So you've decided that you want to improve your English. The question is where to start? If you don't have any specific goals in learning English, then learning it can become endless. Use our tips to help you start learning English from the right place and stay on track during the learning process.
Why do you want to learn English?
Each person has their own reasons for learning English. What are yours? Think about what English skills you already have and what you want to get as a result. Are you planning to work as an accountant in a foreign company? Start learning English accounting terms. Are you planning a trip to London? Include some London slang words in your plan! Be specific. Determining your motivation will help you focus on exactly the areas you want to improve and build your learning process more effectively.
Long term goals
If your reason for studying is simply to “improve your English,” then it’s time to set specific goals and objectives. Determine which of the four language skills (speaking, listening, reading or writing) is most important for your goals or which of them you find difficult to master. For example, if you want to speak with native English speakers with confidence, focus on speaking skills. This is an example of a long-term goal—specific skills that you would like to master over time.
Short term goals
You should also set short-term goals—specific goals you want to achieve by the end of the week or month. For example, if you have learned new English idioms, your goal for the week is to use those idioms in conversation. Or, if you are interested in a specific topic, then learning 10 vocabulary words on that topic every day for a week would be a good short-term goal for you.
Keep records
Keep a journal to record your goals and results achieved. At the beginning of each day, write down your short-term goals, and at the end of the day, write down any challenges you faced in achieving them. Keeping track of all the goals you set for yourself in learning English will help you gain confidence in your abilities and see real progress in your knowledge.
How to study more effectively?
You certainly know what methods help you learn and remember anything. Use this knowledge to achieve your goals in improving your English. Try to structure your training in such a way that you do not get bored, then the training will be more effective. And remember, if English was boring, no one would want to speak it!
We wish you success in learning English!
When applying for a job.
Specialists, armed with English, German, Spanish and other languages, are always happy to go to work, because their wages are several times higher than all other employees.
Today you can learn a language as soon as your heart desires: by , and with , and in language , and with , in , in and . Thanks to such opportunities, more and more people are striving to quickly learn a foreign language, overcoming numerous barriers. Let us beg to differ with the statement that it is impossible to learn a language quickly. You can learn a language. However, you can quickly learn a language once you reach a certain level, and this is also a plus. The main thing in this matter is a specialist who has a desire to help you, and personal motivation that will lead to the goal.
However, when learning languages, it is worth remembering the reasons that hinder the learning of foreign languages. So, these include:
- Relatives and friends who do not support your endeavors (or, most likely, are jealous of your desire to break through in this life). There is only one piece of advice - once you start, go to the end and listen to your inner voice.
- Work that takes up most of your time. In this case, it is quite difficult to set yourself up for an additional hour and a half of time two or three times a week. But here you need to correctly distribute your opportunities and get into the habit of planning your day in the morning, so that later it doesn’t turn out that your free time goes “nowhere”. Tip: Prioritize by focusing on what's important.
- Illogical approach to language learning. The transition from one form of activity to another must be clearly formulated and thought out, however, just like the distribution of activity must be uniform. You shouldn’t binge-solve textbooks, moving from one to another. Allow your brain to digest the information and absorb it. Distribute all activities equally. , translate, teach, listen, pay attention, monitor the goals achieved.
- Boredom is the biggest enemy for foreign language learners. There is nothing worse than the feeling that you are not interested. In this case, motivation disappears, attentiveness decreases, and aggression increases, especially when the material is incomprehensible. Advice: choose someone you will fall in love with from the first minute and never go to those who make you bored in class.
- Lack of practice. Here a lot depends on the language learner himself. If there is a desire, there is also practice; if there is no desire, there is no practice. It's simple. Millions of sites, tons of information that you just need to take and study for free, thousands of people around the world who want to help a foreigner (me and each of you) absolutely free of charge. Therefore, the phrase “I know the rules, I have a good vocabulary, but there is no practice, so nothing works out in this life” simply makes my head tear into pieces.
- Grammar is the main “nail” of the English language. Start with those rules that are vital. These are Present Simple, Past Simple and Future Simple. And study them until they become “native” to you. Only after this begin to find out what kind of beast “Continuous” and “Perfect” are.
Remember that the main difficulty is our own desire or unwillingness to be closer to our goal!
There are many ways and methods for both effectively studying Tarot cards and for reaping benefits and positive emotions. Like the previous exercises, these methods should be used regularly, even after several years of studying Tarot cards. Here are a few golden rules to remember both during the Tarot course and after it:
Remember that you will never know everything about the Tarot. This is a huge system to which there is always something to add and which can always be rethought on a different level.
From time to time, look at Tarot cards with the eyes of a beginner in order to get rid of stereotypes.
The journey called Tarot has no end point, but it is a journey to the top. Enjoy it and don't be afraid to get to the end!
Tarot Diary
Tarot Journaling is not just a fun and effective way to study the Tarot cards, but also a method of recording your progress, thoughts and discoveries. When studying Tarot cards, it is convenient to keep all your notes in one place. The Tarot Journal is a repository of the wisdom you gain through study, as well as your own views and experiences. If you still have notes from previous exercises, you can now put them in a blank journal (specifically the “mission statement” from the previous lesson) and make it your personal Tarot journal.
Anything can become a Tarot diary: a simple notebook, a beautiful notebook, or a notebook on rings. The last option may be the most convenient, since you can organize records into sections and quickly find the information you need. You may be more comfortable typing on a computer than writing by hand, but this method will not be very effective for some exercises and sketching.
What can you write in your Tarot diary?
Meaning of the cards: these can be cards that you chose during the interpretation, or those that accidentally came to you during the day; cards you saw in a book or on the Internet, or meanings given to cards by other people. Therefore, it is useful to devote several pages of your diary to each card.
Reasoning about the cards: This allows you to expand the meaning of the cards and usually includes scenes from films, passages from books and poems, quotes that may seem relevant and help understand the meaning of the card. Have you watched Star Wars and the analogy with the Death card came to your mind? Write down your thoughts!
Interpretations: Whenever possible, write down your interpretations so you can look at them later and see how accurate they were. This method is effective not only for assessing your skills, but also for recognizing those cases where the meaning of a card can be interpreted a little differently.
Daily Sketches: See Exercise 2.4.
Philosophy: Includes your thoughts about what tarot cards are, how they work, how they can be used, etc. These thoughts will develop as you study the tarot cards, so it is useful to write them down at least for to understand your own thoughts.
Correlations: Includes elements of astrology, Kabbalah, alchemy and other systems of symbolism and how they relate to the cards. In the following lessons you will see that there are many other systems of symbolism that relate to the Tarot.
Studying Specific Tarot Card Decks: If you have several tarot card decks that you'd like to use, consider keeping a separate section for them in your journal. This will help you differentiate between learning the symbolism of specific decks, which may change as you progress through the course.
Images that you feel represent the card's meaning particularly well. Their source may be magazines and photographs collected together.
Layouts: include layouts created by you personally, and layouts that you will encounter in books, on the Internet, or that you learn about from other interpreters. Try to dedicate one section of your diary to layouts so that you can quickly find the information you need.
Exercises: Any exercises that you feel may be helpful to you (including those in this book) should be written down in a journal so that you can refer back to them if necessary.
Book Lists: If you've been recommended a particular book but can't get your hands on it at the moment, why not write the title down at the end of your journal and start a list of books you'd like to check out? This way, at least you'll remember the title of the book, plus you'll have a list handy to give to family and friends the night before your birthday! The Tarot Diary is a private thing and should not be seen by anyone. It will help you develop as a tarot card reader by giving you the opportunity to create your own understanding of the cards. Over time, your Tarot journal may even become a book of its own to help others on their Tarot journey.
Interpretive practice
Practice makes perfect. There won't be a clear point in this course where I'll tell you, "You now know enough about the Tarot to begin an interpretation." Ideally, you should start right away, even if you don't know anything about the meanings of the cards. Your goal is not to "get the value right"; your goal is to become familiar with the interpretation process. You must learn to recognize the symbols shown on the cards and select the necessary information. You must learn to weave a story into logic and consistency, even if the story is completely inaccurate.
