8-Week Self Learning Plan

Let’s Warm It Up!    Let’s Warm It Up!    Let’s Warm It Up!
Let’s Warm It Up!    Let’s Warm It Up!    Let’s Warm It Up!   

Learning English through Modern Media particularly the Internet is very convenient and FUN! We can do it at anytime and anywhere, so let’s do it together! To make it even more efficient, I have created a tentative plan to guide you to the right track. I recommend either practicing on your own or discussing with peers. Being patient, disciplined, and honest are the three qualities you need to possess to successfully achieve the best result from this plan.

First of all, please bear in mind that learning English could be a life time process, you cannot possibly become fluent like a native speaker overnight. It could take years. Therefore, you need to be patient. Don’t rush! And don’t give up! Learning English will certainly open you a lot of doors to better opportunities.

Secondly, you need to be well-disciplined by completing all the courses as recommended. With eight weeks in a semester, you will be required to complete a three-hour session a day, two days a week. It could be time consuming, so I suggest you to plan your time well so that you won’t miss a session.

Last but not least, you must be honest with yourself. 

Learning English is voluntary. Nobody can force you to do it but yourself. Please be sure that you truly want to improve your English proficiency. Set it as your goal. Only you yourself can make it happen. Remember, you are what you think. Think of English as fun, then you will have a great time following my guide.

So now, let’s get connected and have FUN with my eight week self learning plan! 

8-Week Self Learning Plan  
8-Week Self Learning Plan 

8-Week Self Learning Plan  
8-Week Self Learning Plan     

Welcome to my eight-week plan of improving your English.  The focus will be on the improvement in four main areas: speaking, listening, reading, and writing. Also, grammar, vocabularies, pronunciation, and idioms will also be included.

Before we start, let's design our schedule. Well, I choose to study on Mondays and Tuesdays since I have these two days off. There will be a three-hour session per day. So, it will be six hours a week all together. Now you design yours and let's begin!

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WEEK 1: Grammar Challenge

Duration: 2 sessions: 3 hours/session  

Source: BBC Learning English - Grammar Challenge

Description: Here we can learn a number of English grammar which are often confusing about when and how to use. This site provides a good explanation with examples both in writing and audio. Three quizzes are also available in each chapter to check your understanding. 

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WEEK 2: General Grammar

Duration: 2 sessions: 3 hours/session  

Source: British Council - English Grammar

Description: This website contains a wide range of grammar lessons. Although we have learnt most of them since high school, we might have forgotten how to use them due to the lack of practice. Here is a great opportunity to review the standard grammar and build up your confidence in English. A number of exercises are at the end of the page for you to practice.   

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WEEK 3: Writing Expert

Duration: 2 sessions: 3 hours/session  

Source: ESL.ABOUT.COM - English Writing Skills

Description: You will be exposed to different levels, types and styles of writing. I recommend you to initially visit the three tabs on the right: Beginning, Intermediate, and Advanced Writing. In each tab, you will learn tips how to write different kinds of writing. There are also exercises and lesson plans to guide you to the right track. 

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WEEK 4: Speaking is FUN!

Duration: 2 sessions: 3 hours/session  

Source: English Central

Description: Speaking is a lot of fun when you learn from clips featuring your favourite celebrities or idols. Here you are able to improve your listening as well as your speaking skills while watching a variety of clips of your choice. There is also subtitle and a button to control the speed in each clip. Besides, there is a quiz after you finish watching to check your understanding. Most of the clips are free, but some you have to pay. Also, you need to register to become a member to be able to use the website. This process is very easy and free of charge. 

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WEEK 5: A Good Listener 

Duration: 2 sessions: 3 hours/session  

Source: LearningEnglishFeelGood.com - Listening and Randall's ESL Cyber Listening Lab

Description: To support your speaking, you also need to improve your listening skill. In this site, you can choose the difficulty level of both audios and videos. Each clip is equipped with quizzes to check your understanding. As most of them are from popular movies, it is fun to watch. Besides, here you can briefly learn about the differences between US and UK English in terms of word choices. Another useful source to practice your listening skill is Randall's ESL Cyber Listening Lab. Different levels of listening clips are stored here from Basic to Advanced. Each of them also comes with pre and post tests. Listening comprehension tips and scripts are provided as well.

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WEEK 6: Let's Read!

Duration: 2 sessions: 3 hours/session 

Source: World English - Reading and British Council's Business Magazine

Description: Here you can enhance your reading skill by practicing with several articles at different levels. There are also explanation and tips to improve your reading skill. Quizzes are provided at the end of each page. I find this page very simple and easy to use. However, if you prefer more complicated ones, you may visit the British Council's Business Magazine page where a number of business related articles are posted with dynamic exercises.  

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WEEK 7: Increase Vocab Bank! 

Duration: 2 sessions: 3 hours/session  

Source: BBC Learning English - 6 Minute English and BBC Learning English - Words in News

Description: It is fun and exciting to learn English through updated news. In this site, you are able to choose myriad news programmes from BBC both from current files and archives. Aside from useful vocabularies, you can also practice your listening skill by watching the news clips. The script and audio are also available for download.  Quizzes are also provided in each clip to check your understanding.

