Talking about your experience

[Lmn_Dreem]

Lets talk about our experience in learning English to get more benefits. We have an expression said lucky person learns from others bad experience. So, I invite all English learners to write about their failures and successes in learning English. At the beginning lets mention our original language (if we would) and if it's quite closer to English or not. I'll start myself:

My original language is Arabic. It's so far from English but fortunately we start learning English at age of 13. I like English especially English writing. My greatest failure was in reading English. I was bad in reading and my reading rate was slowly although I was training frequently. If I face a new word during my reading my tongue cripples. I also failed in increasing my vocabulary number. Once I downloaded a book include 400 words for TOEFL exam. I was memorizing a ten-word list daily. I have persevered for one month. In short time I lost them at all. About my success in English it's learning English by listening. It's the unique method which make English a friendly part of your mind. We need to change our strategy in learning English. I recently started English for Winners program (EfW). It's amazing.

[Torsten]

Hi Lm,

What kind of audio resources do you listen to and how much time do you spend on listening to English every day?

Many thanks,
Torsten

TOEIC listening, photographs: The lecture

[Lmn_Dreem]

Hi Torsten,

I have started English course one year ago. I was listening 5 hours a day for its audios. One topic for one week. Besides watching movies twice a week. Recently, I listen to several authentic English like talk-radio stations and TED.com 3 hours a day.

[Torsten]

Hi Lmn,

Please remember that 'ago' requires the simple past so you don't need 'have' in your first sentence. What clips have you seen on TED so far? Which of them did you like most and why?

Regards,
Torsten

TOEIC listening, photographs: A girl with boxes

[Sddk]

I want to share my experience about learning english with you. I have same problem like lmn_drem
I forget the word which i memorized. I tried to find a solution my problem and i noticed if i use a word that i learned i did not forget so now i try to use a new learned word immediately

[Lmn_Dreem]

Hello Sddk,
Thank you for sharing me in this problem. You are right. Using new words help you to memorize them but most words we learn are unused in our daily life. e.g. word like earthquake we couldn't use it unless an earthquake is happened somewhere and we want to talk about it. So, from my experience we should abandon that nerveousness which we feel during English listening or reading. Take English in funny way, relax and listen as often as you can. There is a mechanism guide and help us subconsciously. Try to listen to authentic English. Today, you'll hear some new words in news. Tomorrow, you may hear the same words in a movie. Subsequently, your mind will evoke that you have listened to them, then your brain will keep the word and how to use it effortless, without learning or memorizing. That is my experience.

[Lmn_Dreem]

Hi Torsten,

About (have) and (ago), can I say "I have listened" without mentioning specific time? Or it's not suitable to use this tense in this case?

As for TED.com, it is terrific. It helps in improving English and enrich my mind with wide-range of information. So far today I have watched three videos there. They are:
The linguistic genius of babies: research to discover certain parts of baby's brain which responsible for learning a new language.
The line between life and non-life: comparing between living and non-living system, suppoted by chemical experiment and applying these information on life on other planets which is non-living life.
Is there a real you: It is about personality, how to create a real you. The bottom line is the real you is how much have you changed through years.

[Torsten]

Hi Laila,

What have you been watching or listening to lately? Please remember how the 30/30 Challenge works.

Many thanks,
Torsten

TOEIC listening, photographs: Relaxing