Every Day English

چطور با خواندن، انگليسي خود را تقويت کنيم؟

dailyenglish — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 05:35:41 GMT

سريع خواني

معمولاً افراد هنگام مطالعه‌ي يک متن (مثلاً يک روزنامه) سعي مي‌کنند با حداقل تلاش و حداکثر سرعت به مضمون اصلي مطلب پي ببرند. شايد بتوان اين استراتژي را «سريع خواني» ناميد. در اين استراتژي مغز تلاش مي‌کند تا جاي ممکن کلمات کمتري را بخواند و تنها کسري از ثانيه روي هر کلمه توقف مي‌کند. ممکن است زبان‌آموزان نيز اين استراتژي را براي خواندن متون انگليسي بکار بگيرند.

حال بايد ديد اين استراتژي (سريع خواني) چه ويژگيهايي دارد:

کلمات گرامري از قبيل حروف اضافه و حروف تعريف ديده نمي‌شوند. چشم تنها روي کلماتي از قبيل اسمها، فعلها، صفات و قيدهاي اصلي توقف مي‌کند.
وجوه کلمه ديده نمي‌شود (مانند قسمت دوم يا سوم بودن يک فعل).
به املاي دقيق کلمه دقت نمي‌شود. دانسته شده است که مغز کل کلمه را از روي شکل آن تشخيص مي‌دهد و آن را بصورت حرف به حرف تجزيه و تحليل نمي‌کند.
به کلمات مشکلي که براي درک معني کلمه ضروري نيستند توجه نمي‌شود (براي صرفه جويي در وقت به ديکشنري مراجعه نمي‌شود).

البته «سريع خواني» روش بسيار خوبي براي صرفه‌جويي در وقت است. اما مشکل اينجاست که شما براي درک يک مطلب به کلمات گرامري خيلي نياز نداريد، اما براي ساختن يک متن يا مطلب (هنگام نوشتن يا صحبت کردن) به آنها نياز داريد. بنابراين اگر به چيزهايي مانند حروف تعريف و حروف اضافه دقت نکنيد، نخواهيد توانست آنها را به درستي در جملات خودتان بکار گيريد.

به همين دليل بعضي از زبان‌آموزان يک کتاب 300 صفحه‌اي را تمام مي‌کنند و همچنان با گرامر نسبتاً پايه‌اي هم مشکل داشته باشند. و باز به همين دليل است که حروف اضافه و حروف تعريف جزو سخت‌ترين قسمتهاي آموزش زبان انگليسي محسوب مي‌شوند. توصيه‌اي که در اينجا به زبان‌آموزان مي‌شود اين است که اگر مي‌خواهيد مهارتهاي خروجي (=نوشتن و مکالمه) خود را افزايش دهيد، بايد به خودتان ياد بدهيد که به کلمات گرامري توجه کنيد.

چگونه بخوانيم؟

در اينجا چند نکته‌ي جالب و مهم براي مطالعه‌ي متن‌هاي انگليسي به زبان‌آموزان توصيه مي‌شود:

1- هنگام برخورد با يک چيز جالب توجه (و نه واضح) توقف کنيد: مثلاً يک کلمه‌ي جديد، نحوه‌ي کاربرد يک کلمه، يک ساختار گرامري، يک حرف اضافه، يک حرف تعريف، ترتيب لغات و .... کمي وقت بگذاريد و فکر کنيد که چرا مثلاً در يک جمله‌ي خاص از حرف اضافه‌ي at به جاي on استفاده شده است و يا چرا از زمان حال کامل استفاده شده است در حاليکه شما انتظار گذشته‌ي ساده را داشتيد.

2- اگر در جمله‌اي عبارت مفيدي وجود دارد، از خودتان بپرسيد: آيا خودم مي‌توانم يک عبارت مشابه بسازم؟ آيا مي‌توانيد مثلاً حروف اضافه، حروف تعريف و زمانهاي صحيح را بکار ببريد؟ اگر مطمئن نيستيد، سعي کنيد يک عبارت مشابه را با صداي بلند و يا در ذهنتان بگوييد. هدف اين است که آن عبارت را در ذهنتان نگه داريد.

