Pages

Powered By Blogger

Wednesday 7 September 2016

An exercise to enjoy



Accuracy and fluency of the English language     4Sep2016
        [To become proficient in the English language] __________      (1. mean) to become accurate and fluent in the use of the language. 
        That means, a person must have a through or good knowledge of English grammar _______ (3.), I repeat, is the foundation of the language without which everything just _________ (4. fall) quite apart..  There _________ (5.) flaws here and there in the _____________ (6. speak) and written English.  So, tell me how much each teacher __________ (6. know) about the English grammar and how _____________ (7. well-acquaint) each student is at the end of their schooling, Form Five or Form Six.
     Besides, how _________ (8. ability) they are in pronunciation of English words at __________ (9.)  If they have _________ (10.) idea or ________ (11.) doubt about the words, they can also check the standard English dictionary to find _________ (12.) what the speech sounds of the words are.  Just for example, to make _________ (13.) the pronunciation of the word “owl” whether it _______________ (pronounce) as /əʊl/ or /aʊl/, I can look ______ (14.) the word in the dictionary or Google search to confirm.  Of course, a learner or a teacher must know all the English language __________ (15.) sounds, vowel or consonant phonemes well to confirm the pronunciation of the word.
        Another component _________ (16.) is as important as grammar and pronunciation is the spelling structures which __________________ (17. relate) to the sounds and symbols.  
        These three ___________ (18.) or components of the English language __________ (19.) the hallmark to assess a person to be competent or accurate or not in the ________ (20.) of the language.  These 3 components that I always tell my learners in my language lab that I can 100% help __________ (21.) to experience the language with well-organised or not so well-organised exercises ___________ (22. practise) or enjoy.  This is  the practice of the accuracy  part of the language.
        Well, for the fluency part of the language, schools or tuition centres or language centres or my lab can only help the minimal percent.  There are more than ONE million English words up-to-date.  If you ___________ (23. not believe) just type, “ How many words are there in the English language?”,  Google websites will tell you so.  There _________  (24.) about 171,000 English words being entered in a standard English dictionary.    A native English speaker _____________
(25. say) to use about 25,000 – 30,000 words.  What words are in use depend very much ___________ (26.) a person’s interest, education and career.
        Count ________ (27.) number of English words you know and how well you can use them in tests, everyday conversations or delivery a lesson in English
        Thus I say, a person must read __________ (28.) or extensively to acquire and build ________ (29.) the vocabulary in contexts.   _________ (30.) a lot of reading, a learner can get         (32. reinforce) in their learning of grammar, pronunciation and spelling.         
         _________ (33.) the good knowledge of English grammar, pronunciation and spelling and proper ___________ (34. guide) in intensive reading for extensive reading, a learner can launch ________ (35.) an independent learning, i.e, reading extensively on their _______ (39.) to master the language in the _________ (40.) of time.  It is within the grasp of everybody ________ (41.) has the faculty for speech. 
In _________ (42.), if you speak your mother tongue well, for sure, you can master the English language some _________ (43.) if you care to put in enough _________ (43.) to learn the language.  Learning a language _________ (44.) like eating and drinking that you have to do it every day.  So, reading with a good foundation of the language ________ (45.) the only key to command the language.  Of course, of course, you have to use the language in speaking and writing to keep it alive or it stays dormant in your head.    
Prove me wrong ________(46.) you can. 

Notes to note:
1.  If you can score all the 46 blanks, that means you are proficient in 
     English.  That means you have good knowledge of English 
     grammar and you have enough language sense/ intuition.  I guess 
     you have enough language exposure or experience to attain this  
     level.
2.  But if you are an English teacher,  it is a must that you know how 
      to explain the answers of all of them.  You must know how to 
      analyse a sentence and you explain to your students the 
      reason why this is the answer.  Yes, I explain to my students in 
      my language clinic.  I really enjoy cracking the language code.  
      Challenge me with any sentence that you think it is impossible to 
      crack.  Yes, unless, it is an idiomatic usage and accepted to be 
      used that way though not grammatical at all.  If it is a standard 
      grammatical usage, it can be cracked by your knowledge of the  
      rule.  Language like music is rule-based and has a system.   So 
      grammar has to be learnt systematically in isolation and in 
      context.
3.  I guess my students quite enjoy this kind of  exercises.  But I give 
      them these exercises as reinforcement of their learning of 
      grammar and their language sense.   This kind of exercises is a 
     good practice of grammar in context.  It is an application of the 
     grammar knowledge in a  new situation.
4.  I never tell my students that they are tests openly but actually they 
     are tested all the time through these exercises.  It is so interesting 
     to  me.  I really do not see much meaning in formal tests and 
     marks.  I really do not want myself to be overburdened by giving 
     tests though I give marks for almost every exercise they have 
     practised.  Yes, I am 'a lone ranger' to do research and 
     investigation of English learning and teaching in my language 
     clinic/lab.   I do not have   many students and I do not charge 
     them  too much to burden them to learn calmly and in gratitude.

 5.  I emphasise a lot on independent and self-discovery learning 
      through awareness.  Awareness is an important key to learning.  I 
      have grammar and phonetic books for them to refer to on their 
      own at home or in my lab if they care and are responsible in their 
      learning.  My own compiled books are not expensive, either.  
      Look, the books are cheap and the fee is not high.  What 
      more.......?

 6.  I have even accepted three children, 8, 9 and 10 years to do 
       experiments to test that you can drill them since small the 
       systematic usage of English grammar.   They are and will be my 
       live advertisements of learning English grammar to master the 
       language.   Of course, I tell their parents one by one that they 
       must lead to their children in reading or they will face language 
       block here and there as they may not have enough vocabulary to
       understand, speak and write English.  So far, I have not much 
       idea if they really have caught my meaning and do as I say.

7.  I have told my students many many times that I cannot do much 
      to help them in vocabulary building.  What I can do now is 
       reading the passage, with no intention to explain much.  I bank 
       them to explore the meaning and knowledge on their own. With 
       the topic, they can always Google search to read the article and 
        related articles in details.  Yes, I give them newspaper articles to 
        enjoy or the story from the internet website.

8.  Like an artist, I teach English for fun and for an incentive.  Of course, I am also ambitious enough hoping one day, my grammar knowledge and presentation will also earn me a lot of money for the sale of my books and  ........

No comments:

Post a Comment