Tarikh : 18 Ogos 2022 Khamis
Masa : 8.30 pagi
Tempat : SMK Putrajaya Presint 14(1), Putrajaya
Kehadiran : Menteri Pendidikan & Menteri KDN
8/16/2022
12/25/2014
3/26/2010
Pengalaman Sosial : Cara-cara mempengaruhi sikap dan tingkah laku pelajar
PAKAR psikologi terkemuka, Albert Bandura pernah mengemukakan teori pembelajaran sosial, iaitu tabiat dan tingkah-laku kita adalah kita tiru dan kita pelajari daripada interaksi kita dengan masyarakat.
Apabila kita menganggap sikap atau tabiat kita tidak disukai, malah kita mungkin dihukum oleh orang di sekeliling kita, maka kita akan memilih sama ada mahu meneruskan atau mengubah sikap dan tabiat kita itu.
Kita meneruskan atau mengubah sikap dan tabiat kita kerana adanya faktor pengukuh yang mempengaruhi perilaku kita.
Menurut teori Bandura, ada dua jenis faktor pengukuh. Yang pertama ialah faktor di luar diri kita, iaitu perkara yang kita alami secara langsung akibat perilaku kita, sebagai contoh ialah pujian atau kutukan yang kita terima selepas kita melakukan sesuatu.
Faktor pengukuh yang kedua ialah faktor yang datang daripada sistem yang ada dalam diri kita sendiri.
Sistem seperti konsep-diri dan estim-diri ada dalam jiwa tiap-tiap manusia. Sistem itu mempengaruhi sikap, tabiat dan perilaku kita.
Orang di sekeliling kita menjadi sumber pelajaran kepada kita melalui proses berikut:
1. Mereka memberi kita ganjaran atau hukuman ke atas sikap, tabiat dan perilaku kita. Sebagai contoh, apabila kita menunjukkan sikap yang mereka anggap betul, mereka akan memuji kita. Mereka tidak mengutuk dan tidak menghukum kita.
Daripada pujian dan kutukan mereka itu, kita belajar apa yang disebut sebagai peraturan masyarakat. Pujian dan kutukan mereka dapat mempengaruhi kita supaya meneruskan atau mengubah sikap dan perilaku kita.
2. Daripada orang di sekeliling kita, kita belajar apa yang disebut role-playing atau main-peranan. Tiap-tiap hari kita melakukan main-peranan kerana kita selalu membayangkan diri kita berfikir, berbuat dan berasa seperti orang lain. Kita bayangkan apa-apa orang lain akan buat dan apa mereka akan kata terhadap kita. Kita juga bayangkan kalau kita berada dalam keadaan mereka, apa yang akan kita buat atau apa yang akan kita katakan.
3. Orang lain juga menjadi sumber sikap, tabiat dan perilaku kita. Ini terjadi melalui apa yang disebut role-model atau model-peranan. Kita belajar dan mengamalkan sikap, tabiat dan perilaku dengan cara memerhatikan sikap, tabiat dan perilaku orang lain di sekeliling kita. Orang itu disebut model-peranan kita.
Selain itu terdapat pelajar yang boleh dipengaruhi dengan mengenakan teknik psikologi songsang atau reverse psychology.
Sebagai contoh, teori ini cuba menerangkan mengapa kanak-kanak yang yang tidak dibenarkan bermain dengan mercun, mengapa remaja tidak yang tidak digalakkan pergi menonton konsert rock,semakin mahu pergi ke konsert tersebut dan lain-lain tingkah-laku seperti itu.
Menurut teori ini, keadaan psikologi songsang hanya berlaku dalam keadaan yang orang itu ingin melakukan sesuatu yang dia yakin dia bebas untuk melakukannya, tetapi kemudian dia tidak dibenarkan melakukannya. Apabila seseorang itu percaya dia akan kehilangan hak melakukan sesuatu yang dia yakin bahawa dia berhak melakukannya, dia akan melakukan reaksi berikut:
1. Dia akan menganggap perkara yang ditegah itu adalah lebih tinggi nilainya.
2. Dia semakin ingin melakukan yang ditegah itu.
3. Dia akan menganggap alternatif yang ada padanya sekarang turun nilainya. Apabila seorang yang ditegah minum kopi dan hanya dibenarkan minum teh, maka nilai teh itu akan turun.
4. Dia akan membenci pihak yang menyekat hak-hak dan kebebasannya.
Manusia sentiasa mempengaruhi pemikiran kita dan keputusan yang kita buat. Orang di sekeliling kita, sama ada mereka sedar atau tidak, menggunakan pelbagai strategik untuk mempengaruhi pemikiran kita dan oleh itu mempengaruhi keputusan kita.
Sebagai kaunselor atau guru pembimbing, kita mestilah ikhlas ketika melakukan tugas membimbing para pelajar.
Di tangan guru yang mahir menggunakan teknik mempengaruhi fikiran pelajar, atau pelajar yang sudah dilatih supaya berfikir dengan objektif, logikal dan kritikal sekali pun, masih boleh dipengaruhi tanpa disedari.
Kaunselor di sekolah mungkin boleh menggunakan pendekatan seperti berikut ketika melakukan sesi kaunseling individu atau berkumpulan.
1. Dua sisi
Kajian yang dibuat oleh pakar-pakar psikologi mendapati, hanya dengan mengatakan bahawa sesuatu perkara itu mempunyai dua sisi, sudah cukup untuk meninggikan kredibiliti kita ke atas orang yang cuba kita pengaruhi pemikirannya. Apabila perkara itu perlu dilihat daripada dua sudut pandangan, sebagai contoh baik dan buruknya, orang akan melihat diri kita sebagai seorang pemikir yang seimbang dan objektif. Menurut pakar-pakar psikologi, hujah yang melihat sesuatu itu dari satu sudut sahaja hanya dapat mempengaruhi individu yang tidak tahu banyak berkenaan perkara tersebut, ataupun memang dari awal-awal lagi bersetuju dengan pendapat kita.
2. Menimbulkan rasa takut
Apabila orang dapat menimbulkan rasa takut di hati kita, kita akan lebih mudah terpengaruh. Rasa takut dapat ditimbulkan dengan mengemukakan kesan buruk dan bahaya yang akan berlaku sekiranya kita tidak menukar pemikiran kita sekarang.
3. Menimbulkan rasa positif.Individu yang cuba mempengaruhi kita menggunakan pelbagai cara untuk menimbulkan perasaan positif seerti memberi hadiah percuma, menjamu, bersiar-siar dan sebagainya.
Apabila kita menganggap sikap atau tabiat kita tidak disukai, malah kita mungkin dihukum oleh orang di sekeliling kita, maka kita akan memilih sama ada mahu meneruskan atau mengubah sikap dan tabiat kita itu.
Kita meneruskan atau mengubah sikap dan tabiat kita kerana adanya faktor pengukuh yang mempengaruhi perilaku kita.
Menurut teori Bandura, ada dua jenis faktor pengukuh. Yang pertama ialah faktor di luar diri kita, iaitu perkara yang kita alami secara langsung akibat perilaku kita, sebagai contoh ialah pujian atau kutukan yang kita terima selepas kita melakukan sesuatu.
Faktor pengukuh yang kedua ialah faktor yang datang daripada sistem yang ada dalam diri kita sendiri.
Sistem seperti konsep-diri dan estim-diri ada dalam jiwa tiap-tiap manusia. Sistem itu mempengaruhi sikap, tabiat dan perilaku kita.
Orang di sekeliling kita menjadi sumber pelajaran kepada kita melalui proses berikut:
1. Mereka memberi kita ganjaran atau hukuman ke atas sikap, tabiat dan perilaku kita. Sebagai contoh, apabila kita menunjukkan sikap yang mereka anggap betul, mereka akan memuji kita. Mereka tidak mengutuk dan tidak menghukum kita.
Daripada pujian dan kutukan mereka itu, kita belajar apa yang disebut sebagai peraturan masyarakat. Pujian dan kutukan mereka dapat mempengaruhi kita supaya meneruskan atau mengubah sikap dan perilaku kita.
2. Daripada orang di sekeliling kita, kita belajar apa yang disebut role-playing atau main-peranan. Tiap-tiap hari kita melakukan main-peranan kerana kita selalu membayangkan diri kita berfikir, berbuat dan berasa seperti orang lain. Kita bayangkan apa-apa orang lain akan buat dan apa mereka akan kata terhadap kita. Kita juga bayangkan kalau kita berada dalam keadaan mereka, apa yang akan kita buat atau apa yang akan kita katakan.
3. Orang lain juga menjadi sumber sikap, tabiat dan perilaku kita. Ini terjadi melalui apa yang disebut role-model atau model-peranan. Kita belajar dan mengamalkan sikap, tabiat dan perilaku dengan cara memerhatikan sikap, tabiat dan perilaku orang lain di sekeliling kita. Orang itu disebut model-peranan kita.
