Dear all,
One that has really helped in gaining fluency ( I completed my MA English Litt. with no speaking skills) was the a routine. I did it successfully with my IELTS students as well in gaining fluency within a short time. I also used it with EAL students in UK where I am working as a teaching assistant. This routine has helped all of them. In fact this routine helps in learning any new language.
The routine is this-
1. Loud reading for 10 minutes.
The way we move our tounge while speaking in Malayalam, is different to the way we use tounge when we use English. So Loud reading helps our tounge tinge in getting used to the movement of English. Loud reading also uses three senses ( seeing, speaking and listening) and therefore the learning goes deeper.
It also improves our grammar as we are repeatedly reading correct grammar aloud.
I found loud reading the single most important technique that helped me in gaining fluency.
My method was - I read each sentence four times before I move to the next line. Sometimes it will be three times for each sentence in a paragraph and finally reading aloud the entire paragraph in one go.
2. Listening to English for 10 minutes.
I would listen to anything that is native English . It could be English news (easy to start with) to movies ( more difficult with different people and different accent).
When I was teaching I used to make students listen in short bursts ( 2-5 seconds at a time) and they have to write down what they have heard. After that they I will give them exact words. Then they would listen to those again twice -first looking at the words,second without looking at them). This improves their listening skills rapidly.
3. Writing.
Copy 4 sentences from a book ( never our own as if there is a mistake that learning goes deeper as well-Each sentence is to be copied four times each.All together 16 sentences a day. Each sentence is 5-7 words minimum.
One that has really helped in gaining fluency ( I completed my MA English Litt. with no speaking skills) was the a routine. I did it successfully with my IELTS students as well in gaining fluency within a short time. I also used it with EAL students in UK where I am working as a teaching assistant. This routine has helped all of them. In fact this routine helps in learning any new language.
The routine is this-
1. Loud reading for 10 minutes.
The way we move our tounge while speaking in Malayalam, is different to the way we use tounge when we use English. So Loud reading helps our tounge tinge in getting used to the movement of English. Loud reading also uses three senses ( seeing, speaking and listening) and therefore the learning goes deeper.
It also improves our grammar as we are repeatedly reading correct grammar aloud.
I found loud reading the single most important technique that helped me in gaining fluency.
My method was - I read each sentence four times before I move to the next line. Sometimes it will be three times for each sentence in a paragraph and finally reading aloud the entire paragraph in one go.
2. Listening to English for 10 minutes.
I would listen to anything that is native English . It could be English news (easy to start with) to movies ( more difficult with different people and different accent).
When I was teaching I used to make students listen in short bursts ( 2-5 seconds at a time) and they have to write down what they have heard. After that they I will give them exact words. Then they would listen to those again twice -first looking at the words,second without looking at them). This improves their listening skills rapidly.
3. Writing.
Copy 4 sentences from a book ( never our own as if there is a mistake that learning goes deeper as well-Each sentence is to be copied four times each.All together 16 sentences a day. Each sentence is 5-7 words minimum.
-GEORGE KUTTY ,TEACHING ASSISTANT ,USA
No comments:
Post a Comment