To be able to practice more, reach out to a friend or family member who is interested in your success. By explaining to them that at this moment you need a “guinea pig”, you will ensure that they will not judge you harshly. If you are still very nervous about the interpretation of the cards, there are other ways (so - no excuses!):
You can interpret the meaning of the cards for your dog or cat;
You can interpret the meaning of cards for fictional characters. Ask how they feel at this point in the story, even if you know the answer to that question. You will still be able to effectively analyze the meaning of the cards, and knowing the ending of the story, you will have the necessary information about how the cards relate to reality. (I especially recommend Shakespeare because his works contain a wide variety of characters, plots, twists, and mysteries.);
You can interpret the meaning of the cards for yourself.
Exercise 2.3
Choose a character you know well from a story, movie or fairy tale: Snow White, Cinderella, Bambi or Romeo. Now draw one card from the deck that will represent this character. Try to look at this card as if it were your chosen character. What scene is shown? What feelings are expressed? I" IMIO actions? What symbolism?
Let me remind you once again: if you don’t have the slightest idea of the meaning of the card described in books or accepted according to tradition, it’s okay! At this stage, it is important that you begin to see the symbolism and imagery of the card.
Studying books
And in our culture, it is common to learn a new subject with the help of instructions, and instructions are most often taken from books. With the advent of the printed press, it became possible for people involved in the arts, crafts or sciences to publish the results of their work, which people living in other cities and countries would learn about. This tremendous achievement and development of mankind is used in the world of the Tarot no less than in other areas, and I strongly recommend that every person studying the Tarot take full advantage of these benefits.
You may not be able to find a reputable tarot teacher in your area for group or one-on-one lessons, or the teachers you do find may charge too much. In this case, a good book on this topic will help out, being a completely accessible and convenient solution to the problem. You can use it anytime and anywhere.
Nowadays, many Tarot lovers turn to books to obtain information about the meaning of the cards, to understand the insight and wisdom of the Tarot. Many believe that this is another form of dogma being offered to students. But the same can be said about “animate” Tarot teachers and other ways of learning to use the cards. Dogma itself is not found in written or oral form, but is manifested in the desire of the reader or listener to accept it as the absolute truth.
Thus, I advise you to read as much literature on the topic as possible from the very beginning of your journey called Tarot. Over the past decades, a number of brilliant Tarot authors have put their experiences, which they have acquired over the years, into writing. While no work by any one author should be taken for granted, reading a significant number of books will expose you to a variety of views, ideas, and perspectives. This will open up new possibilities for you that you may not have thought of and allow you to develop your own understanding of the cards.
However, a complete understanding of Tarot cards cannot be achieved only with the help of books. To do this, you will need a large amount of other literature - you need to read a wide variety of novels, classic works, newspapers, magazines, etc. All of them form our worldview and teach us to be humane. The more we learn about the world around us and the people we cross paths with every day, the more deeply we understand the concepts depicted in the maps, and the more prepared we become to communicate those concepts to others.
What if you don't like to read? Well, then watch the movies! Watch documentaries and news programs. Visit museums and galleries. The more you learn about the world around you, the better. Regardless of the method you choose.
Most teachers care about the results of their students. There is no doubt that teachers influence how well their children do in school. However, when examining thousands of studies on the topic, it is clear that some teaching strategies have a much greater impact than others. What is effective learning? What are its methods, means, forms and techniques?
Clear Lesson Objectives
Strategies for providing effective evidence-based training include the following:
- Goals. What you want students to learn during each lesson is critical. Clear lesson objectives help you and your students focus on each aspect of your lesson and what matters most.
- Show and tell. As a general rule, you should start your lessons with some sort of show, performance and tell. Simply put, storytelling involves sharing information or knowledge with your students. Once you have clearly communicated what you want your students to know and be able to communicate by the end of the lesson, you need to tell them what they need to know and show them how to solve the problems you want them to do. they were able to decide. You don't want to spend your entire lesson trying to get kids to listen to you, so focus on your show and communicate what matters most.
Questions to check understanding
Teachers typically spend a large amount of class time asking questions. However, few teachers use questions to check understanding in class. But you should always check your understanding before moving on to the next part of your lesson. Effective ones like board answer and tell-a-friend help check understanding before moving on from the show to the next part of the lesson.
