Simpler English Some Tips for Learning English on Your Own Shianhwa Aziz Jang 張顯華 NCCU Center for Teaching and Learning Development April 26, 2011

Aziz’s Profile  台大外文系  詠瑞留學中心教學部主任, TOEFL 、 GRE 講師  教育部留學獎學金  政大宗教研究所碩士班  政大英文寫作坊諮詢員、教發中心英語輔導員  受邀至哈佛大學、哥倫比亞大學發表論文演講  希樂美語講座籌備人

Orientation  Motivation—career, levels, stress  Autonomy

Structure of the Lecture  Reading  Speaking  Writing  Listening

Reading  Reading  high school vocabulary  GSL 2000: 90% of fictional texts, 75% of non- fictional texts, 76% of academic texts (1000, 2000)  AWL 570: 10% of academic texts  compositional structure  Table of contents  first sentences  last sentences  GRE vocabulary

Word Power and Etymology  Native speakers’ approach  Vowels are not important  Similar consonants are exchangeable  Examples: anklet, angular, angle

ABANDON late 14c., "to subjugate, subdue," from O.Fr. abandoner "surrender" (12c.), from à "at, to" + bandon "power, jurisdiction," in phrase mettre à bandon "to give up to a public ban," from L. bannum, "proclamation," from a Frankish word related to ban (v.). Etymologically, the word carries a sense of "put someone under someone else's control." Meaning "to give up absolutely" is from late 14c. Related: Abandoned; abandoning. The noun sense of "letting loose, surrender to natural impulses" (1822) is from Fr. abandon (cf. to do something at abandon "recklessly," attested from late 14c.).banAbandoned Abandon all hope you who enter here. Dante, Divine Comedy. (The supposed inscription at the entrance to Hell) verb [T] 1 LEAVE to leave someone or something somewhere, sometimes not returning to get them They were forced to abandon the car. He was abandoned by his mother as a baby. 2 STOP DOING to stop doing something before it is finished, or to stop following a plan, idea, etc The match was abandoned because of rain.

ABDOMEN 1540s, "belly fat," from L. abdomen (gen. abdominis) "belly" noun [C] FORMAL the lower part of a person or animal's body, containing the stomach and other organs Your abdomen is the part of your body below your chest where your stomach and intestines are. (FORMAL) He was suffering from pains in his abdomen.

Speaking  Speaking  balance between accuracy and fluency for TOEFL  communication: you don’t make money by speaking English; you make money by doing your business in English

Speaking: A Mixed Model  Tenses: past-present mix  Singular or Plural: Lena’s case  Accent: Lily’s case  African American English  Omissions of final consonants such as t, d, s, z  Am, is, are, was, were  “be” throughout  ‘s, ‘re  no difference between past and present tenses

Writing  Writing  two-lines rule  Obama and Bush  The Economist  Average college writing

Listening  Listening  transcription  open courses from Yale, Stanford, Ted  grammar girl podcast

The End  Questions?