UNIVERSITI SAINS MALAYSIA KAMPUS INDUK, 11800 UNIVERSITI SAINS MALAYSIA, PULAU PINANG.

FIK 3042

ENGLISH FOR COMMUNICATION 2

NAMA K/PENGENALAN NO. MATRIK PENGAJIAN PENSYARAH TARIKH SERAHAN : : : : : : LOKMAN BIN SAMIAN 830510-01-5345 PPG/ 23103/12 SAINS DR. MOHAMAD JAFRE ZAINOL ABIDIN 17 MAC 2012

ARTICLE 1

http://www.learnenglish.de/improvepage.htm

Improve your Learning Skills

Learning is a skill and it can be improved. Your path to learning effectively is through knowing

yourself your capacity to learn processes you have successfully used in the past your interest, and knowledge of what you wish to learn

Motivate yourself If you are not motivated to learn English you will become frustrated and give up. Ask yourself the following questions, and be honest:

Why do you need to learn/improve English? Where will you need to use English? What skills do you need to learn/improve? (Reading/Writing/Listening/Speaking) How soon do you need to see results? How much time can you afford to devote to learning English. How much money can you afford to devote to learning English. Do you have a plan or learning strategy?

Set yourself achievable goals

You know how much time you can dedicate to learning English, but a short time each day will produce better, longer-term results than a full day on the weekend and then nothing for two weeks. Joining a short intensive course could produce better results than joining a course that takes place once a week for six months. Here are some goals you could set yourself:

Join an English course - a virtual one or a real one (and attend regularly). Do your homework. Read a book or a comic every month. Learn a new word every day. Visit an English speaking forum every day. Read a news article on the net every day. Do 10 minutes listening practice every day. Watch an English film at least once a month. Follow a soap, comedy or radio or TV drama.

A good way to meet your goals is to establish a system of rewards and punishments. Decide on a reward you will give yourself for fulfilling your goals for a month.

A bottle of your favourite drink A meal out / or a nice meal at home A new outfit A manicure or massage

Understanding how you learn best may also help you.

There are different ways to learn. Find out what kind of learner you are in order to better understand how to learn more effectively..

The visual learner

Do you need to see your teacher during lessons in order to fully understand the content of a lesson? Do you prefer to sit at the front of the classroom to avoid visual obstructions (e.g. people's heads)? Do you think in pictures and learn best from visual displays including: diagrams, illustrated text books, overhead transparencies, videos, flipcharts and hand-outs? During a lecture or classroom discussion, do you prefer to take detailed notes to absorb the information?

!Learning Tip - you may benefit from taking part in traditional English lessons,
but maybe private lessons would be better.

The auditory learner

Do you learn best through verbal lectures, discussions, talking things through and listening to what others have to say? Do you interpret the underlying meanings of speech through listening to tone of voice, pitch, speed and other nuances? Does written information have little meaning until you hear it?

!Learning Tip - you may benefit from listening to the radio or listening to text as
you read it. You could try reading text aloud and using a tape recorder to play it back to yourself.

The Tactile/Kinesthetic learner

Do you learn best through a hands-on approach, actively exploring the physical world around you? Do you find it hard to sit still for long periods? Do you become distracted easily?

!Learning Tip - you may benefit from taking an active part in role plays or drama
activities.

Other English Learning Tips

Travel to an English speaking country:

England, America, Australia, Canada, South Africa, one of them is only a few hours away from you.

Specialist holidays are available to improve your English. Take an English speaking tour or activity holiday.

Spend your time on things that interest you. If you like cooking then buy an Englishlanguage cookbook or find recipes on the net and practise following the recipes. You'll soon know if you have made a mistake! Keep something English on you (book, newspaper or magazine, cd or cassette, set of flashcards) all day and every day, you never know when you might have 5 spare minutes. If you are too tired to actively practice just relax and listen to an English pop song or talk radio station. Get onto Skype and Second Life. Start networking with other learners / native speakers / teachers (don't just restrict yourself to seeking out native speakers.

ARTICLE 2 http://www.streetdirectory.com/travel_guide/13015/education/ways_to_improve_english. html

Ways to Improve English

Learning a second language can be a very stressful and arduous task if you let it. Somehow, the words you learn in the books don't seem to apply very well to real life situations. Those small and seemingly un-important elements the show a person to be in command of not only the language, but the culture of the people who speak it cannot be adequately expressed by words on paper.

So, how do you learn these little secrets of mastering the ability to articulate yourself in another language?

