This is a recording of the first part of a lecture delivered to prep students at Boğaziçi University. It includes information about the best practices while learning a second language, self study skills and the reasons for the suggestions.
Showing posts with label How to use the blog. Show all posts
Showing posts with label How to use the blog. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 27, 2018
Sunday, November 10, 2013
HOW TO PREPARE FOR THE WRITING PART OF ANY ENGLISH PROFICIENCY EXAM
Before
going into the details of how to best prepare for the writing part of any
English proficiency exam, it is necessary to put some widely held
misconceptions to rest. First of all, let us remind ourselves of the purpose of
such a test: to prove mastery of the language and competence in the use of it.
With this in mind, consider, if you will, the following widely held
misconceptions:
1.
The First Misconception: the best way to prepare for the
writing part of any English proficiency exam is to learn, or better still
memorize, transition words, clichés and subject specific vocabulary.
Fact:
the above does not prove mastery or competence; it only shows you have
memorized these words. It is how the essay holds together as a whole and how
everything in the essay, lexically and contentwise, relates to eachother that
your tester will be concidering while grading.
Any indication that you have been memorizing will have a decidedly
negative effect on the tester. Plus, of course, native speakers don’t use
transition words very often; check out the reading tasks on this blog.
- The Second
Misconception:
essays follow stict patterns or formulas in the shape of outlines which
are specific to each type of essay and no deviance from these patterns is
tolerated. Learning these patterns and sticking to them will, therefore,
guarantee success.
Fact:
‘the formulas’ alluded to above are based on American high school education and
have been popularized by a slew of writing books worldwide. In fact, there is
only one type of essay: the logical one. Another fact is that most essays end
up being argumentative in one way or another. The reason for the popularity of
these formulas is purely practical: it is far easier to teach students to
follow formulas than it is to teach them to develop a rational argument.
The Long
and the Short of It: the formulas are fine because they are derived from
accepted forms of reasoning but there are many other ways to write as well
provided you develop a well reasoned argument. For example, the purpose in an
argumentative essay is to defend your own point of view and refute counter
arguments; provided you do that, it doesn’t matter how you structure the essay.
3.
The Third Misconception: writing essay after essay, with a
topic and a set of points, against the clock will guarantee success.
Fact:
all the above method of study will produce is a pile of essays with very
similar problems; the resulting progress will be very slow indeed. The reason
for this is that the input into the essay will be ideas in the native language
which will then be translated.
The
Alternative: in order for progress to occur, the students’ knowledge base needs
to be increased with plenty of input from the target language. This means in
practice that students should first watch video about a topic and take notes,
then read about the same topic and take notes and finally put their notes
together and write.
The Rule
of Thumb: if competence in writing in the target language is the goal, writing
should always follow listening, reading or both. This being the case, it is suggested that you
read “How to Prepare for the Listening Part of Any English Proficiency Exam”
and “How to Prepare for the Reading Part of Any English Proficiency Exam” for
suggestions about writing tasks.
A
Writing Task that Will Provide Plenty of Input in the Target Language: you will
find a list of writing files in the table of contents to the right of this
screen. In each of these you will find writing activities which are based on
selected videos and reading material. Once all the notes have been compiled,
writing the actual essay will be easy, fun and a great educational experience.
Work in this way for a period of time and you will develop true competence and
feel no need to resort to measures like formulas and clichés.
HOW TO PREPARE FOR THE READING PART OF ANY ENGLISH PROFICIENCY EXAM
Before
discussing the best ways in which to increase level of competence in reading,
it is necessary to draw attention to two facts concerning reading material
itself:
The First Fact: Types of Reading
There are
two different kinds of reading exercise which need to progress in unison if
increased proficiency in reading is desired. These are intensive reading and extensive reading.
The former is much more tightly controlled; there are time limits, texts are of
a limited length, there are questions, vocabulary exercises and the like. The
latter, on the other hand, involves much longer texts, there are no time
limits, questions or exercises. The purpose of the former is comprehension and
strengthening of the knowledge base while that of the latter is consolidation.
