A Handbook Of English Learning(by RetSam) V1.01

A Handbook Of English Learning [ Version 1.0 ] All rights reserved by RetSam 2009.09 Skype ID: retsamzhang Table Of Contents OUTLINE 4 1.Relationship 4 1.1 Description 4 1.2 Examples 4 1.3 Summarize 4 2.Step By Step 5 2.1 The Steps 5 2.2 Tips For Each Step 5 3.Techniques 6 TWO DIRECTIONS FOR PRACTISING 7 Description 7 Summarize 7 THREE MAIN IDEAS 8 1.To Split 8 2.To Bind 8 3.To Build Image 9 PRACTISING STRESS WITH TAPE 10 Subtitles 10 Records 10 Description 10 PHONETIC SYMBOLS AND EXAMPLES 11 Consonant 11 Vowel 11 VERB TENSE AND EXAMPLES 13 1.Present 14 1.1 Simple Present : I do. 14 1.2. Present Continuous : I am doing. 14 1.3. Present Perfect : I have done. 14 1.4.Present Perfect Continuous : I have been doing. 14 2.Past 14 2.1 Simple Past : I did. 14 2.2 Past Continuous : I was doing. 15 2.3 Past Perfect : I had done. 15 2.4 Past Perfect Continuous : I had been doing. 15 3.Future 15 3.1 Simple Future : I will do. 15 3.2 Future Continuous : I will be doing. 15 3.3 Future Perfect : I will have done. 16 3.4 Future Perfect Continuous : I will have been doing. 16 SENSE GROUP 17 What Is A Sense Group? 17 Basic Rules For Dividing A Sentence Into Sense Groups 17 About Me Hi! I am Sam. I like English and I have special feelings for it. I enjoy very much when I am listening to or speaking English. Further more, English has been playing a very important role in my life. It helped me to reach some important knowledge, which totally changed my understanding about my life. I spent a lot of time in English, and I would like to keep using English by teaching English. Can't say my English is very good, but I like to share my ideas and experiences with other learners,specially the beginners. I think if the beginners knew those tips, they will enjoy learning and improve their level sooner. Love and Light. OUTLINE 1.Relationship 1.1 Description 1.1.1 Reading benefits Thinking; 1.1.2 Thinking benefits Speaking; 1.1.3 Speaking benefits Listening; 1.1.4 Thinking also benefits Writing; 1.1.5 Speaking benefits Thinking(reverse); 1.1.6 Listening benefits Thinking(reverse); 1.2 Examples 1.2.1 Reading: You read a story; 1.2.2 Thinking: You think about it; 1.2.3 Speaking: You tell someone your opinions about the story; 1.2.4 Listening: You listen to other's response; 1.2.5 Writing: You think about other's words and write some notes; 1.3 Summarize 1.3.1 The core is Thinking; 1.3.2 Speaking,Reading and Listening will nourish the CORE; 2.Step By Step 2.1 The Steps 2.1.1 Phonetic Symbols [ Details ] 2.1.2 Words 2.1.3 Phrases 2.1.4 Short Sentences [ 2 Directions ] 2.1.5 Conversations 2.1.6 Long Sentences [ Sense Group ] [ Verb Tense ] [ Accurate Simulation ] 2.1.7 Article 2.2 Tips For Each Step 2.2.1 Phonetic Symbols: relate to words 2.2.2 Words: SPLIT; BUILD IMAGE; New words' list; 2.2.3 Phrases: BIND; New phrases' list; 2.2.4 Short Sentences: Play with tones; Sound-linking; Sound-lossing; 2.2.5 Conversations: Slow your breath and relax, take your time to speak; ask others to slow down; 2.2.6 Long Sentences: SPLIT; Play with tones; 2.2.7 Article: SPLIT; 3.Techniques 3.1 New words' list - (helps Vocabulary); 3.2 New phrases' list - (helps Phrases); 3.3 Record your reading and ask for corrections - (helps correcting your Pronunciation,Stress and Intonation);  3.4 Follow the singer closely - (helps pronouncing beautifully); 3.5 Ask for corrections during chatting - (Helps grammar and spelling); 3.6 Do some Self-encouraging and Self-praising - (Helps to keep your interest); 3.7 Use English as much as you can - (Helps to keep and improve your English); 3.8 Create your own learning plan - (Helps improving your creativity and interest); 3.9 To Split,To Bind,To Build Image - (for more details please see "3 Main Ideas") TWO DIRECTIONS FOR PRACTISING Description We can have fun simply by adding some CHANGES to a normal thing. Here I am suggesting 2 directions for PRACTISING AND PLAYING with English. One is to be SLOWER than normal by Splitting a sentence, a phrase or even a word. Another is to be FASTER than normal by Combining some syllables,words or phrases. Being SLOWER helps to improve the