Flo-Joe's four steps to FCE exam success: is a site where you can take practice Cambridge Certificate exams. Even you you do not plan to take the FCE, the skills tested here will be similar to the skills you need for other English assessments such as the IELTS or TOEFL. There is a variety of areas covered.
The direct link to the Practice Tests is http://www.flo-joe.co.uk/fce/students/tests/tsindex.htm
ARE YOU A CARROT, AN EGG, OR A COFFEE BEAN?
A young woman went to her grandmother and told her about her life and how things were so hard for her. She did not know how she was going to make it and wanted to give up. She was tired of fighting and struggling. It seemed that as one problem was solved, a new one arose.
Her grandmother took her to the kitchen. She filled three pots with water and placed each on a high fire. Soon the pots came to a boil. In the first, she placed carrots, in the second she placed eggs, and the last she placed ground coffee beans. She let them sit and boil, without saying a word.
In about twenty minutes she turned off the burners. She fished the carrots out and placed them in a bowl. She then pulled the eggs out and placed them in a bowl. Then she ladled the coffee out and placed it in a bowl.
Turning to her granddaughter, she asked, "Tell me, what do you see?"
"Carrots, eggs, and coffee," she replied.
She brought her closer and asked her to feel the carrots. She did and noted that they were soft. She then asked her to take an egg and break it. After pulling off the shell, she observed the hard-boiled egg. Finally, she asked her to sip the coffee. The daughter smiled as she tasted its rich aroma.
The granddaughter then asked, "What does it mean, Grandmother?"
Her grandmother explained that each of these objects had faced the same adversity -- boiling water -- but each reacted differently. The carrot went in strong, hard and unrelenting. However, after being subjected to the boiling water, it softened and became weak. The egg had been fragile. Its thin outer shell had protected its liquid interior. But, after sitting through the boiling water, its inside became hardened. The ground coffee beans were unique, however. After they were in the boiling water, they had changed the water.
"Which are you?" she asked her granddaughter. "When adversity knocks on your door, how do you respond? Are you a carrot, an egg, or a coffee bean?"
Think of this: Which am I? Am I the carrot that seems strong, but with pain and adversity? Do I wilt and become soft and lose my strength?
Am I the egg that starts with a malleable heart, but changes with the heat? Did I have a fluid spirit, but after a death, a breakup, a financial hardship or some other trial, have I become hardened and stiff?
Does my shell look the same, but on the inside am I bitter and tough with a stiff spirit and a hardened heart?
Or am I like the coffee bean? The bean actually changes the hot water, the very circumstance that brings the pain. When the water gets hot, it releases the fragrance and flavor of your life. If you are like the bean, when things are at their worst, you get better and change the situation around you.
When the hours are the darkest and trials are their greatest, do you elevate to another level?
How do you handle adversity? Are you changed by your surroundings or do you bring life, flavor, to them?
ARE YOU A CARROT, AN EGG, OR A COFFEE BEAN?
~Author Unknown
Another link to an article online. For those wanting to improve your vocabulary, the study indicates two ways that are the best. The first is no surprise - live in a country where English is the native language. The second was more of a surprise to the researchers. People who read lots of fiction books have a larger vocabulary than people who read a lot but not lots of fiction.
Noted statistics from the study:
http://www.economist.com/blogs/johnson/2013/05/vocabulary-size
I'm just sharing a link to a blog that was shared on my Facebook Page.
http://reallifebh.com/13-tips-for-english-fluency
"the recipe for fluency is unique to each individual learner." is a statement I readily agree with just as each person has a learning style that best suits them. No two individuals learn exactly alike. Maybe it will help some of you.
The English Language is like a vast ocean. It isn't uniform, and it contains a lot of variety with many possibilities lurking out of sight, hidden away under its murky waters. In some places its depth is shallow and easily understood while in other areas it may go very deep indeed - deeper than even experienced ocean voyagers may realize.
