Tips For Timed Reading Tests

I was having trouble posting tips for reading tests on the blog, so I posted it in the reading page above. It is below other items. Keep scrolling until you see it.

GRAMMAR PRACTICE FOR FINAL EXAM

Hello class,

As I told you earlier today, I have located a number of practice quizzes you can work on to review your grammar - especially geruunds, infinirtives, past modals and conditionals. Top find the exercises, go to the GRAMMAR page in the pages section at the top of the blog, Post a comment below if you have problems. Remember all you have to do is click on the word comment and an empy page will come up where you cantype in comments.

How do you use the Internet?

This is specifically for my students, but anyone else who reads this blog can contribute if they have something to say that is specifically about the topic.

I will be posting a number of "thinking questions" in order to help you practice writing short paragraphs. Of course, other people will see them,so pay attention to your grammar and spelling. Proofread before you send your comment. .

So here's the question.

How do you use the Internet? What do you do? How often? Why? Do you mainly use the Internet to play games, find friends, learn online, shop online…? What do you think are the advantages and disadvantages of the Internet? Do you have any tips and suggestions you would like to give others?

This is not a test, nor will I correct your writing. It is j ust an opportunity to have fun with responding to something,with some real content instead of just saying what you did today.

How to Leave a Comment:

The way to leave a comment is to click Post a Comment at the bottom of the page. Right now, it says 0 comments .After you click the word, a box will come up on the left side of the screen. You can type your comment in there. You can preview your comment before you publish it. That helps with spelling mistakes. Also you do not have to leave your name.

Repairs to Links

Hi there, After hearing that some of the links were not working in the Reading, Listening and Grammar areas, I quickly rushed back to my computer to locate the problem . As it turned out, it was an easy fix. Give them anothe try. I'm pretty sure you will be successful. By the way, students in my own class should put particularly energy into practicing Reading for Understanding 2. It gives you terrific practice with critical thinking, inference and reaching conclusions. The exercises are great pracrtice for reading tests.

For the Love of Grammar

The house on the corner

Isn't it interesting how students grab onto new grammar structures they have learned in class. This is particularly true for the adjective clause, particularly the adjective clause using the verb "to be". For example, two specific ones that regularly appear in almost every paragraph or essay that lands on my desk include: the woman who is/was beautiful, and "the girl who was my best friend." " Come on guys. Let's get serious," I insist "You really don't need all this extra wording for a simple "beautiful girl," or "best friend."

Ah, but they do. Why? It's all about impressing the teacher. "If I put in an adjective clause, I will get a better mark. If I don't have enough complex sentences, I will lose marks" Today, my students kept coming back to one particular clause that should have been turned into a prepositional phrase.A number of students didn't like that at all. They absolutely wanted to keep the adjective clause in the sentence. " So, what was the sentence," you say Here it is in all its glory. "My neighbour lives in the house which is on the corner."

Now, any good writer who supports clarity above all and cutting away unnecessary words will endorse me when I say the clause should simply be replaced with the prepositional phrase "on the corner". But, this was absolutely not the case in my class. We came very close to having an actual debate on the subject. As we continued with a list of other sentences being combined into adjective clauses, student after student would come back to the "house which is on the corner," and strongly argue for keeping the clause in the sentence. "It sounds more professional," they said, " more academic.", or "how about if we said that is on the corner? Would that be better? "Why do we have to take it out?"

All of ths back and forthing took up a full half-hour of very valuable class time, but then I guess I could say the students were actively engaged rather than nodding off at their desks, They were talking about language. However , as I see it, they were focusing on the tress when they really needed to put more energy into looking at the fores, for example, forgetting the relative pronoun in a subject adjective clause.

Has the teaching of English come to this? Using adjective clauses simply because they will make a student's story show more complexity. What are we marking here? The number of complex sentences used, or tne ease and fluency with which the student can support an idea, as well as the ability to recognize when to use and not to use any clause structure that simply looks like added chaff. As I said to my students, adjectives clauses are fantastic, but only if they actually add information that genuinely moves the story or composition along.

A Reality Call

Hi guys, your homework has been posted in the Homework pages.

I just want to remind all of you that we now have three weeks until final exams. That is very little time in which to accomplish what you need to as a class to in order to pass this course. The fact that only the most motivated of you have actually been doling homework plays a huge role in this issue. Faceit ladies and gentlemen. All actions have consequences. As some of you kmow, but don't seem tlo believe, whether you pass or fail does not de;pend lon how well you do on the final. One half of your mark is based on your term work. Yes, I know that in many of your coutnries this was not the case, but you are in a new country now, and you have to play by our rules. That means that term work actually matters -as does motivation, obviously.

