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Ten things God won't ask:


1...God won't ask what kind of car you drove;
He'll ask how many people you drove who didn't have transportation.

2... God won't ask the square footage of your house,
He'll ask how many people you welcomed into your home.

3...God won't ask about the clothes you had in your closet,
He'll ask how many you helped to clothe.

4... God won't ask what your highest salary was,
He'll ask if you compromised your character to obtain it.

5...God won't ask what your job title was,
He'll ask if you performed your job to the best of your ability.

6...God won't ask how many friends you had,
He'll ask how many people to whom you were a friend.

7... God won't ask in what neighborhood you lived,
He'll ask how you treated your neighbors.

8...God won't ask about the color of your skin,
He'll ask about the content of your character.

9...God won't ask why it took you so long to seek Salvation,
He'll lovingly take you to your mansion in heaven, and not to the gates of Hell.

10...God won't ask how many people you forwarded this to,
He'll ask if you were ashamed to pass it on to your friends.

 

Pronunciation and listening comprehension

Some tips on learning how to pronounce foreign languages and on improving your listening comprehsion.

Why good pronunciation is important

Learning how to pronounce a foreign language like a native speaker is difficult but not impossible. The better your pronunciation, the better people will understand you and the easier you will find it to understand them.

Tuning your ears and practising listening comprehension

Before you start trying to speak a foreign language, spend some time tuning your ears to its sounds and rhythms. You can do this by listening to the language as much as possible via the radio, TV, movies and native speakers in your neighbourhood. There are online radio stations in a wide variety of languages.

When you first try listening to your chosen language, you'll understand only a little or nothing at all, other than perhaps the names of people and places and the odd word, unless you're learning a language closely related to your L1. You may even find it difficult to believe that what you're listening to is a real language that people are able to converse in. However if you continue to listen to your L2 as much as possible, you will gradually become familiar with the the sounds and rhythms of the language and start to be able to pick out words and phrases. Eventually you'll be able to understand most if not all of what you hear in your L2.

There are a number of things you try to help you understand radio and TV broadcasts:

• Rather than just listening or watching at random, find out what programmes are on and choose one that sounds interesting. In this way you will have an idea of what the programme is about.
• Set yourself goals, for example when listening to the news try to work out the main points, names, dates and times.
• Brush up relevant vocabulary before tuning in. For example if you're planning to watch a cooking programme, revise food words first
• Even if you can't understand very much at all, try to identify word and sentence boundaries
• If possible listen to the news in your L1 first, then when you listen to it in your L2 you'll already be aware of the mains stories.
• Don't try to listen to or watch too much in one go: if you're finding it a struggle, take a break and/or do something else.

Listening to songs in your L2 is another way to improve your listening comprehension, especially if you have the lyrics written out so that you can follow them as you listen.

Audio magazines

A great way to improve your listening comprehension and pronunciation is with the audio magazines produced by Champs-Elysées. These montly publications are available in French, German, Italian and Spanish and consist of an hour-long programme on CD or audio cassette covering a wide range of topics, such as politics, current affairs, sports, travel, film, and literature. The accompanying magazine includes a full transcript of the programme plus vocabulary and notes. Optional study supplements are also available.

You can find out more at: www.champs-elysees.com

Learning pronunciation

With your ears tuned to the sounds and rythmns of your L2, you'll find learning how to pronounce the language less difficult.

If your language course includes a recorded pronunciation guide and exercises, listen to them until you have internalized all the points, but don't try to learn everything in one go. Beware of pronunciation guides that compare the sounds of your L2 with your L1. This can be misleading as the sounds, particularly the vowels, are often different.

Alternatively or additionally you could try finding a native speaker to help you with pronunciation. Ask them to speak slowly and to enunciate each word clearly. Then try to mimic them. Pay attention to the shapes their lips make, and also to their posture and any gestures they make.

Pimsleur language courses are very good at teaching you pronunciation: when introducing new words they break them up and teach you how to pronounce each syllable. Rosetta Stone courses are also good for learning pronunciation: they include the facility to record your voice and to visually compare it with a native speaker's voice.

Once you've got to grips with the pronunciation of your L2, you need to learn how to map the sounds to the written form of the language. This is fairly straight forward for languages like Italian, Spanish and German, which have consistent and regular spelling. Other languages, such as English, French and Danish, present more of a challenge with their irregular and somewhat chaotic spelling. Learning a language written with a different writing system adds an extra level of difficulty.

