Help yourself by British Council Madrid

AlcalĂĄ de Henares Teaching Centre

Help Yourself! Ideas for independent study

The United Kingdomâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s international organisation for educational opportunities and cultural relations. We are registered in England as a charity.

Help Yourself! Ideas for independent study Contents Introduction........................................................................................................................................... 2 How to use these worksheets............................................................................................................... 2 Make the most of your dictionary......................................................................................................3 1. Parts of speech............................................................................................................................ 3 2. Parts of speech – exercises.........................................................................................................4 3. Parts of speech – practice........................................................................................................... 5 4. Dictionary abbreviations............................................................................................................... 6 5. Getting to know your dictionary....................................................................................................7 6. Test your dictionary..................................................................................................................... 8 7. Summary and booklist................................................................................................................. 9 Keep vocabulary in mind.................................................................................................................. 10 1. Recording vocabulary................................................................................................................10 2. Vocabulary webs....................................................................................................................... 11 3. T-sheets..................................................................................................................................... 14 4. Word building – exercise............................................................................................................15 5. Word building – template...........................................................................................................16 6. Word forks................................................................................................................................. 17 7. Adjectives followed by prepositions...........................................................................................18 8. Collocations – exercise..............................................................................................................19 9. Collocations – template.............................................................................................................. 20 10. Expressions – colours................................................................................................................21 11. Expressions – template.............................................................................................................. 22 12. Expressions – active learning....................................................................................................23 13. Meaning from context................................................................................................................ 24 14. Vocabulary in context................................................................................................................. 25 15. Vocabulary tips.......................................................................................................................... 27 Do it in your own time....................................................................................................................... 28 1. Reading tips............................................................................................................................... 28 2. Reading – reference words........................................................................................................29 3. Reading – analysis.................................................................................................................... 30 4. Reading – newspaper articles....................................................................................................33 5. Reading – book summary..........................................................................................................34 6. Listening tips.............................................................................................................................. 35 7. Writing tips................................................................................................................................. 36 8. Speaking tips............................................................................................................................. 37 Make the connection........................................................................................................................ 38 1. Understanding website addresses.............................................................................................38 2. Internet jargon............................................................................................................................ 40 3. Using directories........................................................................................................................ 41 4. Using search engines................................................................................................................42 5. Advanced searching.................................................................................................................. 43 6. Selecting search results.............................................................................................................44 7. Hyperlinks.................................................................................................................................. 45 8. Evaluating websites...................................................................................................................47 9. Useful websites for independent learners..................................................................................48 Answer key ..................................................................................................................................... 49

The United Kingdom’s international organisation for educational opportunities and cultural relations. We are registered in England as a charity. Page 1

Help Yourself! Ideas for independent learning Introduction These materials are to help you to help yourself learn and improve your English. You can use the techniques and strategies included here to continue learning effectively outside the classroom in your own time. There is a section on getting the most out of your dictionary. Vocabulary development is also very important and a variety of activities are introduced for you to try out. There are practical ideas on how to improve the different language skills – listening, speaking, reading and writing. Finally there is a section using the World Wide Web effectively. Exercises with an answer key are marked . The key allows you to check on your progress.

How to use these worksheets Use the materials flexibly. They can be studied in any order. •

Choose a technique that interests you and try it out.

•

If it works, do it a few times more so it becomes a natural part of your learning.

•

If it doesn't, think about adapting it to suit you better or try something else.

Every learner is different and what works for one may not be so useful for another. Adopt a "pick-and-mix" approach: try everything and keep what you like. The most important thing is not to give up! Learning a language requires effort from you. You can't learn everything you need just by attending an English course. Being an active learner inside and outside the classroom is vital. The more interesting you make things for yourself, the more you will learn. Keep your eyes and ears open and try to learn from what is around you. If English becomes part of your daily routine, you'll use it more than if you always have to make a special effort to study. Thinking about how you prefer to learn can be a very productive activity. Try to come up with ways of studying which suit you: your personal learning style. Share your ideas and learning experiences (bad as well as good) with your classmates, friends and teachers. What is useful for you might help someone else too. You might learn about a great new study technique from someone else. With a bit of effort from you and enough time, you'll soon be making steady progress. Don't forget – it is definitely worth it in the end!

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Help Yourself! Ideas for independent learning Make the most of your dictionary 1.

Parts of speech

Knowing parts of speech helps you to understand grammar and use your dictionary more effectively. A

Match the parts of speech with the correct definition. ď&#x192;&#x2018;

a noun (n)

tells you more about a noun

a pronoun (pron)

is used for joining other words, phrases or sentences

an adjective (adj)

shows an action or state

a verb (v)

has no meaning on its own and is found in front of nouns

a conjunction

tells you more about a verb, adjective, adverb or phrase

a preposition (prep)

is the name of a person, place, thing or idea

an article

replaces a noun

an adverb (adv)

is used before a noun to indicate place, direction, time, etc.

Put the vocabulary from the box under the correct parts of speech. ď&#x192;&#x2018; New York get up an

the very

and it

quickly

because

ours

worse

always

sing

beauty

happen

quick

during

comfortable

from

noun (n) __________

verb (v) __________

adverb (adv) __________

adjective (adj) __________

__________

pronoun (pron) __________

conjunction __________

article __________

preposition (prep) __________

__________

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apple

Help Yourself! Ideas for independent learning Make the most of your dictionary 2.

Parts of speech – exercises

What part of speech is the word in italics in each sentence? 

Footballs are always round.

__________

Why don't you come round for a meal sometime?

__________

It's your round. I'll have a whisky, please.

__________

The earth moves round the sun.

__________

The cook stole some food.

__________

They cook very well at this restaurant.

__________

Well! I don't believe it!

__________

I don't feel very well.

__________

Get some water from the well.

__________

He can't drive very well.

__________

Now check "round", "cook" and "well" in a dictionary. B

Look at the gaps in these sentences. Which part of speech do you think is missing?

I'd like to go to the disco tonight, __________ I'm too tired.

The __________ way to learn English is to practise.

She __________ wants to marry him for his money.

The athletes ___________ in the race – they were joint winners.

Men usually wear a __________ when going for an interview.

The parcel was __________ with a ribbon.

Now look up the words "only" and "tie" and fill in the gaps in B. 

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Help Yourself! Ideas for independent learning Make the most of your dictionary 3.

Parts of speech – practice

Read this newspaper article. Then look at the underlined words. What part of speech are they? Write your answers underneath. 

Life's a gas, but laughs not free

The 11high is short-lived. It fades within just a few minutes. But the happy effect lasts a lot longer 12for Ingmar Schmidt, Das Bild laughing gas dealer Tom Wheecks. He earns five It looked like a children's birthday party – brightly marks (HK$21.50) per balloon and his 10-litre coloured balloons were being filled with gas and canister contains enough gas to fill three hundred of boisterous young people were waiting to get hold of 13them. After paying a small fee for his stall, he still walks away with a tidy profit of 1,350 marks a night. one. 1 But instead of carrying away their balloons with Mr Wheecks, 30, from Cologne, has no ethical beaming faces, they pressed 2them to their lips and problems about selling the gas. It is not 14illegal and 3 greedily sucked them empty. Then they turned he argues that in normal doses it is not poisonous. giggling back to 4the pounding, electronic techno beat Yet he does 15advise a little caution. With each balloon he sells, he also presses a little instructions on the dance floor. The techno dance music scene has discovered a new leaflet in his customers' hands, explaining how best to drug – 5for these balloons are filled with nitrous inhale the gas. oxide, better known as laughing gas. They are 6now "16Breathe in steadily, hold your 17breath momentarily a familiar sight at techno parties throughout and then slowly breathe out," it says. It also warns that "epileptics, people under the influence of alcohol Germany. 7 Outside a techno club in Hamburg (Germany), and people with ear illnesses must not in any partygoer Sabrina described the effects. "I was circumstances 18consume laughing gas!"  completely out of it for a moment, then somehow I 8 just had to grin. The feeling is not all that intense, but you feel dizzy and 9think funny 10thoughts." 1

____________________

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Help Yourself! Ideas for independent learning Make the most of your dictionary 4.

Dictionary abbreviations

Dictionaries contain a lot of useful information. Some of this is given in an abbreviated or shorthand code in order to save space. Each dictionary will have its own codes to indicate various features of the language. You need to get to know the codes used in your dictionary. There will be a summary of the codes and their meanings somewhere in the dictionary, often inside the front cover. As you use your dictionary more, you will not need to check so often but it is important to find out what the codes mean so you can use your dictionary effectively. These codes are from the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English (4th ed., 2003). A

First try to guess what the following codes mean. Don't look at the box below!

adj

__________

adv

__________

phr v

__________

sth

__________

pron

__________

prep

__________

etc

__________

Now check your ideas by matching the words in the box to the 10 codes above. ď&#x192;&#x2018; preposition et cetera (and so on)

noun something

phrasal verb

adverb pronoun

somebody

verb

adjective

Here are codes you find in other dictionaries. Match each code to its full form. ď&#x192;&#x2018;

a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o

pl pt US pp pres C I sing comp T det U Brit conj pres part

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

uncountable (noun) British English present participle singular conjunction past participle countable (noun) determiner American English plural present tense transitive verb past tense comparative intransitive verb

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Help Yourself! Ideas for independent learning Make the most of your dictionary 5.

