Archive for the ‘Learning English’ Category
Writing English: Some Useful Tips
We have been discussing online courses lately and from the way things are shaping up, we will continue to discuss it as its influence keeps growing. It’s always more fun listening to an audio clip or watching a video to learn. Online learning is taking things away from the realm of text books and combining learning with fun to make a deeper impression on the learners. With that being said, I am going to cut down on writing here and refer to a video for the points I am trying to make. It’s a video which gives you some useful tips on writing by pointing out common mistakes that are found in writing samples. Check it out here.
Learning English Through Forums
It is often said that the best way to learn English is to speak in it as much as possible. However a problem that many of us face is that we do not have access to a group of English speaking people and speaking in the presence of people who are fluent in English gives rise to inhibition and fear of possible ridicule. While I’d like to say go ahead and speak fearlessly, it’s good to consider alternatives in case you do not find people around you to speak in English with.
Online forums can be an interesting way of learning English as well as learning about English. Just like you, there are people from all over the world whose mother tongue is not English and faced with similar problems they often turn to forums to find and interact with people. These forums introduce you to a wide variety of people united by the common goal of learning English. The forums provide a platform where people can chat with each other, trade tips and tricks and talk about the problems and solutions of language learning. While your speaking skills are not really being tested here as we are generally more comfortable chatting online where we are not facing a bunch of people, you can still pick up a lot of valuable information as you get to meet people of different nationalities and backgrounds.
So if you are keen on improving your English, visit a forum and start interacting with people.Take a look at such a forum here and check out the discussions going on.
Learning English=Winning
The urban/rural divide when it comes to education is nothing new to us. Urban students, with better facilities and exposure for learning English, have an edge over their rural counterparts when it comes to soft skills. Developing communication and soft skills is vital when it comes to bagging lucrative opportunities. Though rural students can compete with the city kids when it comes to domain knowledge, the lack of English knowledge often plays spoilsport in interviews. Just came across yet another article in The Hindu today which talks about the problems faced by rural students in various engineering colleges across the state.
Students have to realise that getting into a good college does not guarantee a good job these days. In addition to the curriculum, students need to keep themselves updated on current industry practices and trends. If they find there is something lacking in them (especially something as vital as English), immediate steps must be taken to improve and become an effective communicator. All the domain knowledge won’t be able to help a student out if he/she fails to express it and convince interviewers.
The article provides some other examples as well. Check it out here.
Learn English Online
There is nothing better than to learn English through regular practice. However not all of us might have access to English schools or a circle of people to converse with in English. In that case online learning resources can come in handy . The advantage here is that there is plenty of material out there on the web and all major aspects of communication (listening, speaking, reading and writing) are covered. The icing on the cake is that they come to you for free and you can access them anytime according to your convenience.
Online resources provide you plenty of choices. It is easy to find material suited for all levels so you just need to try and figure out which exercises will be suitable for you and then get started on all that the resource has to offer in that category. Some websites offer you trial tests as well so that you can assess your competence from time to time. Since all the exercises are online, the fear of making mistakes in front of an audience can be ruled out and you can feel free to take the listening and speaking exercises that are on offer.
From time to time I will provide links to learning materials online. You can access a good source here.
Introduce English but don’t Impose It
Andhra University has recently decided that students will no longer be allowed to write their exams in Telugu and have to use English. This decision has been troubling a significant section of the students and they are resorting to protests. However, the V.C, B. Satyanarayana is adamant on the issue of students using English. He reasons that the lack of English skills is the reason many students are falling behind in the competition and therefore, students should necessarily take to English.
While it is true that one of the primary reasons behind the failure of a lot of students to secure a good job is their inability to communicate efficiently in English, an University cannot take such a strong decision without implementing proper training and facilities for the students. A lot of students coming from a vernacular medium of education find it difficult to suddenly switch to English for higher studies. It is vital that the Universities recognize this problem and introduce courses or set up coaching classes and training centres so that stuents can enroll and work on mastering a new language.
While many people might term this move as progressive/revolutionary, we need to see whether the institution is offering proper encouragement and support to the students wanting to learn English. If that is not being done then it becomes just a forceful imposition and fails to serve any purpose.
Use Words Carefully While Learning English
All of us get excited at the prospect of learning new words. In the process of learning a language we are asked to improve our vocabulary. The more words we know, the more our command over a language will increase. While learning new words can be fun, we also need to be cautious about their usage since many words have multiple meanings and connotations.
If you look closely at your mother tongue, you will identify several words which are used in various situations and which carry various meanings. Change of context often alters the meaning of words and depending upon culture, humour and other factors, words get associated with various things. Apart from its common meaning, the word “egg”, for example, is used to describe encouragement and support. Also a lot of words and expressions that we use in our respective languages have no English equivalent and vice-versa.
