Our Styles and Strategies as a Seminar Group
Seminars on Language Development and Intercultural Teaching
Becoming a Better Language Learner
Reading
- Newspapers
- Social reading (signs, menus, product labels…)
- Bilingual texts
- Making summaries
- Writing down the new words (in the context)
- Reading for pleasure
- Professional reading
- Reading movie subtitles
- Retelling
Writing
- Reading materials (books, newspapers, WWW)
- Grammar exercises
- Don't be afraid to make mistakes
- Writing short essays, dialogs, blogs
- Having/finding a penpal
- Remembering the shape of the word
- Repetitive writing
- Writing short/long notes for yourself
- Writing diary or blogging in English
- Writing letters to your boss, who doesn't understand (English)
- Flashcards
- Writing at work (scientific papers, reports, applications, etc.)
Speaking
- Don't be afraid of making mistakes
- Putting yourself in the right place
- Chat clubs
- Speak in short sentences
- Sing along
- Speaking with others (non-native speakers), use simpler language
- Speak with yourself
- Find somebody who would correct your mistakes when speaking
- Record yourself (check your pronunciation) and vocabulary
Listening
- Eavesdrop
- Practice switching between different languages (TV, conversation partners)
- Audiobooks
- Attend language learning seminars on Fridays :)
- Media (TV, radio, internet)
- On-the-go headphones or mp3 player
- Speaking/listening on the phone
- Download podcasts and compare with transcript
- Record yourself and listen
- Conversation partner
- Compare movie subtitles to what is actually said
Global strategies
- Check out Resources for language learners
- Study everyday
- Revise/review regularly
- Set goals
- Be active
- Focus on your interests
- Be persistent
- Don't worry about making mistakes
- Find opportunities to practice
page revision: 2, last edited: 18 Mar 2007 14:16