Selain itu terdapat pelajar yang boleh dipengaruhi dengan mengenakan teknik psikologi songsang atau reverse psychology.
Sebagai contoh, teori ini cuba menerangkan mengapa kanak-kanak yang yang tidak dibenarkan bermain dengan mercun, mengapa remaja tidak yang tidak digalakkan pergi menonton konsert rock,semakin mahu pergi ke konsert tersebut dan lain-lain tingkah-laku seperti itu.
Menurut teori ini, keadaan psikologi songsang hanya berlaku dalam keadaan yang orang itu ingin melakukan sesuatu yang dia yakin dia bebas untuk melakukannya, tetapi kemudian dia tidak dibenarkan melakukannya. Apabila seseorang itu percaya dia akan kehilangan hak melakukan sesuatu yang dia yakin bahawa dia berhak melakukannya, dia akan melakukan reaksi berikut:
1. Dia akan menganggap perkara yang ditegah itu adalah lebih tinggi nilainya.
2. Dia semakin ingin melakukan yang ditegah itu.
3. Dia akan menganggap alternatif yang ada padanya sekarang turun nilainya. Apabila seorang yang ditegah minum kopi dan hanya dibenarkan minum teh, maka nilai teh itu akan turun.
4. Dia akan membenci pihak yang menyekat hak-hak dan kebebasannya.
Manusia sentiasa mempengaruhi pemikiran kita dan keputusan yang kita buat. Orang di sekeliling kita, sama ada mereka sedar atau tidak, menggunakan pelbagai strategik untuk mempengaruhi pemikiran kita dan oleh itu mempengaruhi keputusan kita.
Sebagai kaunselor atau guru pembimbing, kita mestilah ikhlas ketika melakukan tugas membimbing para pelajar.
Di tangan guru yang mahir menggunakan teknik mempengaruhi fikiran pelajar, atau pelajar yang sudah dilatih supaya berfikir dengan objektif, logikal dan kritikal sekali pun, masih boleh dipengaruhi tanpa disedari.
Kaunselor di sekolah mungkin boleh menggunakan pendekatan seperti berikut ketika melakukan sesi kaunseling individu atau berkumpulan.
1. Dua sisi
Kajian yang dibuat oleh pakar-pakar psikologi mendapati, hanya dengan mengatakan bahawa sesuatu perkara itu mempunyai dua sisi, sudah cukup untuk meninggikan kredibiliti kita ke atas orang yang cuba kita pengaruhi pemikirannya. Apabila perkara itu perlu dilihat daripada dua sudut pandangan, sebagai contoh baik dan buruknya, orang akan melihat diri kita sebagai seorang pemikir yang seimbang dan objektif. Menurut pakar-pakar psikologi, hujah yang melihat sesuatu itu dari satu sudut sahaja hanya dapat mempengaruhi individu yang tidak tahu banyak berkenaan perkara tersebut, ataupun memang dari awal-awal lagi bersetuju dengan pendapat kita.
2. Menimbulkan rasa takut
Apabila orang dapat menimbulkan rasa takut di hati kita, kita akan lebih mudah terpengaruh. Rasa takut dapat ditimbulkan dengan mengemukakan kesan buruk dan bahaya yang akan berlaku sekiranya kita tidak menukar pemikiran kita sekarang.
3. Menimbulkan rasa positif.Individu yang cuba mempengaruhi kita menggunakan pelbagai cara untuk menimbulkan perasaan positif seerti memberi hadiah percuma, menjamu, bersiar-siar dan sebagainya.
MOTIVATIONAL SPEECH
Good morning everyone and thank you all for your commitment to attend this motivation session. I am your manager of this company Berjaya Travel Agency.
Well ladies and gentlemen; let me start by saying that all of you have been done a wonderful job. You have showed your sincerity in carrying out responsibility as ticketing staffs with good personal workplace ethics and have given best services to our customer. I am sure that all of you will wonder the objectives of this motivation session.
Firstly, please give me your attention to my first slide. The graph shows our company incomes for January 2006 to September 2006. So what is your perception with our performance? It is consistent? We found out that our incomes were not consistent during the duration and our incomes from April to September had decrease. We are very upset with this performance. A research had been carried out to find out the reasons of the decreasing. We decided to make some survey to our customers, to get their views about our services.
Through the research done, the managing board had found out that the decreasing of income of our company is due to the communication breakdown between our ticketing staffs and our customers. There were lots of complaints regarding the poor standard of English among you all. As a ticketing staff, it is important to learn and speak well in English. This is because most of our customers are foreigner. Hence our purpose today is to give you motivation on how to improve your English communication. Here we have listed some methods. I have done handouts for you, so that you can write important points on it. Please take each one.
Ladies and gentlemen, I am sure that you have set in your mind that learning to speak English is difficult right? Actually English is fun. Learning to speak English well may be the best thing to improve your life. Learning English requires action. You may know all the learning tips, but if you don't start doing things, you will achieve nothing. The fact is, if you want to learn to speak English well, you must change your life.
During the management meeting, we agreed that to upgrade your proficiency in English communication, you should attend English language classes outside office hours by your own expense. By attending the class you will more understand about English and I am sure that you will find out that English is one of the easiest languages to learn and to use. Why am I saying that? It is because English use simple alphabet. Please give your attention to my slide. There are no special symbols such as é or ä in English. Try type in sweet, part, film on your computer then try süß (German), (Polish), (Russian). Which is easier?
Futhermore, English has easy plurals. It simply add s to a word. For example, one car, five cars; one telephone, two telephones... There are very few exceptions. Words in English are easy to learn. For example, in French, it's la fille and le chien. In German, it's das Mädchen and der Hund. In English, they're just a girl and a dog. And that's all you need to know. It is not complicated as in French and German. English also use shorts words. Most of the basic words are short: run, work, big, go, man. Long words are often shortened: sitcom = situational comedy, fridge = refrigerator, OS = operating system and these will save your time by speaking English. I am sure you will know all these advantages about English by attending the class. We are very grateful if you try to improve your English by attending the class because we realize that no one is thrilled about spending your own expense and your free time after working hours.
Besides attend English language class, there are many ways to improve your English communication. The problem with learning and teaching English as a foreign language is that all English learners want to speak English well; however, most learners don't want to spend time on learning English on their own. By reading more in English your English will be better. For example, read English books, newspaper and magazines. Read great books because every famous book was written in English or it was translated into English. There are an amazing number of tittles, from classics plays like Hamlet to modern thrillers like Jurassic Park. You are also can read short news articles in an English newspaper to better understanding news in English. Through reading you will find out how sentence is made. You will find more words and same words, then you will understand its meaning without refer to the dictionary by reading more and always in English. Furthermore, you will learn how to use the words. Sometimes, you will find word that you never use, try to find out what its meaning and use it in your daily conversation. Sometimes, to make you happy to learn English, you can read English language comics. For example, in Readers Digest, there is humour part which is the author write jokes in many ways and it is easy to understand it.
Ladies and gentlemen, I am sure you are also having problem to pronounce word in English, right? Now, I will tell you an idea how to improve your pronunciation. For your information, English is considered a stressed language while other languages are considered syllabic. For example in French or Italian, each syllable receives equal importance (there is stress, but each syllable has its own length). English pronunciation focuses on specific stressed words while quickly gliding over the other, non stress words. Stressed words are considered content words: Nouns, for example; kitchen, Peter-(most), principle verbs such as visit and construct. Adjectives such as beautiful and interesting and adverbs such as often and carefully. Non-stressed words are considered function words: Determine example the, a. Auxiliary verbs; for example, am and were. Preposition such as before, of. Conjunctions such as but, and. Pronouns such as they and she. When you read, firstly underline the stressed words, then read aloud focusing on stressing the underlined words and gliding over the non-stressed words. Be surprised at how quickly your pronunciation improves! By focusing on stressed words and syllables take on their more muted nature.
You must always try to speak English. ‘Practice makes perfect!’ You will be proud of yourself when you find out that you are confident and can speak English very well! Call everybody 'you'. You can say 'Do you speak English?' to your friends and relatives. In other language, you have to use the right word for the right person but in English everybody is equal. Believes me that English makes you a more powerful and happier person. It is not difficult to imagine some situations where knowing English gives you a great feeling.