Better pronunciation through song

If you enjoy singing, try learning some songs in the language you're learning. This is a fun way to improve your pronunciation and vocabulary. You could also try learning to recite poems and stories. Listening to songs in your L2 is an enjoyable way to improve your listening comprehension, especially if you have the lyrics written out so that you can follow them as you listen.

Phonetics and phonology

Learning a bit about phonetics and phonology will enable you to pronounce your L2 better. A good way to start is to learn the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), which can be used to represent all the phonemes of human speech and is therefore a reliable guide to pronunciation.

If you take the time to familiarise yourself with the IPA symbols, the phonemes they represent and how to pronounce them, you'll find this knowledge invaluable in your language learning. Particularly because the IPA is used to indicate pronunciation in some dictionaries and language textbooks.

In some cases you may not be able to hear particular phonemes, but you can be sure that you're pronouncing them correctly if you have your tongue, lips and teeth in the necessary positions and if your breath is moving in the right direction.

There's a good online introduction to phonetics and the IPA at: http://www.unil.ch/ling/english/phonetique/table-eng.html

Accents

Human speech uses a total of over 800 different phonemes. A phoneme is the smallest contrastive unit in the sound system of a language. Babies can hear all possible phonemes but quickly develop a preference for the phonemes of their native language(s). Children tend to be very good mimics, an ability which enables them to learn foreign languages with a native accent. When learning foreign languages in later life, most people find it difficult to hear and pronounce phonemes not present in their native language. This is why most adult language learners have a foreign accent

Are Mainstream Scientific Researchers Using the Internet to its full Multimedia Potential? As a research presentation medium, the Internet has been designed to offer vastly more to publishers than easy text access. It's astoundingly simple to incorporate photographs, diagrams, illustrations, sounds, animations, movies and all kinds of non-text content into a website using today's user-friendly web development software. This subject, Networks and Multimedia in Science and Technology, has been designed to open its students' eyes to the exciting multimedia possibilities available that can communicate research findings more accessibly, effectively and concisely than plain text. A look through some of the research presented by many of these students, found linked to the NAMIST CONFERENCE PAGE, makes it clear that well-designed web sites can make even the most potentially boring topics (statistics? butterflies?) attractive and interesting through the use of intuitive structures and appropriate multimedia. However, a browse through the web site of Australia's principal government-funded Scientific organisation, the CSIRO AUSTRALIA page, reveals myriads of research papers published almost exclusively in text-only format. The http://www.nobel.se/announcement-98/physics98.html official 1998 Nobel Prize award announcement for the field of Physics includes some diagrams, but nothing one would not find in a 1970's textbook. Many of the links from american science organisation www.Sigmaxi.org's science resource page, http://www.sigmaxi.org/scienceresources/scienceresources.htm, have a small amount of graphical content, but only one site I found, http://volcano.und.nodak.edu/ - a site dedicated to volcano research - made consistent use of movie files, sounds and animation, and this site was filed under fun for kids on sigmaxi's resource list. I believe there are many reasons for the scientific community's apparent dislike for multimedia. Not a small factor could be the possible perception that research that is presented in a flashy, colourful way is lacking in substance, that researchers who spend large amounts of time on presentation are compromising the research itself. The traditional presentation of research has been through publication in scientific journals, not renowned for their attention to visual appeal, and the use of extensive visual or multimedia assistance to focus the reader's attention could be viewed as condescending. Furthermore, making use of the available technology, whilst relatively easy using today's advanced, user-friendly development software, is nonetheless far more time-consuming than the use of simple text. In the context of a scientific report, visual cues are far more labour intensive to include than equivalent textual explanations in most cases. Furthermore many researchers are unfamiliar with the techniques required to produce them, and more willing to attempt written explanations than commission graphic artworks. Many of the technologically maxed-out sites connected to the NaMiST Conference page distract the audience from the information they intend to provide. This is reflected by one group's client requesting a very simple, uncluttered and movement-free page. High-tech pages also take longer to download, and often require plug-ins that may themselves take a lot of time to download. And how often have you waited for a large file to download only to find it has been somehow corrupted and is useless? Perhaps in many fields of scientific research, such material is simply inappropriate. Explaining quantum physics research on any level but the most basic would be extremely difficult to do using graphics and sound

 

There are many ways to improve your level of English, but only you can find the right way for you. Here are a few tips that might help:-

IMPROVE YOUR ENGLISH LEARNING SKILLS

Learning is a skill and it can be improved.

