Learning Strategies

1-Thinking Strategies:

Grouping:

Putting things in groups and in order helps you to build a

framework for learning. Grouping also reflects the way your

brain organizes information.     

 For example, you can group vocabulary words together according

to categories like furniture, animals, office equipment, etc.

Using mind maps is one type of grouping.

Imagery

   This means making pictures in your mind to help you remember things. For example a 'hamburger paragraph'.

2-Speaking Strategies:

Questions for clarification

This means talking to English-speakers and asking for them to

repeat, paraphrase (summarize in different words), explain or give examples. You can say:

Repeat: "I'm sorry, I didn't catch that, can you say that again?"

Paraphrase: "I'm sorry, I'm not sure what you mean. Can you tell

me again?"

Explain: "Could you explain that for me?"

Examples: "Could you give me an example?"

   Record yourself speaking, either on your own, or with other

people. Later you can review the recording, listen for problems

such as saying "Um" too much, and research anything that you

didn't know how to say

The English club also runs the Big Mouth Corner for speaking

practice.

Sing

  You can sing English songs that you like, either alone, or with

friends; e.g. karaoke.

Act

You can join a drama club or group that puts on English plays.

The ELC has a Drama club

Imagine

Imaging that you are in a situation where you need to speak

English; e.g. as a character you like in a movie. Try to imagine

what you would say. Do you know what to say? If you are not sure,

you can research it later.

3-Pronunciation Strategies:

 Repetition:

You can repeat a word out loud or silently to practice pronunciation. Be careful to listen to a model to make sure that you pronunciation is correct.

Sound:

   This means remembering English sounds by using sounds in your own language. For example, the English sound / i: /is very similar

to the Chinese sound of the word that means 'one'.

4-Writing Strategies:

Note-Taking:

Inferencing:

   You can also use the strategy of reading a newspaper story

in your own language first for prediction. You can predict the

contents of the same story in an English newspaper. Reading

to confirm your predictions is easier than reading with no

background information. Click here for more information on

reading newspapers.

Prediction:

   As well as predicting from newspaper stories in your own language, you can predict from your knowledge of the world, you knowledge of how people think, write and talk, and your knowledge of what the writer is like. For example, if you are reading a book it is a good idea to read about the author and the contents (on the cover or at the front of the book) to help you make predictions about what he or she believes.

6-Listening Strategies:

Physical Response

   You can listen to instructions about how to do something, and

follow the instructions. Relating sounds to movements helps you remember the sounds. So does listening to the sounds many times

and repeating the movements. For example you can buy an English fitness video and listen and follow the instructions, and get fit at the same time.

Prediction:

    You can predict what someone is going to say by the topic of the conversation and your knowledge of that person's opinions. Listening to confirm what you predict is easier than listening and trying to understand everything.

   For example, if you are watching a film or TV program about

lawyers, you can predict that the defense lawyer will say that his

client is "Not guilty.", and give reasons. Here are some phrases

and predictions about the words that will follow:

 you can listen to the news in your own language, then listen to

it in English. Listening in your own language will help to predict

what topics and vocabulary will be in the English news

Motivate yourself:

For example if you like movies or music, you can practice listening to them. CILL has a large collection of movies, and some songs on CD.

7-Grammar Strategies:

Deduction:

   This means using rules to work out the answer or how to do something. It is especially useful for grammar, for example Rule:

To change normal speech to reported speech; eg. for writing

minutes of a meeting, move the tenses back one past tense.

Example: Mr. Chan - "I will see her tomorrow." Reported speech -

'Mr. Chan said that he would see her the next day.

Recombination:

This means joining together things you already know to make

new things. For example, if you know that the simple past tense

is used to describe things that happened in the past which have finished, and you know that the present perfect tense is used to describe experience.

you can make a sentence that includes both :

"I first visited America in 1990. Last summer I went there again,

so I have been there twice."

Writing your own grammar book:

 This can contain rules, examples (e.g. from newspapers or magazines), your notes (e.g. on things you don't understand),

lists of exceptions, etc.

Using new grammar:

After you learn some new grammar, use it in conversation or

writing, and see what your listener's or reader's reaction is:

do they understand you? You can ask "Did I say that right?"

Get a grammar book:

Come to CILL or go to a bookshop and look at the different

grammar books. Choose one that you understand.

Read and Listen:

 Read and listen to see how writers and speakers use English

grammar to communicate their ideas

8-Vocabulary Strategies:

Contextualization:

This means putting new vocabulary words into sentences to

help you remember them and to test if you are using them correctly.

You can use these sentences when talking to an English-speaker

to see if they understand.

   you can write these sentences in your learner portfolio for the

tutors to see, or you can e-mail the tutors and ask them to check

these words in your sentences. The most independent ways are

talking to an English speaker, and searching the Internet to find examples of the word being used in sentences.

Elaboration:

   This means relating new information to information you already

know. For example, if you know the meaning of 'information', it is

easy to remember that the verb is 'to inform', and that 'informative'

is an adjective, and that 'an informant' is someone who gives information.

Inference:

   This means using available information to predict or guess the meanings of; e.g. new vocabulary items. For example, if you know

that you are reading about football, and you know that a field is

oftena large area covered in grass, then you can guess that a

football field is a large, grassy area for playing football.

Translation:

You can read a story in a newspaper in your own language first,

then read the same story in an English newspaper. Most of the story will probably be the same, so the story in your own language will help you to prepare for reading in English.

For example, it will give you vocabulary, and when you read the English story and there is some vocabulary that you don't know, then you can use your knowledge of the story to guess what the new vocabulary is.

Personalization:

   You can write down why the vocabulary item

(i.e. the word or phrase) is important to you, where you first saw it,

and when you used it, for example, you may have heard the item

in a movie you liked  and used the item when you talked about the movie with your friends.

Keeping your own dictionary:

 Writing entries for the dictionary will help you to learn words,

and using your own dictionary can be faster than a normal

dictionary.

Grouping:

You can group words into different areas, such as words in the different courses you study. For example, business students could group vocabulary items into marketing vocabulary, accounting vocabulary, and human resources vocabulary.   

Translation:

You can read a story in a newspaper in your own language first,

then read the same story in an English newspaper. Most of the story will probably be the same, so the story in your own language will help you to prepare for reading in English.

For example, it will give you vocabulary, and when you read the English story and there is some vocabulary that you don't know, then you can use your knowledge of the story to guess what the new vocabulary is.

Personalization:

   You can write down why the vocabulary item

(i.e. the word or phrase) is important to you, where you first saw it,

and when you used it, for example, you may have heard the item

in a movie you liked  and used the item when you talked about the movie with your friends.

Keeping your own dictionary:

 Writing entries for the dictionary will help you to learn words,

and using your own dictionary can be faster than a normal

dictionary.

Grouping: