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SEVEN SECRETS for those who learn
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Карагандинский
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руководитель: Лунёва Татьяна Евгеньевна
SEVEN SECRETS for those who learn English
LEARN
ABOUT WORD STRESS
Word
Stress is golden key number one for speaking and understanding English. Word
Stress is very important. You can try to learn about Word Stress. This
is one of the best ways for you to understand spoken English -
especially English spoken fast.
What
is Word Stress?
Take
3 words: photograph, photographer and photographic, for example. Do they sound
the same when spoken? No! They sound different, because one syllable in
each word is "stressed" (stronger than the others).
PHOtograph
phoTOgrapher
photoGRAPHic
This
happens in ALL words with 2 or more syllables: TEACHer, JaPAN, CHINa, aBOVE,
converSAtion, INteresting, imPORtant, deMAND, etCETera, etCETera, etCETera.
The
syllables that are not stressed are 'weak' or 'small' or 'quiet'. Native
speakers of English listen for the stressed syllables, not the weak syllables.
If you use Word Stress in your speech, you will instantly and automatically
improve your pronunciation and your comprehension.
If
you have an English teacher, ask her to help you understand Word Stress. Try to
hear the stress in words each time you listen to English - on the radio, or in
films for example. Your first step is to hear and recognise it. After
that, you can use it!
SENTENCE
STRESS
Sentence
Stress is golden key number two for speaking and understanding English. With Sentence
Stress, some words in a sentence are "stressed" (loud) and
other words are weak (quiet). Look at the following sentence:
We want to go.
Do
we say every word with the same stress or force? No! We make the important
words big and the unimportant words small. What are the important words
in this sentence? Yes, you're right: WANT and GO.
We
WANT to GO.
We WANT to GO to WORK.
We DON'T WANT to GO to WORK.
We DON'T WANT to GO to WORK at NIGHT.
It's
impossible to explain everything about Sentence Stress right now. The important
thing for you is that you know it exists and try to learn about it. Sentence
Stress is very important!
LISTEN!
LISTEN! LISTEN!
Students
sometimes say: 'I don't listen to the BBC news on the radio because it's too
fast for me and I can't understand it.' That's a pity! When it's too fast for
you, when you can't understand it, that is exactly when you NEED to listen to
it!!!
How
can you improve if you don't listen and practise?
When
you were a baby, did you understand your own language? When you were 3 weeks
old, or 2 months, or 1 year, did you understand everything? Of course not! But
you learned to understand by listening. Think about it. You
learned to understand your own language by listening, 24 hours a day, 7 days a
week. After that, you learned to speak. Then you learned to read. And then you
learned to write. But listening came first!
DON'T
LISTEN!
Just
before I said LISTEN! LISTEN! LISTEN! Now I say DON'T LISTEN! What do I mean?
Do
you know the difference between the verbs TO LISTEN and TO HEAR? TO LISTEN is
active. TO HEAR is passive. Sometimes you can LISTEN too hard. Sometimes you
can TRY too hard. Sometimes it is better only to HEAR. Let the radio play. Let
the cassette play. But DON'T listen. Just HEAR. Your subconscious will listen
for you. And you will still learn. If you listen and try to understand, you may
block on one word and get frustrated. Don't worry! Just HEAR! Believe me, you
will still be learning. The important thing is to let the radio or cassette or
television or record PLAY. Let it play. And you - you do nothing. Your brain
will HEAR, your subconscious will LISTEN and you will LEARN!
IMPROVE
YOUR VOCABULARY WITH 5 WORDS A DAY
Vocabulary
is easy! How many days in a year are there? 365, normally (on Earth).
If
you learn only 5 new words a day, you will learn 5 x 365 = 1,825 new words in a
year. ONE THOUSAND, EIGHT HUNDRED AND TWENTY-FIVE WORDS. That is a lot of new
words. And we are not counting all the other words you will learn in other ways
- reading, conversation etc. Buy a notebook and write in 5 new words EACH day,
EVERY day. Learn them! You will soon have an excellent vocabulary.
30
MINUTES A DAY BETTER THAN 3.5 HOURS A WEEK
In
fact, 30 minutes of English study once a day is better than 5 hours once
a week! Study regularly. Study often.
LITTLE
+ OFTEN is better than LOT + SOMETIMES.
It's
easier, too. You can easily find 30 minutes each day. How? You can get up 30
minutes earlier. Or have a shorter lunch break. Fix a particular time every day
- and keep it!
REVISE!
REVISE! REVISE!
If
you revise, you'll improve your learning by 100%.
What
does "to revise" mean? It means "to look again". You should
be systematic about this. When you learn something, you should note it. Then
you should look at it again, 3 times:
- after 1 day
- after 1 week
- after 1 month
Each
time you revise, test yourself.
Learn,
revise, test. Revise, test. Revise, test.
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