Need Advising from English Gurus

Nikey · **Joined:** 03 Jan 2008 13:23 **Posts:** 2072

In a few months, I am going to apply the English examination.
Right now, I know that my English still need a lot to improve to reach the satisfied score.

I know that almost everybody in "i-Board" are very good at English.
Hence I want an advisory suggestion from you about how I can improve my English
with a very limited time.

Especially with Listening skill , because it is the weakest skill for me.

Thank you for your preceeding help! :satoo:

น้องกระจับ · **Posted:** 02 May 2008 22:49

What kind of test are you having? TOEIC, TOEFL or IELTS ..These tests are various in their purpose of evaluation..

well, in case of listening...to improve it you have to, of course, start listening to it. First, find something of your interest and listen curiously (always question about what they are telling you). Listening to what you already have some background about is much easier..and then you may adjust by expanding the scope of the content to what is new to you (though in some way still related to the your topics of interest)...but remember, in every test...Listening is always the easiest part and people get the highest score on it..

Wish you the best..

Almond · **Posted:** 02 May 2008 23:28

Actually my listening skill is just fine but I just wanna share some of my direct experiences. To improve the listening skill sure you must listen a lot try CNN, BBC or some English broadcasting radio stations which are easily access and widely spread all over the country, moreover the original sound track films are also helpful. Always looking for an opportunity to talk with native Eng speaker is another way to develop your both listening and speaking skills which are required for the present TOEFL.

Hope you can grasp the expected score na krab :hii:

Cherry · **Posted:** 03 May 2008 08:32

Well, nothing is free. You earn what you paid for. If you want to improve you listening skill, one way to do is to listen more. As others said, you can try TV news, radio programmes, songs, soundtrack movies with subtitle on, etc. I like to leave the radio on 24/7, not to listen to it carefully, but to get used to the sound native speakers make. Sometimes, try to follow what they say. Just mumble whatever you hear just like you are a little child trying to copy your parents talking. In this case, you will improve both listening and speaking which usually develop together. And one important point to be noted, do not be shy. I know this is very hard for Thais as we are taught to be polite but this is not the case. Nothing is wrong about speaking incorrectly. Got it?

One more technique, reading something out loud might help. At least, you get the idea what the structures are and also, some commonly used words/phrases which will help you to catch what you hear much easier.

Btw, normally, the most difficult part for English exams is the writing part, even some native speakers cannot complete as it is a scientific style.

All the best

vivaldianto · **Posted:** 03 May 2008 09:08

Agree with Kun Cherry for not being shy and be advisable to pronounce English loudly. For me , I think Spoken English is the most difficult comparing with writen and reading ones. And it is the part that need more times to improve. Mostly, Thais can learn how to read and write effectively by spending time to develop shorter than practising Spoken English.

Wrtitten English , as Khun Cherry said, it's not depend only on English skill but also one's rationality and logic to smartly weave cause and reason with pertinent and precise notion to the point we want to present. Sometimes by exemplfying the witty quotes and events that u can learn and reaping from reading more books and your expereinces can be your advantage. Using elaborate vocablulary , sometimes, is not necessary and seems pretentious.

For the western people, at times, being silent and no response may be regarded as dumbness, though u are smart and understand well enough for that u listened but not be able to present your notion orally at the proper time. It's very disappointed when being ignored with such reason.

My advice is as Khun Cherry's notion above and keep on seriously practising for this. When time passed by, go will see vivid improvment.
YOu can send me the essays you had written and I'm pleased to edit them, if you don't mind.

Good Luck and keep on going ...well

Nikey · **Joined:** 03 Jan 2008 13:23 **Posts:** 2072

Thank you very much for P' น้องกระจับ ,P' Almond , P'Cherry,K. Vivaldianto na krub.

I will use my total effort to do as all you have advised as much as possible krub.

K. Vivaldianto , I may send PM to you to ask about what is your email adress na krub.
Would you mind if I need some more advice from you?

