Four Good Learning Attitudes - the 4 "H"s

Honesty, Humbleness, Hard Work, and a Heart of Empathy

Honesty

Being honest is an important character for good learners. Good learners never pretend they understand if they don't. For them honesty is a must. If they can't understand what they are taught, they will admit their ignorance. They accept that they will sometimes fail or make mistakes. However, their curiosity makes them not be afraid of making mistakes. This means they will look for the possible explanation for their mistakes. They will seek authority's advice for the right answer.

Humbleness

With humbleness, good learners put aside their pride. Thus, their teachers favour them. Their humbleness helps them understand the root causes of problems. Their respect to the authority makes them approachable to the right person for advice. Learning with the right source of information is like planting a tree by stream of knowledge water that helps them grow intellectually and yield fruit in season.

Hard Work

Hard work is another important attitude that help good learners absorb information. Without real effort, it is almost impossible to make learning happen. It is an accelerator to achieve any goal the learners have set for themselves.

Heart of Empathy

Heart of Empathy is the source of motivation. With empathy, good learners can easily understand another person's feelings and needs because they can easily imagine themselves being in a similar situation. Heart of empathy is what keeps them moving. They want to learn because they need the knowledge to be better able to help those in need. A heart of empathy is a gate that help to open up insightful knowledge for them. The ability to gain insights of a unique situation can push them to another level of wisdom.

Improving Reading Comprehension

This week I would like to discuss ways to enhance reading comprehension and to have fun when you read.

How?

The very first thing to make sure is that you are not afraid of meeting new words you have never read or seen before in print. You also know that the alphabet letters have clues for you to make right sounds.

You are confident in trying the word pronunciation with the phonic skills you learnt before. Besides, you can automatically think about meaning when you read.

To be able to get the meaning and pronounce the words correctly, I suggest follow the steps below:

1. learn to guess the meaning of the word from the context
2. check if the word contains any affixes, i.e. prefix and suffix
3. say the root word with more emphasis
4. check with someone you trust
5. consult the dictionary.

Time your reading, and repeat reading the phrases and paragraphs from the texts.

Verb Phrases in Sentence Writing

The four collocation patterns of verb phrase:

1. verb + noun
2. verb + adjective / noun +noun
3. verb + noun + adverb
4. verb + preposition + noun

In a basic sentence structure, i.e. Subject + Verb + Object, all the three collocation patterns can map well into the object position of the sentence to describe the actions taken by the subject.

1. control weight
2. control body weight
3. control the body weight carefully
4. keep at level

Sample sentences

• You (Subject)// control your weight. (Verb + Object)
• You (Subject)//control your body weight. (Verb + Noun + Object)
• You (Subject)//control your body weight carefully. (Verb + Noun + Object + Adverb)
• You (Subject)// keep your body weight at a healthy level. (Verb + Noun + Object + Preposition + Adjective + Noun )

Noun Phrases in Sentence Writing

The four collocation patterns of a noun phrase:

1. Noun + Noun (main)
2. Adverb + Adjective + Noun
3. Adjective + Preposition + Noun
4. Noun + Preposition + Noun

In a basic sentence structure, i.e. Subject + Verb + Object, the collocation pattern 1 can map well into the subject position of the sentence; whereas as the other two patterns can take the object position of the sentence to elaborate the meaning of the subject.

1. Health service
2. very healthy lifestyle
3. protected against diseases
4. risk of death

Sample Sentences

• The Health service (Noun +Noun) //promotes (Verb) //a very healthy lifestyle (Adverb + Adjective + Noun).
• Good lifestyle habits (Adjective + Noun + Noun)//help (Verb) // protected against diseases ( Adjective + Preposition + Noun) .

DOVE Approach of Study

You may try the DOVE approach to study the topic you are interested in.

• Define the terms or keywords of the topic you are studying. Make sure you understand the definition of the terms. Go to Google search to learn the definition of the terms by typing in e.g."define:festival", so the search will show you more than 20 results defining the term, festival. The first of the definition list for the word "festival" is "a day or period of time set aside for feasting and celebration".
• Opt for an alternative to enhance your understanding, i.e. study the topic and explore it further from different points of view. For example, does festival also means celebration? who, what, and how the festival is celebrated?
• Visualize the association between ideas or information, i.e. use visual images to facilitate the work of your memory. Use your imagination to see the decoration of the festivals, who, what, and how they look like?
• Evaluate your mastery of the subject matters every 5 mins., 30 mins., 3 hours, 6 hours or before you sleep, and right before the test or exam.