- هر جا لازم است (و يا اگر صرفاً دوست داريد)، از ديکشنري استفاده کنيد تا به تعاريف کلمات و نيز به جملات نمونه‌ي بيشتري دست پيدا کنيد.

4- جملات و عبارتهاي مفيد و کاربردي را در دفتر يادداشت خود (و يا در نرم‌افزارهايي مانند Supermemo) وارد کنيد. بدين ترتيب اطمينان خواهيد يافت که در آينده باز هم آنها را مرور خواهيد کرد.

اگر دوست نداريد هنگام خواندن توقف کنيد (تا مثلاً يک کلمه را در ديکشنري جستجو کنيد)، مي‌توانيد زير جملات جالب و مفيد خط بکشيد تا بعداً به آنها رسيدگي کنيد.

نکته‌ي مهم ديگري که بايد به آنها توجه کنيد اين است که شما مجبور نيستيد که هميشه از استراتژي بالا استفاده کنيد. خواندن به اين روش نسبتاً خسته کننده است، بنابراين اگر بعد از يک مطالعه‌ي طولاني خسته هستيد، اين روش را به کار نبريد. همچنين براي هر جمله به يک اندازه وقت صرف نکنيد. در بسياري از جملات، عبارتها و ساختارهايي که براي جمله‌سازي شما مفيد باشند وجود ندارد.

منبع: www.zabanamoozan.com

Prepositions

dailyenglish — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 03:52:06 GMT

What's in a Preposition?

Josef Essberger

Prepositions can be divided into:

one-word prepositions (eg at, into, on)
complex prepositions (eg according to, in spite of)

The name "preposition" (pre + position) means "place before". Prepositions usually come *before* another word, usually a noun or noun phrase:

noun (I will meet you IN *London*.)
pronoun (Give it TO *her*.)
noun phrase (I'm tired OF *all this work*.)
gerund (verb in -ing form) (It crashed ON *landing*.)

If a preposition does not come before another word, it is still closely associated with another word:

*Who* did you talk TO?
TO *whom* did you talk?
I talked TO *Jane*.

Notice that many prepositions can also be adverbs:

He walked DOWN the hill. (preposition)
Please sit DOWN. (adverb)

A few prepositions can also be conjunctions:

Everyone came BUT Tara. (preposition)
I asked her BUT she didn't answer. (conjunction)

How many prepositions are there in English? It is not possible to give a definite answer, partly because complex prepositions are "open class", which means that new ones could be invented at any time. But for a list of almost all the one-word and complex prepositions in common use, see English Prepositions Listed which includes 370 example sentences.

Many words are associated with a particular preposition. When you learn a new word, try to learn the preposition associated with it. A good dictionary usually gives you examples.

Here are some common verbs that are associated with a particular preposition:

to agree WITH somebody
to agree ABOUT a subject
to agree ON a decision
to agree TO a proposal
to arrive AT/IN a place
to ask FOR something (but to ask a question/the time/directions etc)
to borrow something FROM somebody
to depend ON somebody/something
to explain something TO somebody
to insist ON -ing
to laugh AT somebody/something
to listen TO somebody/something
to participate IN something
to pay FOR something
to be rude TO somebody
to shoot AT somebody/something
to smile AT somebody
to succeed IN something
to talk TO somebody
to talk WITH somebody (US)
to worry ABOUT something
to write TO somebody

Here are a few common expressions with particular prepositions:

to be afraid OF somebody/something
to be angry WITH somebody
to be angry ABOUT something
to be bad AT something
to be clever AT something
to be good AT something
to be interested IN something
to be kind TO somebody
to be nice TO somebody

Listening: A good way to learn English

dailyenglish — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 04:05:11 GMT

Everyone knows that there are four skills in learning a language, namely listening, speaking, reading and writing. They are always related in terms of usage, and speaking is viewed by learners as the most desirable skill in face-to-face communication in the globalization era. However, what is the answer to the following questions?

