ENGLISH LANGUAGE EXAM TIPS

Vocabulary

• Be inventive in acquiring new words
  Post note cards around your room to learn and identify what is in the room, refrigerator, computer, car, etc. Speak the list, and if the word has gender, or is singular/plural, make sure you use the article!
• Create a visual thesaurus. Draw an image of a new vocabulary word
•  Create a concept map of a word with synonyms, opposites, images, scenes, etc.
• Look up new words
  and their definitions in the new language’s dictionary or online, not in language pairs (for example, French-English). Write out the definition.
  Add one synonym or antonym.
• Memorizing:
  acronym, acrostic, rhymes, loci, keywords, image-naming, chaining
  

Reading

• Do not read word-by-word, or translate word-by-word.
  Prepare yourself for a reading:
  study its vocabulary first; review the advance questions.
  Then put aside everything and just read, even twice.
  Do not look up vocabulary while reading.
  Read a phrase or sentence as a “thought” to get its sense or meaning.
• Do not write in your text book or reading.
  Separately develop a vocabulary list as above.
• Go beyond your textbook!
  Children’s books are illustrated and easy to read!
  Websites are rich opportunities to explore your hobbies in other languages,
  and have common vocabulary that gives you a sense of what is written.(Google advance search will let you enter key words and choose a language for results!)
• Read/sing song lyrics of the language!
• As your skills advance, read novels, but read for the story, not vocabulary.
  Read a chapter, then if you see repetitive vocabulary, look it up and then read again.
  As you advance through the novel, you will forget about vocabulary for the most part.

Writing

• Some languages have unfamiliar alphabets and ways of writing.
  Practice writing these alphabets to both learn correct orthography (correct writing), and vocabulary!
• Develop writing assignments with the seven stages in your language
• Write out sentences you have practiced orally.
  Carefully construct patterns and then write out the sentences with substitute words--multiple times. If you have spell check and the “autocorrect” grammar feature in your word processing, use it!
• When you get corrections, re-write them.
  Correct what you got wrong, even repeating in order to embed it in your mind.