Accuracy of your pronunciation and memorising. Accuracy is important because good accuracy is like a good habit, which will benefit you for the rest of your life. Being FASTER helps to improve the Fluency of your speaking and listening. Fluency helps to save your time of thinking and makes speaking a more natural thing for you. Summarize Maybe you have noticed that Accuracy + Fluency = Perfect ! P.S. Knowing how to practise is like knowing how to feed yourself. In that way, you don't need to wait for teachers to feed you. Just feed yourself anywhere and anytime you want THREE MAIN IDEAS 1.To Split - To split one word into parts to memorize it's spelling and pronunciation; * Each part will be easier to pronounce; * Each part will be easier to spell; * Helping you to guess how to pronounce when you meet the same part in another word; Examples: 1. pronunciation = pro-nun-ci-a-tion; - [prəˌnʌnsiˈeiʃən] = [prə]-[nʌn]-[si]-[ei]-[ʃən]; 2. professor = pro-fe-ssor; - [prəˈfesə] = [prə]-[fe]-[sə]; - To split a long sentence into a few parts to speak; * Easier to speak and getting the meaning of the sentence; * Easier to keep the rhythm and control your breathing; * More comfortable for the listener; Examples: 1.The Simple Present can also indicate the speaker believes that a fact was true before, is true now, and will be true in the future. - The Simple Present can also indicate - the speaker believes - that a fact was true before - is true now - and will be true in the future. 2.To Bind - To bind the syllables to speak a word; * Because we say a word instead of pronouncing some syllables; * A word comes with tones and stress; * Helps you to speak comfortably and quickly(when it's needed); * The speed of your listening relates to the speed of your speaking; Examples: 1. pro-nun-ci-a-tion = pronunciation; - [prə]-[nʌn]-[si]-[ei]-[ʃən] = [prəˌnʌnsiˈeiʃən]; 2. pro-fe-ssor = professor; - [prə]-[fe]-[sə] = [prəˈfesə]; - To bind the words to speak a phrase or a short sentence; * Becase we speak a sentence instead of prounouncing a bunch of words; * A sentence comes with tones and stress and pauses; * Helps you to speak comfortably and quickly(when it's needed); * The speed of your listening relates to the speed of your speaking; Examples: 1. Make yourself at home = makeyourselfathome; 2. The harder I study, the better my English will be. = theharder - istudy - thebetter - myenglishwillbe; 3.To Build Image - To build image of the parts and the whole of a word to help spelling it correctly. * To build an image of each part, and replay these parts getting together to make up the word in your head; * To build an image of the whole of a word helps you to feel whether you spell it wrong; * Having an image of of a word helps you to recognize a word faster,so to speed up your reading; Examples: pronunciation = pro-nun-ci-a-tion; PRACTISING STRESS WITH TAPE Subtitles ================================== The number of Americans claiming unemployment benefits now exceeds 6.8 million, the highest number ever recorded. ================================== (Bold parts are stressed words.) Records Record one(The native speaker): http://www.dreamjourney.cn/English/tone11.mp3 Record two(Sam following the native speaker): http://www.dreamjourney.cn/English/tone12.mp3 Description There are Intensive reading and Extensive reading, Intensive listening and Extensive listening. And my idea is to do intensive and accurate simulation, untill you sound exactly the same(Pronunciation,Stress,Linking sound,Tone,Pause,Fluency etc) as the native speaker on the tape. Well, it's not easy but it will be interesting. After you practise for a while you will feel the fluency, and you will feel comfortable and great！ PHONETIC SYMBOLS AND EXAMPLES Consonant [ p ] —— P —— pen, map, happy [ b ] —— B —— book, boy, behind [ k ] —— K,CK,C —— cake, kite, clock, [ ɡ] —— G —— gate, big, dig, girl [ t ] —— T —— time, got, table, little [ d ] —— D —— door, dance, road, middle [ f ] —— F, PH —— five, photo, flight, football [ v ] —— V —— vest, live, vast, review [ θ] —— TH —— thing, three, fifth, throw [ ð ] —— TH —— that, this, father, with [ s ] —— S,CE/CI/CY/ —— see, dance, city, certainly [ z ] —— Z, S —— zip, zoo, boys, doors [ ʃ ] —— SH —— shop, fish, show, English, sheep [ ʒ ] ——S —— usually, measure, pleasure [ h ] —— H,WH~ —— hole, whole, who, Helen [ r ] —— R —— right, robber, room [ tʃ ] —— CH —— much, chair, chat, China [ dʒ ] ——J, ~GE,~DGE —— June, just, bridge, change [ tr ] —— TR —— tree, try, trousers [ dr ] —— DR —— draw, dress, drive [ ts ] —— ~TS,~TES —— boots, tastes [ dz ] —— ~DS, ~DES —— beds, besides [ m ] —— M —— morning, come, match, comb [ n ] —— N —— night, fine, nose, nine [ ŋk ] —— ~NG,~NK —— think, thing, ink, English [ l ] —— L —— light, left, let, travel [ w ] —— W~, WH~, ~W~ —— why, where, swim, [ j ] —— Y~ —— yes, year, your Vowel [ i: ] —— E,EA,EE,I,IE —— be, we, please, feet, see, free, police, machine, believe, piece [ i ] —— IE –Y —— in, six, English, country [ e ] —— E,EA,A —— pen, yellow, health, sweater, any, many [ æ ] —— A —— bag, man, than, shall [ ə ] —— ~ER,~OR —— worker, visitor [ ə:] —— ER,IR,UR,OR,EAR —— her, term, bird, first, turn, burn, worse, learn, earth [ ʌ ] —— U,O,OU —— cup, hungry, love, front, touch, young [ a: ] —— A,AR,AL,AU —— class, last, are, hard, start, half, aunt [ ɔ ] —— AO —— what, wash, not, long, doll [ ɔ: ] —— AL,AU,OR,ORE,OOR,OUR,AR,AW —— all, chalk, daughter, autumn, sport, born, more, before, four, quarter, draw, saw [ u ] —— O,UL,UO,OO —— book, goodness, could, full, woman, [ u: ] —— U,O,OO —— blue, ruler, do, shoe, zoo, moon [ ei ] —— A~AY,AI,EIGH,~EY —— name, same, way, day, wait, train, eighteen [ ai ] —— I,~Y,IGH —— I, tiger, by, bye, fly, right, high, [ ɔi ] —— OI,OY —— toilet, joy, boy, enjoy [ au ] —— OU,OW —— out, count, round, how, down, town [ əu ] —— O,OA,OW —— close, only, boat, coat, row, know, show [ iə ] —— EAR,EER,ERE,EA —— dear, hear, pioneer, here, idea [ ɛə ] —— AIR,ERE,EAR,EIR,ARE —— fair, hair, there, wear, their, careful [ uə ] —— URE —— sure VERB TENSE AND EXAMPLES 1.Present 1.1 Simple Present : I do. 1.1.1 Repeated Actions : I play tennis. 1.1.2 Facts : Beijing is in China. 1.1.3 Scheduled Events in the Near Future : The train leaves at 6 PM. 1.1.4 Now : I am here now. 1.2. Present Continuous : I am doing. 1.2.1 Now : I am watching TV. 1.2.2 Longer Actions in Progress Now : I am studying to become a doctor. 1.2.3 Near Future : I am meeting my dad after work. 1.3. Present Perfect : I have done. 1.3.1 Unspecified Time Before Now 1.3.1.1 About Experience : I have been to France. 1.3.1.2 Change Over Time : My English has improved since I moved to USA. 1.3.1.3 Accomplishments : Man has walked on the Moon. 1.3.1.4 An Uncompleted Action You Are Expecting : The train hasn't stopped. 1.3.1.5 Multiple Actions at DIfferent Times : I have talked to 5 students about the problem. 1.4.Present Perfect Continuous : I have been doing. 1.4.1 Duration from the Past Until Now : She has been working at that company for three years. 1.4.2 Recently : I have been exercising lately. 2.Past 2.1 Simple Past : I did. 2.1.1 Completed Action in the Past : I saw a movie yesterday. 2.1.2 A Series of Completed Actions : I finished work,walked to the beach,and found a nice place to swim. 2.1.3 Duration in Past : I lived in Brazil for two years. 2.1.4 Habits in the Past : I played the violin when I was a child. 2.1.5 Past Facts or Generalizations : People paid much more to make cell phone calls in the past. 2.2 Past Continuous : I was doing. 2.2.1 Interrupted Action in the Past : I was watching TV when she called. 2.2.2 Specific Time as an Interruption : Yesterday at this time, I was sitting at my desk at work. 2.2.3 Parallel Actions : I was studying while he was making dinner. 2.2.4 Atmosphere : When I walked into the office, some were busily typing, some were talking on the phone. 2.2.5 Repetition and Irritation with "Always" : I didn't like them because they were always complainning. 2.3 Past Perfect : I had done. 2.3.1 Completed Action Before Something in the Past : I did not have any money bacause I had lost my wallet. 2.3.2 Duration Before Something in the Past(Non-Continuous Verbs) : We had had that car for ten years before it broke down. 2.4 Past Perfect Continuous : I had been doing. 