Vocabulary and fun?

Here is another website with a fun game to help you learn vocabulary. I recommend starting with the medium game.

Grammar and fun?

Here is a great website for you to have some fun with over the weekend. Enjoy!

I need/needs to practice...

Subject verb agreement looks easy. However, a lot of students have trouble in this area when they are writing something. Doing some extra practice on this will help you to remember to be careful about this when you are writing.

Here are some quizzes on subject verb agreement.

Easy

Medium

Difficult

How did you go?

Changing the world one word at a time

Here is a very interesting website to help you learn vocabulary. It is called Free Rice. Here is how it works; you take a quiz on vocabulary, if you get the answer correct the United Nations Food Program and Havard University donate rice to fight world hunger. You can learn and help people at the same time!

You can change the level of difficulty the quiz once you start. I would recommend you to try somewhere between Level 20 and Level 30. You can also change subjects to English Grammar.

Good Luck!

Dan Gilbert: Why are we happy? Why aren't we happy?

Here is a geat lecture I found on Happiness. Is it the same as the lecture we listened to last week? What is different?

An old blog of interest...

Grammar Revision

Bringing order to your sentences

Here is a quiz on coordinating conjunctions (FANBOYS). Type in your answers, use the hint button if you need to, then check your answers.

Wikipedia: Too easy? Not academic?

Many students use Wikipedia as a resource for research. Many academics at university believe that students should not use Wikipedia as a research tool. However, many people give a strong case for using it.

What do you think?

Many international student feel that Wikpedia is written in a difficult way. Simple English Wikipedia is written for students who are studying English as a second language.

Is the Simple English Wikipedia website easier to understand than the regular Wikipedia website?

Search the word stress on both pages. Which one is easier? Which one is better?

Learning vocabulary with your eyes

Vocabulary is always difficult for students to study. People often feel that this involves looking at long lists of words. However, there are many ways that you can study vocabulary. Have you ever considered learning words from pictures?

The Merriam Webster Visual Dictionary is a great resource for students. It allows you to study different categories and find pictures that can help you study vocabulary.

For example, if you click you way through this pathway; HOME :: COMMUNICATIONS :: COMMUNICATIONS :: COMMUNICATION BY TELEPHONE :: PORTABLE CELLULAR TELEPHONE, you will come to a picture of a mobile phone. In the picture you can read the labels of different parts of the mobile phone. Below the picture, you can read the the meanings of the words and you can click on the speaker icon to hear the pronunciation.

Many people believe that learning form pictures will help you remember things better.

Commenting: Why should I?

You might have noticed that you can leave comments on Trylingual blog entries. If you haven't noticed, click on the comments part at the end of this entry. 

Comments are a great part of blogs. You can give feedback to the person writes the blog. You can also agree or disagree with other people who have left comment. You could actually have a conversation with them via comments. Isn't the internet great? 

Maybe you want to leave a comment but you don't know what to say. To start with try these ideas:

1. Tell me what you thought of the material I have posted. Were they interesting or boring? Did they help you or not?
2. If you have read or listened to something, tell us what you thought. Did you agree with the writer's opinion? What did you learn? Could you understand what were the speakers saying? Why? Or why not?
3. If you leave a comment, don't worry about your spelling or grammar. No one is going to correct you. The goal here is to communicate with everyone. 

My own personal goal is to try and respond to comments that you leave. Let's see how we do!
  

The Journey

open road
Originally uploaded by JKönig

Learning a language is a journey Sometimes the road in front of you is clear and straight. However, not all roads are straight. Sometimes you can't see the road in front of you. Some roads go up, others go down. Roads can be smooth, but they can also be rough or contain potholes.

How can you make your road straighter? How can you make it easier for you to see in front of yourself? How can you stay on the road and not crash into a tree?

Sentence Elements

Sentence elements (or SVOCA) can be hard to understand. This website explains it very clearly. Read through the website ,then look at the old Trylingual entries below to test yourself.

Here is an old Trlingual entry with a quiz on SVOCA.

This one has some quizzes too.

U.S. Presidential Election

The Washington Post has an interactive timeline on the lives and careers of John McCain and Barack Obama. It is a very interesting way of presenting information.

Linking your words in English

Have you ever wondered why native English speakers sound difficult to understand? Or why it is hard to make your English sound natural?

The answers to these questions is probably linking. Native speakers often link words together. e.g. She likesssstrawberry ice cream. They often do this because it is easier to say and it creates a smoother rhythm.

This website has some great examples. Click on the icon of the little man to hear the example. Try to repeat the sentence using the same linking.

Australian English

It took me more than two hours to workout how to put this mp3 on the blog! i hope you like it. 

AustralianEnglish.mp3

Here is a great news story from ABC Radio. Listen to the story, take notes, write a summary of the story.

Skimming Practice

Click on these articles to read them.

Spend two minutes on this article trying to find the "general idea."

Students say no to podcasts

Read this article and try to find the answers to these questions.

What does bogan mean?

What does norm mean?

What does "Britney Spears" mean?

Bogans, petrolheads make dictionary

Powderfinger - My Hapiness

I love this band! Have a listen to the song and read the lyrics here.

Foreign students on par with locals

Here is an interesting artcle from today's newspaper.


What do you think?

Are you really reading?

Here is an article about reading online. It is very relevant to you because you are doing that right now!

Blogging to Improve your English

Blogs have a number of applications in the modern world. Some of these are very useful for ESL students. Have you ever considered starting a blog to help you study and improve your English?

How can a blog help you?

• post articles that you read.


• post videos that you find.


• post links to websites.


• post vocabulary that you have learned.


• post grammar points that you have learned.


• post new expressions or slang that you learn.


• use it as a diary to write about your experiences in Australia.


• use you mobile phone to email posts to your blog.


• review you blog regularly to revise and study.
  

Blogger is an easy to use website that will help you set up a blog. Just follow the instructions on the website (Please note; you will need to set up a Google account or a Gmail account to use this website. Blogger will help you do this).

Overseas Students in Australian High Schools

Here is an interesting story about overseas students in Australian high schools. Click on Real Media or Windows Media to listen to the story.