Learnign English can be FUN!!!
Изучение английского может быть ИНТЕРЕСНЫМ!!!
Изучение английского может быть ИНТЕРЕСНЫМ!!!
Paint your own rainbow!
четверг, 30 января 2014
OMG! I haven't been here for ages! And I am terribly sorry for that! So where do I even begin...
I continue creating videos for those, who study English! And in addition I started making videos for those who study Russian! So Russian for foreigners. Is turned out to be a really interesting and challenging task, but anyway I have been doing it for several months already! And basically this project is for A1-A2 students of Russian, but higher levels might find something interesting too!
As for English lessons I make videos devoted to grammar, vocabulary (idioms, phrasal verbs, popular acronyms, interjections) and also some videos, containing tips for studying any foreign language. So take a closer look at my channel - it is very different now!
I continue creating videos for those, who study English! And in addition I started making videos for those who study Russian! So Russian for foreigners. Is turned out to be a really interesting and challenging task, but anyway I have been doing it for several months already! And basically this project is for A1-A2 students of Russian, but higher levels might find something interesting too!
As for English lessons I make videos devoted to grammar, vocabulary (idioms, phrasal verbs, popular acronyms, interjections) and also some videos, containing tips for studying any foreign language. So take a closer look at my channel - it is very different now!
пятница, 17 августа 2012
Today I would like to tell you that learning foreign languages by Skype is very popular nowadays, and it is quite understandable, cause both the teacher and the student does not have to leave their cozy homes and lose time on going somewhere, in addition there are no transport expenses, so there are so many pluses.
However some people can feel confused about this approach, since you do not see your teacher face to face and the Internet connection sometimes effect the quality of voice transmission and so on. BUT you still see your teacher, and problems with the Internet can be avoided. In addition, usually you pay less for such classes and providing you try hard and take your classes seriously the results will mushroom up! =) So good luck!
p.s. I teach by Skype myself, here is my login - zhuk.antonina
And here is the nice school where I teach - lengua.art-beats.ru/
Welcome!
However some people can feel confused about this approach, since you do not see your teacher face to face and the Internet connection sometimes effect the quality of voice transmission and so on. BUT you still see your teacher, and problems with the Internet can be avoided. In addition, usually you pay less for such classes and providing you try hard and take your classes seriously the results will mushroom up! =) So good luck!
p.s. I teach by Skype myself, here is my login - zhuk.antonina
And here is the nice school where I teach - lengua.art-beats.ru/
Welcome!
Вопрос: Is learning English by Skype a good idea?
| 1. definitely | 6 | (66.67%) | |
| 2. probably | 3 | (33.33%) | |
| 3. don't think so | 0 | (0%) | |
| 4. don't know | 0 | (0%) | |
| Всего: | 9 | ||
понедельник, 06 февраля 2012
Everybody knows that learning through fun is a very promising technique, so as for me I try to use this fact wherever possible, like my last idea, which is quite common in the Net nowadays – is to print different phrases and their funny translations made by my students on a picture showing a translator. I show these to my students and write the correct translation lower, thus they memorize the correct one far faster. For those of you who know Russian here are two examples:
In this case – В этом кейсе (the translation can be correct but in the text it had the meaning of “in this particular situation“).
Try me – Попробуй меня (the phrase should have been translated „проверь меня“).
Activity: you can use these in the following activity: prepare some cards with such translations, but without the original phrase, ask Ss to guess what it was. You can print a funny picture demonstrating the translation instead of wording it or use the picture as a support. In the end the correct answer is to be repeated several times in the appropriate context.
So study through fun! Good luck!
In this case – В этом кейсе (the translation can be correct but in the text it had the meaning of “in this particular situation“).
Try me – Попробуй меня (the phrase should have been translated „проверь меня“).
Activity: you can use these in the following activity: prepare some cards with such translations, but without the original phrase, ask Ss to guess what it was. You can print a funny picture demonstrating the translation instead of wording it or use the picture as a support. In the end the correct answer is to be repeated several times in the appropriate context.
So study through fun! Good luck!