When you come across a new word, make sure you find out more about it before beginning to use it on a regular basis. Usage of certain words can hurt the sentiments of certain people and land you in trouble. It is also important to know whether a particular word has any special meaning in a cultural or religious context. Keep a good dictionary handy and look up references.
A Few Useful English Writing Tips
Just came across a video on YouTube and thought of sharing it here on the blog. The video is about effective writing skills and provides six tips to make your writing better. It is about writing in the professional sphere and teaches you how to convey your message in a strong and focussed manner. I did find the tips quite nice though it might be difficult to follow all the rules at the same time. Apart from that, keeping a set of rules in mind while you sit down to write can be quite limiting and restrictive to the flow of thought. However,gradually incorporating a few of the tips in your writing through regular practice can definitely change the way you write for the better. Check out the video here.
Keep Territories in Mind While Writing English
The young, tech savvy generation might be doing well when it comes to being acquainted with cutting edge technology but when it comes to communication, especially writing, an adverse effect of technology is slowly but surely making its presence felt. Some social networking sites impose a word limit on the users and we all know that mobile messaging (one of the most popular ways of communication nowadays) comes with a character limit. This is leading to the development of a whole new lingo in cyberspace where correct spellings are given very little importance owing to the necessity to provide as much information as possible within the character limits.
While messages like “Tk cr” and “Nice to c u 2″ have come to be accepted in messages and scraps, the trouble starts when people start mixing business communication with personal exchanges. Alarmingly, we are observing more and more people using short forms and incorrect spellings while writing business proposals, letters and so on. They might not be doing it on purpose, but heavy messaging and frequent chatting is modifying their writing style in such a way that they are failing to spot the incongruities of messaging lingo in their official assignments.
Care should be taken to avoid this at all costs as such writing will not be tolerated outside personal exchanges. Messages should be written in proper and correct English to avoid this habit from creeping into the writing style or if that is not possible, a conscious effort to keep personal messages personal and official communication official has to be made. Since messaging and social networking are here to stay and influence almost everybody, educational institutions have a role to play in making young minds aware of this problem.
Make Learning Fun
As English is being looked at as a language of opportunity, more and more people are flocking to various training centres and colleges to hone their English skills. As someone proficient in English, this opens up new opportunities for you as a language trainer. The demand for English language trainers is high not only in India but across various countries where English is not the first language. Needless to say that to make the most of this lucrative opportunity, you need to have a good command over English. However, we have seen several times that learned men do not always make good teachers. So before considering a career in language training you need to work on your teaching abilities as well.
In a training institute or college, you will come across students who can speak English but suffer from lack of fluency, confidence and so on as well as students who have to be taught from scratch. It is important to identify the various levels and assign different time slots so that you can give every level the necessary attention. However what is most important according to me is that you need to ensure that your students are having fun while learning. Abstain from making your sessions resemble grammar schools or dull English classrooms. Think out of the box and come up with word games, contests and creative activities (such as composing slogans, poems etc) which will make your students look forward to attending your session.
There is nothing like learning through fun. Picking up a language, or any skill for that matter, becomes something to enjoy and makes the teacher immensely popular and successful in the process.
Outside the Classroom:A Different Take on Creative Learning.
In the academic fields of literature and language, a creative writer is highly appreciated. Several universities and colleges both in India and abroad offer courses on creative writing. If you are an acclaimed creative writer, your proficiency in the language can hardly be called into question. It is taken for granted that you have mastered the language and are able to play with it as per your wishes. You can compose poetry, write stories, argue convincingly and so on. Armed with such abilities, you may think that a job in the industry that involves writing will be a piece of cake for you. Pause here and think again.
Lucrative opportunities like technical writing and blogging require extensive writing from you but not the kind that you have been producing so far in your classrooms. I once attended an interview for the post of technical writer in a reputed company where I was asked why I want this job. I confidently replied that creative writing is one of my skills and I would love to apply that skill in my job. My interviewer smiled and told me “creative” writing is not what is expected out of me. The focus should be to keep the language as simple as possible and be straightforward. The writing thus has to stem from an entirely different attitude and perspective.
You need to keep in mind that a company is hiring you to write about itself, its objectives, its products etc. Through your writing, existing and prospective clients will form an idea about your company and what it is all about. It is up to you to make this idea as clear to them as possible. So you need to free your writing from veiled references and images to make it clear and comprehensible. When you are writing about a product, you have to make all specifications easy to understand and when you are blogging about the company and its services, your style needs to be simple so that your writing is understood by everybody. A poet or novelist can get away by saying he/she writes for a specific target audience, but you won’t usually have that excuse. So does that mean there is absolutely no creativity? Not at all; you need to be creative to make your writing simple, comprehensible, yet eye-catching.