Lots of practice
Practice helps students retain the knowledge and skills they have acquired and also gives you another opportunity to test your understanding of the material you've learned. Your students should practice what they learned during your talk, which in turn should reflect the purpose of the lesson. Practice is not meaningless busyness in the classroom. An effective form of teaching involves solving specific problems that have already been previously modeled. Students learn information better when their teacher forces them to practice the same things over a period of time.
Using effective teaching tools
This includes mind maps, flowcharts and Venn diagrams. You can use them to help students summarize what they've learned and understand the relationships between aspects of what you've taught them. Discussing a graphic summary is a good way to end your show and pre-story. You can refer to it again at the end of the lesson.
Feedback
This is the "breakfast of champions" and is used by the best educators around the world. Simply put, feedback involves understanding how students performed a specific task together in ways that will help them improve. Unlike praise, which focuses on the learner rather than the task, feedback provides tangible insight into what they did well, where they are and how they can improve.
Flexibility
This is another effective teaching method. Be flexible with how much time you require for training. The idea that, given enough time, every student can learn effectively is not as revolutionary as it seems. This is at the core of how we teach martial arts, swimming and dance.
When you master the mastery of learning, you differentiate yourself differently. You keep your learning goals the same, but vary the time you give each child to succeed. Within the constraints of a crowded curriculum, this may be easier said than done, yet we can all do it to some extent.
Group work
The most effective teaching methods involve group work. This method is not new and can be seen in every class. However, productive group work is rare. When working in groups, students tend to rely on the person who seems most competent and capable of solving the task at hand. Psychologists call this phenomenon social loafing.
To improve the productivity of groups, it is necessary to select the tasks that are assigned to them and the individual roles that each group member plays. Groups should only be asked to perform tasks that all members of the group can perform successfully. You also need to make sure that each group member is personally responsible for one step in the task.
Learning Strategies
Effective training systems include a variety of strategies. It is important not only to teach the content, but also how to use the appropriate strategies. When teaching children to read, you need to teach them how to memorize unknown words, as well as strategies that will deepen their understanding. When teaching math, you must teach them problem-solving strategies. There are strategies behind effectively completing many of the tasks you ask students to do in school. And you need to teach students about these strategies, show them how to use them, and give them guided practice before asking them to use them on their own.
Nurturing metacognition
Many teachers believe that they are encouraging students to use metacognition when they simply ask students to use effective learning strategies such as making connections when reading or self-verbalizing when solving problems. Encouraging the use of strategies is important, but it is not metacognition.
Metacognition involves thinking about your options, your choices, and your outcomes, and this has an even greater impact on outcomes than the learning strategies themselves. Students can consider how effective a form of learning they would choose for themselves after reflecting on their success or lack thereof before continuing or changing their chosen strategy. When using metacognition, it is important to think about which strategies to use before choosing one.
Conditions for a highly effective educational process
During the educational process, conditions for effective learning must be created.
- Think about the relationship between teacher and student. This interaction has a major impact on learning as well as the “classroom climate.” It is important to create a classroom environment that "constantly demands more" while affirming students' self-worth. Success should be attributed to effort, not ability.
- Behavior management plays an important role. It may not seem as important as subject knowledge and classroom instruction, but behavior is a powerful factor in a teacher's success. But classroom management—including how well a teacher uses lesson time, coordinates classroom resources, and manages behavior—is noted as critically important to effective teaching.
- Correct relationships with colleagues and parents. Teacher professional behavior, including peer support and communication with parents, also has a moderate impact on effective student learning.
What can teachers do to improve their skills?
What do teachers need for professional growth? Follow your successful colleagues and simply sit back and watch as respected and dedicated employees practice their craft. Teaching can be an isolating profession if we allow it to be, and getting into other people's classrooms breaks down those walls and helps teachers grow in the process. Use technology to see others in action. Not only will you be able to pick out specific tips to improve your skills—work organization, homework efficiency, etc.—but you will also be able to make connections with colleagues that would otherwise be out of reach.
One effective learning tool is an open-ended question at the end of the test where students can comment on how well the teacher helped them learn the material. Going beyond the curriculum is a habit of the best teachers. Be sure to explore your topic broadly and try to consistently look for ways to bring new information into your practice.
