Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Over the course of her career, Sandra Price-Hosie has worked as a journalist, a journalism instructor, and an English teacher working with immigrants and refugees. For the last three years, she has thoroughly enjoyed teaching primary school. She has written several books about ESL training, translation, and education. TRAPPED AT TRIUMF is her first novel. Sandra and her husband, Jorgen Johansen, live on the University of British Columbia campus in Vancouver, BC. They are proud parents and grandparents, and their multicultural family is reflected in Sandra's diverse cast of characters.

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ALL ABOUT LEARNING ENGLISH

Trafford Publishing

Contents

Introduction...................................................viiiAcknowledgements...............................................xI About Motivation.............................................1II About Learning Styles.......................................11III About the English Language.................................24IV About Spelling..............................................34V About Pronunciation..........................................55VI About The English Class.....................................80VII About Grammar..............................................96VIII About Vocabulary..........................................121Appendix Evolution of the English Language.....................153Sources........................................................158

Chapter One

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Why do you want to learn English? What is your motivation? The stronger your motivation, the more successful you will be. Most teachers will agree that the students who make the fastest successful progress in learning are the ones with the strongest motivation. The students who do not make progress in learning English usually are the ones without motivation.

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For example, Shelley had to come to the United States because her husband, Joe, was transferred by his employer. Shelley had never wanted to leave her home in Korea and she had a full life. She was very busy there with her career teaching Korean history and with raising her daughter who was three. Whenever Shelley had to go to work she always had four grandparents available to care for the child.

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Nevertheless, Shelley came to the U.S. with her little girl to join her husband. She had learned some English in school but had never pursued it because she had no thought of ever leaving her home in Korea. She also thought of Korean as being the superior language and culture and felt no need to study English.

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Once in the United States, Joe showed Shelley how to tune the TV and the radio to stations broadcasting in Korean. She also found a little "Koreatown" where she could shop for food and clothes and buy Korean newspapers and magazines. She thought they would stay for only a year or two and then they'd return to their homeland. Shelley stayed home with her little girl speaking only Korean and exposing her only to Korean media. At her husband's urging, Shelley enrolled in weekly English classes. She enjoyed making a few Korean friends who helped her by translating what the teacher said. She felt silly going to school at her stage in life and she felt many of the lesson activities were childish. So, she concentrated on simply collecting all the new words by writing them in her lesson book. Then she put her book away until the next class.

After a year, she could read only a little English and say even less, and she was still afraid to answer the phone or the door. She felt quite alone and isolated. She became closer to her little girl reinforcing her Korean heritage with all the little stories and traditions her mother had taught her. Although Shelley was a highly intelligent and capable woman, she made little, if any, progress in learning English. She had no personal motivation. She was, in fact, rejecting rather than embracing English.

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Shelley's husband, on the other hand, was proud to be asked by his company to transfer to the United States. He was always interested in new ideas and new technology. Although, like his wife, he was proud of everything Korean, he still thought he could learn much from living abroad. He had learned some English in school and once he knew he would be transferred, he went to night school every evening to learn English as fast as he could. He began listening to English tapes and to English movies whenever he could.

After they settled in to their new home in the States, Joe practiced speaking English as much as possible since most of the people at his office spoke English, even those from Korea. He watched American TV and practiced saying new phrases that he picked up from television. He practiced speaking English at home to his daughter when his wife was busy elsewhere. Soon he joined a community soccer team and found he was learning to speak English spontaneously in the excitement of the game. Joe needed English for his career and he was strongly motivated. Joe learned English quickly.

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What is your attitude toward the English language and its speakers? Negativity could hinder your learning. Positive imaging can help you to learn English quickly.

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Another student, Magda, was a senior citizen from Russia. She had a PHD and had been an engineer. She had come to the west to join her children and grandchildren. Her family brought her to the English class so she could communicate with her grandchildren and also so she could become independent and go shopping or to the doctor on her own. She was a wonderful person with a great sense of humour and a strong personality. Unfortunately, she made it quite clear in the class that Russian was a far superior language and English was inferior and far too difficult to learn. She would often interrupt the lesson to give the class the Russian equivalent of the vocabulary.

One day I came into the class early and found Magda conducting a class in Russian! Needless to say, her motivation to learn English was decidedly lacking and, despite her intellectual capability, she made no progress at all in learning English. And we will never know how many of her classmates learned Russian!

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If you find you dislike learning English you must ask yourself "Why?" If, for example, you are like May who dislikes American culture with its loudness, boldness, and Hollywood crudeness, yet you know you must learn English, perhaps you should search for something in the American culture that you can embrace.

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You might want to look at the American struggle for independence from England, the fight against slavery and racism, the doctrine of individualism, or the careers of the great entrepreneurs. Or, you might want to focus on a particular career field or on one of the arts. You must find a way to motivate yourself to learn English to be able to communicate.

If you feel negative about the U.S., you can even switch your focus to another country where English is spoken and where the culture is different. Although Canada is close to and similar to the United States, the cultural differences are great. The same applies, of course, to England, Australia, New Zealand, some Caribbean islands, and partly to South Africa. May found learning English difficult because in her heart she did not want to become like an American. Once she decided she could become a proud Korean-Canadian her attitude toward learning changed and she found herself progressing rapidly.

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Lily, too, was having trouble learning English. She had been taught by teachers in Hong Kong that British English with its "r-less"...