－What kinds of things does a good language learner do?

• Is willing to practice and study
  
• Actively seeks opportunities to practise
  
• Is willing to ask questons when he doesn't understand
  
• Talks to his English teacher in English
  
• Tries to have some funs in language instead of just worrying about it
  
• Commends or rewards himself for every extra effort tht emakes to use English
  
• Doesn't expect his teacher to spoon feed him; takes initiative and responsibility for his own learning and success
  
• Make a plan e will do each day to improve his English
  
• Incorporates his plan for learning English into his daily routine-for example reading a news article on the MTR or listening to the radio while having breakfast
  
• Pays attendion to form and looks for patterns in the language

－What kinds of things does a poor language learner do?

• Pays little attendion to form and fails to note pattern
  
• pays little attendion to his own speech or the speech of others
  
• Doesn't practice or do homework
  
• Waits for someone to give him an opportunity to practice; no initiative
  
• Doesn't ask questions when he doesn't understand
  
• Avoid using English
  
• Worries about his language abilitywithout trying to improve or make learning more fun
• Doen't ake any plan of how he will improve his English
  
• Expects his teacher to spoon feed him everything he needs to knows and do

－What can you do improveyour spoken English and your discussion skills?

• Organize a regular time to practise your speaking
  
• Organise a discussion group with some friends and decide on the topics beforehand
  
• Record your conversation and play back the tape to evaluate your performance
  
• Listen to the English radio-even 5 minutes a da is enough
  
• Listen to others speak English(watch the English news, television,or movies)
  
• Imitate a famous English speaker who you admire
  
• Take part in a play or a drama
• Interview some tourists at the Star Ferry, Victory Peak or at the new airport
  
• Partise speaking English alone, perhaps in front of a mirror
  
• Do some role-play with a friend
  
• Pratise reading aloud
  
• Talk to your teachers in English
  
• Don't be afraid to open up your mouth and make mistakes

－What can you do to improve your listening ability in English?

• Watch English T.V programmes regularly
  
• Listen to the English radio-perhaps when you are doing something else,like eating or jogging
  
• Listen to English songs and study the lyrics
  
• Watch the English news (you can watch the Chinese news 1st to help you understand)
  
• Watch an English movie and cover up the subtitles
  
• Attend an English play or drama
  
• Learn how to pronounce and spell new words that you see when reading-this will help to understand these news words when you hear

－What can you do to improve your English grammar?

• Take a test to find out which grammatical areas you need to revise. You can find these kinds of tests in Grammar In Use and how English Works
  
• Use a good grammar book like how English Works or English Grammar in Focus
  
• Make your own quizzes or cloze passages from newspaper and magazines
  
• Get into the habit of proofreading your work and that of your classmates
  
• Observe grammatical patterns in the language that you hear and read
  
• Use a grammar reference book to look up something you don't understand
  
• Seek help from a friend or a teacher when there is something you don't understand
  
• Make use of grammar resources on the internet

Advice from Miss Sh'e