My students always complain that they are sick and tired of learning grammar and vocabulary (the boring end of learning English). If you have the same problem, please go back to the primal mode of learning — listening and observation. Be alert when you listen to someone speaking English wherever you have access to English, be it in your classroom, at school, in your dorm, or on television. Watch out for common expressions and usages while you listen.

A peasant in America who has never been to school, an illiterate, has no trouble understanding and speaking to his president, why? The reason for that is because he uses and listens to his language everyday, through which oral communication becomes natural to them. By the same token, you should try to cultivate the habit of listening to English whenever possible and, in turn, strenghthen your sense of English. To make your listening practice more effective, please concentrate not on deciphering the separated words, but on perceiving the key words and expressions for you to recall and retell the central idea.

While listening to English definitely helps, it is important to read if you wish to expedite the process of improving your English. Most people are put off by reading because they associate it with perusing chunky literary works. However, what I am talking about is reading anything and everything written in correct English. Therefore, your range of choices could extend from books in library to English magazines in the newspaper stand, from gadget manuals to movie reviews. While reading, try and get a feel of the language and usage of words. More importantly, underline and digest the use of words and expressions, e.g. plural forms, prepositions, collocations etc., as these are areas where the most common errors are committed. Do not read books for the sake of enlarging vocabulary, because you can achieve much more than that. One important function of reading is to help you broaden your perspective of certain subjects. If you come across some bewildering words, try not to consult the dictionary but to use the context and sense of language to guess and figure it out.

I like reciting vocabulary simply because it is the prerequisite for all language skills development. While at college, I had taken part in many exams, such as Band 4 and 6, TEM 4 and 8, IELTS and TOEFL, to all of which a gigantic amount of (这里的a gigantic amount of用large即可) vocabulary is a must. And I had recited more than 12,000 words before I got the guts to sit for the TEM 8.

My approach to memorizing new words is using one sentence to link all the news words together with myself as the subject of that sentence. Take the words of “compete, competitive, competitor, competition” for example, I will put all those separated words into one sentence and imagine the occasion I am involved in using them, like “Tonight, I am going to compete with many competitive competitors in this competition.

”Using one sentence to link all the words together and speak it out with passion and confidence. The more you use your imagination, the larger your vocabulary will be. Do not learn the boring words by rote, but commit yourself to learning ten more new inter-linking words and sentences daily.

If possible, maintain a notebook and put all those Chinese expressions you encounter into English while you are on an outing, e.g. the signs and notices at the shopping mall, at home, at school or any places you can be in touch with. When you can note down new words everyday, make sure that they are written along with sample sentences, so you can remember and understand them better. Write down the exact meaning and also frame (?). Make First Person Sentence using the word, so it becomes registered in your memory. Go through the notebook periodically to refresh your memory and employ the words in your conversations or emails, coupled with an eye for observation and an ear for new words to imitate and show off are all it takes to enlarge your command of vocabulary efficiently.