Вопрос: How about funny English?
| 1. great idea | 8 | (72.73%) | |
| 2. interesting | 2 | (18.18%) | |
| 3. not bad | 0 | (0%) | |
| 4. useless | 1 | (9.09%) | |
| 5. other (--> comments) | 0 | (0%) | |
| Всего: | 11 | ||
пятница, 03 февраля 2012
It is quite a known fact that a lot of people tried to derive a magical method for learning English or any other languages, but eventually the myth of such ways is busted in no time. However there is one method, which cannot be called magical, but still can be quite useful.
The method I'm talking about is Ilya Frank's one: all you have to do is to read books in English with original text on the left half of the page and with paralel translation of the text into your native language on the right half of the page.
Advantage: you can absorb vocabulary and some sentence structure patters subcounciously, mastering the understanding and to some extent speaking skills.
Drawback: you cannot practice listening and grammar, so to use the method there should be some background knowledge.
I have tried the method myself when I was a kid, but still when we read books like that with my father we analyzed the grammar and learned words by heart, so with some corrections this method can be used as additional home studies.
The method I'm talking about is Ilya Frank's one: all you have to do is to read books in English with original text on the left half of the page and with paralel translation of the text into your native language on the right half of the page.
Advantage: you can absorb vocabulary and some sentence structure patters subcounciously, mastering the understanding and to some extent speaking skills.
Drawback: you cannot practice listening and grammar, so to use the method there should be some background knowledge.
I have tried the method myself when I was a kid, but still when we read books like that with my father we analyzed the grammar and learned words by heart, so with some corrections this method can be used as additional home studies.
Вопрос: What do you think of this method
| 1. interesting | 8 | (50%) | |
| 2. useful | 5 | (31.25%) | |
| 3. lame | 1 | (6.25%) | |
| 4. useless | 0 | (0%) | |
| 5. not sure | 1 | (6.25%) | |
| 6. other (--> comments) | 1 | (6.25%) | |
| Всего: | 16 Всего проголосовало: 11 |
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вторник, 31 января 2012
In a classroom with not an English-speaking teacher, I mean whose mother tongue is not English as in my case, it can be really useful to invite somebody from Britain or America to fire up the Ss' enthusiasm. In fact inviting people from other counties apart from English-speaking ones can also play the trick even and especially for classroom with a native speaker as a teacher. The question is what can we do with such people within the classroom and the usual time limit?
1. Simple discussion with introduction and question concerning the country the person lives in etc.
2. Organized conference with PowerPoint presentations about different issues whether studied at the time or related to the person we invite.
3. Pondering over a certain book or film, which we chose beforehand and which as well might be familiar and related to the foreigner.
4. Playing a board game or any other game suitable for the audience and the guest.
There are many other ways to make such kind of a visit to our Ss' advantage, so let's look around and find an interesting guest!
1. Simple discussion with introduction and question concerning the country the person lives in etc.
2. Organized conference with PowerPoint presentations about different issues whether studied at the time or related to the person we invite.
3. Pondering over a certain book or film, which we chose beforehand and which as well might be familiar and related to the foreigner.
4. Playing a board game or any other game suitable for the audience and the guest.
There are many other ways to make such kind of a visit to our Ss' advantage, so let's look around and find an interesting guest!
Вопрос: What should we do with a foreign guest?
| 1. simple discussion | 6 | (35.29%) | |
| 2. conference | 4 | (23.53%) | |
| 3. a book or film related discussion | 3 | (17.65%) | |
| 4. playing English games | 4 | (23.53%) | |
| 5. nothing | 0 | (0%) | |
| 6. other (--> comments) | 0 | (0%) | |
| Всего: | 17 Всего проголосовало: 10 |
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вторник, 24 января 2012
Making a game out of learning English is not such a bad idea as it might seam on the first glance. As long as playing games is cut out for being fun, this feeling gets passed to learning process. So consider including different types of games into your English curricula, ponder over the following:
1. Playing “mafia” is extremely popular, make it even more exciting by doing it in English!
2. Computer games - not a waste of time, as one can absorb some new words and phrases ( Xanter said, she learned a lot from "Dragon Age 2"). Quest games can also be very developing.
