Cracking English

Spelling words in English is challenging work. As a matter of fact, many native speakers of English have problems with spelling correctly. One of the main reasons for this is that many, many English words are NOT spelled as they are spoken. This difference between pronunciation and spelling causes a lot of confusion. The combination "ough" provides an excellent example:

Tough - pronounced - tuf (the 'u' sounding as in 'cup')
Through - pronounced - throo
Dough - pronounced - doe (long 'o')
Bought - pronounced - bawt
It's enough to make anyone crazy!!

This feature provides a guide to the most common problems when spelling words in English.

Swallowed Syllables - Three Syllables Pronounced as Two Syllables

Aspirin - pronounced - asprin
Different - pronounced - diffrent
Every - pronounced - evry

Swallowed Syllables - Four Syllables Pronounced as Three Syllables

Comfortable - pronounced - comftable
Temperature - pronounced - temprature
Vegetable - pronounced - vegtable

Homophones - Words That Sound the Same

two, to, too - pronounced - too
knew, new - pronounced - niew
through, threw - pronounced - throo
not, knot, naught - pronounced - not
Same Sounds - Different Spellings

'Eh' as in 'Let'

let
bread
said

'Ai' as in 'I'

I
sigh
buy
either
The following letters are silent when pronounced.

D - sandwich, Wednesday
G - sign, foreign
GH - daughter, light, right
H - why, honest, hour
K - know, knight, knob
L - should, walk, half
P - cupboard, psychology
S - island
T - whistle, listen, fasten
U - guess, guitar
W - who, write, wrong

Unusual Letter Combinations

GH = 'F'

cough, laugh, enough, rough

CH = 'K'

chemistry, headache, Christmas, stomach

EA = 'EH'

breakfast, head, bread, instead

EA = 'EI'

steak, break

EA = 'EE'

weak, streak

OU = 'UH' country, double, enough

Reference from http://esl.about.com/od/writingintermediate/a/l_spell.htm

There are three levels of English pronunciation:

Level 1: People often don't understand what you want to say. You use the wrong sounds in English words.
Level 2: People understand what you want to say, but it is unpleasant to listen to you.
Level 3: People understand you, and your English is pleasant to listen to.

Level 3 will be called good pronunciation. Notice that good pronunciation is not "perfect American or British accent". You don't have to sound like the Queen of England or the President of the United States of America.

Why not? Because there are many regional kinds of English. In England, people from Newcastle speak English differently from people in London. In America, people from New York City, California, and Texas each have their own pronunciation. So it is no problem if you have your own accent.

But your accent must be close to the standards (American and British English). What does it mean? Turn on your TV and watch channels like CNN International, NBC, EuroNews, BBC, or Sky News. You will hear many different people (news anchors, reporters, etc.) from Germany, France, and other non-English-speaking countries. They all have good accents — easy to understand and pleasant.

The rule is: If you are close to the standard, you can always communicate, and your English will be pleasant. If you are far from the standard, sometimes you won't communicate successfully.

This article is from www.antimoon.com

You probably spend more time using your listening skills than any other kind of skill. Like other skills, listening takes practice.

What does it mean to really listen?

Real listening is an active process that has three basic steps.
1. Hearing. Hearing just means listening enough to catch what the speaker is saying. For example, say you were listening to a report on zebras, and the speaker mentioned that no two are alike. If you can repeat the fact, then you have heard what has been said.
2. Understanding. The next part of listening happens when you take what you have heard and understand it in your own way. Let's go back to that report on zebras. When you hear that no two are alike, think about what that might mean. You might think, "Maybe this means that the pattern of stripes is different for each zebra."
3. Judging. After you are sure you understand what the speaker has said, think about whether it makes sense. Do you believe what you have heard? You might think, "How could the stripes to be different for every zebra? But then again, the fingerprints are different for every person. I think this seems believable."

Tips for being a good listener

1. Give your full attention on the person who is speaking. Don't look out the window or at what else is going on in the room.
2. Make sure your mind is focused, too. It can be easy to let your mind wander if you think you know what the person is going to say next, but you might be wrong! If you feel your mind wandering, change the position of your body and try to concentrate on the speaker's words.
3. Let the speaker finish before you begin to talk. Speakers appreciate having the chance to say everything they would like to say without being interrupted. When you interrupt, it looks like you aren't listening, even if you really are.
4. Let yourself finish listening before you begin to speak! You can't really listen if you are busy thinking about what you want say next.
5. Listen for main ideas. The main ideas are the most important points the speaker wants to get across. They may be mentioned at the start or end of a talk, and repeated a number of times. Pay special attention to statements that begin with phrases such as "My point is..." or "The thing to remember is..."
6. Ask questions. If you are not sure you understand what the speaker has said, just ask. It is a good idea to repeat in your own words what the speaker said so that you can be sure your understanding is correct. For example, you might say, "When you said that no two zebras are alike, did you mean that the stripes are different on each one?"
7. Give feedback. Sit up straight and look directly at the speaker. Now and then, nod to show that you understand. At appropriate points you may also smile, frown, laugh, or be silent. These are all ways to let the speaker know that you are really listening. Remember, you listen with your face as well as your ears!

