My dearest students,
I am so happy with all the interest, enthusiasm and commitment that you have shown in our English class in the few weeks we have been together. I am sure we will have achieved important goals by the end of the semester. Why a class blog if we have posterous already? Well, we will use this blog to publish important links or information for all the class. It is better to have a space to keep all our posterous addresses than having them in a word document.
Tips for Successful Language Learning Learning
• Enjoy your learning because the ability to enjoy is the key to effective learning.
• Take every opportunity to use the language. Talk as much as possible and interact with others.
• Expose yourself as much as possible to the language you are learning. The more you read or listen to the foreign language, the faster you will learn it.
• Be (or become) an extrovert person. Participate. Jump in, ask when you don't know. Experiment, learn to develop guessing strategies and be willing to make hypotheses.
• Make mistakes. Learning is process of constantly making mistakes.
• You, the learner, are the most important factor in the language learning process. Success or failure will be determined by what you yourself contribute.
• Be your own teacher. Develop your own strategies, figure out what works for you - taking notes outside of class, mnemonic tricks, talking to yourself, etc.
• Teach what you learn. One way to increase your own language use is to teach what you have learned to someone else.
• Be prepared for frustration. Interacting with others in another language can be a humbling experience. Increasing one's proficiency in a second language and culture take both time and concentrated effort.
• Be observant. Keep your eyes and ears open. Much of what you need is going on around you.
• Use memorization. Look for routines, fixed or formulaic chunks of language you can use over and over, bits of songs or plays, etc.
• Go with the flow. Do not rely on rules or explanations to the exclusion of keeping things moving. Develop your ability to paraphrase rather than lapse into silence.