3. There are various board games both for kids and adults, don't miss it!..
Plying is a part of our nature, and it doesn't go anywhere when we get older, so why not use in to our own advantage?! Tape "Games for English language learning and teaching" and you'll be surprised how many of them are drifting in the Internet, stretch out your hand and catch them!
1. Playing “mafia” is extremely popular, make it even more exciting by doing it in English!
2. Computer games - not a waste of time, as one can absorb some new words and phrases ( Xanter said, she learned a lot from "Dragon Age 2"). Quest games can also be very developing.
3. There are various board games both for kids and adults, don't miss it!..
Plying is a part of our nature, and it doesn't go anywhere when we get older, so why not use in to our own advantage?! Tape "Games for English language learning and teaching" and you'll be surprised how many of them are drifting in the Internet, stretch out your hand and catch them!
Вопрос: What games can be useful for English learners?
| 1. computer RPGs (role-playing games) | 10 | (31.25%) | |
| 2. computer quest games | 10 | (31.25%) | |
| 3. mafia | 5 | (15.63%) | |
| 4. board games | 5 | (15.63%) | |
| 5. other (write a comment) | 0 | (0%) | |
| 6. none | 2 | (6.25%) | |
| Всего: | 32 Всего проголосовало: 15 |
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суббота, 21 января 2012
It raises no doubt that structure of the language can be distinguished as quite a certain number if elements, which are interrelated in their turn and if we touch upon the teaching-learning aspect, it can be presented as follows: reading, listening, watching, speaking + pronunciation, writing + spelling, translating. I have widened a little bit the traditional set of elements, but I think that the added ones are also of paramount importance when we deal with learning a foreign language.
The fact is that a perfect balance is not so easy to find... especially if we keep in mind that some aspects are supposed to be paid attention to more on the first stage or later. As for beginners, I believe that video material is the most essential, since for starters when we launch ourselves into learning English we perceive better when we see images, connected to words and phrases, as context is not helping at the moment.
What is more different purposes demand additional focus on particular layers of learning English - when we want to speak correctly, but don't care about spelling, it is obvious what we need to do. BUT providing we want to have profound knowledge of English all the aspects are important. Another division is - vocabulary and grammar, neither can survive without the other, so pay attention to them both. Develop the grammar structure in your mind and string new beads of lexical elements.
English is a building in your mind - keep erecting it, brick by brick!
The fact is that a perfect balance is not so easy to find... especially if we keep in mind that some aspects are supposed to be paid attention to more on the first stage or later. As for beginners, I believe that video material is the most essential, since for starters when we launch ourselves into learning English we perceive better when we see images, connected to words and phrases, as context is not helping at the moment.
What is more different purposes demand additional focus on particular layers of learning English - when we want to speak correctly, but don't care about spelling, it is obvious what we need to do. BUT providing we want to have profound knowledge of English all the aspects are important. Another division is - vocabulary and grammar, neither can survive without the other, so pay attention to them both. Develop the grammar structure in your mind and string new beads of lexical elements.
English is a building in your mind - keep erecting it, brick by brick!
Вопрос: What do you find most important?
| 1. reading | 9 | (15.79%) | |
| 2. listening | 12 | (21.05%) | |
| 3. watching | 7 | (12.28%) | |
| 4. writing | 7 | (12.28%) | |
| 5. speaking | 16 | (28.07%) | |
| 6. translating | 6 | (10.53%) | |
| Всего: | 57 Всего проголосовало: 21 |
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пятница, 20 января 2012
Проблемы с переводом?
If you think that learning English is always tracing the same steps for everyone, you might find yourself wrong in the nearest future, for learning English is different, when we take into consideration various reasons and purposes you'd like to accomplish. For instance, there is "Basic English", "English for travelling", "Business English", "Technical English" "English for passing international exams", "English 4 Kids" and so on and so forth...