Thank you again

Best Regards,

kedinvent · **Joined:** 31 Dec 2007 09:48 **Posts:** 1001

For the listenning skill, I started from http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/
Then, http://www.nature.com/podcast/index.html
(Because I'm really bad in english, so I began with the easiest one; they are also in a field of my interest.)
My advice may not be so helpful nakrub - -''

vivaldianto wrote:

YOu can send me the essays you had written and I'm pleased to edit them, if you don't mind.

Can I have your correction as well? hehe

vivaldianto · **Posted:** 03 May 2008 22:43

with my pleasure...
anytime krub.. :)

Machojupiter · **Joined:** 30 Dec 2007 19:50 **Posts:** 781

Hello Khun Nikey,

I was dragged and introduced to your page by Nong Krajub krub.

She said that you really needed to practice your listening skills to pass the exam in the next couple of months and asked if I could be of any help.

If that's the case, then, why don't you start from the beginning stage, which is listening to songs. It is also good if you can sing along, while practicing.

In my own experience, my very first song that I listened was Mr. Postman, sung by the Carpenters (that implies how old I am hee hee). It was easy to understand and I knew most of the vocabularies (99%). It made me proud of myself and yearn for improvements.

So, I recommend you keep listening and listening to songs. At the same time, please also observe your improvements, i.e. how many words you know the meanings. In case that you don't catch any word, do keep listening again and again, and make guesses. Then, look it up from the song's lyric and see if your guess is right or not. If not, learn from it na krub.

If you can do more than 80% of each song, you will definitely pass the exam.

Remember, the Carpenter's songs are the best learning materials. Don't try to learn from R&Bs cause that would be suicidal.

Lastly, the most important thing that I need to emphasize to you is that don’t ever translate any word into Thai. Just let your brain work in English to save time and to avoid confusions.

If you have any questions, please post them here or pm to me na krub.

Hope this helps, more or less, and hope you can make it na krub.

Cheers,

Machojupiter

น้องกระจับ · **Posted:** 04 May 2008 13:16

Machojupiter wrote:

In my own experience, my very first song that I listened was Mr. Postman, sung by the Carpenters (that implies how old I am hee hee).
Machojupiter

Are you?

Nikey · **Joined:** 03 Jan 2008 13:23 **Posts:** 2072

kedinvent wrote:

...
My advice may not be so helpful nakrub - -''...

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For me , none of replies with well intention is helpless.
Also I am going to start with hearing some website which relate to the subject that I interest.
And "The National Geographic" will be one of my first choice. Thank you that you have made me realized this one.

Also I want to say thankyou to P' Machojupiter too.
I just have heard the song named "Mr. Postman" that you have suggested for the first time.
And it is a cool song for me.(It has Mickey Mouse in the music video. What a cool stuff!)

One thing that I can't follow is I can not play the CNN while I am sleeping.(As P' Cherry suggested 24/7 rule above.)
Because news or something in English always wake me up all the time.(May be because I don't get used to it.)
But I will try until I can get myself slept with the radio opened. ^^

Thank you for every replies na krab. I really appreciate all of your suggestion maak maak krub.

Best Regards,

Machojupiter · **Joined:** 30 Dec 2007 19:50 **Posts:** 781

Dear Khun Nikey,

Hope my way of practice can help you more or less.

In fact, you shouldn't watch the MVs. The reason being that you are not only listening to the lyric, but also reading the singer's lips. That wouldn't help at all.

In real life, listening test is to listen without seeing the speaker's face na krub.

Cheers,

Machojupiter

kedinvent · **Joined:** 31 Dec 2007 09:48 **Posts:** 1001

More scientific podcast websites :

http://www.sciencemag.org/about/podcast.dtl
http://www.cell.com/

ต้องลม · **Joined:** 02 Jan 2008 10:25 **Posts:** 786

all of the good suggestion were posted.
so i want to offer another way 4u na krab.i've read that u prefer radio.

it is radioonline!
http://www.surfmusic.de
don't be afraid of german!
u can choose english and any kind of music that u love^-^
or for more efficiency news is also available!

p.s. sorry for my plainๆ english na..

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