Thursday, December 23, 2010
Sunday, December 19, 2010
APRENDENDO NOVAS PALAVRAS - UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE
The University of Cambridge has recently found the brain learns the meaning of a word within 15 minutes. This can be of vast benefit for teachers and learners in the language learning pathway.
A Universidade de Cambridge descobriu recentemente que o cérebro aprende uma palavra nova em até 15 minutos.
Check the Folha de São Paulo link:
http://www1.folha.uol.com.br/ciencia/846130-cerebro-leva-menos-de-15-minutos-para-aprender-uma-nova-palavra.shtml
Visit Dr Yury Shtyrov´s webpage. He´s the research team leader of the finding above. You can find some very interesting articles there.
http://www.neuroscience.cam.ac.uk/directory/profile.php?yury
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
EXAM TIPS
Hello and Welcome to another post!
This one is for those who will have to sit a major English Language Examination. I´m posting some tips that may help you out before and on the day of the exam.
1. Be sure you´re taking the right exam:
A lot of candidates take a certain examination because they have been (mis)instructed to do so and eventually find out that it is not the one most suited to their need. So before you register for the exam, make sure it meets the requirements of your needs as much as possible. For instance, if you´re going to study in the UK, the best exam to sit is the IELTS, whereas if you´re applying for a post at a US company, the most required test is the TOEIC.
2. Get to know the exam you´re taking:
It is crucial that the candidate is as familiar as possible with
the examination they are going to apply for so they´ll know how
to proceed during the test, know how many parts the test has,
how much time each part has, and what they´ll have to do in each part. This allows you to know exactly what you have to do
and how you have to do it which prevents you from wasting time
and allows you to deal with the tasks efficiently.
3. Manage your time effectively:
This is a vital part of knowing the exam well since correct
TIME MANAGEMENT can make the difference between failing or
achieving the result you need. Know the time limits of each part
of the test. Estimate how much time YOU take in each part, so
you´ll know where to improve your timing. Learn, train and apply
the Exam Strategy for each part of the test because this makes
you function more effectively, using you time more efficiently
in consequence. Do not get stuck to a particular question. If you
can´t figure the answer to a certain question, just answer
anything and move on (specially if the exam does not penalise
you for wrong answers). Use up all the time awarded.
4. Do NOT get distracted by the environment:
There are a lot of distracting elements in-and-outside an exam room,
like people moving on their chairs, external noises, heat or cold,
candidates turning pages. If you start paying attention to them
you will lose focus and waste time. Try to block out these
disrupting events and tie yourself up to the questions you have
to answer.
5. Revise your work:
After each part you complete, check it through. Look for
spelling mistakes, content mistakes. Make sure you´ve answered
the questions in the right order. Make sure your work is easy to
read.Make sure you have answered the questions in English!
Make sure you have transfered all answers to the Answer Sheet.
Revise your work carefully and fast, so you are able to check
all parts of the test.
6. Instructions:
A great deal of the success in a language examination owes to
correct understanding what you have to do. Many candidates
fail to score points, simply because they rush into the questions
without reading or listening to the instructions. Real life is
full of instructions, so language exams also test candidates
indirectly through instructions.
Ask the exam supervisor whenever you´re unsure of what to do.
7. Get smart:
You can improve your vocab in the writing or speaking parts
of a test if you observe the language used in the reading for
instance or the pronunciation of people in the listening
recordings. Watch for correct spelling, verb usage, prepositions,
idiomatic expressions. They all come through in a text
or listening passage.
8. Boost confidence:
Don´t feel intimidated if there are candidates around you
boasting their knowledge of the exam and language. Believe in
yourself! If you have prepared for the test, if you have at least
informed yourself about the test structure you´re about to
meet, you should have a chance of reaching your goal.
Keep your cool and go for it!
This one is for those who will have to sit a major English Language Examination. I´m posting some tips that may help you out before and on the day of the exam.
1. Be sure you´re taking the right exam:
A lot of candidates take a certain examination because they have been (mis)instructed to do so and eventually find out that it is not the one most suited to their need. So before you register for the exam, make sure it meets the requirements of your needs as much as possible. For instance, if you´re going to study in the UK, the best exam to sit is the IELTS, whereas if you´re applying for a post at a US company, the most required test is the TOEIC.