Organization of effective training: methods and mechanisms
To survive and thrive, you need to be organized and disciplined. Effective teaching of high school children and university students is carried out using three teaching approaches:
1. Lectures. They are organized for the entire class and determine the content and scope of the material taught. They do not necessarily teach everything there is to know, but provide a basis for further exploration of topics through other forms of learning (practical work, assessment) and through independent reading. It is important to visit and interact with the information provided. You should be prepared to take notes from the main points and identify which areas of the lecture are less clear so that you can review them later. Most lecturers provide some form of handouts. The handouts are not intended to replace the lecture, but are provided to give you a "breathing space" to engage more closely with the lecture.
2. Practice. Practical work typically serves to illustrate topics from lectures and impart the skills needed to apply these concepts in a practical or experimental form. All practical work should be approached with a positive attitude and one should strive to learn from examples or experiments.
3. Supervisions are small group training sessions that provide a unique learning opportunity. This is a good chance to clarify any confusion from lectures or practical sessions and is a good way to assess understanding and progress.
High Efficiency Class Features
There are some sort of criteria to measure how effectively you are using effective learning tools. So, here are the characteristics of a highly effective learning environment:
1. Students ask good questions.
This is not a very good result, but it is very important for the entire learning process. The role of curiosity has been studied (and perhaps understudied and underappreciated). Many teachers force students to ask questions at the beginning of class, often to no avail. Cliché questions that reflect a lack of understanding of the content can hinder further skill acquisition. But the fact remains that if children cannot ask questions, even in elementary school, there is something wrong. Often, good questions can be more important than answers.
2. Ideas come from various sources.
Ideas for lessons, readings, tests, and projects should come from a variety of sources. If they all come from narrow slivers of resources, you risk being stuck in one direction. This may or may not be good. Alternative? Consider sources such as professional and cultural mentors, the community, subject matter experts outside of education, and even the learners themselves.
3. Various models and techniques of effective teaching are used.
Inquiry-based learning, project-based learning, direct learning, peer-to-peer learning, in-school learning, e-learning, mobile learning, flipped classroom - the possibilities are endless. Chances are, none of them are incredible enough to satisfy every element of content, curriculum, and student diversity in your classroom. The hallmark of a high-performing classroom is diversity, which also has the side effect of improving your long-term ability as an educator.
4. Training is personalized according to various criteria.
Personalized learning may be the future of education, but for now, the burden of routing students falls almost entirely on the shoulders of the classroom teacher. This makes personalization and even consistent differentiation a challenge. One answer is to personalize learning. By adjusting the pace, entry points, and rigor accordingly, you have a better chance of discovering what students really need.
5. Success criteria are balanced and transparent.
Students should not have to guess what “success” looks like in a high-performing classroom. It also shouldn't be entirely weighted by "participation", assessment results, attitude or other individual factors, but rather, meaningfully melted into a coherent structure that makes sense - not to you, your colleagues or the expert book on your shelf, but to yourself students.
6. Study habits are constantly modeled.
Cognitive, metacognitive, and behavioral “good things” are constantly being modeled. Curiosity, persistence, flexibility, priority, creativity, collaboration, revision, and even classic habits of mind are all great ideas to start with. Therefore, often what students learn from those around them is less direct didactic and more indirect and observational.
7. There are ongoing opportunities for practice.
Old thinking is being revised. Old errors are reflected below. Complex ideas are rethought from new perspectives. Divergent concepts are contrasted. New and effective teaching technologies are used.
It doesn't matter what, it matters how
The characteristics of effective learning fall into three groups: play and exploration, active learning, creation, and critical thinking.
- Play and study. Children naturally play and explore to satisfy their innate curiosity. They manipulate the environment, test it, and draw their own conclusions without any hidden agenda. They react with an attitude of open-mindedness to what happens as a result of their experiments. The nature of their learning is always hands-on and children are the authors who shape the experience. They use their existing knowledge and understanding of the world and bring it to their research. Using their imagination and creativity, they develop their understanding and explore their interests. When children play and explore, when they feel motivated to do so, they are also naturally more willing to take risks and try new experiences.