Getting to know your dictionary

The best way to get to know your dictionary is to use it a lot. You'll soon realise the huge amount of useful information it contains. Look at its contents page to see what extra sections are included. Many modern dictionaries have exercises to help you learn how to use them more effectively. Some have special features, such as grammar notes, extra information about confusing words, pictures illustrating certain categories of words (fruit and vegetables, ways of walking, the car, etc). There are often also lists of irregular verbs, prefixes and suffixes, and so on.

Dictionary quiz 1 Use this quiz to get to know your dictionary. How quickly can you answer all the questions? 1

Is there a list of irregular verbs? On what page?

___________________

Are there illustrations to show the meaning of particular groups of words? Where are they?

___________________

Is there an index of these illustrations so you can quickly find what you want? Where is it?

___________________

Is there any general information about British and American English? Where?

___________________

3 4 5

Where can you find a list of all the abbreviations used in the dictionary? ___________________

Do the entries include examples of the vocabulary used in whole sentences?

___________________

Is there a note or extra help on when you should use moreover? Is this word in common use today? ___________________

Is any information given about how frequently a word occurs in spoken and written English today?

___________________

Do the entries indicate which other words are commonly found in combination with the main word (eg deep/heavy/light + sleep)?

__________________

10 Is there a guide or notes which explain exactly what information is included in each entry? Where is it?

Remember:

___________________

the better you know your dictionary, the more you'll be able to learn from it.

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Help Yourself! Ideas for independent learning Make the most of your dictionary 6.

Test your dictionary

There are many good, monolingual (English-only) dictionaries on the market these days. If you haven't got one yet, go to a good bookshop and see what is available. Decide which suits you best. Which layout and style do you like? What size do you prefer? Choosing a dictionary is a very personal thing. Use the following quiz to check if your dictionary or dictionaries include the same amount of information. Try the quiz first with a bilingual (English-your language) dictionary. Then do the same with a pocket dictionary. Test your electronic dictionary too. Finally see if you can answer the questions using a large, monolingual dictionary (for example, the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English (4th ed., 2003)). If you really want to test your dictionary rather than yourself, don't use any extra knowledge you have – try to get the dictionary to work hard to answer the questions on its own. For example, you might already know the opposite of curable but, in this test, imagine you don't and see if your dictionary can really help you.

Dictionary quiz 2 1

What is the opposite of curable?

How do you pronounce plough?

Do people say forsooth nowadays?

What different meanings of pylon are there?

What is the name for a male chicken?

When do we use the word high and when do we use tall?

What is the most common use of the word shuttle (noun)?

What are the sharp, pointed needles on a hedgehog's back called?

When is it not suitable to use the expression kick the bucket?

What is the British English word for Popsicle?

Think about these questions: • • •

Are all dictionaries the same? What different aspects of language are being tested by the questions in the quiz? What information can a good dictionary contain?

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Help Yourself! Ideas for independent learning Make the most of your dictionary 7.

Summary and booklist

A good dictionary might contain the following information: • • • • • • • • • • • •

the meaning(s) of a word, with the most frequently used meaning first, clearly organised so you can find the particular meaning you need quickly grammar information (part of speech, irregular verb forms, countable/uncountable, plural form) lexical information about the word (its opposite, similar words which could be confusing, synonyms) collocation, that is, other words often found with the word (stale + bread, afraid + of) examples of how the word is used in a complete sentence the pronunciation and stress pattern of the word alternative spelling and how the word should be divided into syllables whether the word is slang, taboo (possibly offensive) or jargon (eg legal English, an IT term) whether the word is from a particular dialect, eg American or British English whether the word is formal or informal whether the word is old-fashioned or literary whether the word is usually spoken or written

Some good monolingual dictionaries available today: Upper-intermediate/Advanced • Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English (with CD-ROM) • Cambridge International Dictionary of English • Collins Cobuild English Dictionary (and on CD-ROM) • Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary (and on CD-ROM) • Macmillan English Dictionary for Advanced Learners Intermediate • Longman Active Study Dictionary of English • Oxford Wordpower Dictionary • Oxford Students’ Multimedia Dictionary (CD-ROM) • Collins Cobuild Learner's Dictionary Elementary • Collins Cobuild New Student's Dictionary • Longman Elementary Dictionary • Oxford Elementary Learner's Dictionary Special Dictionaries • Longman Language Activator (Adv) • Longman Essential Activator (Int) • Longman Dictionary of English Language and Culture Photo Dictionaries • Oxford Photo Dictionary (Beg/Int) • Longman Photo Dictionary (Int/Adv)

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Help Yourself! Ideas for independent learning Keep vocabulary in mind 1.

Recording vocabulary

How do you record the new items of vocabulary you meet? Do you have a vocabulary book? Many learners write lists of new vocabulary as it comes up, putting a translation next to each item. This is a good start but there are some problems: • • •

translating into another language may not give the exact meaning translating reinforces links with your first language instead of creating useful links in the new language the words are not in any useful order – it just depends on when you wrote them down

A typical vocabulary list might look like this: ashtray to permit antisocial bad breath respiratory

These words/phrases are probably connected in their original context. However, you will quickly forget how they are connected if you only have this list.

Experiment with the alternative ways of recording vocabulary on these worksheets. Which suit you? — TIP: Make it memorable! —

Pictures and photographs Draw a picture of a person's face and label it with the words below. Use a dictionary if necessary. Alternatively, cut out a magazine photo of your favourite singer or actor, stick it onto paper and label that. You could use a photograph of your boyfriend/girlfriend too. eyelashes

eyebrow

cheek

earlobe

chin

forehead eyelid

parting temple

Can you add more words to the face? Pictures are a very clear way to record vocabulary for objects (things we can touch/see). Make you own picture dictionary using pictures from advertisements or home-shopping catalogues (especially good for clothes, food and household vocabulary).

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Help Yourself! Ideas for independent learning Keep vocabulary in mind 2.

Vocabulary webs â&#x20AC;&#x201D; TIP: Group together words which are connected â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

A web is a network of connections. In a web you can show how words connect to each other. A

Put the words in the box into this vocabulary web. Then add four more objects.

bedroom

HOUSE kitchen

sink

wardrobe

bathmat B

quilt

bathroom

settee cushion

shower

pillow

washbasin

living room

coffee table

cooker

draining board

Create a new web for the vocabulary in the box below. Use a dictionary if you need to. Add some new sports and sports vocabulary. football

badminton

shuttlecock

boots

swimming

goggles

trunks

racket

goalposts pool

court pitch

SPORTS

Now choose another topic and design a web by yourself. (Ideas: car, crimes, types of drink)

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Help Yourself! Ideas for independent learning Keep vocabulary in mind 2.

Vocabulary webs (continued) â&#x20AC;&#x201D; TIP: Don't forget you can always add new words to an "old" web â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

Use a dictionary and your own knowledge to add to this web.

coins cash

stockbroker

accountant

types of money

people who work with money

cheque

spend manager

MONEY earn

people who work in a bank

verbs + "money" BANK

withdraw

what you do with money here

deposit

Now choose a topic you know something about and make a similar web. (Ideas: your hobby, your job/company)

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Help Yourself! Ideas for independent learning Keep vocabulary in mind 2.

Vocabulary webs (continued)

Fill in the spaces in this web with words from the box. Here words are connected by the topic of the web and organised by part of speech. Use a dictionary if necessary.

alight

ablaze inflammable

adjectives

nonflammable

(intense) heat nouns

FIRE flames

catch fire

consume

conflagration

blaze embers

break out

burn

verbs

put out

smoke

flammable

fire resistant

extinguish spread

fireproof

sparks

Now make a similar vocabulary web for "weather".

In the web below the vocabulary all comes from the same root word. Check any words you don't know in a dictionary. Can you add any more words/phrases? (Clues: What do you write on a parcel with fragile contents? the opposite of â&#x20AC;&#x153;careful"?) in care

care of (c/o)

caretaker

(un)caring

carer care label

careful CARE

She doesn't have a care in the world. I don't care!

careworn

Who cares?

to take care of something

I couldn't care less

Be careful!

Now try making this type of web using "head" as the root word.

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Help Yourself! Ideas for independent learning ď&#x192;°

See also 8. Collocations (page 19)

Page 18

growing

professional win

make spend

Help Yourself! Ideas for independent learning Keep vocabulary in mind 7.

