Improve your Fluency with Collocations

One of the best ways to increase your fluency is by learning and using collocations in your everyday life.  

What are collocations? 

Collocation are words that often go together in English. Native English speakers automatically use these words with each other because they sound "just right." 

For example, native speakers  always say a tall building NOT a high building. They also    throw a party. They don't make a party. They do homework rather than make homework

Whenever we hear someone using  words that DON'T seem to go together, we  automatically think it sounds "wrong," not English.

Using the "right" combination is more about sounding natural than about being 
understood. When you use two or three words together in a different way than we do, we might understand you, but you sound "strange", " wrong" or unnatural. We know right away that you are an ESL speaker who is not really comfortable with the language. 

The Expression "Awkward" in Your Writing   

I'm sure that many of your teachers have handed back compositions with the expression "awkward" written on top of your sentences.  Each time this happens, your teachers really mean that a native speaker would NOT use these words together.  They are not fluent.
The message is that you need to go back and rewrite your sentences in a way that sounds English.

Awkward English vs Normal Collocations 

Un-Natural English	Natural English
Someone has a high education	Someone is well-educated, has a good education or is well-educated
replaceable resources.	renewable resources
learn knowledge	acquire or gain knowledge , OR even better  just learn.
Support my living	make a living, support my family
Grow up children	raise children

What are the advantages of learning collocations?   

• The most important advantage is that you will immediately sound more natural and fluent  and we will understand you much better
• Research has proven that our brain learns and remembers language much better if it you learn it in chunks, or groups of words than if you only learn and try to remember single words.
• You are much more likely to use new vocabulary if you know how to use it with more than one other word.
• You will be able to express yourself in more ways with a richer and more expressive vocabulary.  That means your writing will improve dramatically. 
• You will feel more confident about your speaking and writing, which means you will want to speak and write more often than you used to.  As you know, this will help you improve even faster. 

Let's take the word " lack" for example. This is a very useful word to learn, remember and actively use because it means " not have" or "don't have." 

   If you just learn the word and its meaning, without every  learning what other words you can use it with, you will probably forget it right after your vocabulary test. it will be easy to forget.

But, if you learn that the word lack can be used with many other words, you might begin to use it.  Take a look at the graphic on your left. We can use the verb lack with all those nouns.  

I will discuss types of collocations and how you can learn them in my next post. In the meantime, let's look at two verbs that often cause problems. 

Do and Make

Non-native speakers often confuse the verbs do and make.  Although their meanings are similar, there ARE  differences. We can't simply interchange them. 


Do for activities. 
Use the verb do to express daily activities or jobs. Notice that these are usually activities that do NOT product a physical object.

• do housework
• do homework 
• do the dishes

Do for general ideas  . 
Use the verb do when speaking about things in general and you are not specifically naming an activity.   We often use this expression with  "something, nothing, anything, everything." 

•  What did you do today? 
• What do you do? =  What is your job? your occupation? 
• The storm did a lot a damage.
• I  haven't done anything all day. I need to get busy. 
• I hope you do well on the exam. 

 "Make" for Creating, Building  We use make to express the idea of creating something  This  can be something we can touch or feel, or it can be a concept or idea. 

• make a cake
• make a bed 
• make friends 
• make a mistake
• make a suggestion  

 Collocations with with DO and MAKE 

Make

Do

a difference                      a cake  a mistake                         trouble an effort to                       a suggestion an attempt(to)                  a mess friends with                      money  a promise                        a deal with/ to   progress                          a fuss about    an offer                            an excuse for fun of                               a mess a decision to/about          a face  noise                                a date                 arrangements with/.to      money        sure of something            room (for)      appointment  to/for           a date (with)      an excuse for                    a fuss   (about)  the most of (something)   sense  it clear that                        love                   the most of something                       the best of (something)   it clear to/ that     (a, any, no difference) to                         a fuss about

business  (with)       nothing something                a favour (for) everything                 research               homework                housework the dishes                the shopping         damage/ harm(to)   the laundry drugs                     an experiment          a project                  a puzzle   your hair                  your nails overtime                  an activity  time in prison           a poll/ a survey   an exercise            something over                                                do your best  do your duty   do well/ do badly do the right thing    do a bad/ good job

Practice make and do with the following quiz.

Collocations Quiz # 2: Make or Do

For more lists of collocations and quizzes go to the VOCABULARY PAGE.  and scroll down to the collocations section. .

If you liked this post, and would like more of this kind of practice, please leave a comment.

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Improve your English Fluency

A few days ago I posted an article from the Toronto Star about a study indicating that  Chinese speakers continue to struggle with English fluency and pronunciation for many years after they have moved to their new country.

As a long time instructor of both immigrants and international students I believe teachers should be supportive and encouraging towards their students. But, I also believe we have a responsibility to be honest, even when the truth is painful.

During the past 20 years, I have noted that many Asian students do indeed struggle more with fluency than students from other language groups - even after living in Canada for a long time. In fact, a large number are reluctant to speak English at all outside of class.

Note that I'm using the word Asian because I do not want to limit this discussion only to  Chinese speakers. Also note that I use the word many, not all.  

Multicultural members of the a dragon boat team

On a positive note, some Asian students try to do  everything they can to become more fluent and comfortable in English. They make English-speaking friends and join English-speaking organizations like churches and social or athletic groups such as  dragon boat teams. They often become an active part of their English-speaking community.

As a teacher, I am delighted with these  kinds of students. I know that even though they make mistakes, they will be more successful. And I believe their children have fewer problems feeling caught between two cultures as they grow up.