2. Get to know the exam you´re taking:
It is crucial that the candidate is as familiar as possible with
the examination they are going to apply for so they´ll know how
to proceed during the test, know how many parts the test has,
how much time each part has, and what they´ll have to do in each part. This allows you to know exactly what you have to do
and how you have to do it which prevents you from wasting time
and allows you to deal with the tasks efficiently.
3. Manage your time effectively:
This is a vital part of knowing the exam well since correct
TIME MANAGEMENT can make the difference between failing or
achieving the result you need. Know the time limits of each part
of the test. Estimate how much time YOU take in each part, so
you´ll know where to improve your timing. Learn, train and apply
the Exam Strategy for each part of the test because this makes
you function more effectively, using you time more efficiently
in consequence. Do not get stuck to a particular question. If you
can´t figure the answer to a certain question, just answer
anything and move on (specially if the exam does not penalise
you for wrong answers). Use up all the time awarded.
4. Do NOT get distracted by the environment:
There are a lot of distracting elements in-and-outside an exam room,
like people moving on their chairs, external noises, heat or cold,
candidates turning pages. If you start paying attention to them
you will lose focus and waste time. Try to block out these
disrupting events and tie yourself up to the questions you have
to answer.
5. Revise your work:
After each part you complete, check it through. Look for
spelling mistakes, content mistakes. Make sure you´ve answered
the questions in the right order. Make sure your work is easy to
read.Make sure you have answered the questions in English!
Make sure you have transfered all answers to the Answer Sheet.
Revise your work carefully and fast, so you are able to check
all parts of the test.
6. Instructions:
A great deal of the success in a language examination owes to
correct understanding what you have to do. Many candidates
fail to score points, simply because they rush into the questions
without reading or listening to the instructions. Real life is
full of instructions, so language exams also test candidates
indirectly through instructions.
Ask the exam supervisor whenever you´re unsure of what to do.
7. Get smart:
You can improve your vocab in the writing or speaking parts
of a test if you observe the language used in the reading for
instance or the pronunciation of people in the listening
recordings. Watch for correct spelling, verb usage, prepositions,
idiomatic expressions. They all come through in a text
or listening passage.
8. Boost confidence:
Don´t feel intimidated if there are candidates around you
boasting their knowledge of the exam and language. Believe in
yourself! If you have prepared for the test, if you have at least
informed yourself about the test structure you´re about to
meet, you should have a chance of reaching your goal.
Keep your cool and go for it!
Saturday, October 23, 2010
ONE-TO-ONE OR GROUP TEACHING?
Private Lessons or School Teaching?
The link above invites us to reflect on our own teaching contexts. By private lessons the author means one-to-one teaching and by school teaching, group teaching.
There are many viewpoints on this and I´d say from experience the answer is more than personal. Some teachers do not feel comfortable in a one-to-one situation whereas others might even feel intimidated by a group of students staring at the teacher! Still, there are those who manage both contexts with no effort.
To me it has more to do with personal styles, because if the teacher feels ok in a certain scenario they are most likely to display prodcutive performance anyways.
Teacher training should embrace them both in order to better prepare the language teacher.
I´ve always been in both situations and always loved paying attention to specific characteristics each one of them has. Like everything else in life, group teaching and private one-to-one teaching offer great advantages and nasty drawbacks.
The link above invites us to reflect on our own teaching contexts. By private lessons the author means one-to-one teaching and by school teaching, group teaching.
There are many viewpoints on this and I´d say from experience the answer is more than personal. Some teachers do not feel comfortable in a one-to-one situation whereas others might even feel intimidated by a group of students staring at the teacher! Still, there are those who manage both contexts with no effort.
To me it has more to do with personal styles, because if the teacher feels ok in a certain scenario they are most likely to display prodcutive performance anyways.
Teacher training should embrace them both in order to better prepare the language teacher.
I´ve always been in both situations and always loved paying attention to specific characteristics each one of them has. Like everything else in life, group teaching and private one-to-one teaching offer great advantages and nasty drawbacks.
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