- Active learning. Learning is effective when it is motivated. Then attention and concentration on experience and activity are at their peak level. When children are excited about what they are doing, they become completely absorbed in the activity and focus on its details. They will also be more likely to remain motivated enough to try again if they fail, to overcome difficulties and improve their performance. They will do this to achieve their own personal goals, not just the goals of others, which is necessary to maintain their long-term success.
- Creation and critical thinking. Children understand the world when they are free to explore it, when they use their existing knowledge to creatively experiment with their environment, solve problems and improve their experiences. They test their own hypotheses, come up with their own ideas on how to transfer their experience further. Using what they already know, children make connections between different cross-curricular concepts, and this helps them make predictions, find meaning, arrange events and objects in sequence, or develop an understanding of cause and effect. By organizing their experiences in their own way, children learn to approach problems, plan, change their plans and strategies.
For learning to be effective, it is not what children learn, but how they learn, and this is something that educators must consider when planning learning environments for their children.
Sometimes students turn to a foreign language teacher with this question. Before giving them an answer and expressing their opinions, experts - linguists and methodologists ask students to answer the following question:
WHAT DOES LEARNING A FOREIGN LANGUAGE MEAN TO YOU?
I will give the answer of a student who is studying English online. She said that she was looking for group classes at a language school, but also wanted to study individually with a teacher. In the end, she stopped in online classes, because it turned out to be convenient, since it allows you to study from home and at any time. She also said that she started learning the language solely for herself. She doesn't need to take exams or use it at work. Those. learning English became a kind of hobby that diversified her life. She studies once a week for 45 minutes, but language classes give her pleasure, and besides, the sword of Damocles of the attitude does not hang over her: it is necessary! She does not feel emotional stress either during or after the lesson. During the week, she repeats everything that was done in the virtual class, listens to audio recordings, and does her homework.
TEACHER'S OPINION.
Ask any teacher what frustrates them about working with students, and most will tell you that it is a kind of race that almost all foreign language students find themselves in. This often happens because they are forced to strictly follow a specific schedule set by the language school or course. Their advertisements say that the courses take an individual approach and classes are held in small groups. But in many cases, once in the classroom, students are focused on doing certain exercises, but not on the language itself. But learning a language is also a study of culture, a new look at the world around us. What does this mean? In choosing new books by English-language authors, new songs and performers, if you are interested in music, this means watching new films in the original language, getting to know foreign cuisine, meeting people from the countries of the language you are learning. And these are just a few examples of how learning a foreign language occurs through culture. 
Learning a foreign language should occur in parallel with the discovery of new cultural realities and a new language environment. A foreign language is not just a set of new words and rules, it is a new world that allows you to master the language. And it takes time for language learning to proceed in this direction. What if a student says:
I NEED TO LEARN A LANGUAGE IN A SHORT TIME.
This situation occurs often, and then many experts in the field of teaching methods will give the following advice: in addition to lessons, make the language part of your daily life. If you like to dance, choose videos with English-speaking performers. You can not only practice reading song lyrics, but also memorize them. If you are interested in cooking, sports, travel, drawing, etc., you can always find thematic publications on media sites and television programs in English.
What is the idea behind this approach? The answer is simple: if you are passionate about a subject, you try to learn as much as possible about it. And when learning a foreign language, it becomes possible to receive the information you are interested in in another language.
Try to learn as much as possible about the country or countries where the language you are learning is spoken. For example, you may be interested in history, flora and fauna, monuments, cities, industry, education, tourism, etc. Also, it is important to communicate with native speakers, and for this it is not at all necessary to travel to the country of the language you are learning, because you can find native speakers on various language and professional forums. The most important thing is that you need to practice the language in such a way that you do not get bored and that the process does not become tedious. 
The process of learning a language cannot depend only on the teacher, who, of course, controls the process. Much depends on your attitude towards the language and its learning. It is important to remember that in order to learn a language, it is not enough to sign up for courses and attend classes. It is also not enough to convince yourself that “I am learning a language because without a language I will have no future.” You must admit to yourself that you are not studying a language in order to expand your vocabulary and master the grammar of the language, you are studying a language in order to integrate into another culture and become its native speaker.