Thinking fast

Remember: time is on your side! Thoughts move about four times as fast as speech. With practice, while you are listening you will also be able to think about what you are hearing, really understand it, and give feedback to the speaker.

According to: http://www.infoplease.com/homework/listeningskills1.html

Teaching reading can be an arduous task as it is often difficult to know how to improve student skills. One of the most obvious, but I have found often unnoticed, points about reading is that there are different types of reading skills.

• Skimming - reading rapidly for the main points
• Scanning - reading rapidly to find a specific piece of information
• Extensive - reading a longer text, often for pleasure with emphasis on overall meaning
• Intensive reading - reading a short text for detailed information

These different types of skills are used quite naturally when reading in a mother tongue. Unfortunately, when learning a second or foreign language, people tend to employ only "intensive" style reading skills. I have often noticed that students insist on understanding every word and find it difficult to take my advice of reading for the general idea, or only looking for required information. Students studying a foreign language often feel that if they don't understand each and every word they are somehow not completing the exercise.

In order to make students aware of these different types of reading styles, I find it useful to provide an awareness raising lesson to help them identify reading skills they already apply when reading in their native tongues. Thus, when approaching an English text, students first identify what type of reading skill needs to be applied to the specific text at hand. In this way valuable skills, which students already possess, are easily transferred to their English reading.

Aim: Awareness raising about different reading styles

Activity: Discussion and identification of reading styles with follow-up identification activity

Level: Intermediate - upper intermediate

Outline:

• Ask students about what types of reading they do in their own mother tongue(s).
• Write different categories of written material on board. i.e. magazines, novels, train schedules, newspapers, advertising, etc.
• Have students describe how they go about reading each kind of material. You may want to prompt them by asking the following questions:
  • Do you read every word in the tv schedule?
  • Do you understand every word you read when reading a novel?
  • What kind of clues can the presentation of the material give?
  • How much time do you spend reading the newspaper? Do you read every single word?
  • What kind of assumptions do you make when you read the first few lines, or a headline? (i.e. Once upon a time....)
  • How much time do you spend reading the various types of materials?
• Based on students' answers to such questions, ask them to identify the type of skills they are using in the various reading situations.
• Divide students into small groups and give them the skills summary and short worksheet.
• Have students discuss their opinions about the various skills required for the listed materials.
• Present various "real world" materials (i.e. magazines, books, scientific materials, computer manuals etc.) and ask students to identify the necessary skills required.

Reading Styles

Skimming - Reading rapidly for the main points

Scanning - Reading rapidly through a text to find specific information required

Extensive - Reading longer texts, often for pleasure and for an overall understanding

Intensive - Reading shorter texts for detailed information with an emphasis on precise understanding

Identify the reading skills required in the following reading situations:

Note: There is often not a single correct answer, several choices may be possible according to your reading purpose. If you find that there are different possibilities, state the situation in which you would use the various skills.

• The TV guide for Friday evening
• An English grammar book
• An article in National Geographic magazine about the Roman Empire
• A good friend's homepage on the Internet
• The opinion page in your local newspaper
• The weather report in your local newspaper
• A novel
• A poem
• A bus timetable
• A fax at the office
• An advertising email - so called "spam"
• An email or letter from your best friend
• A recipe
• A short story by your favourite author

Source http://esl.about.com/library/lessons/blreadtypes.htm

An immortal country song
Presenter: CONWAY TWITTY


Lyric:
Jimmy please say you'll wait for me
I'll grow up some day you'll see
saving all my kisses just for you
signed with love forever true

Joni was the girl who lived next door
I've known her I guess 10 years or more
Joni wrote me a note one day
and this is what she had to say

Jimmy please say you'll wait for me
I'll grow up some day you'll see
saving all my kisses just for you
signed with love forever true

Slowly I read her note once more
then I went over to the house next door
her tear drops fell like rain that day
when I told Joni what I had to say

Joni, Joni please don't cry
you'll forget me by and by
you're just 15, I'm 22
and Joni I just can't wait for you

Soon I left our little home town
got me a job and tried to settle down
but these words kept haunting my memory
the words that Joni said to me

Jimmy please say you'll wait for me
I'll grow up some day you'll see
saving all my kisses just for you
signed with love forever true

I packed my clothes and I caught a plane
I had to see Joni, I had to explain
how my heart was filled with her memory
and asked my Joni if she'd marry me

I ran all the way to the house next door
but things weren't like they were before
my tear drops fell like rain that day
when I heard what Joni had to say

Jimmy, Jimmy please don't cry
you'll forget me by and by
it's been 5 years since you've been gone
Jimmy I married your best friend John.