What do you have to do before you can speak?
What does a child learn before he talks?
What do we do before chatting?

Listen, of course!

Naturally, children begin listening to their parents when they are babies. They are often greeted, spoken to and admired without any response expected. Though nobody knows if the baby understands the spoken words, the process continues. Children automatically acquire such language over some time, and later on gradually produce it through actual experience. The production may be incomplete at first, but successful at last. That leads to speaking skill which is quite applicable to daily conversation.

In learning English, listening can help improve speaking considerably. Although it is the first of all skills, it is neither the easiest nor the most meaningless. We need to hear various types of English repeatedly and continuously if we want to communicate properly, meaningfully and naturally.

Why is listening good?

When listening, we are reviewing a lot of English usage such as vocabulary, grammatical structures, intonation, accent and our own interpretation.
We can learn new words and expressions by hearing them frequently.
Besides the English revision, general knowledge from news, features, or even advertising spots is certainly beneficial for regular listeners.
We can imitate what we hear and apply it with great confidence.
Listening can be a good "hobby" while we do other things such as cooking, ironing, exercising, relaxing etc. In other words, we have no wasted time at all.
Listening is also a great way to train our attention.

How can we listen to English?

Nowadays, radio cassette recorders are household appliances, but we often overlook their radio function. We can experience English language radio programmes almost anywhere in the world. They are usually picked up on FM bands and aired particularly for foreigners. Short wave radio programmes are another option. Two of the most easily found English language broadcasters are the BBC and Voice of America. Today, you can even access them by internet.

How to Pronounce -ed in English

dailyenglish — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 03:55:33 GMT

The past simple tense and past participle of all regular verbs end in -ed. For example:

base verb (v1)	past simple (v2)	past participle (v3)
work	worked	worked

In addition, many adjectives are made from the past participle and so end in -ed. For example:

I like painted furniture.

The question is: How do we pronounce the -ed?

The answer is: In 3 ways - / Id/ or / t/ or / d/

If the base verb ends in one of these sounds:		*example base verb:**	example with -ed:	pronounce the -ed:	extra syllable?
unvoiced	/t/	want	wanted	/ Id/	yes
voiced	/d/	end	ended	/ Id/	yes
unvoiced	/p/	hope	hoped	/ t/	no
	/f/	laugh	laughed
	/s/	fax	faxed
	/S/	wash	washed
	/tS/	watch	watched
	/k/	like	liked
voiced	all other sounds, for example...	play	played	/ d/
		allow	allowed
		beg	begged

* note that it is the sound that is important, not the letter or spelling. For example, "fax" ends in the letter "x" but the sound /s/; "like" ends in the letter "e" but the sound /k/.

Exceptions

The following -ed words used as adjectives are pronounced with /Id/:

aged
blessed
crooked

dogged
learned
naked

ragged
wicked
wretched

ESL or EFL

dailyenglish — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 03:49:05 GMT

ESL or EFL?

What do ESL and EFL mean? ESL stands for English as a Second Language. EFL stands for English as a Foreign Language. ESL is used when people learn English in an English speaking country. EFL is used when people learn English in a non-English speaking country. Is this important? Not very, if you are a student. But there are some important technical considerations for teachers.

A Tip for the Possessive Apostrophe

dailyenglish — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 03:47:28 GMT

Apostrophes need not be learning catastrophes
by Rolf Palmberg

What is the difference between

The boy's books are on the table, and
The boys' books are on the table ?

The position of the apostrophe in a noun (to indicate possession of something) often causes problems for ESL/EFL learners. Yet the rules are simple. In fact, learners only need to decide whether the possessive noun (the possessor, which, by the way, can also be a name) is singular or plural and whether or not it ends in -s in its written form.

