Smarter Learning (again): Why virtue doesn't work.

The start of a new school year is always a good time to reflect on your past learning experiences and to think about what has (and hasn't worked.)

This post ("Why Virtue Doesn't Work") dates back to 2010, but I still think it's equally relevant today...

Efficient Learning: The seven questions you should ask yourself

I'm taking a course on teaching with Coursera, and I just saw something I'd like to share with you (I will admit here that I actually didn't secure permission to share this, but I imagine it's not proprietary).

As you plan for your English learning this year, ask yourself these seven questions.

Cambridge Exams: Key Sentence Transformation Videos

I just wanted to let everybody know that there are now two Key Sentence Transformation videos available on YouTube.

The first one is a general overview of how Key Sentence Transformation works.
The second one focuses specifically on how to do Key Sentence Transformation with one-word verbs and phrasal verbs (and vice-versa.)

I'll be working on more videos this summer, especially the Key Sentence Transformation videos.

It's not easy for us, either!

So last night, I was looking around Twitter (as you do, when it's Sunday night and there's nothing good on TV), and I found this blog....

http://30daysofspanish.wordpress.com

It's the story of a guy named James, who shares an apartment in Seattle with a guy named Luis. James has decided that he's going to try learning Spanish. For thirty days, there's no English allowed in their apartment: it's all Spanish.

I think that most of you will be able to relate to what James is going through. I know that when I moved to Spain, I was at about this level...

Don't miss the video where they watch the soap opera together - it's classic.

What are your English practice plans this summer?

So....this week is the week when most people go on holidays. When we think of holidays, we don't think about work; the most that we want to do is, well, nothing.

When did you English classes end? How much have you planned to practice your English over the summer?

If you think that practice isn't important, I'd like to ask you to reflect on a post that I wrote last year. You are the only person who can control how much you learn. You attitude is everything!

So how have you planned to review and practice your English over the summer? How are you guarantee that you don't go back over the summer? Please feel free to leave your ideas in the Comments section below....

English: The (new) official language of Le Tour?

There's a thought-provoking article over at The New York Times: English has become the language for riders, teams and organizers at the Tour de France. 

First Certificate and Squeaky Wheels

Okay, let's be honest: People don't always like writing, and on the First Certificate, they really don't like formal writing. They're especially not happy about the Letter of Complaint. Why, they say, do they include this on the writing? Why complain? Complaining doesn't work. It's impossible!!

Let me tell you a story about what happened in my home town today.

My hometown is called Kemptville, Ontario. For a long time, it was not a very big place, and it wasn't very rich. That's why a lot of us left: there were no jobs. We went to different places - Toronto, Ottawa, even Spain! - to find work.

Things have changed a lot since then. The town had 2,500 people when I left; it now has about 20,000 living in the area. There are more businesses operating there. It's hard to find a really good job, but it's not hard to find a decent job.

I won't go into all the details (you can read them here); but, on Tuesday, a girl from my home town got fired (perhaps illegally) and decided to complain. And, oh, did she complain. She took the campaign to the media and social media after she complained about being fired illegally. When I joined the Facebook campaign this morning, it had about 200 members. It's now up to 8,820 members. She now has a lawyer and a couple of job offers. And she wouldn't have that if she didn't complain.

Be very careful when you roll your eyes and say that something is impossible. Just because something is new and scary, that doesn't mean that it's impossible.

When preparing for exams....don't do these things!

One of the reasons why I love The Guardian newspaper is that it's a fabulous source of how-to information on a variety of topics. Today's edition is no different - there's a very good article on what not to do when you're taking an exam -- and I think that a LOT of this information is valid for TOEFL iBT and the writing part of the GMAT exam.

Text 2 Mind Map: A great tool for vocabulary management

Are you one of those students who has a lot of notebooks from past courses? Are you one of those students who makes lots and lots of lists of words, but you don't know how to use them once the class is done? Trust me, you are not alone. You'd be surprised 

One way to solve this problem is to filter out the vocabulary and identify the words that you will actually use. (Just because you wrote a word down in your book a year ago doesn't mean that you will use it a year from now.)  

Once you've done that, group the words according to common concepts - things you find in the kitchen, verbs related to studying, verbs that use subjunctive.  

Why is it useful to do this? First, it helps you reduce and filter the old photocopies and notebooks: if you're not using your old class materials, cull them and get them out of the way. Second, it's a lot easier to remember words and ideas if you understand the context behind them. The more you understand the reason WHY a word is important, the easier it will be to remember it and use it again in the future.

This is a word map that I created for basic verbs for TOEFL iBT using a website called Text 2 Mind Map. I like this website because you can use it with both Macs and Windows, it's free to use (we like free! Free is good!) and you can download the word maps and share them. (I don't know if you can collaborate with other people to create a word map - I'm still waiting to hear on that.)

I'll probably update this word map over time: consult the latest version by clicking here.

This is definitely worth using - I'm going to think of ways to incorporate this into my classes.

COLLEAGUE or COLLEGE - do you need help saying the words properly?

It's easy to think of vocabulary mistakes just being a problem of what words mean. Sound, however, can also give us trouble when we're learning vocabulary. For many learners, this is the problem they face with saying the difference between colleague or college - they mean to say the first word but end up saying the second. 

The difference is in the final sound. When you're saying colleague, be sure to say the "g" sound at the back of your throat, not at the teeth. Otherwise, it comes out sounding like "college", which has the same "g" sound as George or edge. 

If you'd like more help working with and practising individual sounds in English, be sure to check out the Pronunciation page on the BBC Learning English website.