Sharpen up Language, Taking Down Borders
First of all I would like to thank all the positive feedback I've been receiving lately for the first two post.. You've all been incredibly supportive towards me, and it feels so good to see that the writing is acknowledged :) I'll continue to share more and hopefully help those in need of encouragement..
Right.. back to business.. So I pick up this topic which is a quite broad subject to talk about. I'm gonna try to narrow this thing down to avoid boredom..
I'd like to start by sharing a bit of a story from a friend of mine. There's this, one friend. a good friend. We've known each other since the first semester of college. He possess a pretty decent skills in GIS (Geographic Information System), a fancy skill to have. Long story short, when the end of college is approaching, he sent a draft of research plan about using GIS to monitor environmental changes in Coral Reef Ecology to two Universities in New Zealand. He rolled the dice and waited for the outcome. He wasn't expecting a shockingly good news at the first time, he said to me. He just sent it for the sake of trying his luck and probably the odds are in his favour. So, he waited and carried on living. Guess what, a couple of months later he received an email from the preferred University, containing an Conditional Letter of Accepetance. He also told me that he stood a chance to be granted a scholarship from New Zealand's Government.
For people who's expecting to pursue a Master's degree, this.. would feel like catching lightning, really. He has everything it takes and only mere clicks away from continuing a Master's degree to NZ. which of course for some people. (No). for many people out there who's dreaming to study abroad, is a major goal.
For people who's expecting to pursue a Master's degree, this.. would feel like catching lightning, really. He has everything it takes and only mere clicks away from continuing a Master's degree to NZ. which of course for some people. (No). for many people out there who's dreaming to study abroad, is a major goal.
wait up, don't get too excited just yet..
Here's the twist of the story..
Unfortunately.. like all story, there's always bump on a road. And in this case, the constraint is. yes.. the English Proficiency Requirement. "here's a little tips already for any of you who's probably highly interested in studying abroad". Almost all of Foreign University, especially an 'English-Speaking-Country-University' require you to have a minimum score of English proficiency test (TOEIC, TOEFL, or IELTS).. Most of you are probably familiar with these kinda test.
There are a couple of differences between the three of 'em but I ain't gonna talk about it here, otherwise, this would be a long post.. (you can just simply Google it).. for IELTS (this one is probably the most familiar due to some reason.. like.. IETLS contain some element which TOEFL and TOEIC don't have, and some University see IELTS better preference amongst the three). the minimum requirement is: 6.5. with no bands' score below 6.0. Just for brief explanation IELTS test contained Listening, Reading, Writing and Speaking. for Master's degree, most University would expect their international student (that's us) a minimum score of 6.5.. that.. is.. tough.. Some of the Universities even ask for 7.0 overall score.
For some of you who perhaps has taken a TOEFL IBT or ITP before, scoring 6.5 in IELTS is probably level with scoring >550 in TOEFL, so blimey, that's a mountain to climb. "I did't tell you it is impossible thou.. hard? yes . but impossible? absolutely no".
I took a page out of my friend's story, and got myself thinking, "How fortunate I am". I studied English for quite long, and I started up really young, a matter of fact learning process is happening every single day so up until now, I-am-still-learning. I probably was eleven when I started to learn English intensively and it's been eleven years since. I am 22 so that technically means I've been speaking English for half of my life.
So yea.. why don't I share some of my thoughts to help anyone.. who reads this, improve their English.. This is a brief tips and only an outer layer.. "I can't possible pour my whole experience here".. so taking benefit or not is entirely up to you and your very effort.. :)
wait.. that's a long time, dude.. some people might wonder "can't we just hack? like.. u know, take a shortcut? take a short preparation, just for the sake of IELTS score. we don't have eleven years to prepare things. Well, in a perfect world you probably can hack. like, type it into Google search bar 'How to be good in English quickly' and a few tips might come up, but let's be honest. it still takes a practise, and if you dream of something bigger you need to build a good foundation. You might probably heard some people says "never mind the grammar, man. most people don't care about grammar when you are speaking".. Let me tell you, it is completely okay to believe in whatever you wanna believe, but a bitter truth is better than the sweetest lie. Grammar IS important in any aspect of English. never let other people convince you otherwise. Telling yourself : 'it's okay to make grammatical error when you are speaking' will only put you away from learning grammar. Grammar is fundamental and mastering the grammar is a sign of well educated person.
so rule number one : please.. by all means.. learn the grammar til it sticks in your head even when you are speaking. this is highly correlated with your further plan. If you are dreaming of going overseas for college, you will interact with a whole new environment. It is probably okay to make errors once or twice, a matter of fact that errors are inevitable.. but imagine making errors in daily basis while speaking to your professor.. that will make you look like.. pardon me.. an imbecile. ("I swear it's so important that it makes me put up a strong word there") ...