As you are fishing in its depths where you are, you may not catch every possibility. The rule you have reeled in may not be uniform; it may have some snags attached called exceptions (and probably does). The word you hooked is likely not the only species in the English Ocean. There may be other words better tasting than the one you have caught. The person who has been your navigator may have taught you all they have learned and know, but they may have only learnt the straits around where they are and as a result may not be familiar with what lies beyond or even the deeper depths in the straits they do know. They may even have fears that if they venture too far into the Ocean they will fall off the edge, so they hug the shorelines they know. So you learn the limited area they know. So someone who has experienced a different part or perhaps a greater region of the English ocean will have an understanding that your navigator doesn't.
I don't think it is possible for any one person to know all there is to know about this vast realm. I certainly do not. People who navigate upon its waters are always learning or they become stale and obsolete. However, those who grew up fishing its waters, mining its depths for treasures, roaming its shores and living on its and sustenance have an advantage over those who are just discovering it or even those who discovered it years ago but weren't nurtured on it from conception. If an educated Native English Teacher tells you that something is or is not true about this Ocean, more than likely you can take it to the bank even if it is not what you have previously been taught. Rules seldom are absolute. They are merely tools to help people learn. Substance is more important than form.
For example many of you will have been taught the following:
“We can use action verbs with the continuous, but state verbs are not normally continuous.”
Oxford Guide to English Grammar John Eastwood p. 79
In other words you have been taught that words such as understand, believe, love, want, see
should not be used in the progressive /continuous tense. You have been taught that “State” verbs such as these are not used in the continuous or progressive form . A rule intended to help but which leads to a false understanding; a misunderstanding of English.
This is an example of learning a rule both incompletely and without learning the substance. First it is not an “absolute” rule. Note the use of “normally”. Also it is more of a British English rule than an English rule since American English uses many of these “State” verbs in a continuous manner fairly frequently, especially compared to their use in British English. But even in British English, the substance is what matters, not the rule.
The substance is that the rule only applies to an unchanging state.
Here is the part you probably missed or was never taught:
“We can use the continuous with some state verbs if we see something as active thinking or feeling for a period of time, rather than a permanent attitude.
I love holidays. (permanent attitude)”; I'm loving every minute of this holiday. (active enjoyment)”
Oxford Guide to English Grammar John Eastwood p. 80
This latter statement accurately reflects the substance of English. “I am wanting something to eat” is not wrong if it is an ongoing, continuous state rather than an unchanging state. “I am not understanding you” is correct when used to talk about the ongoing present situation. Context in English is everything. Rules are just tools. Barron's 501 English Verbs lists continuous aspects for many of the "State" verbs. Only a few are NEVER used in a continuous aspect.
Without knowing the rules, Native Speakers know how the language is used. They know that many "State" verbs are in fact used in the continuous aspect. They use them in their daily lives. They have no prescriptive rules barring them from using the language correctly. So before you tell the Native English speakers they are wrong, consider the possibility that the rule you have learned is incomplete.
Native English Speakers have a built-in advantage. They have always known the English language ocean. They have an innate knowledge that those coming to it years later struggle to comprehend. There will be aspects of it they may not fully know, but their instincts will usually guide them true. The better educated they are, the more likely this homing instinct is to be inerrant. Can Native Speakers be mistaken? Yes. Many are lost in the Grammar Seas of English. Being a Native Speaker is not equivalent to speaking, knowing and using English well, but the better educated ones will tend to be excellent guides. There is a real good possibility that the latecomer will actually have a better knowledge of the maps than the Native Speaker because the Native Speaker will seldom use one; they will only consult a map if they are in unfamiliar territory. But once the Native Speakers consult a map, the Native Speakers will again be at an advantage understanding the map. They will know landmarks and details that aren't shown on a map. They may even know some areas not shown on the map or where the map is not entirely correct or up to date.
So cast your nets fearlessly into the vast English Ocean. The more you plumb its depths, the more you will discover, and the more you discover the more confident you will become and the farther you will venture out upon the waters to reach new destinations. Learn your rules BUT try to discover the reason for the rule. Rules can be great tools but also try to learn the substance. That way, you will know when the rules apply, how they apply and, just as importantly, when when a rule is not applicable. If you wander off course or get sideswiped by a wave, look around and see if someone who has more experience navigating the waters is around to come to your rescue. If they give you advice, hearken to it. Only a fool rejects good advice.