Neglect this dual approach, and the likelihood of failure looms large.
The Second Fact: The Reading Material
There are
two general categories of reading material available to student of English: classroom material and self study
material. The former constitutes 99% of what is available on the
market while the latter is scarse. In the case of the former, there is a
student’s book with texts and a selection of exercises, a teacher’s book with
answer keys to the same and notes to the teacher concerning methods of further
exploitation of the material and then of cource there is the teacher, an expert
in the field, and all he/she brings to the lesson as a professional. Use this
material for self study and the benefits derived will be far less than if it
were covered in class under the watchful eye and with the careful guidance of a
professional. What the student requires when no such guidance is available is
self study material whose purpose is three fold: to teach, to explain and
clarify and to test. The only intensive reading material mentioned in this post
will involve self study material. One interesting point here is that classroom
material is far more benefitial when covered in the right setting, in the right
way while self study material can be used in class with equal measure of success;
the only thing is that it leaves the teacher very little to do as it is self
explanatory.
Extensive Reading
It is suggested that you make extensive reading and related writing in
the form of book reports, reactions or summaries part of your regular study
routine. Naturally, these are not, by any means, the only sites of their kind;
there are many others. Access to the three sites listed below is free.
Short Stories and Novels
1.
classicshorts.com
: this is a wonderful website which is absolutely free and is very easy to
navigate. It includes collections of short stories by some of the best known
authors in the world.
2.
pagebypagebooks.com:
unlike the previous site, this one includes novels by famous writers as well.
3.
americanliterature.com:
this wonderful website provides access to both novels and short stories by
American and foreign writers contrary to what the name suggests.
Newspapers, Magazines and News
Websites
It is suggested that you make keeping up with the news and reading
magazines that appeal to you part of your regular study routine. Writing about
the news and the articles you read is a wonderful reading and writing activity.
Naturally, the links provided below are just a few examples of what is
available.
1.
British
Papers: theguardian.co.uk, theobserver.co.uk
2.
American
Papers: wsj.com, nytimes.com
3.
News
Channells: bbc.co.uk/news, cnn.com
4.
Magazines:
scientificamerican.com, nature.com,wired.com, theatlantic.com,
psychologytoday.com, times.com, economist.com
Intensive Reading: Self Study Material
As previously indicated, self study
reading material is very rare indeed, which is surprising considering how many
people are trying to improve their reading skills in English. The rapid spread
of online education and the current trend towards individual work via the
internet will, most certainly, change these circumstances but for the present
we are going to focus on my blog (the link to which is: http://theproproom.blogspot.com),
which fits the bill admirably. It is suggested that
you make intensive reading of the kind described part of your daily routine. It
is also suggested that you never, ever skip the reading into writing activities.
Lastly, always get a printout of the text and questions; never read on the
computer. You will find that you make far more mistakes if you don’t work with a
hard copy.
1.
Level One (*) Reading Tasks: the reading tasks in this file are
intermediate in level. They are suited to intermediate students at the
beginning of an intensive course and pre intermediate students a month or so
into the course. The reading passages the
tasks are based on fall under various headings – science and technology, the
environment, education, history and politics, psychology and the like – the
complete list can be found in the file titled “Level two reading tasks by theme”.
The tasks are based on original texts suited to this level and the answers to
the questions will provide a summary of the text. It
is suggested that you read the first question and then start reading the text.
Otherwise, the text may seem too difficult and off putting. Remember; the
purpose of the questions is to explain, clarify and test.
2.
Level Two (**)Reading Tasks: the reading tasks in this file are
upper intermediate in level and are suited to advanced students right at the
start of the course and intermediate students soon after. Pre intermediate
students should be able to tackle them half way through the first term. All that has been said for level one is also valid here.
3.