Adjectives followed by prepositions

Use a table like this to record patterns of two words which are often found together. Put a tick () in the box or boxes for the correct preposition(s) for each adjective. Then add your own examples as you find them. prepositions at

for from about to

adjectives afraid ashamed delighted different famous fed up good interested jealous proud responsible satisfied shocked similar sorry suspicious worried

with

of 

•

Write an example sentence for each adjective with preposition to show the meaning of the adjective.

•

Look for patterns in the use of prepositions after adjectives to help you remember them.

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Help Yourself! Ideas for independent learning Keep vocabulary in mind 8.

Collocations – exercise

Words are normally used in conjunction with quite a restricted group of other words. For example: stale/warm/brown/French + bread commit/solve/investigate + a crime

but not ambitious/freezing/sour + bread but not make/resolve/research + a crime

These patterns of words often coming together are called collocations. Match the verbs on the left to the nouns on the right. 

break

a decision

solve 3 4 5 6

an opinion c

run

miss

reach

7 8

a problem a role a promise a risk

form

play

an opportunity justice

Can you match any of the verbs with any other nouns? What does this tell you about the importance of learning vocabulary in phrases rather than as single words? 

See 9. Collocations – template (page 20) for how to collect your own collocation examples.

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Help Yourself! Ideas for independent learning Keep vocabulary in mind 9.

Collocations â&#x20AC;&#x201C; template

Write in collocations as you meet them. Have one sheet for verb + noun: eg take + a risk, make + trouble and another for adjective + noun: eg a high + probability, a good + chance. Put them in the spaces as indicated in the Answers section below. Then, when the sheet is full, you can test yourself by folding the answers away and matching the letters and numbers. 1

-----------------------------------------------------------------Answers: 1-k, 2-c, 3-l, 4-j, 5-a, 6-d, 7-h, 8-e, 9-b, 10-i, 11-g, 12-f

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FOLD HERE

Help Yourself! Ideas for independent learning Keep vocabulary in mind 10.

Expressions – colours

There are many expressions in everyday English. Their meaning can be unclear unless you are already familiar with them. It is useful to learn expressions in groups (for example, expressions with colours, with animals, with parts of the body, with the weather). Put the colours from the box at the bottom of the page into the expressions in the right-hand column. The meaning of the expressions is explained by the sentences on the left.  Test yourself by folding the paper in half vertically and looking at the explanations in the left-hand column. Can you remember the expressions on the right? 1

I’m feeling depressed.

I’m _______________.

He’s very good at gardening.

He’s got _______________ fingers.

It is an opportunity you can’t miss.

It’s a _______________ opportunity.

They were very bruised after the fight.

They were _______________ and _______________ all over after the fight.

Sam arrived unexpectedly.

Sam arrived out of the _______________.

They go to the cinema very rarely.

They go to the cinema once in a _______________ moon.

The criminal was caught while committing the crime.

The criminal was caught _______________-handed.

He was very scared after the accident.

He was a _______________ as a sheet after the accident.

I need to see the idea in writing before I decide.

I need to see the idea in _______________ and _______________ before I decide.

He is rather naïve and inexperienced.

He is rather _______________.

blue black 

red blue

blue

green

white

black

golden white

blue green

See 11. Expressions – template (page 22) for how to collect your own expressions.

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Help Yourself! Ideas for independent learning Keep vocabulary in mind 11.

Expressions – template

Collect expressions into topic groups (eg expressions with colours, with animals, with parts of the body, with the weather) by making a sheet like this for each group. Write the meaning on the left and the expression on the right. Omit the key word (related to the topic) in your expression and write it instead in the Answers section at the bottom. Then, when the sheet is full, you can test yourself: •

by folding away the Answers and trying to remember the key word for each phrase.

•

by folding the sheet in half vertically and trying to recall the whole expression from the meaning clues in the left-hand column.

TOPIC: ___________________________________________________________________ MEANING

I'm feeling depressed.

EXPRESSION

I'm __________.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - FOLD HERE Answers: eg blue 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

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Help Yourself! Ideas for independent learning Keep vocabulary in mind 12.

Expressions â&#x20AC;&#x201C; active learning

It is important to learn new expressions so that you can use them not just understand them. You can do this by actively using the new expression rather than just recording it. A

Match the short dialogues with the expressions in the box. Make an appropriate sentence for each situation using the expression (something you really would say).

A - I'm not feeling very well today. I've had a headache since this morning and my eyes feel really tired. B - Maybe you've caught flu. There's a lot of it about at the moment.

A - Hi, Mike. What are you doing here? I've never seen you in this bookshop before. B - Well, I'm just using up an hour or so until the next show at the cinema.

A - Why are you being so helpful to Mr Chan at the moment? You usually try to avoid him. B - Unfortunately, I really need to please him. I'm going to have to ask for some extra leave soon.

A - Wow! I thought you said you had never been bowling before. B - Yes, that's right. I'm surprised at how good I was as well.

A - Sandy's not at work again today. She's been off since Tuesday. B - And she wasn't very well for most of last week too. in somebody's good books

kill time

under the weather

beginner's luck come down with something

Now think of similar dialogues to illustrate the following expressions.

make heavy weather of something

turn over a new leaf

all in good time

push one's luck

do wonders for

Do this for all the expressions you meet so that you learn each expression in a complete sentence and in a particular context.

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Help Yourself! Ideas for independent learning Keep vocabulary in mind 13.

Meaning from context

When you meet a new word, it is often possible to guess its meaning from the context, that is, the words and sentences that come before and after it. The context may, for example, show you whether it is positive or negative in meaning or what part of speech it is. Therefore, it is not always necessary to look up every word you don't know â&#x20AC;&#x201C; in fact, if you have ever tried to do this, you will know how time-consuming and irritating it can be. Read this article without using a dictionary and guess the meaning of the underlined words. Only when you have finished the article should you check your guesses in a dictionary.

South Korea freezes to make way for exams rush Roaring police motorcycles, taxis, buses and even ambulances ensured more than 800,000 South Korean students showed up on time yesterday for the biggest event of their lives â&#x20AC;&#x201C; college entrance exams. In a country obsessed with academic attainment, the exams are the culmination of countless hours labouring over homework and suffering in after-school crammers. The entire nation froze to make way for students racing to testing centres for an 8.10am deadline. Latecomers are turned away. Government offices, banks and financial markets delayed opening for 30 minutes to ease rush-hour congestion. Private citizens were asked to report for work an hour late. Extra subway trains and buses were laid on. "Five hours sleep: failure. Three hours sleep: success," goes a South Korean maxim born out of hellish preparations for the tests. In all, 824,368 students are vying for 568,875 college places, according to the Education Ministry. College entrance exams are the key to life for many South Koreans, dictating not only careers but even marriage partners. Graduates of elite colleges are much sought after as wives and husbands. Television pictures showed one student, apparently badly hurt in an accident, hobbling from an ambulance to his testing centre on crutches and wearing a neckbrace. A young girl in traction was pictured in a city hospital clutching a notebook during last-minute cramming. Gruelling study robs millions of South Korean children of

a carefree adolescence.. Mothers abandon their social lives in the months before exams to focus on preparations: failure is regarded as a family embarrassment. "The stress of these exams is a national problem," clinical psychologist Kim Yon says. "In Korea, there's a belief that it's impossible to succeed without a college degree. So these children face stress at home from parents who demand that they live up to their expectations." Exams-induced ailments include insomnia and digestive problems, Ms Kim says. Suicide is not unknown. Police on motorcycles waited at school gates ready to rush highly-strung and confused students turning up at the wrong place to the correct testing centres. Outside the centres, mothers huddled in thick winter coats, clasping their hands in prayer. Churches were packed on Tuesday night and fortune-tellers did a brisk business. Crowds of children shouted encouragement to their elder school mates as they scurried past. "We're singing, we're dancing, we're praying for your success," trilled a group of eight clean-cut boys, jumping up and down in front of Seoul's Yongsan Middle School. The domestic Yonhap news agency said 43-year-old Lee Soon Dong, a provincial councillor in the southeastern city of Pohang, was the nation's oldest examinee. He was fulfilling a campaign promise to go to college if elected.

Try this technique with every text you read.

Page 25

Katherine Bruce, Hong Kong Standard

Help Yourself! Ideas for independent learning Keep vocabulary in mind 14.

Vocabulary in context

Use newspaper articles as a source of connected vocabulary. In the context of the article the meaning of new words is often clear and, because the article is about a particular topic, it will usually contain a lot of vocabulary on that subject. A

Read this article and match words in it to the definitions below. ď&#x192;&#x2018;

Drug baby in death mystery The cause of death of a month-old baby whose mother stopped taking heroin when she was six months pregnant could not be established, a coroner found yesterday. Government pathologist Dr Wong Hon-man told the inquest he could not discover why Chan Lai-sheung's baby died on January 30 last year. Although her face was covered in milk vomited by her when her parents found her unconscious in bed, Dr Wong said she did not choke to death. But he said drug addicts' babies were more likely to die for unknown reasons.

