You may wonder how would some change to the environment around you help to improve your English skill? Well, here are a few suggestions. 1. Listening: Tune your radio to ICRT or listen to some English radio via Internet. Have it broadcast 24/7. You don't really expect to understand every bit of it. Having some English noise around you gives you an illusion as if you are in the states. Just get used to it. 2. Speaking: Grab any chance to talk to people in English even though they may not understand what you are trying to say. Don't expect them to undersand at the first few attemps. This speaking practice is giving you a chance to train your guts so that you dare to speak English in front of the public. The more you try, the better you will get used to it. 3. Reading: Read at least a few paragraphs each day. Try this! put an easy story book next to your toilet. Read a few pages whenever you walk in for a "pu-pu". Read some English Yahoo news' front pages. JUST READ, IT DOES BODY GOOD. 4. Writing: Write your daily journal or so-called "diary" in English at the end of the day. A few sentences will do it. The more you write, the better dictation you will have. If possible, have someone to read through your writings and correct them. By the way, make sure that you review the corrections so that you know where those errors are. 5. Grammar: Prepare a grammar book for your writing reference if you don't have time to read it through. Whenever you have any doubt on your composition, Refer to this bible. Remember the usages that you just learned and keep them in mind. Also, practise these know-how's as often as possible. 6. Vocabulary: I guess this is the worst nightmare for each of you. Well, here is some tip. FLASH CARDS! BINGO! That's it! Learning new words is a life- long process; therefore, you need not panic. Memorizing five words a day is good enough. You don't even need to buy those vocab booklets from stores. All you need is to pick five words that you are unfamiliar with from your readings. Jot them down and write each word on a single piece of 3"x5" flash cards. Put down the vocabulary and its pronunciation in the front of the card; write down its english definition and a sample sentence in the back of the the card. Why english definition? It's gotta' be a MUST according to the basic concept of this passage: try to make every possible encountering with english, right? Ok, let say, you have 5 words today and memorize them. By tomorrow, you have another 5 words, but you need to review today's 5 words too! On the day after tomorrow, you review vocabularies for both today and tomorrow along with another 5 new words. So on and so forth. By the way, use them in your English writings as often as possible! Ok, that is basically about it. One last reminder: keep it up, folks! --

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