Not to mention that it is impossible to get a good score in English proficiency test without having a good grammar foundation..
Secondly.. despite the long record and experience in English usage, it still took a lot of practise for me to get a good score in IELTS. so, what you gotta do is practise.. practise and practise.. I said there's no shortcut to masters English but there are certainly a few tips which you.. could.. probably try, to learn quicker.. I'll break it down to a few sections according to the key skills..
- Reading- this, for some people is very frustrating, and for almost everyone, is really tricky. During the IELTS test, you'll have bunch of text in a long paragraph. sometimes difficult phrases. The tricky thing is you gotta extract those long paragraphs into certain ideas and valuable information in order to answer the questions given. So what you gotta do is, practise to read! But, which kind of writings is essential to read? well, since IELTS is a formal academic test, so all the text there would be in a formal form. So you gotta get used with reading a formal writing.. such as?? the easiest one is news paper. of course.. ENGLISH newspaper. my fave? The Guardian, and BBC News.. I really enjoy reading both of them. Both are using British English spelling so it suits my writing very well. when you are reading, try to extract as much as info as you could, so, during the real test, you'll be ready..
-Listening- for this one.. probably the most common advice you'll heard is: "Watch a movie without a subtitle!!" well.. hmm.. That might work. MIGHT.. but again we must remember that English proficiency test is a formal TEST. So, you'll be hearing a formal speaking, extract the information and use it for answering question. Following the "watching-movie-without-subtitle" advice is good, a matter of fact, I never used subtitle while watching a movie, BUT, ignoring the importance of selecting the movie you used as learning materials will gain you almost nothing when it comes to listening formal speaking.
for example, you watch a movie to follow the advice.. you pick a particular movie you love then hear a man says: "Yo bro, hold ma beer while I wack y'all.. " do you expect listening these kinda speaking will help you to improve your English? like I said this MIGHT work, some people might have proven it, and it is totally fine to learn a slang. But, it would be much much better if you are being selective for the learning materials. Listening to a much more formal talks such as Ted Talks, BBC Radio or anything similar will gain you a much better understanding of English speaking. Which of course will be more essential is facing English proficiency test.
-Writing and Speaking- These last two.. are the most tricky ones I must say. I've known people who did amazingly well in reading and listening but the scores of these two dragged them all the way down. these two is highly correlated to each other.. What I mean is, commonly there are two types of English: American and British. it is highly important for you to stick one of this. It is absolutely fine to speak and write in either of them as long as you nail them. So, you if you somehow have decided to speak in British accent, you've got to write in entirely British spelling as well.. this is crucial as the examiner will assess you also based on consistency.
For writing itself, there are a lot of complexity. structures, organisations, phrases, idioms, GRAMMAR (tenses included), and I must be honest.. it is tough. probably the toughest amongst the four. So if you think you can not handle this by yourself, you might wanna consider joining an IELTS preparation programme. I was lucky enough to get a good score in writing, but that because I spent two weeks before the test date, practising so crazily. I can give advice and example but the complexity of writing test will make this post way to long, which I don't want to.. so if you are highly wondering, I can make one own post just for IELTS writing (Let me know if it is necessary)
For speaking.. this is also tricky.. the easiest way to excels it is by.. well, speak up! don't be shy. At first, it is completely okay to make some mistakes (including grammatical), but as time goes by, you've got to get better. You might wanna find someone who has a good speaking command, and speak a couple of words with them, let them hear your English and correct it. to practise your confident, you might as well wanna find a foreigner and speak with them. And the last hack, as you will basically be Interviewed during the speaking section of IELTS. It will help you to browse for conversation video. Me.. I find it helpful to listen to people having conversation in a talk show. There are a bunch of them, you can pick one: The Tonight Show, The Late Late Show, The Ellen Show, The Graham Norton Show.. plus, you can browse to your favourite person while they having conversation in those talk show.. it will add the sense of amusement and make you learning much more fun..