Some quotes I like tossed into your nets for free:
"Do not be discouraged by what you do not know — but be encouraged by what you can learn." Unknown
“The greatest mistake you can make in life is to be continually fearing you will make a mistake” Rowan Ahmed
"Writing is easy. All you have to do is cross out the wrong words." Mark Twain
"One learns grammar from language, not language from grammar.” Lomb Kató,
I know I am writing about something that many of you will not have access to where you live. But since this is a global community, it may benefit some of you. I recently acquired a Kindle Paperwhite from Amazon. The Kindle Paperwhite is an electronic book (e-book) reader (an e-reader) that has its own built in lighting.
Some of its other features that I appreciate include: the ability to change the font size (but it doesn't work for pdf documents) with a quick touch;
the ability to store a large number of ebooks and sort them into folders
since I often will be reading several books in parallel switching from one to the other as the mood strikes me (I am currently reading Rebecca, When you Catch an Adjective, Kill it, and The Haunting of Hill House); it has built-in dictionaries that let you touch a word on the screen to call up it's definition which can be invaluable to those learning a language such as English; and it
also supports translation from one language to another. However for that feature to work, you need to have it connected to the internet by wifi or buy the 3G version. The Kindle uses internet translation sites such as Google Translate and as many of you already know, those sites have their own pit-falls depending upon which languages you are translating from and into when using them.
As you can see from the photographs the Kindle Paperwhite is about the same length and width as a normal paperback book but much thinner. Here it is compared to an oversized paperback (one that is about the same size as most hardback books) -
The only real negatives so far with this e-reader is it does not support many ebook formats including e-pub. However, you can use free software from calibre-ebook.com to convert almost any format including pdf into .mobi or .AZ3 to use on the Kindle. That is what I do. Then you can use non-DRM books you have from other sources such as www.gutenberg.org/ on it in addition to books downloaded from amazon. You can connect the Kindle to your computer using a USB port and move e-books back and forth directly from your computer to the documents folder on the Kindle. You can not nest folders within folders as I do on my computer, and Amazon advises you not to move folders onto the Kindle but just the e-book document itself.
So do any of you use a different e-reader? How does yours compare as to features?
Narcist!
The word glared at me from my computer screen as I was chatting. How should I respond to such an exclamation? Should I be angry? Demand that the person be tarred and feathered and run out of EC on a rail? Should I demand they be given a thousand lashes with a wet noodle? Should I laugh and ask if they know what the word narcist means?
90+ % of the people who chat at EC do not speak natively fluent English. In any group of people trying to use a foreign tongue, whether here or elsewhere, there will be some faux pas. I've made them as I have traveled around in non-English speaking countries, and I have witnessed many made by English language learners. I've put my foot in my mouth more than once. It's natural. While teaching in Mexico, I told one of my students that she had made a "silly" mistake on her paper. In her Spanish - English dictionary, the word silly was translated as "tonto" which means "fool" in its worst meaning. She was in tears. She misunderstood the expression. If I had called her "tonto", I would had been in the wrong. As it was, the misunderstanding was there. When I explained what "silly mistake" actually meant, she wasn't offended but laughed at how it was different from what she thought. She still talks to me to this day. She is my friend.
Opportunities abound to be offended IF you chose to look for offenses. It is a good idea to always give the person you are chatting with the benefit of the doubt. Or as Benjamin Franklin once said "Search others for their virtues, thy self for thy vices" Poor Richard's Almanac December 1738". As illustrated by my two real examples above, it is easy for communication mistakes to happen when language learners gather. The wrong word or expression will be used, or used in the wrong context.
It is even easy for them to happen when you have all native speakers communicating. I spent a month one time with people from 12 large corporations who were trying to write an agreement on a project where they all shared an interest. We spent one month on one paragraph. One day I realized that everyone wanted the exact same thing. The problem was that half of the people thought the existing language provided what they all wanted while the other half interpreted that language to have a different meaning altogether. The solution was to change the wording. A whole month of miscommunication due to two or three words.