You can practice English in many places. English is everywhere. You can easily access English language television, music and website. You don't have to learn from boring textbooks. Enjoy English language music more. Believe me music is much better if you can understand the word. You are also can learn and use English at the same time. Using your English is especially important because it increases your desire to learn. You can use Google to find English-language websites with interesting information, you can watch American cartoons, you can play adventure games on your computer. If you do these things, you will not only have fun and learn English. If you see that a new English word lets you understand your favorite TV show (or communicate with people, or beat a computer game), you will want to learn more words. So you will learn English more, use it more, learn it more, use it more... If you also use effective learning methods, your English will grow faster than you can imagine. Here also I will show you some websites that will make you easy and enjoy learning English;
http://www.khake.com/page66.html
http://www.antimoon.com/how/motiv.htm.
http://www.hawaii.edu/mauispeech/html/preparing_speeches.html
http://www.ehow.com/how_138682_prepare-speech.html
http://www.laughter.com/speakers/speechprep.html
http://cdev.concordia.ca/CnD/studentlearn/Help/handouts/Oral%20Presentations/How_to_Prepare.html
Most of these websites will tell you the easy way to learn easy way to learn English. They will tell you how to learn English without mistakes. When you know the tips, what else to do? Yes of course, practice your English whenever you can! What kind of person would do all these crazy things? Only one kind. The kind of person who enjoys doing them. If you want to learn to speak English well, you're going to have to become that person. You cannot hate doing these things. Have you ever heard of a person who became successful by doing something he hated?
Because English is an international language it can create benefits that can reward you with opportunities that would otherwise be unreachable. English will give you the ability to enjoy conversations with people you would otherwise never have spoken to therefore making new friends and enjoying others cultures. For example, your job will getting interesting and you will not face any communication problem with the customer. Could you imagine it would be fun to talk to our interesting customer who comes from different country and culture and change a lot of information with them that other can't communicate with? Impress our customer whenever you open your mouth? Futhermore, most computer applications are in English, so you will better understand them and you will make big jumps in your career. This is because you have an advantage to access information that other people can't get. By learning English you will feel better about yourself due to the extra skills that you have acquired. Your added languages will no longer make you feel like an outsider and will give you the confidence you need.
Starting this week, I will personally check everyone the ability to speak English well. Everybody's chores will be graded on a scale of 1 to 10. We have decided, if you can improve your English communication within three months and we get good feedback about your performance in speaking English from our customer, we will give you extra benefit such as incentives in your monthly income. We are also would like to give you free traveling at our interesting places. We hope you are willing to improve yourself in English. English is one of the most important languages in the world. Remember learning English requires action. You may know all the learning tips, but if you don't start doing things, you will achieve nothing. Change your life style to speak English well. Straightforward communication is essential for good business. Our mission here is to make our income become more stable and increase through all the year after. We must have good performance to help our country more stable in economy. Lets all do your personal best to show yourselves that you are capable of speaking in English well. Thank you all again.
Well ladies and gentlemen; let me start by saying that all of you have been done a wonderful job. You have showed your sincerity in carrying out responsibility as ticketing staffs with good personal workplace ethics and have given best services to our customer. I am sure that all of you will wonder the objectives of this motivation session.
Firstly, please give me your attention to my first slide. The graph shows our company incomes for January 2006 to September 2006. So what is your perception with our performance? It is consistent? We found out that our incomes were not consistent during the duration and our incomes from April to September had decrease. We are very upset with this performance. A research had been carried out to find out the reasons of the decreasing. We decided to make some survey to our customers, to get their views about our services.
Through the research done, the managing board had found out that the decreasing of income of our company is due to the communication breakdown between our ticketing staffs and our customers. There were lots of complaints regarding the poor standard of English among you all. As a ticketing staff, it is important to learn and speak well in English. This is because most of our customers are foreigner. Hence our purpose today is to give you motivation on how to improve your English communication. Here we have listed some methods. I have done handouts for you, so that you can write important points on it. Please take each one.
Ladies and gentlemen, I am sure that you have set in your mind that learning to speak English is difficult right? Actually English is fun. Learning to speak English well may be the best thing to improve your life. Learning English requires action. You may know all the learning tips, but if you don't start doing things, you will achieve nothing. The fact is, if you want to learn to speak English well, you must change your life.
During the management meeting, we agreed that to upgrade your proficiency in English communication, you should attend English language classes outside office hours by your own expense. By attending the class you will more understand about English and I am sure that you will find out that English is one of the easiest languages to learn and to use. Why am I saying that? It is because English use simple alphabet. Please give your attention to my slide. There are no special symbols such as é or ä in English. Try type in sweet, part, film on your computer then try süß (German), (Polish), (Russian). Which is easier?
Futhermore, English has easy plurals. It simply add s to a word. For example, one car, five cars; one telephone, two telephones... There are very few exceptions. Words in English are easy to learn. For example, in French, it's la fille and le chien. In German, it's das Mädchen and der Hund. In English, they're just a girl and a dog. And that's all you need to know. It is not complicated as in French and German. English also use shorts words. Most of the basic words are short: run, work, big, go, man. Long words are often shortened: sitcom = situational comedy, fridge = refrigerator, OS = operating system and these will save your time by speaking English. I am sure you will know all these advantages about English by attending the class. We are very grateful if you try to improve your English by attending the class because we realize that no one is thrilled about spending your own expense and your free time after working hours.
Besides attend English language class, there are many ways to improve your English communication. The problem with learning and teaching English as a foreign language is that all English learners want to speak English well; however, most learners don't want to spend time on learning English on their own. By reading more in English your English will be better. For example, read English books, newspaper and magazines. Read great books because every famous book was written in English or it was translated into English. There are an amazing number of tittles, from classics plays like Hamlet to modern thrillers like Jurassic Park. You are also can read short news articles in an English newspaper to better understanding news in English. Through reading you will find out how sentence is made. You will find more words and same words, then you will understand its meaning without refer to the dictionary by reading more and always in English. Furthermore, you will learn how to use the words. Sometimes, you will find word that you never use, try to find out what its meaning and use it in your daily conversation. Sometimes, to make you happy to learn English, you can read English language comics. For example, in Readers Digest, there is humour part which is the author write jokes in many ways and it is easy to understand it.
Ladies and gentlemen, I am sure you are also having problem to pronounce word in English, right? Now, I will tell you an idea how to improve your pronunciation. For your information, English is considered a stressed language while other languages are considered syllabic. For example in French or Italian, each syllable receives equal importance (there is stress, but each syllable has its own length). English pronunciation focuses on specific stressed words while quickly gliding over the other, non stress words. Stressed words are considered content words: Nouns, for example; kitchen, Peter-(most), principle verbs such as visit and construct. Adjectives such as beautiful and interesting and adverbs such as often and carefully. Non-stressed words are considered function words: Determine example the, a. Auxiliary verbs; for example, am and were. Preposition such as before, of. Conjunctions such as but, and. Pronouns such as they and she. When you read, firstly underline the stressed words, then read aloud focusing on stressing the underlined words and gliding over the non-stressed words. Be surprised at how quickly your pronunciation improves! By focusing on stressed words and syllables take on their more muted nature.
You must always try to speak English. ‘Practice makes perfect!’ You will be proud of yourself when you find out that you are confident and can speak English very well! Call everybody 'you'. You can say 'Do you speak English?' to your friends and relatives. In other language, you have to use the right word for the right person but in English everybody is equal. Believes me that English makes you a more powerful and happier person. It is not difficult to imagine some situations where knowing English gives you a great feeling.
You can practice English in many places. English is everywhere. You can easily access English language television, music and website. You don't have to learn from boring textbooks. Enjoy English language music more. Believe me music is much better if you can understand the word. You are also can learn and use English at the same time. Using your English is especially important because it increases your desire to learn. You can use Google to find English-language websites with interesting information, you can watch American cartoons, you can play adventure games on your computer. If you do these things, you will not only have fun and learn English. If you see that a new English word lets you understand your favorite TV show (or communicate with people, or beat a computer game), you will want to learn more words. So you will learn English more, use it more, learn it more, use it more... If you also use effective learning methods, your English will grow faster than you can imagine. Here also I will show you some websites that will make you easy and enjoy learning English;
http://www.khake.com/page66.html
http://www.antimoon.com/how/motiv.htm.
http://www.hawaii.edu/mauispeech/html/preparing_speeches.html
http://www.ehow.com/how_138682_prepare-speech.html
http://www.laughter.com/speakers/speechprep.html
http://cdev.concordia.ca/CnD/studentlearn/Help/handouts/Oral%20Presentations/How_to_Prepare.html
Most of these websites will tell you the easy way to learn easy way to learn English. They will tell you how to learn English without mistakes. When you know the tips, what else to do? Yes of course, practice your English whenever you can! What kind of person would do all these crazy things? Only one kind. The kind of person who enjoys doing them. If you want to learn to speak English well, you're going to have to become that person. You cannot hate doing these things. Have you ever heard of a person who became successful by doing something he hated?
Because English is an international language it can create benefits that can reward you with opportunities that would otherwise be unreachable. English will give you the ability to enjoy conversations with people you would otherwise never have spoken to therefore making new friends and enjoying others cultures. For example, your job will getting interesting and you will not face any communication problem with the customer. Could you imagine it would be fun to talk to our interesting customer who comes from different country and culture and change a lot of information with them that other can't communicate with? Impress our customer whenever you open your mouth? Futhermore, most computer applications are in English, so you will better understand them and you will make big jumps in your career. This is because you have an advantage to access information that other people can't get. By learning English you will feel better about yourself due to the extra skills that you have acquired. Your added languages will no longer make you feel like an outsider and will give you the confidence you need.
