Humberto, I would like to add: each learner may have a different strategy or method that works for him/her. What works for me may not necessarily work for others. We have to discover what works better for us.
About repetition, one day I read somewhere the question: How many times is advisable to repeat something what we are listening to? The answer was: as many times as you find pleasant/useful. That's is good to know. We keep listening many, many words/phrases in our mother language. That's why we master our own language. By the way, last days I keep listening some documentaries, thanks to a teacher who share us this link: http://www.documentarywire.com/ I'm watching/listening, e.g. Guns, Germs and Steel, the first part. I know most of the words, I understand more when the narrator speaks, because his English is clear and slow, and I understand more to one of the characters, to the biologist, and don't understand so well to the archaeologist. I think is also useful to listening to this kind of English because we may know the words but is key to listening to the words/phrases in a context. Some high frequency words together may sound different when they goes together, for instance, 'at first sight', we may know those three words but we have never listen to those words together it's possible that that fact may give us difficulty. It's the same about numbers. In that series, you can hear several dates, e.g. eleven and a half thousand years ago, nine thousands years ago, etc. We know the numbers, but at normal or high speed, we may not be able to understand the amounts spoken or may lose others parts of the sentences spoken while trying to figure out what figures were said. Well, that's the idea. I hope it helps. Thank you, Pablo On 21 jul, 06:10, Humberto - Tecgraf <[email protected]> wrote: > Thanks Pablo, I really appreciated your tips! > > MSN e Google Talk: [email protected] > Web: camelini.blogspot.com > > 2010/7/20 Pablo <[email protected]> > > > > > > > Beto, > > > Keep listening/watching/writing. Keep practicing. The important thing > > is that you enjoy your practice and that you understand what you read/ > > listen to. The more you understand, the better. The more you enjoy, > > the better. > > > Here the link that Ed share to us: > > >http://successfulenglish.com/2010/06/more-pleasure-more-english/ > > > And to remember: > > > "You won't learn anything from the movie if you don't understand it. > > You probably won't enjoy it, either. :-( " > > > I invite you to read the section "What to do when you don't understand > > something" in: > > >http://www.antimoon.com/how/movies.htm > > > although I don't agree about this point: > > > "If you are playing the movie from tape or DVD, you can stop it > > whenever you don't understand a sentence." > > > If you stop the movie whenever you don't understand a sentence, or opt > > for looking up words in your dictionary, you are lost! you aren't > > enjoying your movie at all! If you want do that exercise, use movie > > clips (e.g.http://www.learnenglishfeelgood.com/eslvideo/or > >http://www.englishcentral.com/en/videos). > > > Well, about the subtitles option, I think it's good and bad. Good > > because you can learn new words/expressions. Bad because you don't > > focus in your listening. > > > Let's take an example. You watch a movie that you understand, let's > > say a 70%. You don't turn subtitles on. So, what's next? You have to > > watch it again with subtitles on, doesn't it? Or, if you are having > > bad times: to turn subtitles on, just from the beginning, aren't you? > > > Well, for me, an option might be: > > > 1. Watch the movie once with subtitles on. > > 2. Watch it again without subtitles, or better, listen to the movie- > > audio, if you have or can extract the sound track of the movie. > > > I think it does help to listen to them repeatedly. In that way we can > > pay more attention to how the words are used. Because that's how the > > acquisition of new words/expressions is achieved, I mean, listening to > > them an enough number of times, doesn't it? > > > Well, it's worth to extract some key phrases from Warren's article: > > > "Look for books, podcasts, or movies that are 100% comprehensible > > (understandable) so you can focus on the content, not the words." > > > "Pleasure – that feeling of happy satisfaction you get from doing > > something you really enjoy – is a strong indicator, or sign, that > > whatever you’re reading or listening to is helping to improve your > > English." > > > "Focus on narrow reading and listening. Read books and listen to > > podcasts or