2.4.1 Duration Before Something in the Past : They had been talking for an hour before Tom arrived. 2.4.2 Cause of Something in the Past : Jack was tired because he had been jogging. 3.Future 3.1 Simple Future : I will do. 3.1.1 "Will" to Express a Voluntary Action : I will send you the picture when I get it. 3.1.2 "Will" to Express a Promise : I won't tell anyone your secret. 3.1.3 "Be going to" to Express a Plan : He is going to spend his vacation in Hawaii. 3.1.4 "Will" or "Be Going to" to Express a Prediction : John Smith will be the next President. 3.2 Future Continuous : I will be doing. 3.2.1 Interrupted Action in the Future : I will be waiting for you when you arrives. 3.2.2 Specific Time as an Interruption in the Future : At midnight tonight, we will still be driving through the desert. 3.2.3 Parallel Actions in the Future : I am going to be studying and he is going to be making dinner. 3.2.4 Atmosphere in the Future : When I arrive at the party, everybody is going to be celebrating. Some will be dancing. Others are going to be talking. 3.3 Future Perfect : I will have done. 3.3.1 Completed Action Before Something in the Future : By the time I finish this course, I will have taken ten tests. 3.3.2 Duration Before Something in the Future (Non-Continuous Verbs) : I will have been in London for six months by the time I leave. 3.4 Future Perfect Continuous : I will have been doing. 3.4.1 Duration Before Something in the Future : They will have been talking for over an hour by the time Tom arrives. 3.4.2 Cause of Something in the Future : Jason will be tired when he gets home because he will have been jogging for over an hour. Reference: "verbtenses.doc" by Pacifist SENSE GROUP What Is A Sense Group? [ sorted by RetSam 2009.10 Skype(retsamzhang) ] The speaker will help the listener to share the message completely by giving him or her clues to brief units of meaning, each at a time, in order to reach the total meaning of the utterance without confusion. Each brief unit, discretely spoken, is called a sense group and the clue to understand it is the silence (or pause) that occurs before and after it. The meaning of an utterance will depend on how we identify sense groups with the pauses. When we read a sentence, we often pause here and there. And usually these pauses are made according to the grammatical structure of the sentence. Grammatically, a sentence is made up of several parts and each has its own meaning. These parts can be called sense groups. A sense group can be a word, an expression, a phrase or a clause. We often use the sign "/" to mark off different sense groups in a sentence. Basic Rules For Dividing A Sentence Into Sense Groups 1.1 Noun Phrase - Article + Noun —— a country - Noun + Noun —— coumrade Li - Demonstrative pronoun + Noun —— this book - Adjective + Noun —— natural science - Noun as Adjective + Noun —— New Year's Day - Participle as Adjective + Noun —— the working class - Numeral + Noun —— thirty two books - Numeral + Numeral —— two hundred and twenty three - Indefinite pronoun + Noun —— some ink 1.2 Pronoun Phrase —— that one 1.3 Prepositional Phrase —— by bus 1.4 Adjective Phrase —— very good 1.5 Adverb Phrase —— very quickly 1.6 Adverb + Prepositional Phrase —— early in the morning 1.7 Adverb + Verb or Verb + Adverb ——quite understand , study hard 1.8 Verb Phrase —— to take a rest , to have a meeting 1.9 Infinitive Phrase —— He likes / to read newspapers after lunch. 1.10 Gerund Phrase —— staying indoors all day / is unhealthy. 1.11 Participle Phrase —— I saw many people / walking along the lake. 1.12 Copula + Predicative —— be well 1.13 Subject + Predicate —— He stands up. 1.14 Subject + Predicate + Object —— I speak English. 1.15 Subject Clause —— That he will come here / is certain. 1.16 Predicative Clause —— This is / how he studies English. 1.17 Subordinate Clasue —— He told me / where I could find my book. 1.18 Attributive Clause —— This is a factory / that makes cloth. 1.19 Adverbial Clause —— I waited / till he come back. A Handbook Of English Learning www.RetSam.cn CONTACTS Skype ID: retsamzhang MSN ID: retsam@163.com QQ ID: 752634764 Email: retsam@126.com HOMEPAGE: www.retsam.cn