TITLE: TOPIC:

Coroner Richard Day recorded a verdict of death by natural causes. Ms Chan, 24, said she had decided at six months to continue her pregnancy and started methadone therapy for her habit. Mr Day said the case showed the folly of mothers-to-be taking drugs. Dr Tse Hei-yee, of Kwong Wah Hospital, said the baby was born one-third lighter than normal on December 25, 1995, and later experienced further growth retardation. Michelle Chin, South China Morning Post

Drug baby in death mystery death and drugs

Event a legal process to find out the cause of someone's death

______________

People someone who studies the causes and effects of illnesses and death

______________

someone whose job is to discover the cause of someone's death

______________

someone who is unable to stop taking drugs

______________

Vocabulary types of drug

______________

describing someone who is going to have a baby

______________

Expressions to ______________ the cause of death

to ______________ a verdict of

death by ______________ causes

to start therapy for one's _____________

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Help Yourself! Ideas for independent learning Keep vocabulary in mind 14.

Vocabulary in context (continued)

Look at this article and underline words and phrases connected with holidays and travel. To help you remember the vocabulary, do at least one of the following tasks:

• • • •

write a definition for each word/phrase create a vocabulary web for the words and phrases create a vocabulary exercise to test yourself with later write a text using the words you have underlined relating to your personal experience

Parallel lives: Dick Chun, International tour guide Age: 26 Career path: This is my first job after graduating in accountancy from the Baptist University. I've been doing it for three years. I'm an outgoing person and enjoy meeting all sorts of people, so I didn't fancy becoming an accountant. I wanted to broaden my horizons and learn from different cultures. I was given a week's training, learning about Wing On Travel's background, counter-sales servicing, crisis management and tour-leading skills. I became a shorthaul guide and was soon promoted, becoming a longhaul escort. I take tours mainly to Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. I get a lot of satisfaction from the job and get many thank you letters from clients. To be a guide, you have to have good language and leadership skills. There are no age barriers in this career, but being physically fit is important. Dick's day: I lead one to two tours each month. During the tour, the schedule is different every day. I have been to Australia between 20 and 30 times but

it's always different – the tourists are different and so are their responses. In summer, there are a lot of teachers so I make it more academic and talk about the history of the place. If the group is young, I will concentrate on lifestyles, shopping and entertainment. I always get up earlier and go to bed later than the customers. I have to make all kinds of arrangements like contacting the bus-drivers and organising the meals. I can't relax and enjoy the place because there is a lot of pressure on me to ensure the tourists have a good time and that they are safe. I also work on weekends so I do not have much time with my family, especially during the long vacations; they are the peak seasons for us. If I am not on a trip, I start work at 10 or 11am at our Tsuen Wan branch where I answer all sorts of questions about the tours, visas, hotels, air tickets, insurance, etc. I still like to take my vacation abroad – and not in a tour group. I enjoy planning my own holidays. South China Morning Post 15 June 1997

Use this technique with other newspaper and magazine articles you read. Choose an article on a topic that interests you and look at the vocabulary it contains. Do something active with the new words and phrases, for example, organising the words and phrases in some way. This will help you remember them better.

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Help Yourself! Ideas for independent learning Keep vocabulary in mind 15.

Vocabulary tips

•

Create a personal dictionary. Use a notebook to organise your vocabulary. Decide how you want to sort out the words: - parts of speech (eg all the adjectives together) - topic area (eg food, crime) - function of the language (eg suggesting, complaining) If you use an address book with A-Z dividers, you could make an alphabetical sequence.

•

Keep a scrapbook of headlines, articles, advertisements and so on with vocabulary that interests or amuses you. Write down phrases you hear on television or read on advertising posters and note the context they were in. Personalising your learning like this is effective.

•

Set yourself a target of learning five words a day. Note them in a small diary, five words for each day. In this way you quickly build up a large set of vocabulary. If you keep the diary in your pocket, it is easy to review it on the bus or in a queue.

•

Make vocabulary cards using filing index cards. A simple form has the English word on one side and the translation in your language on the other. A more complex form is shown below. Prepare the cards with new vocabulary and then use the cards to test yourself. Look at the English word and try to remember the translation. You could also try to explain the meaning of the word (How would a dictionary define it?) or think of a sentence including the word. This is another activity which is easy to do when you have a few minutes of free time if you keep the cards in your pocket or bag.

adjective well-known for something bad

notorious

example: This road is notorious for the number of accidents on it.

•

Use pictures to record idioms as well as single words. Draw a cartoon picture to make each expression more memorable: eg "a storm in a teacup".

•

Collect idioms which use body references, for example, and use them to label a poster of your favourite singer or actor. Put "He pulled her leg" next to the leg, "She has no heart!" next to the heart, "She didn't believe her eyes" next to the eyes, and so on. In this way you make the idioms more striking and therefore you may remember them better.

Page 28

Help Yourself! Ideas for independent learning Do it in your own time 1.

Reading tips

Try some of these tips to develop your language skills. Add your own ideas too. If you find that a particular activity works very well for you, tell your teacher and your classmates about it. They might have some interesting techniques to share with you too. •

Think about the process of reading. Remember that there are different ways of reading. You skim articles in a newspaper when you are deciding whether you want to read them in detail later. When you skim, you just get a general idea about the content. If you are looking for something particular, for example the name of your team on the sports pages, you scan the text. You are trying to find a specific piece of information.

•

Reading for pleasure is an example of extensive reading. You don't worry too much about every word. You get involved in the story in a novel, for instance, and are eager to find out what happens. In contrast, if you are reading a text intensively, you are focusing on the details and the exact meaning. You might need to do this with instructions for a new computer or a school or university textbook, for example.

•

When you do any reading, you need to make it an active process. Predict what the text is going to be about from the title or the pictures. After you have read a text, do something with the new information you have.

•

With every article from a newspaper or magazine you read, think about these questions: - Who is the article about? - Where and when is the article talking about? - What are the main points of the article? - What kind of people would find the article interesting to read? - What is your opinion of/reaction to the article? If someone you know has read the same article, talk about it with them. What do they think? Do you agree with them?  See 2, 3, 4, 5. Reading (pages 29-34) for some other ways to react to texts.

•

Read the same material in English as you would in your language. If you enjoy reading about fashion in your language, read about fashion in English too. You will already understand some of the vocabulary and ideas and have a good background knowledge. Conversely, if you hate films and never go to the cinema, reading an English-language film review will probably not be a useful exercise for you because you won't enjoy it.

•

If you have access to the same material in your language and in English, compare the two versions. How has the translator expressed the same idea in the new language? Is it a good translation? What would you change? Are the texts exactly the same?

•

Set yourself a reading target. Reading one article every day is better than reading a whole paper only once a fortnight. Ask your teacher to recommend suitable materials.

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Help Yourself! Ideas for independent learning Do it in your own time 2.

Reading – reference words

One way to use a short article more actively is to study the reference words. These are words which refer to something else in the text. They are often words like "it", "that", "them", and "this". Read the following text. Then, look at the underlined words and write what they refer to below. 

Astronomical cost for weightless thrill ORLANDO: 1It will take 2you higher than Disney's Space Mountain and drop you farther than the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror. The latest attraction planned for central Florida will give tourists a taste of space – at an astronomical price of US$10,000 (HK$78,000) for a day's training and about four minutes of weightlessness. A roller-coaster-like ride in a modified aircraft will simulate the astronauts' weightlessness, officials from Casey Aerospace said yesterday. Flights could start in the spring of 1998. "It's time to bring these types of experiences to the general public," Casey president Ed Gibson, a former Nasa astronaut said. The thrill is probably not for 3those who would baulk at the US$136.74 price of a four-day Disney World pass. The US$10,000 price includes a familiarisation

course and participants will go home with a videotape of the zero-G experience and a Nasa-style, light-blue flight suit. "At the end of the day 4you will have experienced the thrill of a lifetime," said Mr Gibson, who spent 84 days in orbit aboard Nasa's Skylab. The aircraft will be similar to the 5one Nasa used to give astronauts a taste of weightlessness before 6they went on a mission. 7 It will provide 30-second periods of weightlessness as it reaches the top of a steep climb before it plunges about 1,220 metres. During the 2 to 3 hour flight, the aircraft will make about 10 of these so-called parabolic manoeuvres. Any more than 8that and the riders may find the experience stomach-churning. "We want people to come away from 9this with a very pleasant experience," Mr Gibson said. Hong Kong Standard

___________________________

Page 30

Help Yourself! Ideas for independent learning Do it in your own time 3.

Reading – analysis

Here are some suggestions of different tasks to do with a reading text. The aim is to make you think about what the writer wrote and why he/she wrote in this way and not another. 1

Choose a newspaper article that looks interesting.

Read it quickly. What is it about in general? Use your own words and write one or two sentences only.

Read the article more carefully. What was interesting, enjoyable, upsetting or funny (etc) about it?

Choose three or more of the following areas and analyse the text in detail.

