PRACTISING

One of the most important skills to acquire is that of using in real life, and correctly, those things that you have learnt in the classroom. Very often students manipulate a new or peculiar structure perfectly well in the classroom and then go out and, under the stress of conducting their lives in a foreign language, revert to the mistaken version they had assumed earlier to be correct.

When you learn something new and interesting, challenge yourself to incorporate it into a conversation that day. This is a kind of private game that no one knows you are playing. Success with this manoevre is a remarkably effective way of establishing the new structure or expression in your active language.

VOCABULARY NOTES AND LEARNING

 I have found a very useful trick for learning particular phrases or structures.

One is to use your computer as a vocabulary book and every time you come across an example [from a native source] you put the whole sentence into a file reserved for that purpose. You can use the same file for lots of different things, for example all phrasal verbs [used in context -- that's essential]. Then, unlike a vocabulary book, where you never find them again] you just use the search function and tell it, for instance, to find every sentence containing 'in' or perhaps 'out'. In the latter case 'to check sth. out' will appear with lots of others. If you do this when you have had time for the collection to get quite extensive, you will get a good harvest of sentences. Then learn them by heart.

The other one is to take each new phrasal verb or other awkward structure and make several sentences using it in the same way as the sentence that first struck you in something a native speaker said. Then get them checked for possible misunderstandings. Then learn them. For example make a whole list of sentences using say and tell or a whole list using do and make.

It doesn't matter if you add sentences somewhat at random [as long as you get them from a native source -- don't make them up yourself] because you can gather them together later using search.

SYLLABLE STRESS.

Because English is a stressed languge [in every word of more than one syllable one syllable is stressed more than the others] it is important to notice where the stress is on each word. This probably has more effect on the intelligibility of your spoken English than any single other factor. Not only is the spelling of vowel sounds unpredictable in English, but in an unstressed syllable the vowel loses much of its expected sound.

Look at these three words. The stressed vowel is marked in red.

PHOTOGRAPH - PHOTOGRAPHER - PHOTOGRAPHIC.

When we listen to spoken English it is natural to pick out the stressed syllables. They are the key, so it is important both to pronounce them correctly yourself and to know which syllables you are listening for in a conversation. If a word is pronounced with the wrong syllable emphasised it will be difficult to recognise. Likewise, if you learn a word with the stress on the wrong syllable, you will expect to hear it like that and will almost certainly not recognise the correct pronunciation.

WORD STRESS

Apart from stressing certain syllables in each word we also frequently stress particular words in a sentence and this makes a big difference to the meaning.

In the following sentencs I have printed the stressed word in red. The first sentence has neutral stress.

I invited him?	It was me who invited him, not someone else.
I invited him?	He is not a gatecrasher. He was invited.
I invited him?	So why has that other person arrived with him?

This sort of stress is easy to hear once you know to listen for it.

LISTENING

Listen to as much naturally spoken English as possible. Even when you do not understand, your ears and brain are getting accustomes to the sounds. It is especially useful to listen to a lot of radio and television etc as in those situations you do not feel under pressure; no one is going to suddenly expect you to take part. So look on these as painless and useful linguistic therapy. There is considerable evidence that we learn better when we do not feel harrassed.

PRACTISING

One of the most important skills to acquire is that of using in real life, and correctly, those things that you have learnt in the classroom. Very often students manipulate a new or peculiar structure perfectly well in the classroom and then go out and, under the stress of conducting their lives in a foreign language, revert to the mistaken version they had assumed earlier to be correct.

When you learn something new and interesting, challenge yourself to incorporate it into a conversation that day. This is a kind of private game that no one knows you are playing. Success with this manoevre is a remarkably effective way of establishing the new structure or expression in your active language.

 

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