Level Three (***) Reading Tasks: the reading tasks in this file are
advanced in level and are suited to advanced students a month or so at the most
into the course and intermediate students near the end of the first term at the
earliest. Pre intermediate students in an intensive language course should be
able to tackle these tasks a third of the way into the second term. All that has been said for level one is also valid here.
4.
Level Four (****) Reading
Activities: the
reading tasks in this file are harder than level three as evidenced by the preponderance
of politics, history and serious science texts. They are suited to advanced
students a month into the second term and intermediate students in the second
half of the second term of an intensive English course. Pre intermediate
students should, ideally, be able to tackle them well into the second half of
the second term. This is is also the level of
reading sections on most English proficiency exams. All that has been said for
level one is also valid here.
5.
Level Five (*****) Reading
Activities: the
reading tasks in this file are more difficult than most English proficiency
exams. The file is here to prove to students that a proficiency exam is a cutoff
point and there is really much more learning to do.
Reading Activities that Resemble the Proficiency To Be
Taken:
It is assumed, quite wrongly, that
doing test after test is the best way to prepare for a reading test but this is
a very common mistake. The purpose of a test is just that, to test, while the
purpose during the period of preparation is to build the knowledge base and
increase competence. Different purposes require different methods. A couple of
trial runs to become familiar with the test shortly before the date is fine but
not absolutely necessary. Research has shown that the effects of
familiarity with the test on success rates drops as the level of the student
increases; the maximum effect being in the vicinity of 10%. If you are
proficient and you decide, on a whim, to take the IELTS the following day, you
can walk in and take it and pass with flying colors. All this does not mean you
should brush practice tests aside but don’t cling to them; just do one or two
before the actual test if you wish. Instead, spend your time more profitably by
following the advice provided in this post.
How to Tackle Vocabulary:
One unavoidable issue
that always crops up while tackling a reading task is what to do about the new
vocabulary. There is a simple rule of thumb:
1.
Look
up the key words in a monolingual dictionary
2.
Guess
the meaning of words whenever you can. For instance, you come across the word
‘loath’ and you guess that it means something like ‘dislike’; that is fine; you
move on. Loath in fact means absolutely hate but that doesn’t matter; you are
in the same ball park so no dictionaries.
3.
There
is a third group of words: those that are not essential in order to understand
the sentence and are not key words either. You just leave them.
In short, consider
reading like rock climbing and you will be fine. Remember: the forest comes
first and then the trees; not the other way around.
Sunday, October 27, 2013
HOW TO PREPARE FOR THE LISTENING PART OF ANY ENGLISH PROFICIENCY EXAM
Preparing
for the listening part of any major English language test( The proficiency,
TOEFL, IELTS) is very easy in the contemporary world as you no longer need
someone to read to you; you have quadrillions of videos to do the job. The general principle is to combine your
listening with writing to guarantee the transfer of information and accelerate
learning. So here are my suggestions on how to prepare for the listening
section of a proficiency exam entirely on your own provided you have internet
access. Copy paste the following into you search section and check out the
results:
·
Decide on a topic to research;
for instance ‘Slavery in the Modern World’
·
Print the title in the search
section
·
Click talks from the list on
the left of the screen and go for it
·
You will get a long list of
videos. Watch them first without English subtitles and take notes. Then watch
them again with subtitles and check your notes.
·
Last of all, write your essay
based on your notes
The Bonus: this
listening into writing activity will help you learn vocabulary, collocations,
organization and revise grammar in addition to testing your listening.
·
This is an audio book website
and is free. First go to the left of the screen and select a genre ( history,
romance, science fiction and the like)
·
The site will throw up pages of
audio books in the category you selected.
·
Download the book you chose
onto your phone, mp3 player or listen on line.
·
Listen to the book in parts
over a period of time as part of your study routine.
·
Write a book report on it when
you are done.
·
There are other audio book
sites listed under ‘Useful Websites, in
the file marked How to Use this Blog’ on http://theproproom.blogspot.com
The Bonus: in
addition to the advantages listed above, this activity develops into a habit
and helps you maintain your standard after you leave the language course you
are attending.