Your path to learning effectively is through knowing

• yourself
• your capacity to learn
• processes you have successfully used in the past
• your interest, and knowledge of what you wish to learn

Motivate yourself

If you are not motivated to learn English you will become frustrated and give up. Ask yourself the following questions, and be honest:-

• Why do you need to learn/improve English?
• Where will you need to use English?
• What skills do you need to learn/improve? (Reading/Writing/Listening/Speaking)
• How soon do you need to see results?
• How much time can you afford to devote to learning English.
• How much money can you afford to devote to learning English.
• Do you have a plan or learning strategy?

Set yourself achievable goals

You know how much time you can dedicate to learning English, but a short time each day will produce better, longer-term results than a full day on the weekend and then nothing for two weeks.

Joining a short intensive course could produce better results than joining a course that takes place once a week for six months.

Here are some goals you could set yourself:-

• Join an English course (and attend regularly).
• Do your homework.
• Read a book a month.
• Learn a new word every day.
• Visit an English speaking forum every day.
• Read a news article on the net every day.
• Do 10 minutes listening practice every day.
• Watch an English film at least once a month.
• Follow a soap, comedy or radio or TV drama.

A good way to meet your goals is to establish a system of rewards and punishments.

Decide on a reward you will give yourself for fulfilling your goals for a month.

• A bottle of your favorite drink
• A meal out / or a nice meal at home
• A new outfit
• A manicure or massage

Understanding how you learn best may also help you.

There are different ways to learn. Find out what kind of learner you are in order to better understand how to learn more effectively..

The visual learner

Do you need to see your teacher during lessons in order to fully understand the content of a lesson?

Do you prefer to sit at the front of the classroom to avoid visual obstructions (e.g. people's heads)?

Do you think in pictures and learn best from visual displays including: diagrams, illustrated text books, overhead transparencies, videos, flipcharts and hand-outs? 

During a lecture or classroom discussion, do you prefer to take detailed notes to absorb the information?

!Learning Tip - you may benefit from taking part in traditional English lessons, but maybe private lessons would be better.

The auditory learner

Do you learn best through verbal lectures, discussions, talking things through and listening to what others have to say?

Do you interpret the underlying meanings of speech through listening to tone of voice, pitch, speed and other nuances?

Does written information have little meaning until you hear it?

!Learning Tip - you may benefit from listening to the radio or listening to text as you read it. You could try reading text aloud and using a tape recorder to play it back to yourself.

The Tactile/Kinesthetic learner

Do you learn best through a hands-on approach, actively exploring the physical world around you?

Do you find it hard to sit still for long periods?

Do you become distracted easily?

!Learning Tip - you may benefit from taking an active part in role plays or drama activities.

IMPROVE YOUR ENGLISH GRAMMAR

Use self-study grammar books.

Practice forming meaningful sentences. Make positive statements, negative, turn statements into questions, make active statements passive. Turn past tense sentences into present tense sentences etc. etc.

Learn the different tenses. Learn by heart a simple example sentence using each tense.

Do online exercises. Keep a note of how you did and go back in a few weeks to see how you have improved.

!On this site:- Use the grammar pages to learn new grammar and then test yourself.

IMPROVE YOUR ENGLISH VOCABULARY

Use self-study vocabulary books.

Expose yourself to as much English as possible by reading, watching the TV, films or the news and listening to the radio or music.

Do online exercises. Keep a note of how you did and go back in a few weeks to see how you have improved.

Use stick it notes and label things around your home.

Vocabulary webs

Build a vocabulary web to organize your vocabulary about certain subjects.

For example your personal life:-

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and then extend it:-

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and then extend it further...

Flash cards

Start a flash cards box.

Buy or cut out some cards all the same size.

Draw or cut out some pictures.

Paste the pictures onto one side of the card and write the correct word on the other side.

Put new words in the front of the box.

Test yourself using either the pictures, the words or both.

If you have forgotten a word bring it to the front of the box.

!Learning tip - Use the vocabulary pages to learn new vocabulary thematically and in context.