 

Teachers can't do it all 

There's an old saying, "you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink." In this case, English teachers can provide their students with guidance, strategies and in-class practice to help them improve their speaking and pronunciation, but the rest is up to the student. 

Some students think they'll absorb English through their skin simply by sitting in class and listening to teachers or fellow students talk. Sadly, there is no easy or magic solution. You have to work at it. 

The only way to improve English listening, speaking or pronunciation skills is: practice,  practice, practice. If you live in an English-speaking country, you must actually speak to English-speaking people.

If you live in China, Taiwan, Korea, Japan, Vietnam etc., join English conversation clubs, watch/listen to movies, YouTube videos, podcasts, and talk to tourists, Internet speaking partners, etc.

English is NOT just a school subject.   

Anyone who plans to live, study or work in an English-speaking country, must stop thinking of English as a school subject like math, biology or economics.

English is a living language. It is NOT  just a bunch of rules you study for a test.

I frequently tell my students that life is NOT a multiple choice test.When you need to talk to friends, customers, co-workers, bosses, clerks or anyone else, you will never have the opportunity to choose one out of four answers and answer a, b or c. 

When you must listen to and understand an English-speaking friend, customer, boss, etc.  you will never be able to respond a,b, or c . You will have to produce meaningful words and sentences.


This means you'll need to learn how to speak comfortably without struggling. It also means your words and sentences must  be clear enough for someone else to understand what you are saying. Finally, it means that you must prove that you understand what someone has said by responding appropriately.

So......if you really want to increase your English fluency and be understood by others, you have to go out and actually live your life in English. 
This means finding ways to use it as many ways as you can every day, even at home with members of your family.


"But I don't have the chance to practice out of class" 


One of my students' biggest excuses to explain the lack of improvement in their English listening and speaking skills is that they don't have the opportunity to practice outside of class.

"It's not my fault that my English speaking is so weak," they often say. "My family doesn't speak English and I don't have any English-speaking friends."


I realize that in cities such as Vancouver, Toronto, San Francisco, London, Sidney etc.
there are  very large Asian communities. Immigrants or international students can avoid speaking real English to real English speakers for years, even for their entire life.


This is because they can shop for food, clothing, household items, rent or buy apartments or houses, or even cars in their own language. They can go to the doctor, have their car fixed, see an accountant, go to  the bank, get a prescription, take their driver's test, or eat in a restaurant without speaking a word of English.  


If you are one of these people, even after five, ten, 15 years in Canada, your spoken English may still sound as if you just arrived last week. Your  understanding of the culture you live in will be limited and you'll have the same misconceptions about native born Canadians, Americans, Australians, New Zealanders and Britons. 



I personally know a number of people, including my next door neighbours, who fall into this category. Although they've lived here for more than 20 years, they only use about 500 English words with great difficulty.                                                                                               
Their children, who were born in Canada, speak perfect English and often have to translate for their parents. I've often heard their18 year old daughter fighting with her mom in English,  shouting that it's frustrating to have a mother who speaks so little English and how she can't bring her English-speaking friends home.

Make the Choice to Practice and Use English  


To improve your English speaking and listening skills you must make an active, conscious choice. This involves stepping outside your own safe community, and participating in the English community. Remember, Canada, USA, Britain, Australia and New Zealand are mainly English-speaking countries.

There are many opportunities to listen to and speak English. I will discuss listening opportunities in another post, but let's talk about speaking opportunities for a minute.

Step Outside your Comfort Zone - you'll be glad you did! 

Speaking English to others involves stepping outside your comfort zone and being willing to take risks, to make mistakes, to be embarrassed.

If you always play it safe in order to avoid feeling foolish, you will be just as terrible a speaker in five years as you are now.  You will also have no one to blame except yourself.

Earlier, I mentioned that not ALL Asians fail to improve their fluency. I've known and  taught many Asians who DO take risks. They volunteer at English-speaking organizations, join parent committees at their children's schools, join English social, sports or youth clubs, or even business associations such as the Rotary Club.

I've even had students who have left good jobs for lower paying ones where they have to speak a lot of English. They did this specifically to improve their English fluency.

These students have no intention of spending their lives in low-paying or boring jobs. They are making a choice to work where they must speak English because although their previous job paid a higher wage, they were only using their own language.


The students who try and make small talk with English speakers or set up English practice time with their children have dramatically increased their English fluency, often faster than  they ever expected.


Yes, they still have an accent, but they can be understood, and that's all that matters. Yes, they still make grammar mistakes, but they're working to improve their oral grammar.

There is no question that sometimes native speakers will be rude to you because you don't speak English well. Learn how to ignore them and focus on those who are not only polite, but willing to engage in real conversation, simply because you started talking to them in English.


Many native English speakers are angry at people who don't even want to try speaking English to them. They feel that those people choose to ignore the language of their new  country. When native speakers find themselves surrounded by people who only speak Chinese, Korean, Japanese etc., they feel very defensive and offended.


Develop a Plan and a Schedule

If you actually want to improve your English fluency, you must develop a real plan and a daily schedule that involves setting specific goals, and building in specific times to practice. It also involves practicing some of the "conversational skills" you learn in class, or online. 

One way to become a little more comfortable with speaking or listening to English is to use some of the information in the SPEAKING  page,  LISTENING, PRONUNCIATION or  MUSIC page.

In the SPEAKING PAGE, watch the videos on the Art of Conversation and Communicating effectively. Also check out common expressions we use for different situations. We call these "conversation management" expressions. 

You may also want to read the following previous posts:

• How to Make English Speaking Friends
• Improve Your Speaking: Use Your Cell 
• How to Join a Conversation