movies in a genre (category or kind) that you already find > > interesting. Read or listen to the same topic or watch many of the > > same kind of movie so that similar vocabulary will continue to > > naturally come up until it is acquired." > > > I hope it helps friends! > > > Pablo > > > On 19 jul, 06:04, Beto Camelini <[email protected]> wrote: > > > Hi, > > > > To improve my english, I´m trying these things: > > > 1. Reading more; > > > 2. Listening more (even without understand everything, I don´t use > > > subtitles); > > > 3. Trying to understand words in context, avoid searching in a portuguese > > > dictionary; > > > 4. Watching movies; > > > 5. Talking with others, by msn, discussion groups or, if possible, in > > > person. > > > > I think these are good steps to begin. > > > > MSN e Google Talk: [email protected] > > > Web: camelini.blogspot.com > > > > 2010/7/18 rohan bhargava <[email protected]> > > > > > Hi, > > > > I like to tell you that problem you are facing happens to many > > people.It is > > > > very common problem to all begginers.Even this happen to me also.I used > > to > > > > watch english movies,listen english songs but sometimes i don`t get > > them.I > > > > don`t understand that dialog line. > > > > Whenever,I speak in english a question is always going in my mind-"Is i > > am > > > > saying right thing?".Sometimes i want to express my views but i don`t > > get > > > > the appropriate words for them.So don`t worry for this.It will be all > > > > wright.So i suggest you to keep practicing. > > > > Take care > > > > Rohan > > > > > On Sat, Jul 17, 2010 at 7:14 PM, Eduardo Costa <[email protected]> > > wrote: > > > > >> Hi Beto, > > > >> I know how you are felling, sometimes I fell the same when I´m > > writing, > > > >> but this felling is decreasing as much I write. > > > >> So I think as much you practice your writing skill (here in this group > > per > > > >> example) will be better and better. > > > >> Two things I had done to help me in this line: > > > > >> First: I assumed I´m an english learn, so I had no obligation to write > > > >> totally correct, the fact is that when I write I know that exists > > mistakes > > > >> but I´m not so concerned about that. > > > > >> Second: I revised my emails (informal) just one time.. no more. Just > > > >> because every time I revise my own emails I changed what I had wrote. > > > > >> Any suggestions ? > > > > >> Take care > > > > >> Ed. > > > > >> On Thu, Jul 15, 2010 at 09:44, Beto Camelini <[email protected]> > > wrote: > > > > >>> Hi folks! > > > > >>> I´ve a big problem: I need think first in my native tongue everything > > I > > > >>> try to talk or write in english. I´m trying to change this, but it´s > > very > > > >>> hard. I know that if I could find a method to do this, my english > > will > > > >>> improve very fast, becausa I can understand most of things I read. Do > > you > > > >>> have any suggestion, based on your experiences? > > > > >>> (Believe me when I say that I´m trying, but, for instance, write this > > > >>> email is something very complicated and slow) > > > > >>> Thanks a lot! > > > > >>> MSN e Google Talk: [email protected] > > > >>> Web: camelini.blogspot.com > > > > >> -- > > > >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google > > Groups > > > >> "ESL Podcast". > > > >> To post to this group, send email to: [email protected] or > > just > > > >> reply this message > > > >> For invite your friends, visit: > > > >>http://groups.google.com/group/eslpodcast/members_invite > > > >> Know how help us, visit this FAQ at: > > >http://groups.google.com/group/eslpodcast/web/frequently-asked-questions > > > > > -- > > > > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google > > Groups > > > > "ESL Podcast". > > > > To post to this group, send email to: [email protected] or > > just > > > > reply this message > > > > For invite your friends, visit: > > > >http://groups.google.com/group/eslpodcast/members_invite > > > > Know how help us, visit this FAQ at: > > >http://groups.google.com/group/eslpodcast/web/frequently-asked-questions > > > -- > > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > > "ESL Podcast". > > To post to this group, send email to: [email protected] or just > > reply this message > > For invite your friends, visit: > >http://groups.google.com/group/eslpodcast/members_invite > > Know how help us, visit this FAQ at: > >http://groups.google.com/group/eslpodcast/web/frequently-asked-questions -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "ESL Podcast". 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