The following rules apply:

If the possessive noun is singular, always add an apostrophe + s.
If the possessive noun does not end in -s (in its written form), always add an apostrophe + s.
If the possessive noun is plural and ends in -s (and this is a characteristic feature of the large majority of plural nouns), just add an apostrophe.

This is why you say James's books, the children's books, and even the boss's books. This is also why you don't know whether something belongs to one or several boys until you see the sentence in writing.

To simplify things further, all you really have to remember is Rule 3. If Rule 3 does not apply, always add an apostrophe + s.

(Note that American English does not always follow these rules.)

To Teachers

dailyenglish — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 04:27:37 GMT

For those of us working exclusively with authentic materials or even for those teachers who use them to complement their classes, spiral second language teaching plays a key role in their students’ learning process.

What is spiral teaching?

As you may very well know, when dealing with authentic materials, any single piece of material will display several patterns and structures that the student may not know at that time. However, as teachers we need to make choices so as what to systematize and teach at any given moment and what not to. In other words, although there may be lots of items that the student will need to learn, it is impossible to study each and every one during the course of just one lesson, or else you will have to present the student with dozens of new rules, patterns and structures that may literally overwhelm and cause him or her a great deal of frustration.

How could we go about this?

Spiral teaching provides the answer. This is a name I made up to describe a very effective approach I have been using to tackle these types of materials. As I mentioned in previous articles, “meaning” is the key. Forget grammar and patterns when you introduce a new topic. Have your students focus on understanding meaning, starting from the gist and once they have a pretty good idea of the general meaning, go deeper into more specific comprehension and once this has been achieved, focus on detailed comprehension.

After contextual meaning is absolutely clear for the student, you can focus on detailed vocabulary and grammar. During your lesson, you should always focus on one main item at a time. If the need arises, you may just mention or briefly explain any other pattern that may be necessary to understand the main point. However, do NOT go deeper into this, just mention it and explain that you will get back to this later. Put in a different way, a lesson should have a main focus and maybe several patterns that are just mentioned but not dealt with in detail.

What is the use of this?

That is a very good question. After all, you may ask, the student may not be able to produce those patterns that were introduced incidentally. And that is absolutely true! Nevertheless, you should think of those patterns as little seeds that you are planting until the time comes for you to systematize them more formally, one at a time of course.

That is to say, in one class you may mention it in an informal way, the very same structure may appear two classes later and you may mention it incidentally as well, and you can go on like this until the time comes for you to formally present it. When this moment finally comes, you will notice that it will be much easier both for you to present it, and much simpler for the student to understand it. After all, it will not be the first time s/he’s been exposed to this structure. There have been prior contacts with this pattern, so the student may have a pretty good idea of its uses IN CONTEXT. We cannot underestimate this important element. The student has been presented with the structure in context. This is by far much more valuable and productive than just coming to class and saying: “today we are going to learn this pattern.” Unlike in this latter example, the student has already needed to guess its meaning and uses, has seen it working in real life, has been told about it, and now, it is the time when s/he will study it formally.

Of course, while we present this specific item in a systematic way, we may also be introducing other new structures that the students may come across incidentally. Again, we will focus on our main target and we will just mention the other structures that may arise, limiting our explanations as much as possible, just to enable the student to grasp its meaning in context. By doing this, we will be planting new seeds that in no time will germinate.

The main advantage of authentic materials is that in any single article, report, segment of a video, etc. you will find most, if not all, the structures of the language laid out in front of you. By working systematically with these materials, you can always “plant seeds” and equally important, you can use them to review and refer back to what you have already seen and presented formally.