It is fine to take someone as a role model, learn their accent, watch them speaking, and absorb the way the handle questions.. during the test, it won't be too much different than having normal conversation.. so yeah.. this methods will help you.. like.. a lot..
I think that's all for now.. of course like I said, those can't be all.. there are still a lot of methods, a lot of ways to learn English, but.. those.. are amongst which I found superbly helpful for me.. and again there's no such thing is shortcut to success, you've got to take the stairways.. So practising is highly important, and there's no other ways to score high grades in ANY English proficiency test without painful effort of practise..
If there's anything you might wanna know but ain't up there.. please, let me know..
and I share.. so all can learn together :)
There are a couple of differences between the three of 'em but I ain't gonna talk about it here, otherwise, this would be a long post.. (you can just simply Google it).. for IELTS (this one is probably the most familiar due to some reason.. like.. IETLS contain some element which TOEFL and TOEIC don't have, and some University see IELTS better preference amongst the three). the minimum requirement is: 6.5. with no bands' score below 6.0. Just for brief explanation IELTS test contained Listening, Reading, Writing and Speaking. for Master's degree, most University would expect their international student (that's us) a minimum score of 6.5.. that.. is.. tough.. Some of the Universities even ask for 7.0 overall score.
For some of you who perhaps has taken a TOEFL IBT or ITP before, scoring 6.5 in IELTS is probably level with scoring >550 in TOEFL, so blimey, that's a mountain to climb. "I did't tell you it is impossible thou.. hard? yes . but impossible? absolutely no".
I took a page out of my friend's story, and got myself thinking, "How fortunate I am". I studied English for quite long, and I started up really young, a matter of fact learning process is happening every single day so up until now, I-am-still-learning. I probably was eleven when I started to learn English intensively and it's been eleven years since. I am 22 so that technically means I've been speaking English for half of my life.
So yea.. why don't I share some of my thoughts to help anyone.. who reads this, improve their English.. This is a brief tips and only an outer layer.. "I can't possible pour my whole experience here".. so taking benefit or not is entirely up to you and your very effort.. :)
wait.. that's a long time, dude.. some people might wonder "can't we just hack? like.. u know, take a shortcut? take a short preparation, just for the sake of IELTS score. we don't have eleven years to prepare things. Well, in a perfect world you probably can hack. like, type it into Google search bar 'How to be good in English quickly' and a few tips might come up, but let's be honest. it still takes a practise, and if you dream of something bigger you need to build a good foundation. You might probably heard some people says "never mind the grammar, man. most people don't care about grammar when you are speaking".. Let me tell you, it is completely okay to believe in whatever you wanna believe, but a bitter truth is better than the sweetest lie. Grammar IS important in any aspect of English. never let other people convince you otherwise. Telling yourself : 'it's okay to make grammatical error when you are speaking' will only put you away from learning grammar. Grammar is fundamental and mastering the grammar is a sign of well educated person.
so rule number one : please.. by all means.. learn the grammar til it sticks in your head even when you are speaking. this is highly correlated with your further plan. If you are dreaming of going overseas for college, you will interact with a whole new environment. It is probably okay to make errors once or twice, a matter of fact that errors are inevitable.. but imagine making errors in daily basis while speaking to your professor.. that will make you look like.. pardon me.. an imbecile. ("I swear it's so important that it makes me put up a strong word there") ...
Not to mention that it is impossible to get a good score in English proficiency test without having a good grammar foundation..
Secondly.. despite the long record and experience in English usage, it still took a lot of practise for me to get a good score in IELTS. so, what you gotta do is practise.. practise and practise.. I said there's no shortcut to masters English but there are certainly a few tips which you.. could.. probably try, to learn quicker.. I'll break it down to a few sections according to the key skills..