Vocabulary Power

Vocabulary has the power to enhance your thinking. It is the foundation of your thinking.

To increase your vocabulary power, you must read. You will learn vocabulary naturally if you read. Learning vocabulary is no longer boring because it happens naturally. You will also enjoy the process as you know its impact on your thinking skills.

Learn the vocabulary that come across when you read, also read with a great interest and sustain such interest with your curiosity. Check the meaning of the vocabulary from the context before you consult your dictionary, let it retain in your mind without much effort. Otherwise, it will kill your interest and enjoyment of the reading.

Your target is to learn at least five new 'terms' each week, and learn their strung-up or collocated words. This helps you learn ways to use the terms in your speaking and writing. Try not to give up half way! It is not good to give yourself excuses not to read. There is always something for you to read.

The problem sometimes arises if learning becomes overly serious or the atmosphere becomes stiff. If this happens, create yourself some space to drive out the stiffness. You may get yourself a short break for some drink or a cup of coffee.

To conclude, it is necessary to grasp the foundation material, i.e. the brick of vocabulary to enhance your thinking power. Your vocabulary is the base of your thinking. The more vocabulary words you have the smarter person you become! Start your journey of learning vocabulary, work on at least five vocabulary words a week!

Word Collocation - An effective Way to Learn English Vocabulary

What is word collocation?

Collocations show how words are strung and used together to express ideas.

VERB PHRASE
verb + noun (e.g. teach English, accept responsibility)
verb + adjective +noun (e.g. teach old English, accept social responsibility)
adverb + verb (e.g. skillfully teach, happily accept )
adverb + verb + noun (e.g. skillfully teach the students, happily accept the social responsibility)

NOUN PHRASE
adverb + adjective + noun (e.g. highly regarded teacher )
adjective + preposition + noun (e.g. good at English)
noun + noun (e.g. English teacher )

Outstanding Students - Jerry Lo & Andrew Chu

I'm glad to announce the outstanding students of this month: Andrew Chu and Jerry Lo! Congratulation!

Write in a way to help you learn to express

Use the poem template to help you write and learn to express yourself.


How? Follow the simple steps:

1. read something that raise your interest.
2. extract the main points by scribbling and playing with the keywords
3. make sure you know how to pronounce the words and what words they collocate well with
4. check the pronunciation and meaning of the words in a dictionary if necessary
5. give a topic name for your writing according to your understanding
6. draw simple diagrams or pictures to create logical links to the keywords you collected so far
7. write simple sentences using the following patterns ... I like X. I like (verb in continuous form ) X. V..ing helps me ..... It's fantastic. I'll be... Most importantly, ...
8. keep using the same subject to explain clearly the advantages of your topic.
9. swap and reorder the sentences for a more cohesive piece of writing
10. share your writing with other people by posting it to the blog.

The Armor of God - Vocabulary Words from Ephasian 6

I like the full armor of God. I like putting on the full armor of God.

The armor helps me stand against the devil's scheme.

I can stand firm with the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, and the shoes that fitted with the gospel of peace.

I can also stand firm by taking the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, i.e. the words of God.

It's awesome! I'll be strong with the armor. I'll be well protected by the Lord's armor.

Most importantly, with the full armor I can stand my ground and win my battle for Christ.

The relaxing way to learn English vocabulary

It can be easy to learn English vocabulary if you are learning the vocabulary for a meaningful use and life application. As a second language learner, you will learn vocabulary everyday and everywhere, so that you have something more to share with others. You may try the five suggested steps to improve your word power:

1. Start by learning the names of the things that raise your interest.
2. Write something down with the new words that you noticed when you read or heard, saw or felt. It is good even you write only one sentence a day.
3. Learn the words so that you have something to talk about when you know someone who would also be interested in listening to you.
4. Write and keep a diary for reflecting your learning on the new terms.
5. Publish your thoughts to the online blog for comments and feedbacks.

The essence of learning is about a meaningful and repetitive use of the vocabulary items you learn. Recall the learning loop I talked about a month ago. Learning means to: learn, repeat, recap, refect and, relearn. Do they match well with the five steps listed above?