

non-English native speakers. 

Here are a few ideas about you can do to improve your English language skills.

Start Writing an English Blog – Blogging is a way to express yourself, and to enable you to practise your written English language skills.  Writing in English is a great way of acquiring vocabulary and understanding the meaning of words as you sue them in context. Start off by writing just a sentence a day, then a bit more like a paragraph, and before long you will see a great improvement in both your reading and writing skills.

Listen to Music with English Lyrics (Words) – Music is a great way to improve your English. By listening to how the words are used, and how they are rhymed with each other, you can learn a lot about the sound and meaning of a word. Listen to the same song over and over again, become familiar with the words and very soon you understand the meaning and rhythms of the words.

Read English Children’s Books – Children’s books are also a great way of helping to improve your overall English. Children’s books are designed for beginners who are learning to read and write. They often have pictures attached to the words or sentences so that the meanings are easier to understand.

 Speak out Loud – Find a private place, where you can go to talk or read out loud in English. Saying and hearing the words will make you more comfortable with doing so in company or in class. This is a good practice if you are reluctant to communicate with native speakers or more fluent English language learners, but need to be able to practice your English in the company of others.

Learning Vocabulary

A student was talking to me about learning vocabulary last week. She has been studying English for a long time and, as a high level English speaker, had been coming across lots of new words and phrases every day. How can we learn new words so that we can remember the meaning and use them in our speaking and writing?

Here are some tips to help improve your vocabulary knowledge and use:

1. For me, the most crucial thing is reading. Read as often as possible; newspapers, magazines, websites, fiction, poetry, science reports, philosophy, graphic novels: everything will expose you to words; the words you know and to new ones.
2. Look up new words. After trying to understand the meaning from the context it is in, the way it is spelt, and the type of word it might be, check the actual meaning (or meanings) of the word.
3. Always use both a dictionary and a thesaurus. Whether electronic or paper use them to find the meaning, pronunciation and words with similar meanings (synonyms) and opposite meanings (antonyms).
4. Keeping a word journal/notebook is very useful. Continue to add to your list of new words you discover so that you can refer back to them for revision. Look at words again after a day, a week, a month and see if you can remember them. You can then build them into your everyday vocabulary.
5. Learn a word a day. There are lots of apps and websites, or you can write your own card system, where you aim to learn a new useful word once a day.
6. Revise everywhere. Carry around the words you are learning and take every opportunity to look at them; on the bus, over a coffee, sitting in the park etc.
7. Play games. Word games are a fun way to enjoy learning new vocabulary and revising the words you already know. Try some crossword puzzles, anagrams, word searches, and games like Scrabble and Boggle.
8. Learn with a friend. It is often more fun to learn with a friend. Test each other to see what you have remembered and look at each other's lists. Are there words you are both learning the same or are they different?
9. Write and talk as often as possible. Words are about use in real life, not just for memorizing. Take every opportunity you can to talk to people, and write every day; emails, letters, essays, reports. The more you use the words you are learning, the more you will remember them.

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Visual learning in the ESL classroom

In all facets of education, learning activities are designed to cater for and appeal to a variety of learning styles .In Fleming's VARK model, these styles are generalized into three main types: visual, auditory and kinaesthetic. English language schools in Australia are no exception and try to employ every type of activity to meet the needs of their precious students. Vocabulary cards which are moved by hand to match with definitions or used to play games such as memory or snap are aimed at kinaesthetic learners, for example. Text book audio files, songs, dictation, etc. are geared toward our auditory friends. However, in what ways can English as a second language (ESL) teachers appeal to their visual learners?

For those who are not blessed enough to work in a modern Australian Language School, where we shamelessly use plasma TVs hooked up to a high-powered ultra-modern computer, one of your few tools is the white board. This is your bread and butter as an English language course teacher and as such, it is advisable to invest time and money into making the most of it. Purchasing white board markers of various colours is a good start. Solely using a black will quickly earn you the disrespect of all of your students. If you write illegibly, go back to primary school and learn how to print in a straight line. It's an Intensive General English class, not a hieroglyphs deciphering session (Bec Hungerford). It is useful for students to have a well-organised whiteboard. Date and name your board with a brief outline of the day's lesson on one side. On the other side, leave room for a list of new vocabulary items. Underline your subtitles and use bullet points as you would in a Powerpoint presentation. Too many words and clutter will only further the confusion reeked by your black pen monotony.

Art. Vincent Van Gogh said before he tragically cut his own ear off, 'If you hear a voice within you say 'you cannot paint,' then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced.' One of the most hilarious and memorable things you can do for your students is to attempt to draw. "Teacher, what are gills?" Draw a sideways egg, draw a comb facing the bottom of the egg to form a tail, two side-by-side baked beans at the 'top' of the egg to form fish lips and then you are in a prime position to add 2 backwards Cs to illustrate gills (see attached image). When drawing, it's important not to take yourself seriously. Laugh at yourself if your picture is absolute garbage. Your students will thank you.

There are countless other ways to appeal to visual learners. Having a well-organised, colourful board and hand-drawn illustrations are two of the most basic. In closing, practice makes perfect and Vincent Van Gogh was probably not an auditory learner.

