FLS Tips from Improving your English

Getting involved in your community.

You’ll learn many things about English and American culture in your classes and by living with your homestay family or in the dormitory. However, you will learn about the United States more quickly if you try new experiences and use English outside of class. You may feel nervous about speaking English with native speakers at first, but don’t let your nervousness or fear of making mistakes cause you to miss valuable opportunities. Remember that making mistakes is an important part of learning and mastering a new language. The mistakes you make in new situations will teach you how to communicate better the next time. There are several ways that you can practice your English outside of class:

Talking on the telephone:

Telephone conversations are excellent practice in listening for information and answering questions. Because you can’t see the other person’s body language and facial gestures, you must concentrate on the other person’s voice for communication. This can be difficult if your English skills are not very high, but it can be less stressful than communicating with a native speaker face-to-face. If you feel too nervous or can’t understand the other person, you can escape the situation by hanging up the phone. Here are some activities that you can try with a telephone book that will improve your skills and confidence in listening and speaking:

Task	Goal or Function
Call for correct time – The telephone company has a number to call for the correct time of day.	Listening for/ Telling the time
Dial Information (411) – Tell the operator what city you want to call and ask him/ her for the phone number of a person or local business you want to call.	Getting phone numbers
Call a business and ask for information – (Ask what products it sells, what brands they sell, the price of a product, etc.)	Asking and listening for specific information
Dial “1-800-555-1212” and ask the operator for the “1-800” number of a company you want to call.	Getting phone numbers
Call a company’s “1-800” number and order their catalog or ask if they have free information to send you.	Ordering products, giving your address
Dial “1-202-555-1212” and ask for the phone number of the White House in Washington D.C. Call the White House. (These are long distance calls).	Getting phone numbers
Call a radio station and ask the DJ to play a song for you (Listen for the request phone number on the radio).	Listening for phone numbers, making requests
Call a radio station to win a prize – Many popular radio stations have contests or prize giveaways everyday.	Listening for information
Plan a real or imaginary vacation – Call several travel agencies to compare lowest prices on airplane tickets or package vacation prices to a certain city or country.	Asking for information, listening for details, comparing information
Order a pizza – Call a local pizza restaurant with delivery service. Ask for their specials, tell them what toppings you want, ask how long it will take and tell them your address. ( Be sure to tip the delivery person – usually $1 or $2 )	Asking for/ giving information
Plan a night out – ( Movie and dinner ) Look in the “Restaurants” and “Theater” section of the Yellow Pages. Call the local theaters and listen for movie titles and show times. Call a restaurant and make a dinner reservation (You must tell them what time and how many people).	Listening for information, taking notes, and giving information

Face to Face Conversations:

Using English with Americans in face-to-face situations may make you nervous since you’re worried about using perfect grammar and pronunciation. You shouldn’t be too worried about how many mistakes you might make. There are many people living in the U.S. who don’t speak English as their first language so most Americans are able to understand people who don’t speak perfect English or have a foreign accent. You might be surprised to know that most Americans, themselves, don’t use perfect grammar when speaking with each other in informal situations.

If you make mistakes in a conversation situation, you shouldn’t feel that you failed. Instead, you should feel that these mistakes are “learning experiences”. If you use a wrong word or mispronounce a word, you can remember that mistake and correct yourself the next time. Each situation in which you can communicate more successfully will give you more confidence in your English skills. You’ll discover that the more you can communicate with American people and understand your environment, a new world of possibilities and opportunities will open up for you.

There are several things you can do to practice your English speaking skills and “strike up” conversations with American people:

Excercise	Goal or Grammar Focus
Ask somebody for directions to someplace on campus ( restroom, library, cafeteria, etc. )	Asking and listening for directions
Ask somebody for directions to some place in the town ( McDonald’s, post office, shopping mall, etc. )	Asking for and listening to directions
Ask a friend, host family member, teacher some survey questions ( Example: Where did you live when you were a child? What games did you like to play as a child? Etc.)	Asking questions in the simple past
Ask a store employee to help you find something (Example: Could you help me find ______? Where can I find _____? )	Asking questions and listening for directions
Ask a friend, host family member or teacher “experience” questions ( Have you ever been to New York? Have you ever driven a Cadillac? etc. )	Questions using present perfect tense
Ask a friend, host family member, teacher a semi-controversial question ( What do you think about TV violence? Do you think the drinking age should be lower?)	Asking opinions
Ask a friend, host family member, teacher a question about an imaginary situation ( If you had a million dollars, what would you buy? If you could live anywhere in the world, where would you live? Why? )	Imaginary conditional sentences/ questions
Make a list of 10 things you want to know about Americans (customs, culture, free time activities, etc. ). Put these into a questionnaire and ask 5-10 people.	Asking questions, taking notes
Ask Americans questions about America – If there are certain issues and problems in America that you want to know about, most Americans will be happy to discuss them with you. It’s best to avoid very controversial subjects like abortion, gun control and the death penalty	Asking opinions, discussing differences in cultural and social ideas and values

Many students with limited English skills find it difficult to maintain a conversation with native English speakers because they don’t know what questions to ask or how to get more details from people. In almost everything people say, there is enough information to ask them another question or get more information about what they just said. Listen for things you will want to know more about: Who? What? Where? When? How? Why?

