How to Learn English (1): Balanced input and output (a)
Many English learners complain about not making much progress in learning English. One question they need to ask themselves first is: Have I kept a balance between input and output? Input means listening and reading; output means speaking and writing. For some learners, input is an issue. To learn English well, we need to read a lot and listen a lot. How much reading have you done? How much listening do you do every day? If you are an ESL/EFL student, you probably go to school twice a week or more. In your English class, you listen to the teacher, you do in-class reading, but there are other activities in class. Your English language input is probably only a few hours a week. This is not enough input to learn English well. Do you know how many new words an English student learn in a year? According to research, a full-time ESL student learns 2,500 new words a year in average. That sounds like too many new words. However it means only about 7 words a day. If you read in English, I’m sure you come across more than 7 new words a day. Therefore, don’t think you cannot learn 2,500 new words a year. You can. The problem is that in order to know how to use the word, according to research, you have to see the word being used in different contexts 7 to 9 times. This gives you some idea of how much reading and listening you must do. In-class time is simply not enough. You need to do a lot of reading and listening out of class in order to know how to use the new words and how to use the language.
hello
i came to u.s.a 2 mounth ago and want go to college but unfurtunetly can not speak and writing good .
i want know wat shoud i do now for improving myself?
thank you
Comment by elham — September 20, 2007 @ 11:29
I think that is very complicated to be in another country, in this case (Elham) in the United States and can not speak in its native language, but in language of the another country (U.S). I think that it is necessary work too much four main different aspects: reading, writing, listening and speaking. Read different articles in english language, write letter, essays, emails, and so on in english, listening for example podcasts, and speaking with a friend in english. Every day, all day. I think that it is the best o perhaps the only way (method) for read, write, listen ang speak very well in english. In other word, understand english.
Comment by albeiro — December 20, 2007 @ 16:54
It is absolutely right: to improve your English skill you have to learn new words. You can’t understand a question or a sentence without knowing what they mean. To understand you have to know all the words in there. And the best way to learn is reading and listening. Find the books you like and read them. Try to find the meaning of all the words you don’t know and remember them. Watching English TV programs or movie also is good for you. If you have problem with listening, you can turn on the caption to read. I usually do that to learn English and it seem working. Remember to find the meaning of those words you don’t know. Those practices are not enough, they only improve your reading and listening skill. To become a good English learner you have to practice to speak and write. Try to take what you learn in reading and listening to practice in speaking and writing, don’t be afraid, and speak whenever you have a chance. Your English will improve a lot if you know how to keep the balance between input and output.
Comment by phuocdinh — December 4, 2008 @ 09:42