Starting this week, I will personally check everyone the ability to speak English well. Everybody's chores will be graded on a scale of 1 to 10. We have decided, if you can improve your English communication within three months and we get good feedback about your performance in speaking English from our customer, we will give you extra benefit such as incentives in your monthly income. We are also would like to give you free traveling at our interesting places. We hope you are willing to improve yourself in English. English is one of the most important languages in the world. Remember learning English requires action. You may know all the learning tips, but if you don't start doing things, you will achieve nothing. Change your life style to speak English well. Straightforward communication is essential for good business. Our mission here is to make our income become more stable and increase through all the year after. We must have good performance to help our country more stable in economy. Lets all do your personal best to show yourselves that you are capable of speaking in English well. Thank you all again.
Seribu Pantun
Pabila lapar memakan laksa,
Hantar sepinggan ke rumah Hidayati;
Janganlah mudah berputus asa,
Kuatkan usaha kekal di hati.
Rehat setelah penat berlari,
Adik bermain biji saga;
Buat baik sesama sendiri,
Hidup bahagia aman sentosa.
Cakaplah semua kepada kawanku,
Sentiasa ingat ajaran guru;
Kerana guru mencurahkan ilmu,
Supaya cerah masa hadapanmu.
Apabila haus meminum laici,
Laici yang manis sudahlah tua;
Orang miskin jangan dicaci,
Bersopan santunlah pada semua.
Pohon sena di pantai sana,
Ada juga pohon rumbia;
Kita bersopan lambang budi bahasa,
Jangan biadap dengan ibu bapa.
Bermandi-manda di dalam lombong,
Sejuk sekali tidak terasa;
Kalau mahu hidup disanjung,
Hendaklah mulia berbudi bahasa.
Aku manusia engkau siapa,
Buah rambutan di dalam raga;
Jikalau berjaya janganlah dilupa,
Kepada orang tua dan juga keluarga.
Pagi-pagi memasang lukah,
Lukah berisi ikan seluang;
Jangan suka bersikap megah,
Nanti kawan semua menghilang.
Dengarlah kawan aku berpesan,
Janganlah lupa ilmu pelajaran;
Hanya itulah jadi bekalan,
Untuk keperluan di masa hadapan.
Orang berpengalaman selalu pesan,
Jangan main di waktu malam;
Oleh kerana kurang pedoman,
Banyaklah insan yang telah karam.
Harimau adalah di kalangan binatang,
Tinggal di hutan tanahnya lapang;
Jangan terlepas ke tangan orang,
Sedangkan kita miskin terbuang.
Sungguh ramai para tetamu,
Singgah berehat cuaca redup;
Bersungguh-sungguh mencari ilmu,
Ilmu dicari bekalan hidup.
Pak Jamil mengikat kelapa,
Tali yang panjang dikerat-kerat;
Dengarlah nasihat ibu dan bapa,
Agar selamat dunia akhirat.
Pergi ke pantai mencari siput,
Siput diletak di dalam baldi;
Janganlah kita bersifat kedekut,
Nanti kita yang akan rugi.
Hendak berlayar ke Pulau Betung,
Sambil mencuba melabuh pukat;
Rajin belajar hidup beruntung,
Rajin berusaha mendapat berkat.
Pokok semalu tumbuh merata,
Di bawa mudik ke hujung hulu;
Fikir dahulu sebelum berkata,
Agar kita tidak dapat malu.
Bancuh simen dengan air,
Kerana hendak membuat bangsal;
Waktu yang ada jangan membazir,
Apabila susah baru menyesal.
Pergi ke kedai membeli tali,
Tali dimasuk ke dalam peti;
Padang Kemunting indah sekali,
Bila memandang sejuknya hati.
Nenek Nyonya menjual jamu,
Khasiat baik rasanya sedap;
Setiap hari menabur ilmu,
Penat dan lelah tidak terkira.
Pokok kelapa ditanam berjajar,.
Kelapa ditanam di cerun landai;
Barang siapa rajin belajar,
Tentu dia menjadi pandai.
Asal kapas menjadi benang,
Benang dibawa ke Indera Jaya;
Orang rajin hidupnya senang,
Apa yang dibuat pasti berjaya.
Sirih junjung di dalam paya,
Tersusun indah memikat hati;
Andai hidup rajin berusaha,
Hidup mewah murah rezeki.
Hujan lebat kilat menyambar,
Menjelma pula ribut dan taufan;
Barang siapa tekun dan sabar,
Apa dihajat akan dikurniai Tuhan.
Pelamin biasa sarat ceria,
Masa bertemu mara laju;
Pemimpin berjasa rakyat setia,
Bangsa berilmu negara maju.
Kawan Sarah nama Adila,
Lain kampung satu sekolah;
Parameswara pengasas Melaka,
Pantang kalau menyerah kalah.
Mak Limah menampi padi,
Menampi padi dengan gembira;
Melaka bersejarah nama diberi,
Mencipta nama negeri perkasa.
Pak Ali ke Alor Gajah,
Singgah sebentar ke rumah Pak Hassan;
Keindahan Melaka jangan disanggah,
Teknologi maklumat dilupa jangan.
Pak Rahim mengopek kelapa,
Cik Tijah membuat batas;
Hang Tuah wira Melaka,
Melawan musuh dengan pantas.
Biskut lemak di atas para,
Diambil oleh Si Adik Nani;
Melaka sudah kian dewasa,
Negeri makmur aman sekali.
Enak sungguh makan capati,
Di tepi kedai menjamu selera;
Hasrat ibu ayah teguh dihati,
Membela nasib keluarga tercinta.
Lemak tidak manis pun tidak,
Gula Melaka dari seberang;
Berayah tidak beribu pun tidak,
Jika budi dikenang orang.
Dari Sarawak pergi ke Sabah,
Negeri Sabah di bawah bayu;
Negeri Sabah banyak pelancong,
Terkenal dengan Kota Kinabalu.
Pohon saga rata dikenal,
Merah membawa erti berjaya,
Proton Saga kereta nasional,
Dasar negara telah terlaksana.
Berjalan-jalan di Kuala Pilah,
Sempat berhenti di Kuala Kubu,
Tidak belajar bersungguh sungguh,
Masa tidak akan menunggu.
Kabus menutupi puncak gunung,
Berjuta bintang memagari bulan,
Marilah kita rajin menabung,
Untuk menggunakan di masa hadapan,
Pergi kerumah Ali di Taman Permai,
Singgah ke kedai membeli rambai;
Negeri bersih,aman,dan damai,
Menjadi tumpuan orang ramai.
Hari siang matahari terang,
Duduk bersantai di atas tangga;
Mahu ibu tersenyum girang;
Biar ayah ketawa bangga.
Buah jambu masaknya merah,
Mari dipetik untuk dirasa;
Saya sayang ibu dan ayah,
Mendidik saya sepanjang masa.
Banjir melanda kawasan rendah,
Tanpa berlengah segera berpindah;
Duri dan ranjau teguh di hati,
Tidak gentar walau kaki berdarah.
Merdu suara unggas di rimba,
Begitu indah suria pagi;
Janganlah kita membuang masa,
Kerugian akan menimpa kita.
Lukisan cantik menghiasi dinding,
Mata terpegun hati berangan;
Hendak berjaya di menara gading,
Menggenggam ijazah erat ditangan.
Pergi kelaut buat kerja sekolah,
Membuat kerja duduk di bawah pakok;
Kalau kita pergi ke sekolah,
Janganlah kita asyik merokok.
Sungguh cantik burung kenari,
Berdada kuning berparuh perang;
Kalau sombong meninggi diri,
Ke mana pergi dibenci orang.
Sungguh cantik negeri Melaka,
Ramai peancong pergi berkunjung;
Kalau kita berbudi bahasa,
Pasti ramai lagi pengunjung.
Kalau pergi ke rumah Pak Dollah,
Singgah ke kedai membeli gula;
Jauhi diri daripada dadah,
Kerana kita harapan negara.
Anak cicak terenang-renang,
Entah berjari entahkan tidak;
Anak orang jangan dikenang,
Entah dia hendak entahkan tidak.
Buah bacang buah kuini,
Letak saja di atas meja;
Tidak dapat tahun ini,
Tahun depan ambil saja.
Jangan ambil dan juga cuba,
Sayngilah ibu dan bapa kita;
Katakan tidak pada ia,
Kerana ia musuh negara.
Cerita jenaka belum habis,
Tukang bicara berbaju lusuh;
Kalau mahu hidup selamat,
Jangan suka mencari musuh.
Pakaian kemas nampak lawa,
Apabila bertugas sedia berkhidmat;
Semangat waja pendam di hati,
Mencipta jaya menjadi matlamat.
