LLJ 3

Within this week, I used the dictionary as a strategy to improve my vocabulary skill. I chose to use this strategy because I wanted to increase my vocabulary takings and the dictionary is the main way for the language. I used Oxford dictionary, specifically the yellow section in the middle of the book since it was the first thing that attracted me when I opened the book. It consist of sixteen pages and each page shows some of the vocabulary of different subjects such as flowers, birds, vegetables, reptiles, homes, musical instruments, …etc. I know that it looks very simple, but I realized that I don’t know many simple words that almost every English learner should know them because my concentration is always on the high-level words. Ferry, optician, violin, stool, rug, courgette which means zucchini in US are some examples of the simple words that I learned in this section. I found it useful and enjoyable since there are multiple pictures of the words which show their meanings clearly and that helps to memorize the words easier.

LLJ 2, Fatema Ali

This week, I used some different strategies to develop two skills which are vocabulary and speaking. I couldn’t apply writing’s strategy because I couldn’t afford enough time for it and I was working on my science project too.
For vocabulary, I started to use the vocabulary book (Words for students of English). I found that it’s really greet and useful book. It is divided to units, each unit contains a certain number of the new and high level vocabulary and there are the definitions and examples of those words. After that, I found many types of exercises on those words such as matching, true/false, fill in the blanks, answer the questions and make sentences with the word. These exercises were very useful because they helped me to memorize the new words with their meanings by repeating them more than five times in different forms. When I wrote my LLP, I thought that 15 minutes every day will be enough to apply this strategy but actually it was not since it needs at least one hour per day to finish the exercises and get benefit from them. I feel that this strategy works well since I learned many new words and I’m able to use them in writing as I repeated them many times.
For speaking, I used http://www.bbc.co.uk website in order to listen to native speakers and speak like them. I found many things for learning English in that website such as learning pronunciation, vocabulary and grammar and podcasts. I listened to many podcasts with different subjects and all of them were in fast British accent. After listening, I recorded myself trying to speak as what I listened but it was a little bet difficult since they speak very fast and sometimes I couldn’t catch up with them. It was a good strategy because I tried hard to speak as fast as possible and without mistakes and after I heard the records, I noticed some improvement in my speaking.

My LLJ

Within the last two weeks, I tried to apply some of the strategies that I put in my language learning plan. I tried my best to use at least two strategies for each skill but I couldn’t because of the time tightness. Therefore, I decided to concentrate on one strategy for each of them and apply it as perfect as possible.
For the first skill which is vocabulary, I used such a great English website which is http://www.englishclub.com/vocabulary/ for one hour 3 times a week. I found a lot of titles that concern on the different types of vocabulary learning such as synonyms and antonyms, survival English, word lists, etc. I chose to learn the phrasal verbs list and there were more than 200 phrasal verbs which are usually 2-word phrases consisting of verb + adverb or verb + preposition. I felt that it was one of the most confusing things that I’ve ever learned in my life because it is hard to differ between three phrasal verbs which have the same verb combines with three different prepositions and each one of them has different meaning from the others. However, I feel that it was very useful practice since it enriched my vocabulary with plenty of new phrasal words that I can use in many ways especially when I use them in my daily conversations to show that I understand the language well. Also, that will help me to avoid word’s repetition in writing and speaking. This strategy didn’t help me with my spelling but it did help me to raise my vocabulary level which was one of my weaknesses in the LLP.
For the second skill which is writing, I found that using one strategy will not be as beneficent as I used two or more together because I can’t use a theoretical strategy without applying it in another practical one in order to know if it works or not. Therefore, I used an excellent writing website http://www.dartmouth.edu/~writing/materials/student/special/esl.shtml which included the basic criteria of writing an academic essay such as the thesis statement, the argument, the arrangement of the paragraph, etc. However, the most interesting thing that I learned in this website is how the cultures have different values when it comes to arguing a point and what are native English readers or writers focusing on when they read or write an essay and that actually leads me to start to make some changes in my way of writing. Also, this website has many links to other useful writing staffs which I really benefited from such as how to choose the writing subject and how to start writing it.
I used my experience from the previous strategy with another strategy in my LLP which is using “Effective academic writing 2” book which will help me to improve in timed writing. At first, I chose a topic which timed with 60 minutes from the book to write about. It was about marrying someone from another culture. I started with doing a simple mind map writing to organize the ideas and that helped me later on in writing. I started writing on certain time and I focused on the thesis statement, coming up with interesting argument’s points and watching the time as well. Unfortunately, Time ran out when I was still in the conclusion as usual. On the second time, I decided to challenge myself and I wrote in the same topic but timed in 50 minutes with different way from the first one and finally I made it. I was very pleased to write an essay in the limited time and that gave me a great feeling that I improved a little in writing, especially after I showed my eldest brother who is excellent in English and he told me that there is an improvement from the first writing to the second. I used that strategy for one and half hour twice a week since I didn’t have enough time for more.
For the last skill which is speaking, I chose to use the sky pronunciation program to improve my pronunciation of some words. My weaknesses centralize in the vowels pronunciation. Therefore, I practiced the vowels’ sounds for 2 hours 3 times a week. I found it a little confusing since there are long and short vowels and some of them have similar sounds. However, I feel that I improved especially in “I” and “e” sounds and that will help me a lot to have a good pronunciation in speaking.
For next week, I’m going to use a vocabulary book which has a lot of high level vocabulary exercises to know how to put them in sentences in order to help me using them in writing and speaking. Also, I will complete using the same strategies of writing because I feel that I need more practice to make a good improvement. For speaking skill, I will continue using the sky pronunciation program besides using the BBC radio website to listen to native speakers and be able to speak like them.