Summarise the text in your own words. Choose a paragraph that was difficult to understand and write what you think it means, ie re-write it in your own words. What is the writer's point of view? What words show you his/her viewpoint? Suggest another title for the text. Underline the words or phrases that show how paragraphs or sentences link to each other. Write down any reference words and say what they refer to. Write down any key vocabulary or phrases and try to guess the meaning. Then check in a dictionary. Make inferences: choose some sentences or paragraphs and draw conclusions. What do you know (outside of the text) about the topic? Choose part of the text and underline all the main verbs. Say what tenses are used. Why are they used? Say whether they are active or passive. Choose part of the text and underline all of the main subjects. Do you see any new patterns? Make a list of the vocabulary from the text that connects to its topic. Underline prepositions and the nouns or verbs that they are connected to. Are there any that are new to you? Can you make new sentences using these phrases? Underline the relative clauses/subordinate clauses. How many are there? How many uncountable nouns are there? How many countable nouns are there? How many nouns have adjectives? How many do not? etc. 

See 3. Reading – example analysis (pages 31-32) for a text analysed in this way.

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Help Yourself! Ideas for independent learning Do it in your own time 3.

Reading – example analysis

A simple view of the high life Perhaps the very first thing to be impressed about when meeting the mountain inhabitants of Nepal is their astonishing fitness. Although our Himalayan trek often left us physically exhausted, we never tired of extolling the stamina of the team of porters accompanying us. By the end of a fortnight's walk, the most repeated tales had acquired the status of myths: such as the day one of our team went down 4,000 feet to a local village – a climb almost equivalent to Britain's highest mountain – and

natural resources to exploit. It is ironic that the two most famous exports of this peaceable, rural nation are Gurkha soldiers and the millions of tons of topsoil, washed down from deforested slopes during the monsoon. However, with many of the world's greatest mountains and a people internationally renowned for their culture and hospitality, Nepal has the basis for a tourist industry that is now constantly expanding. During our visit to the Langtang Valley, in the country's largest national

returned just to ensure we had chicken for dinner. My other favourite was the story of our porter, Suman, a Nepali from the Everest region and barely more than five feet tall, who, during a previous trek, was obliged to carry an 82-year-old Austrian on his back when the old man's legs gave out. Another Nepalese characteristic that every visitor mentions is their almost universal and irrepressible cheerfulness. Observing the local people through whose villages we passed, I sensed that much of this emanated from their pastoral lifestyle and I was filled with deep nostalgia. Equally impressive were the aesthetic riches of their Buddhist culture – the prayer flags fluttering over each house, the long walls of inscribed prayer stones, the ubiquitous shrines and temples, and the atmosphere of invincible calmness that seemed to permeate their daily agricultural routines. At the same time, I was aware that in extolling the simple life I was guilty of over-simplification. For behind the rustic poetry of their lifestyle is a desperate poverty. Even our porters' meagre daily wages of [US]$3.75 is a substantial and tempting salary to the local people. It is the economic issue that eventually brought me back to my own responsibilities as a tourist in this mountain paradise. Amongst the world's 10 poorest countries, Nepal has few

park and close to the border with Tibet, we saw a graphic expression of this economic development. While returning along the forest trails we were forced to make way for a long line of porters carrying huge, cumbersome planks that were going into the construction of new tourist lodges. As the inhabitants of this remote region attempt to satisfy foreign trekkers' appetites for accommodation, food and other amenities (such as hot showers), they may be forced to make additional demands on their traditional fuel source – timber. Yet, in exploiting the Langtang's spectacular forests, amongst the most diverse in Nepal, they will then begin to destroy the very environment that many visitors come to see. Equally, in disrupting the local economy and undermining the traditional values of these mountain people, the foreigners themselves are threatening the culture whose colour and integrity they so admire. It is a perplexing problem for which one instinctively assumes there must be an answer. However, the best I could manage as I stood marvelling at the magnificent, diminutive Suman while he soldiered up the trail with a 35kg load, including my luggage, was a good measure of guilt with my sense of wonder. Mark Cocker, Guardian Weekly

Example answers What is it about? Visiting Nepal as a tourist, the beauty of the scenery and the cheerfulness of the people; the difficulties Nepal has as a very poor country; the benefits and problems brought by foreign visitors and how the people should deal with them.

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Help Yourself! Ideas for independent learning Do it in your own time 3.

Reading â&#x20AC;&#x201C; example analysis (continued)

My reaction to the text. Nepal is somewhere I'd love to visit. The article makes me aware of the negative side of tourism in Nepal. I agree with the writer that there seems no easy solution. I'd still like to go there because, selfishly, I want to see the place before it is spoilt by too many (other) tourists. Suggest another title for the text. Tourism in Nepal and its effect on a traditional way of life Choose part of the text and underline all the main verbs. Say what tenses are used. Why are they used? Say whether they are active or passive. [The main verbs in the article on page 31 are in italics.] The writer uses the past simple tense to report what happened during his visit to Nepal. The present simple is used to describe the general situation in the country and the present continuous is used twice ("is expanding", "are threatening") to show things changing at the moment. There are four examples of the passive: "was obliged", "was filled", "were forced" and "may be forced". Underline prepositions and the nouns or verbs that they are connected to. Are there any that are new to you? Can you make new sentences using these phrases? [The prepositions in the article on page 31 are underlined.] How many nouns have adjectives? first thing invincible calmness astonishing fitness daily agricultural routines Himalayan trek simple life repeated tales rustic poetry local village desperate poverty highest mountain meagre daily wages previous trek economic issue Nepalese characteristic own responsibilities universal and irrepressible poorest countries cheerfulness natural resources pastoral lifestyle famous exports deep nostalgia peaceable, rural nation aesthetic riches deforested slopes Buddhist culture greatest mountains long walls largest national park inscribed prayer stones graphic expression ubiquitous shrines economic development

long line huge, cumbersome planks new tourist lodges remote region foreign trekkers' appetites other amenities hot showers additional demands traditional fuel spectacular forests very environment local economy traditional values perplexing problem magnificent, diminutive Suman

Think about the following: Which of these adjective + noun pairs do you think you will meet again in other texts? Are there any common collocations here?

Page 33

Help Yourself! Ideas for independent learning Do it in your own time 4.

Reading â&#x20AC;&#x201C; newspaper articles

Choose a newspaper article to read. Complete this chart about it. Original headline:

I chose this article because ...

Something I agree with in this article

Something I disagree with in this article

Three pieces of information I have learned from the article: 1 2 3 Three items of vocabulary I have learned from the article: 1 2 3 Two things I'd like the article to tell me which it doesn't include: 1 2 If I was one of the people in this article, I'd want to be _____________________________ because ...

An alternative headline for the article:

Page 34

Help Yourself! Ideas for independent learning Do it in your own time 5.

Reading â&#x20AC;&#x201C; book summary

When you have read a book or a longer article, fill in a summary. Perhaps one of your classmates would also like to read the book. They can find out about it from your review. Title: Author: Publisher: Date of publication: Price: What kind of book it is?

What is the book about? (Summarise the story or give a brief introduction.)

What did you think of the book? (your thoughts, feelings, opinions, reactions)

Who would you recommend it to? What type of person do you think would enjoy it?

Your name: Date you finished the book:

Page 35

Help Yourself! Ideas for independent learning Do it in your own time 6.

Listening tips

•

Listen to the radio news or watch a television news programme at the same time every day. How many stories are there? Note down what each story is about (think: when, where, who, what).

•

If you can, record the programme and listen to/watch it again to check details from the first time. You cannot do this in "real life" but it is very useful practice and it means you find out what you got right the first time and this will boost your confidence.

•

Alternatively, record a news programme without listening to/watching it. Then play only the headlines. Stop the tape and predict what the stories will be about. Then listen to check your predictions. Use one of the stories as a dictation text. Listen several times and write down what you hear.

•

Don't force yourself to listen for too long. Set yourself realistic goals. For example, when listening to the weather forecast, just listen for the temperature and weather conditions for your city/area for the next day. Don't worry about information which won't affect you.

•

If there are similar programmes in your language and in English, compare them. Is the content exactly the same? Are the opinions given similar? What are the differences?

•

Native listeners don't often listen to or understand 100% of what they hear. Non-native listeners shouldn't try to either. Work on strategies to find out what people are talking about – listen for clues about the topic, the speakers' opinions/feelings and the type of relationship they have (eg boss and employee, colleagues, wife and husband). Practise on the bus by eavesdropping on (secretly listening to) other people's conversations. Or, try to work out what a tv/radio programme is about when you've missed the beginning.

•

Use free automatic phone helplines to practise listening (often used by banks, tourist and travel information centres, embassies and government departments). Set yourself a task (eg opening times, the cost of a particular item) and use the computerised helpline to find the information. Don't forget that discovering the service can't answer your question is a positive result, not a failure of your language skills. If you are studying with other people, you could use phone helplines to make a quiz for them and they could write questions for you too.