IMPROVE YOUR ENGLISH LISTENING SKILLS

Make sure you have the right software to take advantage of what is available on the WWW. You can download players and find links to online radio stations at real.com , windowsmedia.com and winamp.com .

Try some of the radio stations I recommend on my broadcasts page.

Films in English are an excellent language resource. Follow my tips on how to use films to improve your English.

Keep up to date with current events and watch an English-language news station, such as BBC World. Watch news reports on events you are already aware of.

Find out how to switch languages on your TV. If you have digital or satellite TV there are several channels that broadcast in multiple languages. Eurosport is one and Euronews is another.

!Learning tip:- Use English magazine Ezine pages to find some interesting articles to listen to.

!Learning tip:- Use the dictation pages to test your understanding.

IMPROVE YOUR ENGLISH SPEAKING ENGLISH PRONUNCIATION SKILLS

Learn the phonetic alphabet.

List words that have the same sound add to the lists as you learn more words.

For example words that rhyme with me:-

Work on one problem sound at a time. Read slowly concentrating on the pronunciation of particular words. Record yourself, keep the tape and record yourself later, have you improved? Don't be shy - ask a friend to listen to the tape too.

Don't worry about sounding like a native, it is more important to speak clearly and pleasantly than it is to sound like the Queen.

The most important thing to think about is can people understand you? If you have a problem being understood then find someone who speaks English clearly and try to mimic their accent.

Talk to friends who are also learning English. Go out together for coffee and only speak English to each other!

Find native English speaking friends:-

• You can find ePals on the Internet!
• Visit an Irish/English/Australian theme pub. Often, the waiters and waitresses come from English-speaking countries, the menu is often in English too!
• You can find pen pals through specialist magazines. See Resources Page for details of a few.
• Join an English club or conversation group. Around the world there are many English speaking clubs, these clubs aren't just for expats but for people interested in the English way of life. They are friendly and fun. For a list of English clubs click here. Check magazines as well as your phone book, your local newspaper and your local university. Or if there isn't one in your area - start one! Place an advertisement in yourr newspaper for people interested in starting a group or go to Meetup.

Every week I run an English conversation group on Pal Talk - that way you get to speak to me and to other learners and native speakers.

!Learning tip:- Use pronunciation pages to improve your understanding.

IMPROVE YOUR ENGLISH READING SKILLS

Make a habit of reading regularly. Read as many English books, newspapers and magazines as you can find. Again this should be fun so make sure the texts you choose are not too difficult for you. If the book or article you are reading is a chore, then find something easier. You could even try reading graded books written especially for ESL learners.

Find an author you like and read all their books. By doing this you will get used to the style of a particular author and the typical vocabulary and grammar they use. As you read more of his/her books you will find it easier and easier.

If you have a local library, find out if they stock English books or if they have bilingual editions of English classics. Or ask them to stock English translations of books you are already familiar with.

Try reading things more than once. Read something and then read it again a few weeks/months later. You should find your understanding has improved.

Discuss what you have read. I am more than happy to discuss books with you on the forum.

!Learning Tip - don't try to understand every word. Try to understand the overall meaning of a sentence or passage.

!Learning Tip - don't translate - only use a dictionary if a word keeps appearing in a text and you still don't understand it.

IMPROVE YOUR ENGLISH WRITING SKILLS

Get the most out of your dictionary by understanding how to use it well. You can use your dictionary to find words, for meaning, for pronunciation, to check your spelling and to understand explanations.

Copy out short passages of English text from newspapers, magazines or books.

Try dictation exercises. You can do this online or get friends to read out text for you to write and then check your writing - concentrate on spelling and punctuation.

There are many forums on the net, find one about your interests or hobbies. Apologize if you think you have made any mistakes and politely ask for feedback.

Find English speaking pen friends:-

• You can find ePals on the Internet!

 

OTHER ENGLISH LEARNING TIPS

Travel to an English speaking country:-

• England is only a few hours flight away.
• Specialist holidays are available to improve your English.
• Take an English speaking tour or activity holiday.

Spend your time on things that interest you. If you like cooking then buy an English-language cookbook or find recipes on the net and practice following the recipes. You'll soon know if you have made a mistake!

Keep something English on you (books, newspapers, cassettes, flash cards) all day and every day, you never know when you might have 5 spare minutes.

If you are too tired to actively practice just relax and listen to some English pop songs or radio stations