Indah bersinar perintan cantik,
Nampak berseri kilau cahaya;
Bercakap benar amalan baik,
Itulah tanda orang mulia.
Buah berangan di dalam kota,
Buat santapan tuan puteri;
Kalau kita suka mengata,
Nanti ditimpa diri sendiri.
Anak merak di kampung Cina,
Mencari makanan di kelapa titi;
Emas dan perak harta dunia,
Budi yang baik dibawa mati.
Selepas bersawah pergi ke pekan,
Singgah di kuala membeli gula;
Hidup berbudi diberkati Tuhan,
Aman sejahtera sepanjang masa.
Bunga mangga sedang berputik,
Nampak dari pohon serasa;
Apa guna berwajah cantik,
Kalau tidak berbudi bahasa.
Pergi ke kebun menanam ubi,
Ubi ditanam di tepi paya;
Kita hidup mesti berbudi,
Supaya kita dipandang mulia.
Hantar sepinggan ke rumah Hidayati;
Janganlah mudah berputus asa,
Kuatkan usaha kekal di hati.
Rehat setelah penat berlari,
Adik bermain biji saga;
Buat baik sesama sendiri,
Hidup bahagia aman sentosa.
Cakaplah semua kepada kawanku,
Sentiasa ingat ajaran guru;
Kerana guru mencurahkan ilmu,
Supaya cerah masa hadapanmu.
Apabila haus meminum laici,
Laici yang manis sudahlah tua;
Orang miskin jangan dicaci,
Bersopan santunlah pada semua.
Pohon sena di pantai sana,
Ada juga pohon rumbia;
Kita bersopan lambang budi bahasa,
Jangan biadap dengan ibu bapa.
Bermandi-manda di dalam lombong,
Sejuk sekali tidak terasa;
Kalau mahu hidup disanjung,
Hendaklah mulia berbudi bahasa.
Aku manusia engkau siapa,
Buah rambutan di dalam raga;
Jikalau berjaya janganlah dilupa,
Kepada orang tua dan juga keluarga.
Pagi-pagi memasang lukah,
Lukah berisi ikan seluang;
Jangan suka bersikap megah,
Nanti kawan semua menghilang.
Dengarlah kawan aku berpesan,
Janganlah lupa ilmu pelajaran;
Hanya itulah jadi bekalan,
Untuk keperluan di masa hadapan.
Orang berpengalaman selalu pesan,
Jangan main di waktu malam;
Oleh kerana kurang pedoman,
Banyaklah insan yang telah karam.
Harimau adalah di kalangan binatang,
Tinggal di hutan tanahnya lapang;
Jangan terlepas ke tangan orang,
Sedangkan kita miskin terbuang.
Sungguh ramai para tetamu,
Singgah berehat cuaca redup;
Bersungguh-sungguh mencari ilmu,
Ilmu dicari bekalan hidup.
Pak Jamil mengikat kelapa,
Tali yang panjang dikerat-kerat;
Dengarlah nasihat ibu dan bapa,
Agar selamat dunia akhirat.
Pergi ke pantai mencari siput,
Siput diletak di dalam baldi;
Janganlah kita bersifat kedekut,
Nanti kita yang akan rugi.
Hendak berlayar ke Pulau Betung,
Sambil mencuba melabuh pukat;
Rajin belajar hidup beruntung,
Rajin berusaha mendapat berkat.
Pokok semalu tumbuh merata,
Di bawa mudik ke hujung hulu;
Fikir dahulu sebelum berkata,
Agar kita tidak dapat malu.
Bancuh simen dengan air,
Kerana hendak membuat bangsal;
Waktu yang ada jangan membazir,
Apabila susah baru menyesal.
Pergi ke kedai membeli tali,
Tali dimasuk ke dalam peti;
Padang Kemunting indah sekali,
Bila memandang sejuknya hati.
Nenek Nyonya menjual jamu,
Khasiat baik rasanya sedap;
Setiap hari menabur ilmu,
Penat dan lelah tidak terkira.
Pokok kelapa ditanam berjajar,.
Kelapa ditanam di cerun landai;
Barang siapa rajin belajar,
Tentu dia menjadi pandai.
Asal kapas menjadi benang,
Benang dibawa ke Indera Jaya;
Orang rajin hidupnya senang,
Apa yang dibuat pasti berjaya.
Sirih junjung di dalam paya,
Tersusun indah memikat hati;
Andai hidup rajin berusaha,
Hidup mewah murah rezeki.
Hujan lebat kilat menyambar,
Menjelma pula ribut dan taufan;
Barang siapa tekun dan sabar,
Apa dihajat akan dikurniai Tuhan.
Pelamin biasa sarat ceria,
Masa bertemu mara laju;
Pemimpin berjasa rakyat setia,
Bangsa berilmu negara maju.
Kawan Sarah nama Adila,
Lain kampung satu sekolah;
Parameswara pengasas Melaka,
Pantang kalau menyerah kalah.
Mak Limah menampi padi,
Menampi padi dengan gembira;
Melaka bersejarah nama diberi,
Mencipta nama negeri perkasa.
Pak Ali ke Alor Gajah,
Singgah sebentar ke rumah Pak Hassan;
Keindahan Melaka jangan disanggah,
Teknologi maklumat dilupa jangan.
Pak Rahim mengopek kelapa,
Cik Tijah membuat batas;
Hang Tuah wira Melaka,
Melawan musuh dengan pantas.
Biskut lemak di atas para,
Diambil oleh Si Adik Nani;
Melaka sudah kian dewasa,
Negeri makmur aman sekali.
Enak sungguh makan capati,
Di tepi kedai menjamu selera;
Hasrat ibu ayah teguh dihati,
Membela nasib keluarga tercinta.
Lemak tidak manis pun tidak,
Gula Melaka dari seberang;
Berayah tidak beribu pun tidak,
Jika budi dikenang orang.
Dari Sarawak pergi ke Sabah,
Negeri Sabah di bawah bayu;
Negeri Sabah banyak pelancong,
Terkenal dengan Kota Kinabalu.
Pohon saga rata dikenal,
Merah membawa erti berjaya,
Proton Saga kereta nasional,
Dasar negara telah terlaksana.
Berjalan-jalan di Kuala Pilah,
Sempat berhenti di Kuala Kubu,
Tidak belajar bersungguh sungguh,
Masa tidak akan menunggu.
Kabus menutupi puncak gunung,
Berjuta bintang memagari bulan,
Marilah kita rajin menabung,
Untuk menggunakan di masa hadapan,
Pergi kerumah Ali di Taman Permai,
Singgah ke kedai membeli rambai;
Negeri bersih,aman,dan damai,
Menjadi tumpuan orang ramai.
Hari siang matahari terang,
Duduk bersantai di atas tangga;
Mahu ibu tersenyum girang;
Biar ayah ketawa bangga.
Buah jambu masaknya merah,
Mari dipetik untuk dirasa;
Saya sayang ibu dan ayah,
Mendidik saya sepanjang masa.
Banjir melanda kawasan rendah,
Tanpa berlengah segera berpindah;
Duri dan ranjau teguh di hati,
Tidak gentar walau kaki berdarah.
Merdu suara unggas di rimba,
Begitu indah suria pagi;
Janganlah kita membuang masa,
Kerugian akan menimpa kita.
Lukisan cantik menghiasi dinding,
Mata terpegun hati berangan;
Hendak berjaya di menara gading,
Menggenggam ijazah erat ditangan.
Pergi kelaut buat kerja sekolah,
Membuat kerja duduk di bawah pakok;
Kalau kita pergi ke sekolah,
Janganlah kita asyik merokok.
Sungguh cantik burung kenari,
Berdada kuning berparuh perang;
Kalau sombong meninggi diri,
Ke mana pergi dibenci orang.
Sungguh cantik negeri Melaka,
Ramai peancong pergi berkunjung;
Kalau kita berbudi bahasa,
Pasti ramai lagi pengunjung.
Kalau pergi ke rumah Pak Dollah,
Singgah ke kedai membeli gula;
Jauhi diri daripada dadah,
Kerana kita harapan negara.
Anak cicak terenang-renang,
Entah berjari entahkan tidak;
Anak orang jangan dikenang,
Entah dia hendak entahkan tidak.
Buah bacang buah kuini,
Letak saja di atas meja;
Tidak dapat tahun ini,
Tahun depan ambil saja.
Jangan ambil dan juga cuba,
Sayngilah ibu dan bapa kita;
Katakan tidak pada ia,
Kerana ia musuh negara.
Cerita jenaka belum habis,
Tukang bicara berbaju lusuh;
Kalau mahu hidup selamat,
Jangan suka mencari musuh.
Pakaian kemas nampak lawa,
Apabila bertugas sedia berkhidmat;
Semangat waja pendam di hati,
Mencipta jaya menjadi matlamat.
