Reading Strategies: How to read? (Part 1)

 Sometimes, when we're learning English and we have to read something we cannot understand the meaning, the idea or the concept that has been written there. It is normal to not understand many words because we are not native speakers, but of course it depends on the time you spent it.

Here you have some strategies so that learning how to read:

1. A word is important when it appears many times.

2. Attitude is the most important: if you like or not reading, is an important part of English that helps you to acquire words.

But be careful: if you're reading a text and you have to circle a lot of words and search on the dictionary, you will lost it. This is means that the book which are you reading does not corresponds to your level, so select a low level.

HOW WE CAN UNDERSTAND A READING THAT IS IN ANOTHER LANGUAGE?

Have you ever tried to read a text in another language without know their meaning ? Many people, think that if you don't understand the language used in the text you will not be able to read and understand. Obviously, this is not true. For example, if you have a magazine in Dutch and you don't know the language, obviously it will be difficult to know what is written there but not impossible. There are many ways that it might be useful to you :

EXAMPLE:

"Gisteren was het erg koud . De straten waren leeg "

A: Compare with another language ( Dutch/ English).

B: Read carefully.

C: Look at the pictures.It is easy to understand with pictures.

D:Look at the words, maybe you can find symilar words into your language.

- If the text has a picture+composer, it's much easier to understand.

How we learn Grammar and Vocabulary

When you study a language it's important to know the substantial things that we need in order to learn better. Grammar and Vocabulary are two important aspects that we have to bear in mind if we want to speak fluently.

First of all, without vocabulary it is not possible to learn grammar: vocabulary is the language base. No vocabulary, no phrases.

When you study English, an effective way to learning vocabulary is looking up "x" words that you don't understand in a bilingual dictionary. It will be much easier for you,  to see the word translate into our language, than only the meaning in the language that you're studying. But be careful: words do not have direct equivalents in other languages.

Another way, is reading: if you're reading a text, a book, newspaper, etc.. and you find an unfamiliar word, just look up at the dictionary, translators...

Looking at the pictures can be effective to you: if you don't like much reading newspapers, books..etc ,magazines can help you. Magazines contain lots of pictures so, you can learn new words observing that picture or pictures.

Regarding grammar, it isn't essential to study in order to learn a language, but if you learn the grammar of English you will be able to speak the language very well. If you just started learning English, you first need to know some basic rules of the language. 

Ways to learn Grammar:

A.Read a lot of English books. It will help you when you express your ideas and when you come to check your work.

B.Concentrate on the aspects of grammar you personally find most difficult. Particularly in your writing you can focus on these aspects for special care  when you're editing your work. 

C. If you decide to do grammar exercises, try to go beyond just filling in gaps or doing multi-choice answers. 



LINKS 
http://www.englisch-hilfen.de/en/words_list/alle.htm
http://www.englisch-hilfen.de/en/grammar_list/alle.htm
http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/english-grammar

How people can learn languages?

Hi everyone!

Today, I'm going to talk about how people learn languages.

First of all, there are three sort of learning styles: Visual, Auditory and Kinaesthetic. Depend of your capacity, you'll acquire one or another. When you start to learn a language, you have to bear in mind what is your capacity to acquire the language. For example: if you are a english learner and you are Auditory, you'll learn better listen than reading something else. But this is not the case, because doesn't care whatever learning style you have. All people can learn a language but not all can be very good at. Maybe you're very good at readings, writings but not listening and understand when a native speaker is talking about something so, my recommendations to learn and improve much more as you know you have to do next:

-choose the right strategy 

-Learn how your brain works ( maybe you not choose the correct strategy)

-build a network and then throw in the words (meaning,sentences, words)

-Do not focus just on the words ( words are just the little part of a language)

-find motivation ( doing things regarding the language that you're learning will be more entertain for you and useful)

-Watching vídeos (on youtube, Google). It's much easier for you overcoat if you're interested in music, art, etc

-Checking words: Everytime you make an exercise, essay or something else, check in order to not be wrong). If it is necessary, look at the dictionary, or translators. Since the appear of internet, it's much easier!.

-Listening songs : If you're a lover of music, this is the best way for you. Listen a lot of times, look at the lyrics and compare with your mother tongue, I'm sure you'll learn a lot!.

-Listening the radio: Like music, the radio, is one of the best media source to improve too. Look on the internet to BBC radio, Dublin's Radio, or another that you maybe might be interested.

HERE YOU CAN TEST YOUR LEARNING STYLE

VAK TEST:     http://www.brainboxx.co.uk/A3_ASPECTS/pages/VAK_quest.htm

About me

Hi everyone!:)

My name is Noelia, I'm from Spain and I'm studying English Studies. The reason why I choose to design a blog is to explain many strategies and competences regarding languages. So, I hope that all information   be useful for you.