3. openculture.com and how to use this site:
·
This site provides access to
free movies, free audio books and free pretty much everything connected with
language learning. Let us try the audio books first so click on this title.
·
The books on the site will be
listed in alphabetical order. So select, download, listen and write.
·
Now try the free movies. Click
on free movies or Oscar winners. Once again, they will appear in alphabetical
order and are free to down load. So select, watch and write.
The Bonus: the
advantages listed above for both sites will apply here so you can look forward
to both learning and having fun.
4.
topdocumentaryfilms.com or filmsforaction.org (or any other good film site) and how to use
them:
·
Let us take top documentary
films as an example. Access the site, click ‘Documentary List’ from the bar at
the top to the left of the screen.
·
You will get a huge list of
documentary films categorized according to genre (society, politics and the
like). So select an area you are interested in and click.
·
Select a few documentaries
about the same issue or aspects of the same issue and watch them. You know what
you do next!
·
This activity is also possible
with a single film, but make watching a documentary a part of your daily study
routine.
The Bonus: all of the above advantages will
apply here as well.
5. YouTube, vimeo.com and
other video posting websites including videos posted on major news websites,
daily newspapers and magazines: bbcnews.com, cnn.com,
wsj.com,nytimes.com,scientificamerican.com and the like.
·
Research a particular topic on
the site of your choice or watch available news videos and make notes.
·
If you are following a news
story, watch videos about the issue on multiple sites and make notes.
·
When you are done, write up
your notes.
·
If you are researching a topic
on YouTube for instance, watch a couple of videos, make notes and then write.
The Bonus: all of the above advantages will
apply here as well.
6. http://theproproom.blogspot.com and
how to use this site to improve your listening:
·
Access any of the writing files
listed on the right of the screen and click.
·
You will be faced with a
writing activity based on reading and videos.
·
Do the research and write.
The Bonus: being a listening into reading into
writing activity, a lot of learning will take place and help raise your general
standard of English.
7.
http://www.uefap.com/listen/exercise/exlis.htm and Randall's ESL cyber listening lab http://www.esl-lab.com/ And how to use these websites:
· The former houses a selection of
listening activities with exercises so select a topic.
·
Now hit RP for real player or
WMP for windows media player.
·
Listen and do the exercises;
this is selective listening.
·
Stop to check your answers at any
point and go on.
* The latter has reading listening and speaking so click "Tips for students" and follow the advice
* The latter has reading listening and speaking so click "Tips for students" and follow the advice
In conclusion, you are the
learner and the internet is the source;
the above are only a small selection of what is available. There is no need to say that the methods outlined above have worked brilliantly for many hundreds of students but the ball is firmly in your court. If you don’t have access to a
teacher to check your work, try grammarly.com.
Tuesday, September 24, 2013
INTRODUCING THIS BLOG
The Purpose
The purpose
of this blog is to provide free help to anyone aspiring to improve their
reading, writing and to a certain extent, their listening skills. This blog
will, by raising the standard of your English, provide valuable assistance in
efforts to pass any English proficiency exam as well.
This Blog Is Aimed At
This blog
is aimed at teenagers and adults from all walks of life with a variety of
interests. The material in each reading file comes under different headings –
business, science and technology, psychology and the like – in order to satisfy
different interests. The blog material, though mainly designed for self study,
can also be used in class.
The Blogger
To find out
more about me, check my complete biography.
The Material
All the
tasks on this blog are based on material that is easily accessible on the
internet. For this reason, there is no beginner level material. Two factors
have been taken into consideration in selecting the texts: whether the text has
a wow factor and whether it lends itself to questions. It is hoped that you
will enjoy using this blog while also becoming more proficient.
Reading: Overview
The reading
tasks have been grouped under five headings: level of difficulty * to *****. Level * is early intermediate and is suitable for intermediate
students at the start of an intensive course and for pre intermediate students
soon after. All the material in each level is listed in a table of contents to
make selection easier. For instance, all reading material in the file marked “Level of Difficulty *” is listed in the
file titled “Level one reading tasks by
theme”.