Indah bersinar perintan cantik,
Nampak berseri kilau cahaya;
Bercakap benar amalan baik,
Itulah tanda orang mulia.
Buah berangan di dalam kota,
Buat santapan tuan puteri;
Kalau kita suka mengata,
Nanti ditimpa diri sendiri.
Anak merak di kampung Cina,
Mencari makanan di kelapa titi;
Emas dan perak harta dunia,
Budi yang baik dibawa mati.
Selepas bersawah pergi ke pekan,
Singgah di kuala membeli gula;
Hidup berbudi diberkati Tuhan,
Aman sejahtera sepanjang masa.
Bunga mangga sedang berputik,
Nampak dari pohon serasa;
Apa guna berwajah cantik,
Kalau tidak berbudi bahasa.
Pergi ke kebun menanam ubi,
Ubi ditanam di tepi paya;
Kita hidup mesti berbudi,
Supaya kita dipandang mulia.
How to Learn English
In this section, we describe the principles of our method for learning English as a foreign language. The Antimoon Method is based on our experiences as English learners. (Read who we are and why you can trust our advice)
When writing about the Antimoon Method, we also write about commercial products that let you follow the method more easily. If you are worried about this, please read "Why we are recommending products".
Motivation: Become a person who likes to learn English.
Dictionary: Get a good English dictionary.
No mistakes: Avoid mistakes. Try to use correct English from the beginning.
Pronunciation: Learn to pronounce English sounds. Learn to understand phonetic transcription and the phonetic alphabet.
Input: Get English into your head by reading and listening to lots of English sentences.
· Reading
· Movies
· Adventure games
SuperMemo is a computer program that you can use to learn English. We have used it for 8 years and it has helped us a lot.
Motivation for learning English
What is necessary to learn English well? You have to change your life a little — do crazy things like talking to yourself in English or spending your evening reading a dictionary. In order to do these things, and do them regularly, you have to enjoy doing them. If you are like most learners and don't feel like doing these things, you will have to work on your motivation.
Improving your motivation for learning English: We share our psychological tricks that helped us enjoy learning English and that you can use to boost your motivation and make a difference in your English.
Articles related to motivation in the "Other articles" section:
· Why learn English
· English makes you feel good
· Three biggest challenges facing an English learner
What is necessary to learn English well?
Learning English requires action. You may know all the learning tips, but if you don't start doing things, you will achieve nothing. The fact is, if you want to learn to speak English well, you must change your life. Here are some examples of things you will have to do:
· read a book in English for an hour every day, analyzing the grammar in sentences and looking up words in an English dictionary
· listen to an audiobook or other recording in English, stopping it frequently, trying to understand what is being said, and trying to imitate the speaker's pronunciation
· spend your afternoon practicing the pronunciation of the English "r" sound
· carefully write an e-mail message in English, using a dictionary or a Web search every 20 seconds to make sure every word is correct, and taking 5 minutes to write one sentence
· think about an English sentence you've read, wondering if it could say "a" instead of "the" in the sentence, and trying to find similar sentences on the Web to find out the answer
· walk down the street and build simple English sentences in your head (talking to yourself in English about the things you see around you)
What kind of person would do all these crazy things? Only one kind. The kind of person who enjoys doing them. If you want to learn to speak English well, you're going to have to become that person. You cannot hate doing these things. Have you ever heard of a person who became successful by doing something he hated?
The problem with learning and teaching English as a foreign language is that all English learners want to speak English well; however, most learners don't want to spend time on learning English on their own. (Which is probably why they sign up for English classes and hope their teacher will force knowledge into their heads.)
This lack of motivation means that learners basically don't spend their own time on learning English, and if they do, they don't do it regularly. For example, a typical learner might study English phrasal verbs for 12 hours before an English exam. However, he will not read a book in English for 30 minutes every day. He just doesn't feel that learning English is pleasant enough, so he will only do it if he has to. The problem is that a huge one-time effort gives you nothing, while small, everyday activities will give you a lot.
If you are one of those learners and don't feel like practicing the pronunciation of the "r" sound or thinking about English sentences every day, we have news for you: You're going to have to make yourself want to do these things. In other words, you'll have to work on your motivation. Fortunately, there are proven techniques to help you with that.
Typical learner vs. motivated learner
Paula is a typical learner of English with a generally low level of motivation. She has occasional moments of high motivation — like the day before her English test or that time when she couldn't communicate with a foreign customer who called her at work. These kind of situations make her think "I've got to do something about my English!". However, they happen very rarely — less than once a month. So even if she studies quite intensively (e.g. for two whole days before an exam), the results are poor, because she forgets 90% of the things she learned within a month. This is no surprise: The way human memory works, you need to review things all the time; otherwise you just forget them.
Now let's look at a different English learner: Judy. Judy reads a special novel for English learners (written in simplified English) almost every day for 30 minutes. She bought an English-English dictionary and uses it to look up English words whenever she doesn't understand a sentence in her book. It was hard to study regularly at the beginning: Reading books and using a dictionary were not "normal activities" for her. And every English sentence was a challenge.
But now, after only two weeks, she can read much faster. While reading, she often sees words that she has learned in the past two weeks. When she recognizes such a word, she doesn't have to look it up in a dictionary and she knows she has made good progress. Judy feels she has learned a lot of English recently, and she is eager to learn more. Every day, she looks forward to reading her book. The book gives her the chance to use what she has learned (enjoy her progress) and to learn even more. Because she reads regularly, she forgets little and her vocabulary keeps growing.
Judy is on the right track. She will soon be able to read English-language newspapers and other resources written for native speakers.
Enjoyment leads to better memory
If you enjoy learning English, you will spend more time on it, and you will do it regularly. A high level of motivation will also give you another advantage. It will be easier for you to memorize new words and grammar structures. The reason is that the brain easily remembers information on a subject that you like. (For example, some people like history and know everything about World War II. If you told a "normal person" to memorize all these facts, they could never do it.) So enjoyment of learning gives you double benefits.
Improving your motivation for learning English
In this article, we share our techniques for improving your motivation for learning English as a foreign language. We used them all the time when we were learning English and we still use them when we need to boost our motivation in areas other than English.
Imagine yourself in the future
Imagine you can talk to native speakers just like you talk in your first language. Imagine other people wanting to speak English as well as you do. Imagine the possibility of writing e-mail to people from all over the world.
It is helpful to read an article about the advantages of knowing English well. There are two such articles on Antimoon: Why learn English and English makes you feel good.
You should know that it is possible to learn English really well. Just look at other people who have done it.
Remember that you are already good
You already know some English (you're reading an article in English right now). That's a big success! Now it's time for more successes. Time to start using powerful methods of effective learning. Time to gain an impressive knowledge of English.
Remember there is a lot that you don't know
You are good, but your English probably isn't perfect. You probably can't understand English-language TV, read books in English, talk to native speakers easily, write letters without mistakes, etc.
You should never think your English is perfect. Even if you are the best student in your class, always try to find your weak areas and work on them. When you've learned to speak English well, your problems will be quite small: punctuation, rarely used grammar structures, rare words, understanding "street language". Right now, your problems are probably more basic: mistakes in pronunciation, small vocabulary, grammar problems with the present perfect tense and conditional structures.
Use your English whenever you can
This is very, very important. The more you use English, the more you will want to learn it.
Because English is so popular, you can use it everywhere. You can use Google to find English-language websites with interesting information, you can watch American cartoons, you can play adventure games on your computer, you can read interesting books in English, or you can do other things that we write about.
If you do these things, you will not only have fun and learn English. If you see that a new English word lets you understand your favorite TV show (or communicate with people, or beat a computer game), you will want to learn more words. So you will learn English more, use it more, learn it more, use it more... If you also use effective learning methods, your English will grow faster than you can imagine.
Talk to people about English
This is a very simple method, but it is very effective. Here's how it works:
You usually talk about things which interest you. But the opposite is true, too. If you start talking about a boring subject, you will begin to get interested in it.
Imagine you are studying a subject that you hate. You are bored and tired, but you have to pass the test tomorrow. If there are people near you, you have two options: you can tell everybody how much you are suffering or you can tell those people about the things you've learned. If you choose the first option, you will only feel worse.
If you choose the second option, and start a conversation on the "boring" subject, you will begin to look at it in a totally different way. Suddenly it will become a subject worth talking about — therefore, an interesting subject.
How can you begin such a conversation? If you're studying English, you can surprise another person by talking to him/her in English. Say (in English): Hi, I'm studying English and I hate it. Or you can say (in your first language): Hey, I've learned 50 English words today. Do you know what's the English word for ...? If there are no people near you, you can telephone or send an e-mail message to your friend.
What will your friends say? Probably they won't be very interested, but it doesn't matter! The important thing is this: After talking about English, you will study it with much more passion. Try it.