So don't be quick to "fly off the handle" when somebody says something to you in chat that maybe just doesn't sound proper or even sounds out and out rude such as "Narcist!" It may just be that what they said wasn't what they intended. Or perhaps they have a different understanding of the word or expression than you (see my example above with "silly"). Mistakes happen but "[t]he greatest mistake you can make in life is to be continually fearing you will make a mistake" R Ahmed. Don't be the one that creates an atmosphere on chat where people fear to make a mistake. No one has ever learned any language without making mistakes. Learn to laugh rather than scold. Make sure the person really intended to offend you before you get offended. Your understanding and their intention may not be the same. And remember "He has a right to criticize, who has a heart to help." Abraham Lincoln.
Now how do you think I responded when (name withheld to protect the guilty) called me "Narcist!"?
How will you respond the next time someone says something to you on chat that you interpret as "rude" or "bad"?
PS: A side benefit to reading and pondering this blog , other than learning to be more tolerant of others and slower to jump to conclusions, is that you can also learn some new words, quotes and expressions along the way.
To Chat or not to chat, that is the question
The chat room here is as good or as bad as you allow it to be. Not every person who comes here to My EC comes with a good intention. Not every person is a "good" person. There are some who come to prey on others. They enjoy abusing others or they are looking to take advantage or prey on others. It is up to each person here whether this is allowed or not. If you permit it, you become part of the problem because you are encouraging it. Every time you chat with a person who is here to abuse others, you encourage them. I would encourage you to "just say no".
If someone is here talking about sexual issues, using sexual language or innuendos, they are not here for a good purpose. It is not appropriate and you should not encourage them by sympathizing with them or laughing or agreeing to chat with them in private. Each time you give them attention, you are encouraging them to return with the same agenda. Yes, perhaps it is part of your culture to be nice to everyone. But being nice to predators is like throwing gasoline on a fire. And some of them know it is your culture and nature to be nice which is why they chose to come here and target victims. To them it is a game. Don't be naive.
Let them know that such conversation is not appropriate and then ignore them so long as they persist in coming here and acting in such a way. If no one responds to their posts, especially in friendly way, they will eventually cease coming here looking for victims. They are seeking attention - don't give it to them. And never go into private with such a person or give them information about your Skype, other IM, email or personal information. They are looking to open the door with you. And every year people fall victim to people they first meet online. Yes there are bad people on the internet and in real life. Protect yourselves and others. Stop it here before it takes root.
The more you encourage them, the more they will return. If you think you are strong enough not to be a victim, what about their next target? The next person may not be as smart as you are. They may indeed become a victim. And in reality, the whole chat becomes a victim because people will quit coming to chat in that atmosphere. I know I will.
Such misconduct makes the chat a much less attractive place to be. The quality of the chat will suffer and eventually, if it continues, you will suddenly see less and less of me and other people who actually come here with pure motives. The chat room here is as good or as bad as you allow it to be. It's your choice.
Following is a list of books selected by the readers of the BBC site as the best books. I have indicated if I have read the book by writing "yes" beside it. How many have you read? Any favorites?
BBC Top 100
1. The Lord of the Rings - Yes
2. Pride and Prejudice -Yes
3. His Dark Materials - Phillip Pullman - Yes
4. The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams - Yes
5. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire - Yes
6. To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee – Yes
7. Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne - Yes
8. Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell - Yes
9. The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - Yes
10. Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte -Yes
11. Catch 22 - Joseph Heller - Yes
12. Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte -Yes
13. Birdsong - Sebastian Faulk - partially
14. Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier - Yes
15. The Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger -Yes
16. The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame - Yes
17. Great Expectations - Charles Dickens - Yes
18. Little Women - Louisa M Alcott no
19. Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres - No
20. War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy - No
21. Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell - Yes
22. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone - JK Rowling - Yes
23. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets - JK Rowling - Yes
24. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban - JK Rowling - Yes
25. The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien - ; Yes
26. Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy - No
27. Middlemarch - George Eliot - No
28. A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving -partially
29. Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck - Yes; one of my faves
30. Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll - Yes
31. The Story of Tracy Beaker - Jacqueline Wilson - Yes
32. One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez - No
33. The Pillars of the Earth - Ken Follett - partially
34. David Copperfield - Charles Dickens - no
35. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Yes
36. Treasure Island - Robert Louis Stevenson - yes
37. A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute - Yes; it's great!
38. Persuasion - Jane Austen -Yes
39. Dune - Frank Herbert - Yes
40. Emma - Jane Austen -Yes
41. Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery - ? Maybe
42. Watership Down - Richard Adams - Yes
43. The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald - Yes
44. Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas -Yes
45. Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh - no
46. Animal Farm - George Orwell - Yes
47. A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens - Yes
48. Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy - No
49. Goodnight Mister Tom, Michelle Magorian - no
50. The Shell Seekers - Rosamunde Pilcher - no
51. The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett -Yes
52. Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck - Yes
53. The Stand - Stephen King - Yes
54. Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy - Not Yet
55. A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth – No
56. The BFG, Roald Dahl - yes
57. Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome - No
58. Black Beauty - Anna Sewell - Yes
59. Artemis Fowl - Eoin Colfer - Yes
60. Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky - Yes; should be top 10 here
61. Noughts and Crosses - Malorie Blackman - no
62. Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden - Yes
63. A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens - Yes; great book
64. The Thornbirds - Colleen McCullough - yes
65. Mort, Terry Pratchett - Yes
66. The Magic Faraway Tree - Enid Blyton - No
67. The Magus - John Fowles - no
68. Good Omens - Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman - Partially
69. Guards! Guards! - Terry Pratchett - Yes
70. Lord of the Flies - William Golding - Yes
71. Perfume - Patrick Süskind - no
72. The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists - Robert Tressel - no
73. Night Watch - Terry Pratchett - Yes
74. Matilda - Roald Dahl - Yes, great.
75. Bridget Jones Diary - Helen Fielding - Yes
76. The Secret History - Donna Tartt -No
77. The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins - NO
78. Ulysses - James Joyce - Started; about half finished
79. Bleak House - Charles Dickens -No;
80. Double Act - Jacqueline Wilson - No
81. The Twits - Roald Dahl - Yes
82. I Capture the Castle - Dodie Smith - no
83. Holes - Louis Sachar - Yes, good author.
84. Gormenghast - Mervyn Peake - No
85. The God of Small Things - Arundhati Roy - No
86. Vicky Angel - Jacqueline Wilson - No
87. Brave New World - Aldous Huxley - Yes
88. Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons - No
89. Magician - Raymond E. Feist - Yes
90. On The Road - Jack Kerouac - Yes
91. The Godfather - Mario Puzo - No
92. The Clan of the Cave Bear - Jean M. Auel - Yes and all the sequels
93. The Colour of Magic - Terry Pratchett - Yes
94. The Alchemist - Paulo Coelho - No
95. Katharine - Anya Seton - No
96. Kane and Abel - Jeffrey Archer - No
97. Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez - No
98. Girls in Love - Jacqueline Wilson - No
99. The Princess Diaries - Meg Cabot - No
100. Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie - Yes
Several of these I had begun reading on my Kindle and my Kindle quit working :( I haven't replaced it so I haven't finished those books. "Ulysses" I have in hard back but haven't finished. It is a slower read "Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man" which I did read.
You can see the BBC article here http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/bigread/top100.shtml
This blog is in response to one on oxford dictionaries' website Does spelling matter? blog.oxforddictionaries.com? You can't help respecting anybody who can spell TUESDAY, even if he doesn't spell it right; but spelling isn't everything. There are days when spelling
If it ain't fixed don't break it! :)
Though there are flaws in the system, I think it is important for there to be a system. Today English is the lingua franca of the world. So there needs to be some standardization for all the learners. I remember getting letters from Brazil written in Portuguese and trying to read them. I would be reading a letter and get to a word or words I did not know. Ultimately I'd look the word up in a Dictionary or try to anyway only to discover they spelled the word wrong. Most of the time I was able to eventually discover what the word was supposed to be but not always. Sometimes I was left wondering what they were trying to say.
While a native speaker will have not any problem usually deciphering words that are not speled kowreckly those learning English will have a much harder time and may even misunderstand completely. They rely on dictionaries and spell check word processors to help them understand English so even a flawed system that is uniform is better than a non-standardization language. That is my opinion.