Here are 5 proven techniques that will help you improve your English without even trying, if you are learning to speak English as a second language. Do they really work? Yes. I've tried them myself as I've had opportunity to live somewhere where English wasn't the primary language. I found it to be a fun, exciting, and painless way to learn both the language and the culture. The culture is simply learning the way the natives express their own words. The genuine accent, facial expressions, hand gestures, sighs, moans, groans, laughter, smirks, and other things that go along with everyday conversation.

Regardless of how extensive or not your vocabulary is, if you master the ability to "sound" like you know the language and can speak it, people will be more than generous to assist you.

1. Watch Movies!

Watching movies is always a fun thing to do. In order to get the most out of your movie watching experience, if your vocabulary is limited, watch a movie in English that you are very familiar with in your own language so you always know what's going on. Try not to translate as you go because you lose blocks of conversation this way. Instead, watch the picture and listen. Hear all the words, but determine what's going on by the pictures you see and the words you're hearing that you already know. Believe it or not, other words will sink in too, and so will the accent and everything else that went with what you saw and heard.

As your vocabulary grows, expand your movie selections to other movies you'd like to see but are only available in English. Try to be able to see the film more than once if possible.

According to the location and type of film you intend to view, you will be able to experience different accents, and other cultural expressions of the English language. Pick and choose the things that you think will suit you best. If it doesn't work out, pick and try something else! Have fun with yourself and your efforts.

2. Watch Soap Operas

The place where extreme expression and limited vocabulary meet! This is such a fascinating way to learn a foreign language. Every accessory that goes with the expression of a word is demonstrated on a soap opera. "Outrage" expressed with a word, facial expression or two, and perhaps even a subsequent face slap, all of that

being understandable in any language. "Love", another universal subject, or violence, good versus evil can all be discerned quickly and easily on a soap opera. Plus, soap operas are naturally designed to allow anyone just tuning in to pick up the story quickly. The characters are easily loveable and deliciously "hate-able" so you turn to it again and again to see what's going on, and not only improve your English each time, but reinforce what you've already learned.

3. Read the Comics/Funny Papers

Very non-stressful! Pictures with words, or words with pictures, however you want to look at it, it's a great way to learn! For each thought presented there are words that match a picture, and vice versa. It doesn't matter if you read comic books, or the comics in the Sunday newspaper, read whatever will make you laugh and cause you to enjoy learning at the same time.

4. Read Children's books

If you know any little kids between the ages of 5-8, try reading one of their books to them. Usually little kids know their favorite books by heart, so if you stumble a little, they'll be able to help you.

If you enjoy this method of improving your English, and you find yourself to be pretty good at it, then try reading a few Dr. Seuss books. The rhyming will challenge you, but once you master it, your pronunciation of English, and your delivery will have been considerably refined and improved.

5. Take a service job like waiter or waitress; bartender, or sales person.

This type of job can be done if you have a decent vocabulary of verbs, and know how to say "I, we, she, he, they", etc. The only other thing necessary is a working vocabulary of things relevant to your specific tasks and goals.

For example, as a breakfast waitress, you want to be able to ask if they want their eggs, "scrambled or fried", if they want "more coffee", if everything is "alright", do they want "anything else", and the total of their bill in their own language!

If you sell real estate, you'll want to incorporate words like "mortgage, loan, co-sign, 30 year fixed", etc.

If you sell shoes, you need words like "how does that feel", are they "too tight, too loose, to short in the toe, to big", etc.

The longer you work at your job, the more your working vocabulary will improve.

6. Learn these two sentences and you'll be set for life . . . seriously!

"How do you say (blank)", in English (Spanish, French, etc.), and "What is that called?" (Point if you have to, and smile too). Smiling is a universal language. Once I learned how to ask these two questions, I was on my way to being conversant in the language of my choice!

I could use my limited vocabulary to ask the question and then when I got my answer I would repeat it a few times to make sure I was saying it correctly, and "BAM" I had a new vocabulary word. And, because I asked my question to the best of my ability in the native tongue, the natives realized my sincere desire to learn, and helped me!

7. What happens if you make a mistake?

Nothing. The world won't come to an end, and you haven't embarrassed yourself to the point where you can't show your face again. Just apologize if that's what's called for, or laugh at yourself, make the correction, and count it as a learning experience.

Once I was in a restaurant and I wanted to ask the waiter for a "to go" box, however, I was speaking to my kids in English, and trying to think of what I wanted to ask for in Spanish, and I promptly and incorrectly asked him for a "house to go". He looked at me kind of funny, but he was very courteous, and didn't laugh until I laughed.

I've committed other language faux pas as well over the years, all of which have been a learning experience, and if given enough time, will become a humorous story as well.