Find a friend who is learning English
If you can find a friend who is learning English and is on a similar level of skill, you will be in an excellent situation:
· you will have someone to talk about English with. These conversations will increase your interest in English, as explained in the previous section.
· learning English will be easier, because you will be able to discuss your problems with your friend.
· you will study English more, because you will want to be better than your friend. :-)
You should meet your friend regularly. Ideally, he/she should live near you, or go to the same school as you. If you absolutely can't find anybody willing to learn English with you, you can try to find somebody by e-mail. This is a worse solution: your conversations will probably be less frequent, and it is difficult to compete with someone who you don't know well.
Spend some money on learning English
If you spend your money on something, you will want to use it. For example, if you buy an expensive tennis racket, you will probably go out and play tennis every day.
This rule is also true for learning English. If you want to increase your desire to learn English, buy a new dictionary, an interesting English-language book, English-language cable TV, etc. The idea is simple: You paid for it, so you will want to use it, and you will improve your English.
There is a problem with this method. It only works for a short time. You usually lose your desire to learn English after a few days. To keep learning, you would have to buy something every week!
However, this method is helpful, because it gives you an impulse to start learning. For example, if you buy a dictionary of phrasal verbs, you will probably learn some words from it. Then you should try to use them. For example, write an e-mail message with these words. This will increase your motivation (as explained before), and you will learn more.
Read Unlimited Power by Anthony Robbins
Anthony Robbins' book Unlimited Power: The New Science of Personal Achievement gives excellent advice on how to achieve any kind of goal. This book has changed the lives of many people, so you might want to take a look at it.
Remember that learning English requires action
We have said this many times. One small action is more powerful than reading hundreds of articles. Yes, we know it is very hard to do things, even if they are good for us. We humans are lazy creatures. That is why not many people speak English well.
Still, we hope you can do the things we talk about in our English learning method — not only read about them. You will be successful only if you change something about your life.
Don't put it off. Begin now.
Getting a good English dictionary
You need a good English dictionary. An English dictionary is the most important thing that you will need when learning English. Successful English learners use their dictionaries all the time — that's how they learn to use new words.
How to buy a good English dictionary?
It has to be an English-English dictionary.
It must give phonetic transcriptions (pronunciations) for every word.
It must give example sentences for every word.
It should be a software dictionary.
Example sentences: more important than definitions: If you want to improve your speaking/writing ability, read the example sentences in your dictionary. They show you how to use a word and they program your brain with correct English.
Reviews of good dictionaries
· Collins COBUILD Advanced Learner's English Dictionary (4th edition) — It's very easy to learn English from this dictionary, because it is full of real sentences from English books, newspapers, recordings, etc. Even the definitions are full sentences. Includes the CD-ROM (see below).
· Collins COBUILD Advanced Learner's English Dictionary CD-ROM — included with the paper version. Same friendly definitions and great example sentences, but you can look them up much faster than in the huge book. The CD also has a Wordbank with even more example sentences. However, it doesn't include phonetic transcriptions (it only has audio recordings).
· Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary CD-ROM — a very comprehensive dictionary of American English with phonetic transcriptions and American recordings. Complements the Collins COBUILD Advanced Learner's CD-ROM nicely.
· Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary (16th edition) with CD-ROM — a good source of pronunciations that are not included in general English dictionaries, e.g. pronunciations of people's names, geographical names, company names, and inflected forms of words. The CD version has great British recordings, pronunciation exercises, and a Sound Search feature.
· Also read: Why publishers are unable to develop a really good software dictionary in the "Other articles" section.
Why you need a good English dictionary
If you get a good English dictionary, you will be better than 90% of English learners. It's unbelievable, but most people (even people who want to learn English very much) simply go to a bookstore and buy the first dictionary they see.
That is a big mistake! A bad dictionary will give you problems sooner or later — maybe in two months, maybe in one year — and you will have to buy a good one anyway! Isn't it better to buy a good dictionary the first time?
Getting a good English dictionary is important because:
· A good dictionary will be your guide to English. It will teach you new words, how to pronounce them, and how to use them. It will help you understand English texts. Successful English learners use their dictionaries all the time: when reading books, at English classes, when writing e-mail, when doing homework, when surfing the Web.
· It is an easy first step in your English-learning program — you only need to spend a little money (much less than you would pay for an English course). Once you've made the first step, it will be easier for you to do the rest.
· It requires spending money. Yes, this is a good thing. :-) Spending some of your money on learning English will give you an impulse to keep learning and work towards your goal of mastering English.
Learn English without mistakes
You can damage your English by writing and speaking. Your grammar, vocabulary, and pronunciation can get worse because of practice. When you speak or write and you make mistakes, you teach yourself bad habits. These bad habits may be difficult to eliminate. The solution is simple: Avoid mistakes! Try to say or write only correct English sentences.
How can you avoid making mistakes?
· Study pronunciation (all the English sounds and at least basic English words) before you open your mouth.
· Get lots of English sentences into your head (by reading and listening) before you open your mouth or write in English. To avoid mistakes, you need to follow good examples.
· When you speak or write, be careful, slow, and use simple language.
When writing about the Antimoon Method, we also write about commercial products that let you follow the method more easily. If you are worried about this, please read "Why we are recommending products".
Motivation: Become a person who likes to learn English.
Dictionary: Get a good English dictionary.
No mistakes: Avoid mistakes. Try to use correct English from the beginning.
Pronunciation: Learn to pronounce English sounds. Learn to understand phonetic transcription and the phonetic alphabet.
Input: Get English into your head by reading and listening to lots of English sentences.
· Reading
· Movies
· Adventure games
SuperMemo is a computer program that you can use to learn English. We have used it for 8 years and it has helped us a lot.
Motivation for learning English
What is necessary to learn English well? You have to change your life a little — do crazy things like talking to yourself in English or spending your evening reading a dictionary. In order to do these things, and do them regularly, you have to enjoy doing them. If you are like most learners and don't feel like doing these things, you will have to work on your motivation.
Improving your motivation for learning English: We share our psychological tricks that helped us enjoy learning English and that you can use to boost your motivation and make a difference in your English.
Articles related to motivation in the "Other articles" section:
· Why learn English
· English makes you feel good
· Three biggest challenges facing an English learner
What is necessary to learn English well?
Learning English requires action. You may know all the learning tips, but if you don't start doing things, you will achieve nothing. The fact is, if you want to learn to speak English well, you must change your life. Here are some examples of things you will have to do:
· read a book in English for an hour every day, analyzing the grammar in sentences and looking up words in an English dictionary
· listen to an audiobook or other recording in English, stopping it frequently, trying to understand what is being said, and trying to imitate the speaker's pronunciation
· spend your afternoon practicing the pronunciation of the English "r" sound
· carefully write an e-mail message in English, using a dictionary or a Web search every 20 seconds to make sure every word is correct, and taking 5 minutes to write one sentence
· think about an English sentence you've read, wondering if it could say "a" instead of "the" in the sentence, and trying to find similar sentences on the Web to find out the answer
· walk down the street and build simple English sentences in your head (talking to yourself in English about the things you see around you)
What kind of person would do all these crazy things? Only one kind. The kind of person who enjoys doing them. If you want to learn to speak English well, you're going to have to become that person. You cannot hate doing these things. Have you ever heard of a person who became successful by doing something he hated?
The problem with learning and teaching English as a foreign language is that all English learners want to speak English well; however, most learners don't want to spend time on learning English on their own. (Which is probably why they sign up for English classes and hope their teacher will force knowledge into their heads.)
This lack of motivation means that learners basically don't spend their own time on learning English, and if they do, they don't do it regularly. For example, a typical learner might study English phrasal verbs for 12 hours before an English exam. However, he will not read a book in English for 30 minutes every day. He just doesn't feel that learning English is pleasant enough, so he will only do it if he has to. The problem is that a huge one-time effort gives you nothing, while small, everyday activities will give you a lot.
If you are one of those learners and don't feel like practicing the pronunciation of the "r" sound or thinking about English sentences every day, we have news for you: You're going to have to make yourself want to do these things. In other words, you'll have to work on your motivation. Fortunately, there are proven techniques to help you with that.
Typical learner vs. motivated learner
Paula is a typical learner of English with a generally low level of motivation. She has occasional moments of high motivation — like the day before her English test or that time when she couldn't communicate with a foreign customer who called her at work. These kind of situations make her think "I've got to do something about my English!". However, they happen very rarely — less than once a month. So even if she studies quite intensively (e.g. for two whole days before an exam), the results are poor, because she forgets 90% of the things she learned within a month. This is no surprise: The way human memory works, you need to review things all the time; otherwise you just forget them.
Now let's look at a different English learner: Judy. Judy reads a special novel for English learners (written in simplified English) almost every day for 30 minutes. She bought an English-English dictionary and uses it to look up English words whenever she doesn't understand a sentence in her book. It was hard to study regularly at the beginning: Reading books and using a dictionary were not "normal activities" for her. And every English sentence was a challenge.