As someone who has taught English to Speakers of Other Languages, I realize how frustrating that English can be to learn. We have words that sound the same, spelled differently with different meanings (they're looking for their car which is parked over there), words spelled the same but pronounced differently (I like to read. Yesterday I read that red book.) and words that have multiple meanings. But altering the way we spell words will not improve the language. Millions of people learn the language even with its idiosyncrasies and inconsistencies. English is a rich and vibrant language with many nuances. Trying to fix it will only break it.
a blog worth following is http://spellingtrouble.blogspot.co.uk
PS: I intentionally used colloquial English in this post. It serves a purpose. Also, I don't get hung up on students who spell words incorrectly. It is part of the learning process. You will never learn a language without making mistakes. As one's proficiency in a language progresses, the spelling mistakes will lesson. You will learn as you go just as I did and every other Native learner.
Writing - Basics
Each Paragraph should begin with a topic sentence. It is a general statement that tells the reader what this paragraph is about and what the controlling idea is. Everything in the paragraph should relate to that idea. “If a sentence or idea in a paragraph does not relate to the main idea, the paragraph lacks unity.” You want the idea to be general yet specific enough that you can talk about one subject or aspect. If it is too general, your paragraph will be too long and cumbersome.
The Parts of a Paragraph
Topic Sentence
The Topic Sentence is the sentence that tells us the main idea. It states in a general way what the Paragraph is about. The Controlling Idea is a word or phrase that let’s us know what the author thinks about the topic. The reader should be able to ask questions about the controlling idea and expect the Paragraph to answer them.
Support
The Support in a paragraph explains or develops the Topic Sentence. This can be details, facts, examples, explanation, a narrative or statistics that (1) relates to the main idea and (2) explains or reinforces the main idea.
Conclusion
The Conclusion of a paragraph “wraps up” or summarizes the main idea and its support or comments on the main idea.
Those are the 3 parts of a paragraph. Also important are Unity, Coherence and Cohesion.
Unity is very important in writing. Everything in a paragraph should relate to the main idea of that paragraph. If it doesn’t, it should be removed from the paragraph and placed in another paragraph or omitted.
Coherence
Are the ideas in the paragraph arranged so they make sense? In a good paragraph, the ideas are arranged in an order that the reader can easily follow.
Cohesion is the use of connecting words or phrases to show the relationship between ideas. There are four kinds of connecting words:
(1) Key Words (2) Coordinators (3) Transitional Words and (4) Subordinators
"Readers are plentiful; thinkers are rare." Harriet Martineau
“a man’s world be no smaller than the mind of the man who scans it” Louis L'Amour
This blog owes it genesis to Mickey who asked the question "How are society and school different". I will discuss that more with her but a related issue is how we can learn by reading. This is true whether in school or out of school. One of our greatest opportunities to learn is by reading. But to read is not enough. Too often people read to get though a book or an article. They do not take the time to think about what they are reading. And by not taking that time, they lose an opportunity to learn.
When you read a book, you are receiving the author's point of view. That doesn't mean the author is right. Learn to think for yourself. Ask questions. Think about possibilities. Think about what the author is saying.
Of course some books are just read for entertainment but even these books provide an opportunity for you to think. The book is set in Austria? What do you know about Austria? The book is about a person hiking in the Swiss Alps? Have you ever been hiking? Does the authors adventures resemble your own? How are they alike? Different? The book is set in 1823? How are things different now from then? How would you like to live back in that time?
The opportunity to think as we read always exists but we do not always take the opportunity to exercise our minds and think. Sometimes we are just passive readers. For that reason sometimes I choose books that force me to think. Books such as Walden by Thoreau or Pirsig's Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. For each person the type of book that will prompt them to think may vary.
What if you live where there isn't a lot of books available? The internet solves a lot of that issue today. There are free ebook readers available and a lot of free ebooks also. Project Gutenberg http://www.gutenberg.org/ is one such source with ebooks available for free in many formats. Find a book on a subject of interest to you. Read. Think. You'll be amazed at what you can learn and how the more you read, the more you think, the easier learning becomes.
Now that 2013 has arrived, it's time for me to find another job. As some of you know, I left my job teaching English in Hong Kong last September just before my brother's wedding in October. I wasn't going to try and begin a new job until 2013 since my father passed away in December, 2012.