This is absolutely essential with authentic materials, not only do you need to plant little seeds but when the time comes and they blossom you have to water them on a regular basis. This is spiral teaching at work. Not only should you mention items casually and teach them at a later time, but you should also need to provide students with ample opportunities to interact and use them naturally and refer back to them when they fail to use them appropriately. Spiral teaching requires a LOT of recycling. This results in language acquisition. What they see formally in class today, has been already mentioned and will also be mentioned in the future time and again, but NOT as part of a grammar drilling or something similar but actually in the course of real communication.

Will students get it right at once? No way. They may make lots of mistakes, even after you have taught the item formally. Trial and error is VERY important. That is part of the first-language acquisition process and it should not be disregarded in second-language acquisition. It is through trial and error that students become really aware of the workings of the language, of what works and what doesn’t. And by making mistakes they can rule out what is not correct. For example, a learner of English may say “goed” instead of “went” to refer to the past of the verb “to go.”

This may drive a teacher crazy but only if the teacher fails to recognize that this student is making awesome progress, in spite of the obvious error. The student clearly shows that his/her internal grammar, a subconscious process, has internalized that in order to form the past in most verbs you ad “–ed” to the infinitive form (i.e want – wanted, need --- needed) However, the verb “go” does NOT fit into this pattern.

After several exposures of this kind, the very same student will start to use the new form, simply because it will have been internalized through exposure and interaction IN CONTEXT. It goes without saying that without someone to interact with you cannot tell what is right or wrong and consequently, your progress will be limited to just repeating a few words and phrases. That is why so many self-study courses on CD fail time and again, but that is another story that we may tackle in a future article...

Vocabulary

dailyenglish — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 02:53:00 GMT

Humor

Vocabulary

A. = Adjective ADV. = Adverb IDM. = Idiom N. = Noun V. = Verb
to crack up	V. to laugh uncontrollably, to laugh a lot
dry	A. not obvious, subtle (sense of humor)
to giggle	V. to laugh a little without opening your mouth very much
humorous	A. funny, amusing
an impression	N. the act of speaking or singing like a famous person
to kid	V. to make jokes, to joke with someone; to not be serious about something
a stand-up comedian	N. a person who entertains by telling humorous stories and jokes; a professional comedian who performs live
silly	A. funny in a slightly stupid way; funny in a way which is not really intelligent or sophisticated
twisted	A. 1) sick, disgusting, abnormal 2) using sick or disgusting things in a humorous way
witty	A. 1) funny in an intelligent way 2) full of fast, humorous responses

How do you think of these vocabularies? Can you apply them in your conversation? c

English speaking tips

dailyenglish — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 02:17:03 GMT

Fluency

The main goal is fluency. Remember that you don't have to know many complex grammatical structures to achieve that goal! First of all try to speak as fluent as possible (even making some grammar mistakes). Then, after making your speaking fluent, you can focus on grammar aspects.

English vocabulary learning

Many people think that knowing a lot of words is a key to fluent speaking. It's true! However, there are many people who have wide idiolect and problem with fluency. They try to learn more and more words because they think vocabulary is their problem. They don't realize the problem is somewhere else. They always try to use exact translation of the word thay want to use, but it causes that they often get stuck. If you have same problem remember that almost all words can be swapped by some other words. If you'll be speaking and suddenly stop, trying to get to your mind translation of some word, forget it! Try to say what you have on mind in other words - practising it is a real key to fluent English conversation!

Learn English by practise

Of course the best way of practise are English conversations with other people. You can find some people who want to talk to you online on our website. We recommend to contact with other person using communicator which provides voice chat (like Skype). However, in case you don't have possibility to use such, it's better to practise by standard chatting than not practising at all.

So the most important thing you have to remember is:

The more you practise, the more fluent your English speaking is.

Good luck!

خبر

dailyenglish — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 05:01:34 GMT

با سلام

این وبلاگ بزودی با تغییر در نوع مطالب و سبک به روز شدن آماده ارائه خدمات جدیدی در زمینه آموزش زبان انگلیسی و ترجمه آن برای علاقه مندان خواهد بود. موفق باشید!