Learning a foreign language

1. Learning a foreign language Seyyed Ahmad Fatemi-Samir Fatemi-سمیر فاطمی-سید احمد فاطمی

2. Revision Find a new word in this unit to match the definition given.

3. awful 1. ________extremely bad or unpleasant; terrible 2. ___________ someone whose job is to change one written language into another 3. ________to gain knowledge or learn a skill 4. _________ the ability to go on doing something for a long time without getting angry or annoyed 5. ________ feeling worried and uneasy 6. ________ not feeling worried or troubled 7. ________ information or facts with numbers for making decisions 8. ___________ someone whose job is to change one spoken language into another translator acquire patience anxious secure data interpreter

4. riddle language What is like a bridge That brings together you and me ? What is like an entrance From which we can enter another world ? What is like a train Which can take us to a bright future ?

5. goal Talk about learning & study skills.

6. Task 1 Test your English learning habits

8. Results of your self-assessment 5-7 “yes” You are great! You know how to study and improve your English very well. Keep up your good work! 3-4 “yes” Excellent! You can improve your English by knowing more learning skills and through your hard work! 1-2 “yes” Try your best and don’t always lose heart! It is a good start! Please have confidence in yourself and spend more time in your English learning! Pay more attention to your learning skills and study habits.

9. Task 2 Warming up Describe the following pictures and Describe the following pictures.

10. Students are reading in the school library. Some of them are sitting in front of the computers surfing on the Internet. Others are reading books and magazines.

11. Students are having a lesson with their teacher. They are talking about something and the teacher is beside them listening or being ready to give some help.

12. Students are having a lesson in the computer lab. They seem very attentive.

13. Several students are talking to their teacher (maybe their classmate) in the schoolyard.

14. Task 3 Discussion Which of the things listed below are the most important when you are learning English?

15. ( ) Memorize new words ( ) Practise pronunciation ( ) Learn study skills ( ) Play word games ( ) Talk with your classmates ( ) Practise dictation ( ) Listen to the tape ( ) Read English stories ( ) Learn phonetic alphabet ( ) Learn grammar rules ( ) Learn English songs ( ) Make a study plan ( ) Watch English films ( ) Have group discussion ( ) Practise writing in English ( ) Translate sentences ( ) Listen to the teacher ( ) Talk to native English speakers

16. Task 4 Listening You are going to listen to a radio show called “Students’ Corner”. This is a call-in show in which people can call and ask questions about the topic being discussed.

17. Part 1 • The topic of the show is about learning a language. • The caller wants to know how she can prepare for exams and improve her study skills. • The host says that there is a secret to study better. • In order to study better, you’d better make sure that you have a study plan . • The caller reads the passage over and over again, and she remembers everything well. • The caller does a lot of exercises and they are usually correct. • The caller do what the teacher tells her to do. • When studying, the caller likes to keep the TV on and sit in her favourite chair. F study habits & study skills T F no T F she can’t remember everything well. F wrong T T

18. Part 2 Listen to part 2 and fill the blanks below. First, you should _____________ and _________ . This will help you _____________.Take a short break if you need to _____. Second, you should make a_________. Before you start doing your homework, __________ what you need to do and ______ how much time _________. Plan your studying so that you don’t ________________ for too long. It will help you save time. You can also keep a learner log. It’s a notebook where you _____________ your studies. Write down_______________, what you’ve learnt and _________________ or _________. This will help you ________________. Finally you should use ___________ and ____________ strategies. They will help you _____________________. turn off the TV sit at a desk to concentrate study plan relax look over decide you’ll need do the same thing keep track of what you’ve done what you need to do learn next improve your work pre-reading post-reading learn more in less time

19. speaking Task 5 Work in pairs. Discuss the ways to solve the following problems. • How can I learn new words better? • How can I improve my spoken English? • Why do we have to study English?

20. How can I learn new words better? To remember new words is not very hard, the poin is how to keep them in mind as time goes by. First, you can use the tape to listen to them and try to dictate them. Second, you should make use of all your senses while remembering the words. The third is to repeat them shortly after memorizing the words. Repetition is very important if one wants to keep them in mind for long. Moreover, constant repetitions can do more good to good memory.

21. How can I improve my spoken English? It is common for most of the Chinese learners. But this can be changed and improved. To speak good English you have to practise listening and try to follow the speakers, whoever they are, and try to follow a TV English show, a movie, or at least some tapes.

22. Secondly, you shouldn’t pay much attention to making grammatical mistakes but should pay attention to the content that you want to talk about. You will find it easier to open your mouth and talk about things you are interested in. Thirdly, also the easiest, is that you should keep reading, listening and imitating（模仿） good speeches or the text you are learning. These can be very helpful.

23. Why do we have to study English? In present day, the earth is becoming smaller and smaller and people in the world communicate with each other mostly in English. Besides, in China it is more important to learn English well if a person wants to have a well-paid job. To know some foreign languages including English is a necessary part of a person’s education.

24. points summary • Memorize new words and useful ecpressions. • Learn study skills. • Talk with your classmates or some other people ( native English speaker). • Listen to the tape, watch English films & read English stories. • Make a study plan. • Practise writing( an English diary / E-mail ).

25. Homework 1. Preview the Reading passage. 2. “试吧”大考卷 3. Recite the new words.