- Reading- this, for some people is very frustrating, and for almost everyone, is really tricky. During the IELTS test, you'll have bunch of text in a long paragraph. sometimes difficult phrases. The tricky thing is you gotta extract those long paragraphs into certain ideas and valuable information in order to answer the questions given. So what you gotta do is, practise to read! But, which kind of writings is essential to read? well, since IELTS is a formal academic test, so all the text there would be in a formal form. So you gotta get used with reading a formal writing.. such as?? the easiest one is news paper. of course.. ENGLISH newspaper. my fave? The Guardian, and BBC News.. I really enjoy reading both of them. Both are using British English spelling so it suits my writing very well. when you are reading, try to extract as much as info as you could, so, during the real test, you'll be ready..
 |
| The Guardian UK Homepage |
-Listening- for this one.. probably the most common advice you'll heard is: "Watch a movie without a subtitle!!" well.. hmm.. That might work. MIGHT.. but again we must remember that English proficiency test is a formal TEST. So, you'll be hearing a formal speaking, extract the information and use it for answering question. Following the "watching-movie-without-subtitle" advice is good, a matter of fact, I never used subtitle while watching a movie, BUT, ignoring the importance of selecting the movie you used as learning materials will gain you almost nothing when it comes to listening formal speaking.
for example, you watch a movie to follow the advice.. you pick a particular movie you love then hear a man says: "Yo bro, hold ma beer while I wack y'all.. " do you expect listening these kinda speaking will help you to improve your English? like I said this MIGHT work, some people might have proven it, and it is totally fine to learn a slang. But, it would be much much better if you are being selective for the learning materials. Listening to a much more formal talks such as Ted Talks, BBC Radio or anything similar will gain you a much better understanding of English speaking. Which of course will be more essential is facing English proficiency test.
 |
| Ted Talks YouTube Channel |
-Writing and Speaking- These last two.. are the most tricky ones I must say. I've known people who did amazingly well in reading and listening but the scores of these two dragged them all the way down. these two is highly correlated to each other.. What I mean is, commonly there are two types of English: American and British. it is highly important for you to stick one of this. It is absolutely fine to speak and write in either of them as long as you nail them. So, you if you somehow have decided to speak in British accent, you've got to write in entirely British spelling as well.. this is crucial as the examiner will assess you also based on consistency.
For writing itself, there are a lot of complexity. structures, organisations, phrases, idioms, GRAMMAR (tenses included), and I must be honest.. it is tough. probably the toughest amongst the four. So if you think you can not handle this by yourself, you might wanna consider joining an IELTS preparation programme. I was lucky enough to get a good score in writing, but that because I spent two weeks before the test date, practising so crazily. I can give advice and example but the complexity of writing test will make this post way to long, which I don't want to.. so if you are highly wondering, I can make one own post just for IELTS writing (Let me know if it is necessary)
For speaking.. this is also tricky.. the easiest way to excels it is by.. well, speak up! don't be shy. At first, it is completely okay to make some mistakes (including grammatical), but as time goes by, you've got to get better. You might wanna find someone who has a good speaking command, and speak a couple of words with them, let them hear your English and correct it. to practise your confident, you might as well wanna find a foreigner and speak with them. And the last hack, as you will basically be Interviewed during the speaking section of IELTS. It will help you to browse for conversation video. Me.. I find it helpful to listen to people having conversation in a talk show. There are a bunch of them, you can pick one: The Tonight Show, The Late Late Show, The Ellen Show, The Graham Norton Show.. plus, you can browse to your favourite person while they having conversation in those talk show.. it will add the sense of amusement and make you learning much more fun..
 |
| The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon |
It is fine to take someone as a role model, learn their accent, watch them speaking, and absorb the way the handle questions.. during the test, it won't be too much different than having normal conversation.. so yeah.. this methods will help you.. like.. a lot..
I think that's all for now.. of course like I said, those can't be all.. there are still a lot of methods, a lot of ways to learn English, but.. those.. are amongst which I found superbly helpful for me.. and again there's no such thing is shortcut to success, you've got to take the stairways.. So practising is highly important, and there's no other ways to score high grades in ANY English proficiency test without painful effort of practise..
If there's anything you might wanna know but ain't up there.. please, let me know..
and I share.. so all can learn together :)
"Lad with handful of dreams & wishful thinking.. "
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