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WEEK 8: Pronunciation Tips!

Duration: 2 sessions: 3 hours/session   

Source: BBC Learning English - Pronunciation Tips

Description: BBC provides you with one of the best sites for English pronunciation. There are different programmes to choose to show how to pronounce different words correctly according to standard British English. You can also learn different phonetic symbols and how to use them from this site. Also, a number of quizzes are furnished at the end of each programme. Script and audio are also free for download.

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WEEK 9 (Optional): Idioms and Expressions

Duration: 2 sessions: 3 hours/session   

Source: The Teacher and The English We Speak

Description: If you manage to have additional time, you may choose to learn about updated idioms and expressions used in English, particularly British English, in the modern world. Audio and video clips as well as the script are also available to view and download.

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Congratulations! We did it! Yeah!
It has surely been a long journey to reach here. A lot of time and efforts have been put to the course. I am certain that we have gained more experiences and confidence in using English. Of course, there are many more websites that are also very good for self learning and practicing. When you have more time, you may design your own plan and share it with me in the future!

Paragraph Writing

Dear students:

To craft a good paragraph or even an essay, there are basically five criteria to be considered:

1. Ideas

One of the most important parts of making a good piece of writing is the ideas. Without ideas, it is almost impossible to produce a written piece. Often it is hard to build up some ideas relating to the topics. You may visit Top 10 Tips for Overcoming The Writer's Block to help stimulate your ideas. To break the ice is always hard, but don't be afraid to start. Once you get started, you may find your ideas unstoppable. Also, there are many ways to generate your ideas, for instance free writing, brainstorming and asking questions. Please browse through this site How to Use Free Writing for detailed information.

2. Structure

A well-structured paragraph could make the story more presentable and interesting. Generally, the structure of a paragraph contains the beginning, the middle, and the end. To be more specific, it should include the topic sentence, the supporting sentences, and concluding sentences. You can visit Paragraph Writing and Paragraph Structure for more details.

Please also note that grabbing the reader's attention is very important in writing. Therefore, we should pay a great attention to the start of the paragraph or the introduction. You may learn about various types of making introductory sentences from Introduction.

Moreover, after reading for a while, most readers tend to forget what they have read. The conclusion part; therefore, play an important role as a summary for the whole paragraph to remind the reader of what they have read. There are many ways to produce a good conclusion. Please visit Writing Your Conclusion for in depth information.

3. Coherence 

A good paragraph should have a good flow with combinations of sentences that logically go together in the same direction. When you read the paragraph, it should make sense to you, and you should understand it clearly. 

There are many ways to make the combination of the sentences flow smoothly. You can find more explanation at Cohesion Strategies: Transitional Words and Phrases and Cohesion Exercises. There are also many other factors to check the coherence. For instance, if it is a story of yourself, the pronoun used should be I and me throughout the paragraph, not we, he/she, or they. Also, the tense should be the same. If you tell the story in the past, the tense should be Past Tense, not Present or Future Tense

4. Unity

There should be only one controlling idea in a paragraph from the start to the end. The supporting ideas should also be in accordance with the main idea. When you write a paragraph, remember to always hang on to the main idea, so that you will not produce off topic sentences. For more detail, please view Paragraph Unity. 

5. Language proficiency

Correct grammars, a variety of vocabularies, and writing abilities are also very prominent parts in making a paragraph well-polished. You may improve your grammar and vocabulary by practicing with my Eight-Week Self Learning Plan.

Please remember that your grammar won't improve overnight, so you have to be patient. Learning English is voluntary. Nobody can force you to do it, but yourself. Keep practicing! You will find your writing skill improving for sure. 

Business Letter in General

Dear students:

There are no strict rules in writing business letters; however, please bare in mind that the letter should be easy to read, concise, and positive. These three components are the keys to effective business writing.

First of all, business letter should be easy to read. The letter format can certainly make the letter easily readable. The receiver will feel pleased to see a neat and well-organized letter. In general, there are four letter formats, but in this course I recommend only two types - Full Block and Modified Block. There are some differences between the two. You may browse through http://www.about.com/ for detailed explanation and examples. This website is also included in my Eight-Week Self Learning Plan on the third week. 

 

Second, the text included in the letter should be concise. The message must be clear, short, and direct to the point. Nobody wants to read a long letter. So, the length should be appropriate - maybe not more than seven lines. The words used should also be simple, vivid, and understandable. Try to avoid fancy words you often use in academic writing. For instance, you may choose "to explain" instead of "to elaborate."

 

Last, the tone of the letter should be positive. This is very important in writing business letters to make the reader wanting to continue reading. If the tone is negative, the reader may stop reading since the introduction paragraph or even the subject line. Therefore, the word choices and the tone are essential to make the letter effective. However, if we cannot avoid using the negative tone such as bad news, we may use several techniques to make the letter stay positive as much as possible by following the buffering and indirect pattern.   

     

In the beginning, you may not feel confident in writing, but practicing can surely help you to become more fluent in producing an effective business letter. For a good start, you may visit Making an Inquiry: Basic Business Letter. Please review the lessons after each class and visit the website I recommended for your self-learning.