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You Need to Learn English to Enhance Your Travel Experience

I have been studying English for a while now  and I can say that the better my English has become, the more I enjoy traveling. I probably love to travel as much as you do. In fact, going to new places and meeting new people from different countries and cultures is one of the things I enjoy the most.  However, Iet me tell you that when you can’t speak English, it’s tough. It becomes a great limitation. Apart from making communication difficult, being unable to speak the language hinders you from getting where you want with ease, not to mention what you need when you get there. It was embarrassing for me when I sometimes did things in the wrong way just because I wasn’t able to seek assistance from locals due to the language barrier.

In most countries, English is the language most spoken even though it is not the native one. In fact, you can travel around the world and socialize with people everywhere if you can speak English. Generally, the advantages that come with learning this language for vacationers are many, valuable, and varied.

Why travel lovers should learn English?

English is the language most vacationers use with others. While traveling, you will likely spend most of your time connecting with other people on a bus, in a hotel, at airports, on the streets, and in other places. Most of those encountered are tourists who can communicate in this language such that socializing becomes more effective for you if you can speak it as well.

When speaking to visitors who speak English, immigration officers, hotel staff, taxi drivers, and others use it to communicate. If you can speak it yourself, you will not have any problems dealing with the locals. Therefore, if you are planning to visit a country where the native language is not the same as yours, it is advisable to learn English (at least the basics). Since it is an international language, you will most likely find someone who can speak it, making communicating much easier.

Advantages of learning English for travelers

If you understand and speak English, there are many advantages you will enjoy as a tourist:

• Ease of expressing yourself: Expressing yourself becomes easier everywhere you go. It is simple to ask for something and even explain what you want. For instance, if there are complications at the airport, you can easily clarify them. In the hotel, you can ask for food and specify your preferred room. English enables you to get what you want and the best value for your money.

• Making new friends becomes easier: When you can speak a common language, interacting with others becomes less challenging. English, for example, enables you to socialize with the locals in your tour destination and learn something about their lifestyle. This way, you will easily meet new people and establish relationships.

• It enhances confidence: When you know that you can easily express yourself and even make new friends, your confidence improves during travel. Since you hear what the locals are saying, and can even ask questions, you ensure your safety by avoiding dangerous places, for example. When you learn English, getting insight into other people, their lifestyles, and recommended tourist areas becomes easy, thus enhancing your confidence.

• Better experiences: Knowing the basics of the English language can assist you with every day pleasantries and crucial phrases frequently used while traveling. You are bound to have better experiences as anytime you go to a new place, you will need assistance from the locals. Even if they do not speak the language well, they most probably will understand the basics enough to assist you.

• Independence: Tours are great, but I personally prefer to organize my own experiences. I can go to the places I prefer and stay for as long as I want. Not all activities offered on tours are for me, and they are usually done in a rush. When my English was not good enough, I was restricted to such organized tours and I had to rely on the guides. Now that I can speak and understand English, I have the freedom to visit and explore places more independently.

As a universal language, English is often used in tourist areas. Thus, even if you do not have a local tour guide, you will not have any problems getting to the attractions you want to visit.  By reading signs, you can also book accommodations and obtain other services in a foreign country without hiring a tour guide. This will save you money since hiring a tour guide can be costly in some regions. In addition, when you can speak a universal language, even bargaining for products and services becomes possible. This will not be the case if you do not speak English.

You learn more in a foreign country when you speak English

Perhaps there are things you have always wondered about life in a foreign country. When you learn English, understanding the local culture becomes easier because you can interact more effectively and make enquiries. As a traveler inquisitive about different cultures, you no doubt want to learn new things.

Generally speaking, there are many reasons for and advantages of learning English as a tourist. The most important point of all is that when you learn English, you are able to travel in a more straightforward manner on your own and overcome the major difficulties and challenges that face those who do not speak it well or at all.

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How to Expand Your English Vocabulary

I often see students writing long lists of unrelated words in their notebooks as they try desperately to expand their English vocabulary but is this really the best way?
A list of words with a translation is a good start but how many of them will you be able to memorize and then use effectively or correctly?
As you come across new words, a list is good but there are a few things you can do to make your list more effective. Firstly, you should categorize your words. Group your words together in themes or words that have something in common. Once in groups, draw a picture for each word along with a definition and example sentence. Research shows that having a visual cue for a word will increase your memory of that word. It also acts as a good tool for revision when you revisit your list and want to test your knowledge by looking only at the pictures.
You can then extend your lists by finding other words associated with each word. Write your word and add a list of associated words around it. You could even make a picture out of them, again creating a visual. Extend this even further by adding collocations ( words that usually ‘go together’), antonyms and synonyms. Word formation charts can also be used to learn all forms of your new word.
Today there are so many applications on all our devices that we have word games, stories, and word puzzles at our fingertips. We can download a huge variety of books which is the best way to expand vocabulary whether you are a native speaker or ESL student.
I found through my own personal language studies that some cards in my pocket with my new words for the week were a great way to revise set words for class or a test. If you’re sitting at a bus stop, you can easily grab your cards for a quick revision. Labeling things with sticky notes is also a goody but a house covered in labels may not be acceptable to your room mates.
At the end of the day, the best way to learn new words is to read. There are so many texts available to us. Go and get lost in a book. Learning new words can be fun.

“A synonym is a word you use when you can’t spell the other one.”

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