Example: Person “A” says – “I want to take a vacation.” Person “B” may follow that statement with questions like: Where do you want to go? What do you want to do there? When do you want to go? Who do you want to go with? Why do you want to go on vacation? Etc., etc.

Other Activities to Improve Your English

There are many activities and tasks that you can do outside of class and outside of your regular homework to improve your English skills:

1. Take a class – There are numerous part-time classes offered on many topics in places throughout the area. You can meet people who have similar interests and maybe make some American friends.
2. Join a fitness club/ aerobics class – You can get to know many people at fitness clubs and in aerobics classes since many people go to these clubs on the same days of the week at the same time of day.
3. Watch different kinds of TV programs – (Use the “closed caption” function that is on most newer TVs so that you can read the speaker’s words on the TV screen ). Watch many different kinds of TV programs so that you can learn different kinds of vocabulary words that are used in different subjects. Write down new words and ask your host family or American friends to explain their meaning.
   1. Cable TV – If you have cable TV in your home, many channels have excellent programs about people and events in history. These include A&E, Biography, and The History Channel. Discovery Channel has many programs about science and technology. Channels such as CNN and MSNBC show news 24 hours a day. Other cable channels such as HBO and Cinemax show movies 24 hours a day. For channel descriptions and TV program schedules, read the local TV Guide magazine.
   2. News programs – These are a good source for improving listening skills and vocabulary since the newscasters speak in very clear voices using standard American English. If you look at American newspapers you’ll see many of the same words repeated that you heard on the news. This will help increase your vocabulary.
4. Listening to CDs – If you buy a CD in the U.S., many will include the lyrics (words of the songs). You can understand the meanings of the songs and learn new terms and expressions. If you can’t understand some of these words or expressions, this will give you another chance to speak to a native English speaker. He/ she can explain them to you and maybe talk about how these lyrics are used in other situations.
5. Listen to the radio – You can improve your listening skills of everyday English and popular slang expressions used by young Americans by listening to the DJs on most popular radio stations.
6. New words – Whenever you hear or see a new word – WRITE IT DOWN. You should not only look up its meaning in your dictionary, but also ask a native English speaker how you can use it in different sentences. After you understand the meaning of a new word, you should try to write several sentences of your own using that word so that you can use it in different situations that apply to you.
7. Use an American dictionary (along with your native language dictionary if necessary) – To get the most accurate definition and usage of a word, buy a dictionary that uses American English. Dictionaries from other countries (even England and Australia ) often give definitions and examples that are obsolete, awkward or not used in standard American English. Highlight new words with a color marker as you learn them. You’ll be reassured as you can see your vocabulary grow!
8. Make friends with students from different countries – Having friends from other countries can be a great experience. You can learn about and share each other’s customs, traditions, ways of thinking, etc. You will also have to communicate in English and can help each other with English improvement.
9. Write a journal or a diary in English – Whether you plan to stay in the United States for a long time or a very short time, one of the best things you can do to practice your English is to write a journal or diary. This can benefit you in many ways:
   1. You will have a permanent record of your experiences and thoughts during your time in the U.S.
   2. You can look back on your journal/ diary to see how your opinions and feelings about America changed and to see how a certain experience affected you.
   3. You can get regular English practice by writing about the things that you are interested in.
   4. You can see your progress in English by comparing earlier writings in the journal to more recent writings.
10. Use the internet to practice English.
    1. Find an e-mail pen pal and exchange e-mail about your experience in the U.S.
    2. Visit one of the web sites dedicated to ESL students. Dave’s ESL Café is a great place to start. It offers tips, games, quizzes and conversation topics for ESL students. Visit www.eslcafe.com.
    3. Visit an online dictionary – it’s a new way to look up words in English. Try the site www.dictionary.com to get started.
    4. Read an on-line English newspaper to keep up on events. A great American newspaper is the New York Times. It’s available online everyday at www.nytimes.com.
    5. If you’re reading a novel in English, use the internet to find out more about the book and the author. Research the internet using www.google.com, www.yahoo.com or other search engines.
    6. Read an ‘e-book’. Many texts are available for free to read on the internet. You can get started at www.bartleby.com, where you will find many American classics.
    7. There are many websites where you can read about current or classic movies online. Try the Internet Movie Database at www.imdb.com. You can find information about almost any film and read reviews and comments in English. You can even write your own reviews for others to read!
    8. Learn about American music at www.allmusic.com. You will find short biographies of current and classic American musicians, listings of their albums and song samples.
    9. Join an on-line discussion group about a topic you’re interested in. You can find on-line groups at groups.yahoo.com. You can read e-mails from people interested in the same subject, and contribute your own messages.
    10. Practice your English with poetry at the Poetry Foundation website, where you’ll find hundreds of poems in English by American poets: www.poetryfoundation.org.