I have added several new links to the grammar section; Just look at the top and will be adding more complext material practice such as vadverb clausesa, adjective clauses etc.

However, I will also be putting in a number of lower end verb tense practices for those of you who are still struggling not only with verb tense, but with verb form, so we;ll practice some lof that as well as a few surprises. The kind of proofreading, editing exercise we were doing on Thursday, is probably one of the berst ways you an improve your proffreading and error correcting .

Writing: Taking It Slow and Easy

Many of you have now reached the stage when studying is simply becoming too much. There is too much homework. It is taking too long to do. The teacher says it should only take two hours, but you find that it is taking four hours, just to read one story, or another four hours to write a 12 sentence composition - with a dictionary. You thought you would enjoy learning English. Now you hate it and you want to quit. Why is it so hard?? Nobody told you about this part.

You are not alone. Many students feel like this. Here are a few tips on what to do to help yourself.

If you are the kind of student who spends four hours on a composition because you are an educated person who has always had good marks, stop trying to be that person. You are wasting your time. This will not happen. You are working in a different language, with a very limited vocabulary.You don't know how to say things in a complex way, so accept this fact and stop trying to be someone you are not "in English. " Instead, accept that for a while you are going to have to say things more simply than you want to. It doesn't mean you are a bad person. It simply means you are working in a language that you are not familiar with. Now, when I say write simply, I don't mean that you should write at the pre-intermediate level, using beginner vocabulary and simple sentences only. I mean write at your own level. Don't try to write like someone who is three or four levels higher.

When you are given a writing assignment to do at home, brainstorm and develop an outline, the way your teacher taught you. Then, spend only an hour writing the whole composition. it should be completely finished. Don't use a dictionary because using it will interrupt the flow of ideas. Write double spaced so that you can change things later. After an hour of writing and a complete composition, put your pencil down and walk away from the piece. Don't come back for one whole entire day. Don't even consciously think about it. (You may find yourself unconsciously thinking about it).

A day later, come back and look at what you have written. You will find that you can read it much more objectively. You are no longer so "in love" with this piece of writing that you can't stand the though of changing one word. This is where you start the revision process - fixing and changing the content. Read each sentence out loud. Does it sound right? Should some of the information be put some place else? Is one part confusing, or vague or just crazy? Do you need to add information to parts of it of the composition because your reader would be confused without more information?

It much easier to hear changes that should be made than to see them. It is also much easier to hear them one or two days after you have written the composition itself .You are now beginning the real writing. Add the information you think is missing. Change the information that you think might be confusing or that sounds like translation. Move information to where you think should go instead of where you have it now.

Then take another break and come back for the real proofreading of mistakes. Again, read your paragraph out loud, slowly, sentence by sentence. Listen for possible grammar mistakes. Should this be an "ing" instead of a "to". Should you be using past tense all the way through this narrative story instead of present tense? Is this a run-on? Do you need s or ed at the end of these words. Does it sound wrong. Say it another way. Does it sound better? Change it based on your ear.

Then, go back and read silently focusing as many times as you need to, once for each major kind of mistake you tend to make. For example, if you have a lot of sentence fragments because you keep forgetting to use the verb "to be, " especially with adjectives, or you keep putting in an extra "be" on present perfect sentences. Do you usually have a lot Run On sentences and comma splices instead of a period and a capital letter, or worse yet instead of a lovely joining word. Do you always forget about subject verb agreement. Go back look at every verb and every noun. Does it need an "s"? There are several different kinds of errors in writing, but one that is based on carelessness, or laziness is unforgivable. It means you did not bother to proofread when you knew the rule and could have easily fixed the mistake.

I absolutely want to stress, however, that this process sahould not be done in a four hour period in one day. If this is what you are doing, of course, you hate writing. I wold too. Give yourself time and distance from the subject. Have fun doing something else. Then, you will come back refreshed and ready to have another go at it.

Now, unfortunately I know this does not apply to in class writing when you are under a huge amount of pressure and when you inevitably forget a lot of t he vocabulary you actually know. That is the subject of an entire different discussion.

My next post will be about reading and how to make that a much easier, and pleasant process.

This is a note to anyone out there who reads this or even uses the practice links on the side. I have no idea who you are, what you want or like. I would be a very happy person if you would leave a comment at the bottom of the posts All you need to to do is click on the word comment and a box will pop up on the left hand side. At that point you write your message. You do not have to identify yourself, but you can if you want to.

Another option is to subscribe my blog and become a member. The link for that is at the top of the page on the right hand side.