•

If you are watching an English-language film with subtitles in your language, listen to check if the subtitles are accurate. Are they a direct translation or just a summary of what is said? If you hear a bilingual announcement, is the grammar exactly the same? Notice the differences and the similarities.

•

Watch a television soap opera every day so you get to know the story and characters. Knowing the background and context makes listening easier.

•

Enjoy listening! Use an English-language workout video and "kill two birds with one stone". Listen to songs in English and learn your favourite lyrics.

Page 36

Help Yourself! Ideas for independent learning Do it in your own time 7.

Writing tips

•

Find a penfriend and write letters to him or her. Penfriends can be a relative or someone you've never met in another country or simply a classmate you keep in touch with by letter as well as see in class. Use e-mail as a quick way to keep in touch.

•

Keep a diary of your thoughts and ideas. Write down how you are feeling and what is on your mind at the moment. Write freely and don't worry about making mistakes. You need to balance accuracy and fluency in your written work as well as in your spoken English. You can use these personal reflections and ideas in more structured writing (eg essays) later on.

•

Also write down what you have been doing to practise English. Note anything that strikes you about how you learn. You can look back through these notes to see what helped you and what didn't. The better you understand how you learn, the more effectively you can plan your learning.

•

Brainstorm ideas when deciding what to write. This means putting every idea you have on to paper in note form. Once you have a lot of ideas, you can sort out the good from the not so good, but initially it is useful just to get as wide a variety of ideas as possible.

•

When preparing to write a letter or an essay, don't forget that you need to plan first. What points do you think you need to make? What order should you put them in for the best effect? Thinking about these things before you start: then you can concentrate more on getting the grammar and vocabulary correct when you are writing.

•

Keep your own writing file of authentic examples of different text types (business and personal letters you receive, postcards, advertisements and instructions, etc). When you have to write something similar, you can then copy ideas for layout, organisation and content from a real example.

•

When you have a piece of writing checked by a teacher, make a note of the mistakes you have made. We all have particular, "personal" errors we frequently make. Write up a checklist of these mistakes so that you can go through your next piece of writing before you hand it in to make sure you haven't made the same mistakes again. For example: good at (not in), occasion (not ocassion)

•

Record yourself reading a short text aloud and then use this later as a dictation ie write down what you hear.

Page 37

Help Yourself! Ideas for independent learning Do it in your own time 8.

Speaking tips

•

Watch a native English speaker's mouth on television. Note what shapes it makes and try to copy them. Listen out for characteristic "English" sounds and copy them too.

•

Talk to yourself in the mirror. Sing your favourite songs in English to copy the native speaker sounds.

•

Talk to yourself (silently!) on the bus. Have a set of general topics to choose from and take a new one each day. (For example: your family, hobbies, favourite film, last holiday, job, ambitions, three wishes) Try to think in English. Ask yourself: How would I say that in English? How could I explain that idea to an English speaker?

•

Make a new friend by asking a native speaker you know to help you with something in English you don't understand. Give yourself a reason to talk to him or her. Just keep your questions simple and don't expect your friend to know their English grammar as well as you do!

•

Set up a conversation group with other students and meet regularly to talk in English. Phone each other to practise English. Go out shopping or get together at the weekend. If you are preparing for an oral exam/interview, ask one friend to practise the interview with you and another to listen and give you constructive feedback on your performance. Then swap roles so you get a chance to be interviewer and examiner too.

•

Keep your conversations on topics you are familiar with. If you don't know what to say, change the subject or keep quiet until you feel you can contribute easily again.

•

Write some familiar conversation topics on cards. Take a card and speak about the topic for two minutes. Record yourself and then listen, checking for things you could improve. Next time you take the same card, can you speak more confidently?

•

Learn some routines in English: sentences which you need again and again. Practise so that you can say them in conversation without having to worry.

•

Notice how native speakers use the language. For example: What noises do they make when they are thinking? How do they take turns to speak? What happens to their voices when they get angry or embarrassed? Also notice how they use their bodies to send signals while they are talking. What movements and facial expressions do they use? How often do they smile? Do they only smile in certain situations or with certain people? All these things are just as important as the words they use. Try to become aware of how native speakers behave and copy them. If you do this, native speakers will think you are using the language very naturally although your actual speaking ability may not be any better.

Page 38

Help Yourself! Ideas for independent learning Make the connection 1.

Understanding website addresses

The Web is an amazing source of resources for learning and practising English. If you want to use it effectively, it is important to have some basic Internet skills. These are easy to learn and will help you get to what you want more quickly because you can make informed choices using clues available on the WWW. A

Match the website address on the left with its subject on the right. 

www.un.org

Cable Network News

www.leonardodicaprio.com

Penguin – a British publisher

www.cnn.com

The United Nations

www.hkta.org

University of Wales Swansea

www.swan.ac.uk

Hong Kong Tourist Association

www.penguin.co.uk

Princeton University, USA

www.princeton.edu

Leonardo DiCaprio’s official website

Now think about how you could match the website address to its subject. Which of the following tips are correct? Write the number of the website addresses above (1-7) next to the tip it illustrates.  EXAMPLE NUMBER

Address may use abbreviations (shortened forms of names).

_____________

Addresses may use acronyms (the first letter of each of a series of words).

_____________

Addresses do not include spaces where they normally occur.

_____________

Addresses often include a code indicating the country where the site is.

_____________

Addresses often include a code indicating what type of site it is.

_____________

Addresses do not make a difference between capital and small letters.

_____________

What other tips can you think of to help interpret website addresses?

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Help Yourself! Ideas for independent learning Make the connection 1.

Understanding website addresses (continued)

These are the two-letter country codes for some countries where English is spoken. Which country does each belong to?  .uk

.nz

.ca

.au

.ie

— TIP: Websites in the United States generally do not use a country code — E

On the left are common codes which identify different types of websites. Match them to the definitions on the right. 

.com

UK academic

.edu

UK business

.co

US academic

.gov

US business

.org

government

.ac

organisation

Do you know any more codes like these? What type of websites are they used for? F

Now try to think of the addresses for the following websites using the information above.

British Broadcasting Corporation

______________________________________

Stanford University, USA

______________________________________

Gianni Versace

______________________________________

The Times (UK newspaper)

______________________________________

Baltimore Police Department, USA

______________________________________

When you’ve finished, put the addresses into your Internet browser to check whether the addresses you have created actually take you to where you want to go. G

If you had a personal website, what would you like the address to be? What about a site for your favourite actor or singer, your hobby, or team? Create suitable addresses for them and check on the WWW to see if they are being used already.

Page 40

Help Yourself! Ideas for independent learning Make the connection 2.

Internet jargon

There are many new words and phrases connected with computers and their use. Some are new words (e.g. download) while others are old words with new meanings (e.g. surf the WWW, a mouse). A

Match the examples of jargon on the left with their definitions on the right. 

bug

copy a file from the Web to your own computer

virus

error in a computer program or website

hyperlink

program spread by e-mail that infects computers

spam

symbol used in a browser to return to previous page

download

e-mail message sent to a large number of people without their consent

back button

text or graphic you click to move to another website or page

Write what the acronyms mean. Guess first, then try using a dictionary or a search engine. 

WWW

_____________________________________________

URL

_____________________________________________

http [difficult!]

_____________________________________________

How do you say some of these new terms? 

@ .com

‘My e-mail address is susi@yahoo.com’

: / .org

‘The URL is http://www.britishcouncil.org/’

_ \ .doc

‘The file is G:\Archive\2003\how_to_get_started.doc.’



See 15. Vocabulary tips (page 27) for ideas on how to record new vocabulary.

Page 41

Help Yourself! Ideas for independent learning Make the connection 3.

Using directories

One way to locate what you are looking for on the Web is to use a search directory. These are available on the Web and are websites sorted into categories by humans – just as librarians classify books so that material on the same topic is kept in the same place. To find what you want you choose the most suitable heading available and then see what sub-topics are available under that heading. As you move through this structure, you can define what you are looking for more clearly and at the end of the search ‘path’, you should find what you want, ie links to websites with the information you want. Decide which main heading on the Google Directory page you would select to find the information on the right. 1 a guide to the Internet for new users 2 the current weather in Beijing 3 yesterday’s UK football scores 4 a recipe for strawberry cheesecake 5 the side-effects of new tablets you are taking 6 present ideas for your family 7 reviews of the latest Hollywood releases 8 a map of the world Directory at http://www.google.com

Sub-topic pages may include: •

more categories linking to pages deeper in the directory structure

•

links to related categories (ie other parts of the directory structure that might have the information you are looking for)

•

links to the websites relevant at the current level of the directory

Page 42

Help Yourself! Ideas for independent learning Make the connection 4.

