General Tips for Studying English

These are some general tips that are important in studying English:

• Attend Your Classes. Remember that English language is continuous. If you don’t go to class you will miss important material that will be used in later sections and/or important announcements.
• Be Punctual or come earlier. If you happen to be late, you might miss some important points which usually delivered at the beginning of the session.
• Pay Attention. You need to focus during the lecture hours. It could be difficult to some people but note that if you are not the kind of person who likes to do revision, you might want to focus and pay attention to the lecture during class hours. Note also that sometimes important ideas will not be written down on the board, but instead just spoken by the lecturer.
• Jot Down Notes. Try to copy everything that lecturer puts on board. Your notes might be useful for later revision or reminder.
• Ask Questions. If you don’t understand or confuse with something or some terms then ask your lecturer. You might not be the only one who doesn’t understand in the class.
• Listen To Others Questions. Listen tentatively when your friends ask questions. The question might be the one which no one ever thought of!
• Put what you have learn into practice. English is like Mathematics. The more you practice the better you are using the language.
• Persevere. Be patience even though at the beginning you might feel awkward using English language in your daily conversations. Eventually you may find that being able to speak in English is an added advantage for you!

What is the difference between animal and insects?

Yesterday while I was watching the television I came across this commercial...

WHAT IS THE MOST DANGEROUS ANIMAL?

and the answer to that question posted on television just after the question is...

THE FLY

and my kid (8 years old) immediately asked me, is the fly an animal or an insects? It took me quite some time to think of the most accurate answer to the little child question.

How exactly do we differentiate between an insect and an animal? Shouldn't it be an animal is a lot more bigger than an insect? Hence a fly should fall under the category of an insect and not an animal? This situation creates a confusion among kids especially when a famous TV station displays such an advertisement which is meant to expose children for general information.

I would humbly advise them to use the most suitable words for their info advertisement!

The difference in pronunciation between the 'th' in various words

this	/ ð /
third	/ θ /
thin	/ θ /
then	/ ð /
three	/ θ /
sympathy	/ θ /
mathematics	/ θ /
mother	/ ð /
another	/ ð /
leather	/ ð /
method	/ θ /
Catholic	/ θ /
rather	/ ð /
southern	/ ð /
clothe	/ ð /
smooth	/ ð /
south	/ θ /
cloth	/ θ /
bathe	/ ð /
bath	/ θ /

Words and its phonetics

/ pɪt /	pit
/ pæt /	pat
/ pɒt /	pot
/ pɑ:t /	part
/ pɔ:t /	port
/ pʊt /	put
/ pʌt /	putt
/ pi:t /	peat
/ fi:t /	feet
/ fɪt /	fit
/ fæt /	fat
/ fɑ:t /	fart
/ fɔ:t /	fought
/ fʊt /	foot
/ hi:t /	heat
/ hɪt /	hit
/ hæt /	hat
/ hɑ:t /	heart
/ hɒt /	hot
/ hu:t /	hoot
/ hɜ:t /	hurt
/ hʌt /	hut
/ heɪt /	hate
/ haɪt /	height

English Phonetics

English phonetics is very important especially when you want to pronounce English words correctly. The phonetics  usually is included in the dictionary which serves as a helper for those looking for English words and trying to pronounce the words correctly. It is also useful for the second language learner as English pronunciation might be differ  from their mother tongue. Below is the list of English phonetics ;

 - Courtesy from http://club.telepolis.com