Contents
What ways to learn English do you know?
What ways to learn English do you know?
Read Nikita’s tips on how to get to the top in learning English. Which of your ideas did Nikita use?
Last year I felt frustrated with my English level. To be honest, I had a strong desire to skip my English classes because I didn’t understand the teacher’s speech and my classmates’ jokes. I was falling behind, while my classmates were doing their best to make progress in the language. I thought I would never keep up with them.
Last summer changed everything. In late June my best friend Alex came back from an international summer camp in the USA. He was so enthusiastic about the camp life and his new friends who lived all over the world that he couldn’t wait for the next summer to go there again and to reunite with the friends. He invited me to join him. The only thing that I had to do was to pass an English exam in March. That made me feel helpless and frustrated again…
Alex spent hours talking to his camp friends on Skype. He spoke English fluently, but I didn’t understand his speech and it made me crazy. I needed to do something to turn my most difficult school subject in my favourite one. I made up my secret plan.
I am sure about its usefulness and ready to share it with you:
1. I set the English language on my mobile phone and computer. I also did it on my Facebook and Twitter accounts. It was really helpful in improving my English spelling and in learning new words because we use these things daily.
2. In the evenings, I started watching films with the English subtitles with an online dictionary on my mobile and a remote control in my hands. I really enjoyed looking up new words in the dictionary. It was an easy way to refresh and enrich my vocabulary.
3. I made up an endless playlist of English songs and chose the most interesting audiobooks to listen to before going to bed or while doing sports. Very soon I learnt the lyrics of all the songs (of course sometimes I had to google some lyrics) and my singing along made my pronunciation much better.
4. I reread all my favourite books in English. At present, I am reading a lovely novel “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” by Roald Dahl.
Suddenly for myself, I joined Alex in his hot discussion with a boy from Mexico about one of the missions in “The World of Tanks”. My natural shyness disappeared at once. Since that day I have been practising my speaking skills with Alex’s camp friends on Skype. I can say that I am quite fluent in English. Tomorrow we are flying to Los Angeles to participate in an amazing summer camp. I am proud of myself and my stubbornness I can say now. The exam was as easy as ABC after my daily self-study. Never give up, even if you feel frustrated.
P.S. The flight is going to be long, but I know that reading “Matilda” by Roald Dahl will make it much shorter.
Match the underined words with their meaning
1. What made Nikita feel at school?
2. What strong did he have?
3. Who helped Nikita to his classmates’ English level?
4. What was Alex about after coming back from the USA?
5. What did Nikita do his spelling?
6. How did Nikita his vocabulary?
7. What practice helped him to be in English?
8. What is he going to in?
Did Nikita’s secret plan help him overcome his weakness and laziness? Look at the words in italics. What is common about them?
Add suffixes and prefixes to create new words in the sentences below. Use the words in CAPITALS for help.
2. It is horrible to be (HOME): you have nowhere to go at the end of the day.
3. Hachiko looked at the man (SAD) and didn’t even move.
4. The hotel was a (BEAUTY) building by the sea.
5. Twenty years later he’s going to (VISIT) the school he went to as a child.
6. She is such a (LOVE) girl: look at her pretty face!
7. He got a bad mark in the test because of his (CARE).
8. Your advice was so (USE)! Thank you!