Using search engines

Compared with using a directory, a search engine often gives you many more results to choose from but these results are also often less relevant to what you are looking for. Search engine results are based on information collected automatically by computers from the whole contents of a website (not just the title). The search engine checks for your search terms (ie the words you enter into the ‘Search’ box) in all the information it has collected from websites. The search engine then tries to sequence the results with the best ‘matches’ first. However, this often does not work very well. First, it is very important to select the best search terms for your search. A

You are studying the environment and want information to answer these questions: How much of the world’s surface is covered by rainforests? Where are these forests?

Circle the words in the questions which carry the main meaning.

Now choose the best search terms from this box. surface

forest

cover

world

rainforest

information

environment

Use a search engine to test which words give you the best websites to find the answer.

Consider a new question: How many different species of bird are there in the world?

Decide what search words you need.

Enter your chosen words into a search engine and see what results you get.

Stop lists Most search engines have stop lists, which are lists of words that the engine normally ignores when it looks for search terms. This is because the words are very common and will not usually help in a search. For example, a stop list will include ‘the’. C

Which of these words do you think will be on a search engine stop list?  government Ronaldo

what

friend as

dictionary where

to why

who hotel

celebrity a

Scotland

Most search engines have a way that you can force a search for stop words. You might want to use this if you have a phrase containing several stop words. You usually put the phrase in speech marks. Here are examples of searches that you need to enter in this way. Can you think of any more? •

As you like it (a Shakespeare play)

•

To be or not to be (a famous quote from Shakespeare’s Hamlet)

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Help Yourself! Ideas for independent learning Make the connection 5.

Advanced searching — TIP: Most search engines ignore CAPITAL LETTERS —

When selecting search terms, a good WWW searcher thinks about the following:

•

the formality and/or implications of the term(s) selected

•

other words that mean the same (and could therefore be alternative search terms)

•

spelling variations (eg between American and British English) Who would choose each of the following search terms? Do you think the pairs of terms in the box will produce the same lists of search results? Why/why not? heart attack and cardiac arrest South American guerrillas and South American freedom fighters Hollywood gossip and celebrity biographies football and soccer

Think of some alternative search terms for the following ideas. 

1 2 3

headache chairman CV

4 5 6

eggplant rubbish [things thrown away] flu

Search engines allow you to search for parts of words as well. For example, you could search for cyclist, cyclists and cycling at the same time using the search term ‘cycli?’. However, note that you would also be searching for cyclical, but not for cycle. This search feature is useful for finding both American and British English spellings. For example, searching for ‘col?r’ will give results for color (US) and colour (Brit). When used at the end of a search term (eg ‘cycli?’), this is called truncation; in the middle of a word (eg col?r), it is called a wildcard search. The typed character for this kind of search may be ‘?’ or ‘*’. C

What do you think these searches are looking for? 

1 2

‘Hong Kong’ AND (realt? OR ‘estate agen?’) (Wales OR Welsh) AND surf? AND beach?

Search engines now also allow you to look for: • particular types of document (eg images, MS Word format files) • information from a particular country (using the two-letter country code) • information in a particular language You need to find out in detail how the search engine you use works to be able to do this type of search. Look at the Help pages, eg the Advanced Web Search FAQs at www.alltheweb.com or the Advanced Search Tips at www.google.com.

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Help Yourself! Ideas for independent learning Make the connection 6.

Selecting search results

Your search for information about the UK rock band Suede (with the search term ‘suede’) gave these websites as results 11-20. Which are the most appropriate websites for what you want?  What information given in the list do you use to help make your decision?  11

Shoe Suede Blues.com Description: The official site with photos, biographies, booking and information. Category: Arts > Music > ... > Blues > Bands and Artists > S > Shoe Suede Blues www.shoesuedeblues.com/ - 1k - Cached - Similar pages

Suede tourisme - Office Suédois du Tourisme et des Voyages - [ Translate this page ] Le site www.suede-tourisme.com a changé d'adresse. Désormais vous nous trouverez sur www.visit-sweden.com. Notre ancien site n'a ... www.suede-tourisme.com/ - 5k - Cached - Similar pages

Group for User Interface Research - Projects – SUEDE ... We have developed SUEDE, a speech interface prototyping tool allowing designers to rapidly create prompt/response speech interfaces. ... guir.berkeley.edu/projects/suede/ - 10k - Cached – Similar pages

Guitar Tabs Guitar Tabs. ... hem.passagen.se/popstar/suede/guitar.htm - 2k – Cached - Similar pages

[suede.ukf.net] suede.ukf.net I've decided to sell the majority of my suede collection, I've not played any of them for ages, and they're just gathering ... Description: Includes various Suede information and pictures. It also has Suede fonts for download. Category: Arts > Music > Bands and Artists > S > Suede www.suede.ukf.net/ - 8k - Cached - Similar pages

Johnny Suede This site requires the flash plugin - click here | site designed by Intrikit Web Works. JOHNNY SUEDE IS PROUD TO OFFER CHOPPERS INC. MERCHANDISE ONLINE NOW!! ... www.johnnysuede.com/ - 5k - Cached - Similar pages

Blue Suede Music - The One Stop Rock N Roll Shop, Elvis, Gifts, ... Blue Suede Music in Memphis, Tennesee is the One Stop Rock n' Roll Shop, featuring great gifts for fans of Elvis Presley, Sun Studio, Memphis, Nashville, Jack ... Description: Featuring music-themed gifts and gift baskets. Category: Shopping > Music > Related Merchandise > Gifts www.bluesuedemusic.com/ - 14k – Cached - Similar pages

Coming Up: suede Description: Large selection of facts and trivia, ie chart positions or favorite foods. Many rare sound files... Category: Arts > Music > Bands and Artists > S > Suede www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Alley/5870/suede.html - 2k - Cached - Similar pages [ More results from www.geocities.com ]

and we're moving, so moving and we're moving, so moving. Suede Bootleg Discography has moved. Choose if you want to visit the new site or the old site. ... home.swipnet.se/~w-26441/ - 2k - Cached - Similar pages

Maggies Blue Suede News Maggie's Blue Suede News. Rock 'n' Roll Magazine. Welcome to Maggie's Blue Suede News. The Rock 'n' Roll Magazine, written ... www.bluesuedenews.freeserve.co.uk/ - 12k – Cached - Similar pages

Results taken from www.google.com (downloaded 20 May 2003)

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Help Yourself! Ideas for independent learning Make the connection 7.

Hyperlinks

A hyperlink is the ‘text or graphics on a Web site that can be clicked on with a mouse to take you to another Web page or a different area of the same Web page’ (from www.netlingo.com). Hyperlinks therefore ‘join up’ the information on the Web and make it such a fascinating global resource: you can move instantly from a text kept on a computer in California to an image or video clip stored on a computer in Germany. However, because switching between pages is so easy, users have to be careful to remember where they are. •

Does a hyperlink take you to another page in the same website, which you trust because you respect the organisation that provides it?

•

Does it take you to a different website, which may have a very different perspective on the issue?

Remember that websites can be set up by anyone: • governments • • individuals • • pressure groups •

businesses media organisations educational institutions

Some websites aim to be objective (giving the facts) while others want to influence you and are subjective (based on the feelings or beliefs of a particular person or group). Hyperlinks within the same website are called internal links; links to other websites are called external links. Websites which are concerned about keeping their good reputation now add a warning when they give external links: eg ‘The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites’. Users also need to think about what information they expect to find by following a hyperlink. Will it be: •

more specific information, eg giving details or a definition of the text in the original?

•

more general information, eg the homepage of an organisation mentioned in the original?

On a Web page, hyperlinks are generally underlined and in a different colour from the rest of the text. They may change colour as you move the mouse cursor over them. They may change colour if you click on the hyperlink to show that you have used it. As noted above, a hyperlink can also be an image or a ‘button’ on a Web page, eg — TIP: The question always to consider – Is it worth following this hyperlink? —

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Help Yourself! Ideas for independent learning Make the connection 7.

Hyperlinks (continued)

Where do you think each of the hyperlinks in this text leads?

Sit back, relax and take in the colours of Hong Kong, the City of Life, with a little guidance. Take in a Tour and enjoy diversity and excitement at every turn in the City of Life. Whether by cruise, by day or by night, every tour will captivate you and dispel the belief that Hong Kong is all skyscrapers and shopping malls. Or just put on your walking shoes to explore the city on foot, and rub shoulders with the friendly local people in the markets and back streets. Keen on heritage and culture or green tourism? Take part in a selection of tours available. If you're only in Hong Kong for a short time, make the most of it with a transit tour. Every interest is catered for and you can even take the opportunity to tour around Hong Kong's neighbouring cities. Set off on your own sightseeing adventures, and take in all the drama and colour that Hong Kong has to offer. From www.DiscoverHongKong.com

In the following text, decide where you would like to insert hyperlinks. Underline the appropriate word(s) to be hyperlinked and note where the link should take a reader. Is the link internal or external?