So befor starting it is really of great importance to define the core motive for your studies, and if you are done with it - you are one step closer to your goal. Apart from that it is essencial to bear in mind that different types of English involve various devices and sources, like when we study business Eglish there is no definitely need to familiarize ourselves with eating habbits of aboriginal Americans or something of the kind.
There are pots of textbooks dedicated to studying English for career or hobby purposes and some teaching-learning techniques are meat for the former and poison for the latter or vice versa, like creating and nursing your own business project or creating a game to know each other better etc.
Nevertheless sometimes when we deal with a certain type of English it might be healthy to borrow devices from other types, it depends on the acceptence of the audience and how a teacher can adopt the resorce to a new environment. In detail I 'll tell you about it later. Don't forget that there are also British English, American English... but tha't another story, stay put
!
If you think that learning English is always tracing the same steps for everyone, you might find yourself wrong in the nearest future, for learning English is different, when we take into consideration various reasons and purposes you'd like to accomplish. For instance, there is "Basic English", "English for travelling", "Business English", "Technical English" "English for passing international exams", "English 4 Kids" and so on and so forth...
So befor starting it is really of great importance to define the core motive for your studies, and if you are done with it - you are one step closer to your goal. Apart from that it is essencial to bear in mind that different types of English involve various devices and sources, like when we study business Eglish there is no definitely need to familiarize ourselves with eating habbits of aboriginal Americans or something of the kind.
There are pots of textbooks dedicated to studying English for career or hobby purposes and some teaching-learning techniques are meat for the former and poison for the latter or vice versa, like creating and nursing your own business project or creating a game to know each other better etc.
Nevertheless sometimes when we deal with a certain type of English it might be healthy to borrow devices from other types, it depends on the acceptence of the audience and how a teacher can adopt the resorce to a new environment. In detail I 'll tell you about it later. Don't forget that there are also British English, American English... but tha't another story, stay put
!
Вопрос: What kind of English are you interested in?
| 1. basic | 7 | (35%) | |
| 2. business | 2 | (10%) | |
| 3. for kids | 0 | (0%) | |
| 4. for travelling | 4 | (20%) | |
| 5. for exams | 4 | (20%) | |
| 6. law English | 1 | (5%) | |
| 7. technical | 1 | (5%) | |
| 8. other (remember or invent) | 1 | (5%) | |
| Всего: | 20 | ||
четверг, 19 января 2012
So why in the world is English so popular? Knowing the answer on this question can influence the way you perceive the information and how quickly you get results. No matter how easy this question might seem it can be misleading. Perhaps the reason for that is that Britain and America are highly developed countries, which leads to spreading their official language. Moreover the economical techniques, with the help of which they sell English are beyond any expectations: huge higher educational establishments, such as Cambridge, Oxford, Harvard produce tons of literature and DVDs to satisfy the demand.
In addition I’d like to remind you that English is so widespread since it happened so historically. Who conquered half of the world and made it its provinces and colonies? Oh, I guess the British? Who invented the Internet? the Americans? Who produced first computers and still is one hundred steps ahead of the whole planet in high technologies? The answers speak for themselves. We are tangled in this World Wide Web. Is this brainwashing?
Thus little by little English became an international language. Seems to me somebody planned to possess the whole world, well, Americans and British did it to some extent – through their language.
Therefore, in order to be up to date, successful in one’s career and intelligent nowadays everyone is expected to know English, and this is the part when you should pay great attention - English is our pass to the world of universal opportunities.
In addition I’d like to remind you that English is so widespread since it happened so historically. Who conquered half of the world and made it its provinces and colonies? Oh, I guess the British? Who invented the Internet? the Americans? Who produced first computers and still is one hundred steps ahead of the whole planet in high technologies? The answers speak for themselves. We are tangled in this World Wide Web. Is this brainwashing?
Thus little by little English became an international language. Seems to me somebody planned to possess the whole world, well, Americans and British did it to some extent – through their language.
Therefore, in order to be up to date, successful in one’s career and intelligent nowadays everyone is expected to know English, and this is the part when you should pay great attention - English is our pass to the world of universal opportunities.