Now it is 2013 so if anyone knows of any TESOL jobs available feel free to let me know. I have a natural inclination to go where I haven't been before (Mexico, South Korea, Hong Kong) simply because I do enjoy new experiences. I also have a desire to teach in South America since it would afford me an opportunity to improve my Spanish or Portuguese. But I always look at the job specifics so I wouldn't automatically rule out South Korea or Hong Kong.
For anyone wondering where I disappeared to, I moved back to the United States on September 18. While I have time on my hands sometimes, I can not use it to access My EC. The problem is bandwidth. My internet here in Southern Arkansas is by "Satellite" and the satellite technology has really improved as to speed but it comes with bandwidth restrictions. We can only use about 200 mb a day so pages such as My EC with constant scrolling is not feasible - it eats that available bandwidth in a hurry.
I do have 5 hours in the middle of the night when I have no restrictions on bandwidth but if I spend those hours on MyEC (as I now am doing to post this) then when do I sleep? I make good use of thos e 5 hours hours for downloading software updates and to post photos online both of which use a lot of bandwidth and I do check in from to time to time on the chat when I do that but rarely do I see people who know me.
I'll be moving on elsewhere to work sometime and when I do maybe I will have the opportunity to resume a chatters life. Time will tell.
I hear this question a lot both in real life from my students and virtually as people often ask this question in the My English Club Chat. And the honest answer is: You can't - not without reading.
The only way to improve one's reading comprehension is to read. The more you read the better your vocabulary will become and the better your reading skills will develop. There is no tonic to drink or mantra to say that will magically make you a better reader. You have to read, and then read some more and then even more. The bonus to this is that the more you read, the better your memory will become. So being an active reader will bear fruit elsewhere in your life as it will help your memory also.
So where do you begin reading? Anywhere. You can read magazines, newspapers, online articles, or books. The important thing is to make time to read. Try to find something you enjoy as a subject and try to find something you can understand MOST of the words to begin. Many people give up quickly in their efforts to read when they try to start with a "too difficult" reading. Don't try to start with Shakespeare or Pirsig's "The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" or the Classic "Crime and Punishment". Start at something near your level and work your way up. It will take time but the progress will grow, and you will find yourself understanding more and more as you read more.
"A room without books is like a body without a soul." Cicero
I think Cicero must be one of my Ancestors since I agree with his sentiment. I have created a list of books in Google Documents. One is a list compiled by Modern Library of the "Best 100 Novels of the 20th Century". This is actually two lists as there is a list compiled by the Modern Library Board and another List compiled by readers. I favor the readers' list as you will see having read many more books on their list. A second list is one from a BBC survey taken at the end of the 20th Century. This survey asked readers to name the best books of all time. A third list is Newbery Award winning books. If you are just beginning to read in English you may want to look for books on this last list. Books on this list are often read by students in the US beginning around Elementary Grade 5. I have started collecting as many as can and love reading these authors and books. In fact a few of these books would be on my personal "Best Books" list.
The link to the Google Document Is:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AkJrCKLelR5VdFJ1TXV5WWxXTFpwWEJIbVJ2N0VJMXc
Look at the tabs at the bottom to see the different lists. Finally I took the Modern Library Lists and the BBC List and sorted the Titles A-Z. If a book appears more than once, that means it was on more than one of the Lists. Books bolded in Blue are books I have read so far among the titles.
Pick a book and enjoy your voyage into the land of imagination and reading.
PS: I will try to add a tab with links to online sites where you can download free ebooks to the document today.
Since I have been teaching English, I have been creating documents to help my students understand different aspects of English. Initially I was trying to share this information using my own website http://timnew.com/esl
But formatting spreadsheets using CSS or HTML isn't always easy and can be time consuming. Now however, there is an easier way. Since the advent of Google documents and now Google Drive, it is getting easier to share information.
The link to my Index of Documents is:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AkJrCKLelR5VdF9Ccks1aHNGeW54WjZzRTlqcGZFbmc
All the documents are created by me so please do not distribute them as your own - see my copyright notice - but you are welcomed to share the links to my documents and use them to teach or learn English.
This is a work in progress and I will be adding and editing documents as time permits.
Feed Back is welcome