Context: This text is from a site designed to attract visitors to Australia. The site promotes various aspects of Australian life and the different states that make up the country. Visit Australia Australians are one of the world’s most urbanised societies – nearly 90 per cent of the population is a city dweller living along the coast. The largest and most populous city is Sydney with 3.9 million people, closely followed by Melbourne, its southern rival, counting 3.3 million. The third largest city is Brisbane, 1.5m, followed by Perth, 1.3m, Adelaide, 1.08m, Canberra, 308,000, Hobart, 195,000, and Darwin 86,000. Australian cities are widespread and consist more or less of suburban one-storey houses on a quarter-acre block. There is a tendency to build multi-storey office blocks in central business districts and the gleaming glass and concrete towers dominate the skyline in most capital cities. In the shadows of skyscrapers are labyrinths or interconnecting courts and arcades offering a wealth of shopping, cafes, restaurants, and night-clubs. In business life, Australians are conservative dressers but this changes abruptly as the weekend approaches. Australia is very much a beach culture and people’s attire reflects an outdoor lifestyle.

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Help Yourself! Ideas for independent learning Make the connection 8.

Evaluating websites

When you visit a website, you need to consider whether it is any good for your purposes. This is particularly true if you are trying to learn English using the Web. Think about your experience of using the Web and choose true (T) or false (F) for each question in this quiz. 1

All the English on the Web is correct English as used by native speakers.

Every website is checked regularly to make sure its contents are up to date.

Every piece of information on the Web is true.

It is easy to find out who wrote and is responsible for every text on the Web.

Every website in English is written in easy-to-understand language.

All websites are well-designed and simple to use (ie easy to ‘navigate’).

Every website has all the information available on its particular topic.

All websites have been finished and all their hyperlinks work.

The quiz highlights some of the problems with websites. When you visit a new website, you need to think about: •

Authority

Who is the writer? Who is the publisher or owner of the website?

•

Aim

What are the aims of the website? Does it achieve its aims? Are there hidden aims of the site?

•

Accuracy

Is the information correct?

•

Coverage

How much information is available on the website? Is the website complete?

•

Regularity of Update

Is the information on the website up to date? How frequently is it changed?

•

Presentation and Layout

Is it easy to move around the website? Do you know where you are on the website? Do you like the design of the website?

•

Language Level

Is the English used correct? Is the English too difficult for you to understand?

You could make a checklist to fill in for each website you visit. This will remind you to think about the website in relation to each of the issues mentioned here and will also help you create a list of your favourite English learning websites.

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Help Yourself! Ideas for independent learning Make the connection 9.

Useful websites for independent learners

Learning about the Web •

Learn the Net has an animated introduction about how the Web works www.learnthenet.com/english/animate/animate.htm

•

The BBC’s beginner’s guide to the Internet www.bbc.co.uk/webwise

•

This guide is to help you solve your computer and Internet problems www.internet-guide.co.uk

Learning English •

The British Council’s Learn English website www.learnenglish.org.uk

•

The BBC website for learners of English www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/

•

Dave’s ESL Café www.eslcafe.com

•

The Virtual Language Centre at Hong Kong Polytechnic University is a good self-access site. vlc.polyu.edu.hk

Learning Resources •

Cambridge dictionaries online dictionary.cambridge.org

•

Try the online edition of this Visual Thesaurus – a fascinating site showing how word meanings are linked. www.visualthesaurus.com

•

Encyclopedia.com www.encyclopedia.com

Search Engines •

Google is one of the most commonly used search engines. It also has a subject directory and is available to use in many languages. www.google.com

•

AlltheWeb www.alltheweb.com

•

Ask Jeeves is a search engine which accepts complete questions rather than search terms. www.ask.com

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Help Yourself! Ideas for independent learning â&#x20AC;˘

iTools is a one-stop reference site with search tools, language tools and research tools. www.itools.com

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Help Yourself! Ideas for independent learning Answer key ď&#x192;&#x2018; p.3-A

A noun is the name of a person, place, thing or idea A pronoun replaces a noun An adjective tells you more about a noun A verb shows an action or state A conjunction is used for joining other words, phrases or sentences A preposition is used before a noun to indicate place, direction, time, etc. An article has no meaning on its own and is found in front of nouns An adverb tells you more about a verb, adjective, adverb or phrase

p.3-B

nouns: New York, beauty, apple adjectives: worse, quick, comfortable verbs: sing, get up, happen adverbs: quickly, very, always prepositions: during, from, at pronouns: I, ours, it conjunctions: because, and, if articles: the, a, an

p.4-A

1 adjective, 2 adverb, 3 noun, 4 preposition, 5 noun, 6 verb, 7 interjection, 8 adjective, 9 noun, 10 adverb 1 only (conjunction), 2 only (adjective), 3 only (adverb), 4 tied (verb), 5 tie (noun), 6 tied (adjective [past participle])

p.4-C p.5

1 (possessive) adjective, 2 pronoun, 3 adverb, 4 article, 5 conjunction, 6 adverb, 7 preposition, 8 adverb, 9 verb, 10 noun, 11 noun, 12 preposition, 13 pronoun, 14 adjective, 15 verb, 16 verb, 17 noun, 18 verb

p.6-B

1 adjective, 2 adverb, 3 verb, 4 phrasal verb, 5 somebody, 6 something, 7 pronoun, 8 preposition, 9 noun, 10 et cetera

p.6-C

a-10, b-13, c-9, d-6, e-11, f-7, g-15, h-4, i-14, j-12, k-8, l-1, m-2, n-5, o-3

p.15

see p.50

p.17-A make, bread p.17-B unshaking/widespread/growing belief unwanted/professional/helpful advice earn/deserve/win respect make/take/spend time p.19

1-e, 2-c, 3-f, 4-g, 5-a, 6-h, 7-b, 8-d

p.21

1 blue, 2 green, 3 golden, 4 black and blue, 5 blue, 6 blue, 7 red, 8 white, 9 black and white, 10 green

p.25-A event: inquest; people: pathologist, coroner, addict; vocabulary: heroin, methadone; pregnant, mothersto-be; expressions: to establish the cause of death, to record a verdict of , death by natural causes, to start therapy for one's habit p.29

1 the latest attraction/the modified aircraft, 2 the readers of the text/the potential participants, 3 the people, 4 the participants, 5 the aircraft, 6 the astronauts, 7 the aircraft, 8 (about) ten, 9 the activity (in the aircraft)

p.38-A 1-c, 2-g, 3-a, 4-e, 5-d, 6-b, 7-f

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Help Yourself! Ideas for independent learning Answer key (continued)  p.38-B 1-5; 2-1, 3 & 4; 3-2; 4-5 & 6; 5-all; 6-(all) p.39-D United Kingdom, New Zealand, Canada, Australia, Ireland p.39-E 1-d, 2-c, 3-b, 4-e, 5-f, 6-a p.40-A 1-b, 2-c, 3-f, 4-e, 5-a, 6-d p.40-B World Wide Web; Uniform Resource Locator; kilobyte (=file size); Hypertext Transfer Protocol p.40-C @ = ‘at’, .com = /δ τ κ µ /, : = ‘colon’, / = ‘(forward) slash’, .org = /δ τ ↵:γ /, _ = ‘underscore’, \ = ‘backslash’, .doc = /δ τ δ κ / p.42-C if, to, on, as, an, a, what, who, why, where p.43-B 1-migraine; 2-chairperson, chair, chairwoman; 3-resume, curriculum vitae; 4-aubergine; 5-rubbish, trash, garbage; 6-influenza p.43-C estate agent(s)/agency/agencies [Brit] and realty/realtor(s) [US] in Hong Kong – where US and British English is used; surf beaches/beaches for surfing in Wales (not other beaches or other surfing) p.44

18 is the best – a personal website; 15 might be useful; 19 might be good but you would have to check. The other sites are probably not relevant though 14 might be worth checking. Information used: Category heading on Google is very helpful (in 11, 15, 17, 18); language (site 12 is about Sweden in French); URLs show type of site (academic in 13, personal in 18 – Geocities website, business in 20, etc.)

–––––– p.15 You may also find other words in your dictionary. Are their meanings the same as the words below? general noun análysis applicátion competítion críticism defénce

personal noun ánalyst ápplicant compétitor crític defénder

ecónomy, económics

ecónomist

(un)emplóyment híjacking idéalism índustry invéntion investigátion mánagement organisátion photógraphy pólitics próduce, prodúction úse /ju:s/

emplóyer, emplóyee híjacker idéalist indústrialist invéntor invéstigator mánager órganiser photógrapher politícian prodúcer úser

adjective analýtical (in)applícable (un)compétitive (un)crítical defénsive (un)económic, (un)económical (un)emplóyed (híjacked) idealístic, idéal indústrial (un)invéntive invéstigative managérial organisátional photográphic(al) (a)polítical (un)prodúctive úseful, úseless, úsed

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verb ánalyse applý (for) compéte críticise defénd ecónomise emplóy híjack idéalise indústrialise invént invéstigate mánage órganise phótograph políticise prodúce úse /ju:z/