Вопрос: Why is English popular?
| 1. because of history | 5 | (13.89%) | |
| 2. the internet and high tech | 14 | (38.89%) | |
| 3. because of market techniques | 7 | (19.44%) | |
| 4. it is easy | 9 | (25%) | |
| 5. other (write a comment) | 1 | (2.78%) | |
| Всего: | 36 Всего проголосовало: 21 |
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среда, 18 января 2012
We often are concerned about HOW we learn English, but isn't it the time to ask ourselves, WHY we learn it, and FOR WHAT. There is no doubt that motivation is part and parcel of any success. So really, why do we learn the English language?
The reasons for doing it can be numerous: necessity, free will, somebody's advice, sometimes we learn it just in case, "perhaps some day I'll need it". And in other situations we do it to wake our brains up. But no matter what motive it is, just learning as a hobbie or a way to succeed in your career, there should be some motivation, a good reason, that drives you through all difficulties and makes it possible to enjoy the results. So right now take you time and think about it, give your mind some food for thought.
Here is a short list why I learn English, and if one of the motives is close to you - it is great! Then we have found each other!
In the next post I'll tell you why English is such a popular language? stay with me!
The reasons for doing it can be numerous: necessity, free will, somebody's advice, sometimes we learn it just in case, "perhaps some day I'll need it". And in other situations we do it to wake our brains up. But no matter what motive it is, just learning as a hobbie or a way to succeed in your career, there should be some motivation, a good reason, that drives you through all difficulties and makes it possible to enjoy the results. So right now take you time and think about it, give your mind some food for thought.
Here is a short list why I learn English, and if one of the motives is close to you - it is great! Then we have found each other!
In the next post I'll tell you why English is such a popular language? stay with me!
Вопрос: Why do we learn Enlgish?
| 1. I like it, it is my pleasure | 15 | (16.13%) | |
| 2. for my career | 12 | (12.9%) | |
| 3. to travel and be able to communicate with others | 19 | (20.43%) | |
| 4. to train my mind | 9 | (9.68%) | |
| 5. to listen, watch and read in original | 19 | (20.43%) | |
| 6. to widen my circle of friends | 7 | (7.53%) | |
| 7. to break everyday routine | 5 | (5.38%) | |
| 8. just in case | 7 | (7.53%) | |
| 9. other (write a comment) | 0 | (0%) | |
| Всего: | 93 Всего проголосовало: 28 |
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вторник, 17 января 2012
Перевод в комментариях
Welcome to my sacred temple of English learning! To my intimate circle of language admirers. I've created this diary to help others to learn English, and trust me, I've been there. I've studied this language form the very beginning and there is no end to it, you know.
Here I would like to tell you all my little secrets, all the "gadgets" I use to keep up with ever-changing and developing English. Stay with me, and believe me, you'll succeed, we'll make your dream come true! You'll speak English! Every time you meet a foreigner you'll not panic and turn away, you'll be the one to speak first, help, cooperate.
In the next post I'll tell you why we learn English, it is vital, follow me!
Welcome to my sacred temple of English learning! To my intimate circle of language admirers. I've created this diary to help others to learn English, and trust me, I've been there. I've studied this language form the very beginning and there is no end to it, you know.
Here I would like to tell you all my little secrets, all the "gadgets" I use to keep up with ever-changing and developing English. Stay with me, and believe me, you'll succeed, we'll make your dream come true! You'll speak English! Every time you meet a foreigner you'll not panic and turn away, you'll be the one to speak first, help, cooperate.
In the next post I'll tell you why we learn English, it is vital, follow me!
Вопрос: Do you want to learn English?
| 1. Oh, yes!!! | 23 | (56.1%) | |
| 2. Not sure yet | 5 | (12.2%) | |
| 3. I don't think so | 1 | (2.44%) | |
| 4. Are you kidding? | 5 | (12.2%) | |
| 5. Other (write a comment) | 1 | (2.44%) | |
| 6. I already know it | 6 | (14.63%) | |
| Всего: | 41 | ||