But now, after only two weeks, she can read much faster. While reading, she often sees words that she has learned in the past two weeks. When she recognizes such a word, she doesn't have to look it up in a dictionary and she knows she has made good progress. Judy feels she has learned a lot of English recently, and she is eager to learn more. Every day, she looks forward to reading her book. The book gives her the chance to use what she has learned (enjoy her progress) and to learn even more. Because she reads regularly, she forgets little and her vocabulary keeps growing.
Judy is on the right track. She will soon be able to read English-language newspapers and other resources written for native speakers.
Enjoyment leads to better memory
If you enjoy learning English, you will spend more time on it, and you will do it regularly. A high level of motivation will also give you another advantage. It will be easier for you to memorize new words and grammar structures. The reason is that the brain easily remembers information on a subject that you like. (For example, some people like history and know everything about World War II. If you told a "normal person" to memorize all these facts, they could never do it.) So enjoyment of learning gives you double benefits.
Improving your motivation for learning English
In this article, we share our techniques for improving your motivation for learning English as a foreign language. We used them all the time when we were learning English and we still use them when we need to boost our motivation in areas other than English.
Imagine yourself in the future
Imagine you can talk to native speakers just like you talk in your first language. Imagine other people wanting to speak English as well as you do. Imagine the possibility of writing e-mail to people from all over the world.
It is helpful to read an article about the advantages of knowing English well. There are two such articles on Antimoon: Why learn English and English makes you feel good.
You should know that it is possible to learn English really well. Just look at other people who have done it.
Remember that you are already good
You already know some English (you're reading an article in English right now). That's a big success! Now it's time for more successes. Time to start using powerful methods of effective learning. Time to gain an impressive knowledge of English.
Remember there is a lot that you don't know
You are good, but your English probably isn't perfect. You probably can't understand English-language TV, read books in English, talk to native speakers easily, write letters without mistakes, etc.
You should never think your English is perfect. Even if you are the best student in your class, always try to find your weak areas and work on them. When you've learned to speak English well, your problems will be quite small: punctuation, rarely used grammar structures, rare words, understanding "street language". Right now, your problems are probably more basic: mistakes in pronunciation, small vocabulary, grammar problems with the present perfect tense and conditional structures.
Use your English whenever you can
This is very, very important. The more you use English, the more you will want to learn it.
Because English is so popular, you can use it everywhere. You can use Google to find English-language websites with interesting information, you can watch American cartoons, you can play adventure games on your computer, you can read interesting books in English, or you can do other things that we write about.
If you do these things, you will not only have fun and learn English. If you see that a new English word lets you understand your favorite TV show (or communicate with people, or beat a computer game), you will want to learn more words. So you will learn English more, use it more, learn it more, use it more... If you also use effective learning methods, your English will grow faster than you can imagine.
Talk to people about English
This is a very simple method, but it is very effective. Here's how it works:
You usually talk about things which interest you. But the opposite is true, too. If you start talking about a boring subject, you will begin to get interested in it.
Imagine you are studying a subject that you hate. You are bored and tired, but you have to pass the test tomorrow. If there are people near you, you have two options: you can tell everybody how much you are suffering or you can tell those people about the things you've learned. If you choose the first option, you will only feel worse.
If you choose the second option, and start a conversation on the "boring" subject, you will begin to look at it in a totally different way. Suddenly it will become a subject worth talking about — therefore, an interesting subject.
How can you begin such a conversation? If you're studying English, you can surprise another person by talking to him/her in English. Say (in English): Hi, I'm studying English and I hate it. Or you can say (in your first language): Hey, I've learned 50 English words today. Do you know what's the English word for ...? If there are no people near you, you can telephone or send an e-mail message to your friend.
What will your friends say? Probably they won't be very interested, but it doesn't matter! The important thing is this: After talking about English, you will study it with much more passion. Try it.
Find a friend who is learning English
If you can find a friend who is learning English and is on a similar level of skill, you will be in an excellent situation:
· you will have someone to talk about English with. These conversations will increase your interest in English, as explained in the previous section.
· learning English will be easier, because you will be able to discuss your problems with your friend.
· you will study English more, because you will want to be better than your friend. :-)
You should meet your friend regularly. Ideally, he/she should live near you, or go to the same school as you. If you absolutely can't find anybody willing to learn English with you, you can try to find somebody by e-mail. This is a worse solution: your conversations will probably be less frequent, and it is difficult to compete with someone who you don't know well.
Spend some money on learning English
If you spend your money on something, you will want to use it. For example, if you buy an expensive tennis racket, you will probably go out and play tennis every day.
This rule is also true for learning English. If you want to increase your desire to learn English, buy a new dictionary, an interesting English-language book, English-language cable TV, etc. The idea is simple: You paid for it, so you will want to use it, and you will improve your English.
There is a problem with this method. It only works for a short time. You usually lose your desire to learn English after a few days. To keep learning, you would have to buy something every week!
However, this method is helpful, because it gives you an impulse to start learning. For example, if you buy a dictionary of phrasal verbs, you will probably learn some words from it. Then you should try to use them. For example, write an e-mail message with these words. This will increase your motivation (as explained before), and you will learn more.
Read Unlimited Power by Anthony Robbins
Anthony Robbins' book Unlimited Power: The New Science of Personal Achievement gives excellent advice on how to achieve any kind of goal. This book has changed the lives of many people, so you might want to take a look at it.
Remember that learning English requires action
We have said this many times. One small action is more powerful than reading hundreds of articles. Yes, we know it is very hard to do things, even if they are good for us. We humans are lazy creatures. That is why not many people speak English well.
Still, we hope you can do the things we talk about in our English learning method — not only read about them. You will be successful only if you change something about your life.
Don't put it off. Begin now.
Getting a good English dictionary
You need a good English dictionary. An English dictionary is the most important thing that you will need when learning English. Successful English learners use their dictionaries all the time — that's how they learn to use new words.
How to buy a good English dictionary?
It has to be an English-English dictionary.
It must give phonetic transcriptions (pronunciations) for every word.
It must give example sentences for every word.
It should be a software dictionary.
Example sentences: more important than definitions: If you want to improve your speaking/writing ability, read the example sentences in your dictionary. They show you how to use a word and they program your brain with correct English.
Reviews of good dictionaries
· Collins COBUILD Advanced Learner's English Dictionary (4th edition) — It's very easy to learn English from this dictionary, because it is full of real sentences from English books, newspapers, recordings, etc. Even the definitions are full sentences. Includes the CD-ROM (see below).
· Collins COBUILD Advanced Learner's English Dictionary CD-ROM — included with the paper version. Same friendly definitions and great example sentences, but you can look them up much faster than in the huge book. The CD also has a Wordbank with even more example sentences. However, it doesn't include phonetic transcriptions (it only has audio recordings).
· Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary CD-ROM — a very comprehensive dictionary of American English with phonetic transcriptions and American recordings. Complements the Collins COBUILD Advanced Learner's CD-ROM nicely.
· Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary (16th edition) with CD-ROM — a good source of pronunciations that are not included in general English dictionaries, e.g. pronunciations of people's names, geographical names, company names, and inflected forms of words. The CD version has great British recordings, pronunciation exercises, and a Sound Search feature.
· Also read: Why publishers are unable to develop a really good software dictionary in the "Other articles" section.
Why you need a good English dictionary
If you get a good English dictionary, you will be better than 90% of English learners. It's unbelievable, but most people (even people who want to learn English very much) simply go to a bookstore and buy the first dictionary they see.
That is a big mistake! A bad dictionary will give you problems sooner or later — maybe in two months, maybe in one year — and you will have to buy a good one anyway! Isn't it better to buy a good dictionary the first time?
Getting a good English dictionary is important because:
· A good dictionary will be your guide to English. It will teach you new words, how to pronounce them, and how to use them. It will help you understand English texts. Successful English learners use their dictionaries all the time: when reading books, at English classes, when writing e-mail, when doing homework, when surfing the Web.
· It is an easy first step in your English-learning program — you only need to spend a little money (much less than you would pay for an English course). Once you've made the first step, it will be easier for you to do the rest.
· It requires spending money. Yes, this is a good thing. :-) Spending some of your money on learning English will give you an impulse to keep learning and work towards your goal of mastering English.
Learn English without mistakes
You can damage your English by writing and speaking. Your grammar, vocabulary, and pronunciation can get worse because of practice. When you speak or write and you make mistakes, you teach yourself bad habits. These bad habits may be difficult to eliminate. The solution is simple: Avoid mistakes! Try to say or write only correct English sentences.
How can you avoid making mistakes?
· Study pronunciation (all the English sounds and at least basic English words) before you open your mouth.
· Get lots of English sentences into your head (by reading and listening) before you open your mouth or write in English. To avoid mistakes, you need to follow good examples.
· When you speak or write, be careful, slow, and use simple language.
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