The Questions
The
questions have been designed to help you understand the text by drawing your
attention to key points as well as test your comprehension. In doing so, they
will help cognitive skills associated with reading to develop and make you competent
readers. It is suggested that you read question one and then start reading the
text; otherwise, the text will seem too difficult. There are also a wide
variety of question types to accustom you to standard tests and encourage
detailed comprehension.
The Writing Tasks at the End of Each Worksheet
It is my
firm belief that nothing helps commit vocabulary, grammar and structures that
have been learnt in a reading task to memory better than a reading related
writing task. The writing task serves a second purpose as well: it guarantees
that you have understood the text as it is, in essence, your last reading
question. With all this in mind, there is no need to tell you how important it
is to do the writing task immediately on completing the questions.
The Key
The answers
to all the questions are provided with notes where necessary. There are also
examples of the writing tasks under sample essays.
Reading Material by Guest Bloggers
This file
includes reading material sent in by fellow teachers and I welcome
contributions
Writing Material: Overview
All the
writing material on the blog is neatly categorized according to the type of
writing: advantages and disadvantages
essays, argumentative essays, cause and effect essays, classification essays,
comparison and contrast essays, definition essays, narratives and other grammar
related writing, problem solution
essays and response essays. There is also a separate file marked writing
exercises which will help with any problems of organization.
How to Prepare for Writing
When you
access a writing activity, you will be faced with links to videos and links to
reading material concerning a specific issue. You are required to watch the videos,
make notes on the texts and then sit down and write your essays. In most cases,
there are no points although writing tasks of this sort have also been
included.
Why Reading and Video Related
Writing?
Writing cannot
exist in a void; it requires opinions and ideas, which in turn require
knowledge; hence, the texts and videos. One added bonus is that this is by far
the quickest way of learning vocabulary, revising grammar and generally raising
the level of your English. The second bonus is that you will be developing your
listening skills as well. There is a third bonus: you will be widening your
horizons.
Summary Writing
Summary
writing is by far the most complex and educationally valuable reading and
writing activity. For this reason, there is a file marked summaries where you
will find examples of summaries written according to the Cornell Method. This
easy way of writing summaries involves making notes on a text and then basing
the summary on these notes. You will find the examples on the blog pretty self
explanatory. Examples have also been provided for some of the summary tasks
linked to reading activities.
Sample Essays
The sample
essays and paragraphs have all been written by professionals in the field some of
whom, like myself, are native speakers. There are, therefore, no grammar
mistakes in the essays unlike certain other material on the internet.
Tips from the Experts
This
section involves teaching tips from fellow professionals. I always welcome more
so write in if you want to contribute.
Papers
The papers,
most of which have been published or are waiting to be published, target
professionals who are interested in ELT.
Papers by Guest Bloggers
This file
includes a paper by a fellow teacher whom I greatly admire but I welcome
contributions so write in.
Publications
This file
includes a list of my published papers and articles.
FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)
This
section covers a variety of issues and targets professionals as well as
students.
Letters from the Basement and More Letters from the Basement
This
section is just a bit of fun and is completely fictitious.
Feedback
This file
includes feedback I have received from those who have used the blog.
Last of all, for suggestions on how to exploit
the material, read ‘The Autonomous language learner at work’ in the file marked
‘How to use this blog’
Wednesday, December 12, 2012
THE AUTONOMOUS LANGUAGE LEARNER AT WORK
THE FIRST SUGGESTION:
1.
Select a topic that you are interested in like
slavery in the modern world, women’s rights or war for example.
2.
Access
ted.com and print your topic into the search section.
3.
When
you have discovered the videos related to your chosen topic, grab a pen and
paper
4.
