Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

4455 · Joined: 25 Oct 2005 Posts: 1

My name khalif from somalia I belive English is very hard. In my reality
English you not learn in two months. Especialy reading, writing all these things are so hard that is what belive. Finally if you make practice English is easry for you.

iitimone7 · Joined: 09 Aug 2005 Posts: 400 Location: Indiana, USA

welcome!!

Ae · Joined: 14 Oct 2005 Posts: 20 Location: Malaysia

Hi, 4455. I can see that you are determined in learning english. Here are a few tips that will help you to improve your spoken and written English:
1. Practise reading at home daily for at least 15 minutes. You can read many things, range from articles you find in newspapers to storybooks.
2. Keep a diary. Writing means seeing and through this process, you will learn how to be disciplined. You can also ask your english teachers to mark your diary for you. You can start writing your diary from something simple like: I wake up early in the morning. I brushed my teeth and so on. Then, when you notice that you can write more steadily, start writing things that's more meaningful to you. Make sure you include your opinions or experiences as well.
3. Learn your grammars well. If your grammar is weak, then you must try to be more hardworking and do exercises on this topic on a daily basis.
4. Learn to read more English storybooks, newspapers, magazines or even advertisements. This is to widen your vocabulary. Learn the patterns or ways some journalists write their news. You can even immitate the way they write.
5. Keep a wordbook. If you find any new words which you don't understand, jot them down in a book. After that, look up the dictionaries and learn the meanings.

Hopefully, these strategies will help make your command of English good. Remember, no pain no gain.

iitimone7 · Joined: 09 Aug 2005 Posts: 400 Location: Indiana, USA

great ideas, ae!!

Ae · Joined: 14 Oct 2005 Posts: 20 Location: Malaysia

Thank you, iitimone 7. I do hope that these strategies are effective and will help those who are weak in English. Smile

English is actually a proactive kind of language. It may be difficult to master it at first if one do not really know the grammars well.

wolfstone · Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Posts: 31 Location: Spain

liatcor · Joined: 08 Nov 2005 Posts: 1

Other than read books in English and write down the words you don't understand, I also think that it is very important to speak English as much as you can and preferably with native speakers. It might be intimidating at first but you learn a lot from that

Ae · Joined: 14 Oct 2005 Posts: 20 Location: Malaysia

Hi Wolfstone, I'm so surprised that this is the FIRST TIME there are people who say that one's oral or spoken English (if you need to be reminded) is poor without even speaking to that person. Anyway, have you ever listened to me speaking English? Yeah I know, maybe my English accent won't be as thick as yours and I can't twist my tongue like your Spained-tongue but at least I know how to use my grammars correctly. As far as I know, people in Spain don't really speak English quite often, right? They just speak passable or so-and-so English. Lastly, Wolfstone, here's some 'golden' advice from me:
1. Don't puff up with pride if your English is really 'that' good.
2. Don't despise those who, like 4455, are weak in English, it's quite insolent of you to do that.
3. Don't judge a book by its cover.

Hello liatcor, welcome to this forum. Yeah, I agree with you, we should also be brave and try to speak English as much as we can. I'm glad that you're really humble even though your English is good, unlike some people who are arrogant and like to judge a person by just glancing through his or her written English.

nanako11 · Joined: 14 Oct 2005 Posts: 1

Hello. My name is nanako. I am 15 years old.
I like English very much.
The international student has come to my school. I like talking in English
So Iam very glad.
This year I study hard. I would like to sprak it well.
thank you

Rohan Cox · Joined: 24 May 2004 Posts: 5 Location: Australia

Hi all.

I enjoyed reading your comments and wanted to share my view on the topic of learning English. After teaching many people English the best advice I can give those learning English is this:

1. Don't worry about your level of English. If you focus on your level, you start comparing your level with other people and when you feel other people have a better level, suddenly you feel bad about your level.

Instean you should focus on improving your English. If you keep learning something, even a little every day you will feel better about yourself and your English.

2. Don't fear practicing. Many students are scared to speak English with the fear other people will laugh at them or say bad things if they make a mistake. This very rarely happens, so never fear it Laughing

In fact, you can test it now. We all make mistakes, even with our native language. But when you make a mistake in your native language, do people laugh at you? NO WAY RIGHT?
So how can they laugh at you when you make a mistake in your second language (English)? It doesn't really happen. It's only a fear in your mind that you have to throw away.

Keep learning everyone. Enjoy your English Cool

Regards
Rohan
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