Listen
to each video at least twice. If you are intermediate and above in terms of
level, listen first without the script and make notes; then listen again this
time with the script and check your notes. If you are a pre intermediate
student reverse the process. If you feel you need to listen three times, that
is fine too.
5.
Gather
your notes together and write them up in the form of an essay.
6.
Access
grammarly.com and copy paste your
essay on to the site. Then select academic essay and hit “check your essay”.
7.
When
you have a list of your mistakes, go back to your essay and try and locate them
yourself.
8.
Finally,
take your essay to any of the writing centers or your teachers for a final
correction.
Note to the teacher: this procedure could be
used as a project as well in which case the students should be requested to
hand in their notes and the links to the
videos they watched as well.
THE SECOND SUGGESTION
1.
Access
imdbfree.com and select a category
that interests you like war films for example
2.
Select
a couple of films in your chosen category and watch them with English
subtitles.
3.
Then
write an essay comparing and contrasting the films and their handling of war
for example.
4.
Last
of all, access grammarly.com and
follow the procedure outlined in steps 6, 7 8 in the first suggestion.
Note to the teacher: this procedure could used
to write essays in class or as a project. In the case of the latter, students
should be required to state their choice of category and specific films
beforehand to prevent large groups watching the same films.
THE THIRD SUGGESTION
1.
Access theproproom.blogspot.com and select an appropriate level of reading activity.
If you are an intermediate or pre intermediate student, this would be “Level of difficulty*”; if you are an
advanced student, it would be “Level of
difficulty**” to start with. Level one is lower intermediate in terms of
level so should be manageable for pre intermediate students as well. If you are
a remedial student and failed reading, you follow the same procedure advanced
students do. If you passed reading start with “Level of difficulty ***”.
2.
Select
a reading task that looks interesting
3.
Locate
the text by googling the title and the author’s name and get a printout.
4.
Read
the text carefully once, looking up key words on dictionary.com, which you need to download onto your laptops and
telephones, and guessing the meanings of other words.
5.
Now
try and answer the questions. While doing so, write out the answers; do not just
underline.
6.
When
you have completed the questions, check your answers. If there is anything you
don’t understand, bring it to the writing centers or ask your teacher.
7.
Now
access ted.com and search for
related videos using key words in the text. For instance, if you have just
completed work on “War Against Girls”, search for videos related to women’s
rights; if you have just completed work on “How to Die”, search for humane end
of life practices.
8.
Watch
and take notes on the videos as outlined in the first suggestion.
9.
Now
return to the blog and do the writing task.
10.
When
you have completed your essay or paragraph, follow the procedure outlined in
steps 6, 7 and 8 in the first suggestion.
Warning: it is important that all this be done
at one sitting to enable flow of information from the reading to the listening
and from both to the writing task. A delay would mean that a valuable learning
opportunity has been wasted.
THE FOURTH SUGGESTION (INTERMEDIATE, ADVANCED
AND REMEDIAL)
- Access the following website: pagebypagebooks.com,
classicshorts.com or americanliterature.com and select
a writer. Roald Dahl or Edgar Allen Poe for example.
- You may select a novel, a single story, a
couple of stories by the same writer or a couple of stories discussing the
same theme by different writers.
- After reading the story or stories you
have selected, write a reaction essay, a comparison or an opinion essay
concerning the ideas in the story.
- Lastly, follow the procedure outlined in
steps 6, 7 and 8 in the first suggestion.
THE FIFTH SUGGESTION (ADVANCED SECOND TERM AND
ANYONE WHO PASSES THE PROFICIENCY, DURING THE SUMMER OR ALONG WITH COURSE WORK
IN INDIVIDUAL DEPARTMENTS)
- Access coursera.org and select a field of study that interests you.
- Select a course and apply for it. The courses
are completely free
- You will get all your material, tests and
projects online and be expected to hold up your side of the bargain.
- The advantage is that you will not only
practice your English but also broaden your horizons and learn subject
specific vocabulary.
Note to the student: use the suggestions listed
here as guidelines to discover additional ways to improve your language skills.
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