Report

By Judy and Terri

We did a survey about learning strategies in VIU academic students. Here is a list of the questions:

1. Give 3 learning strategies in your studying.
2. What is the hardest part in studying at VIU?
3. How many hours do you study at home?

We surveyed ten students include international students and domestic students because they may have different strategies and hardest part.

We list top10 about learning strategies. ①Take a good notes. This strategy is useful to prepare quiz and test. ②Review your notes and academic textbooks because your memory can’t be clear after 24 hours. It can aid you to refresh your memory effective. ③Listen to English music and see English movies and read English books, newspaper, textbooks and magazines. It helps you learn formal and informal language and also can remember many vocabularies. ④Use flash card to memorize vocabularies. ⑤Use paper dictionary not electronic dictionary or you will find a wrong meaning. ⑥Buy a grammar book and often review it. ⑦Read articles loudly. It can help you to correct your pronunciation. ⑧Chat with local people. It is a best way to improve your English spoken. ⑨Ask questions when you can’t understand. Both your teachers and classmates can help you. ⑩Write everyday and ask English speaker to correct it.

About the hardest part

Speaking, listening, writing essay and memorizing vocabulary are very difficult to international students. A student said when he works in group; other students speak fast which is not like in ESL class. So it is difficult to understand. And for local students the hardest parts are writing essay and paper. As a result, in order to deal with these problems and puzzles, they need to practice more.

About the last question, we want to know how many hours should students study at home. Sometime students study for a long time but they get nothing. They spend much time in playing online game. It is not only useless but also wastes your time. Here is the result of the third question:

This pie chart illustrates that the majority of students (about 40%) like to spend 0 to 2 hours in studying at home. But they usually go to the library. When they return home, students do not want to spend too much time in studying. Some students (50%) study 2 to 4 hours at home. These students not only study in the library but also spend time at home. A few students (10%) study more than 4 hours at home. These students are probable new academic students. They are not familiar a new environment and teaching method. They need to spend more time to study at home. In brief, different students have different    habit in studying. We should find a better way which is fit us.

These are our results of the survey. We hope it is useful for your studying.  

How to download a free iBooks from the Internet to iphone?

By Judy and Terri

How to download a free iBooks from the Internet to iphone?

      1. Find the app which suit to you and open it.

 2. Research iBooks from the app and download it.

      3. From the Charts find the free books and download it.

How can you choose which book is best for you to read

      There are many books on the website or smart phone. I think that it is easy to choose any book you want. Making sure you find a book is extremely interesting. If you choose a difficult or boring book, you will lose your reading interest gradually. In order to choose the book which is best for you, you can look at the information of the books and the writers. And it also has view author page

How can you find out the total word count of the book?



For iBooks you just can find how many pages does this book have, so you just can evaluate how many words every page and then multiplication by page number. Or you can research on Google.

By Judy and Terri

What are the key points about summary writing?

1. Keeping a short summary( shouldn't be more than 150 words in total)

2. Using Abbreviations and technical terms must be simple and    clear, unless they are generally/easily to understand, e.g. ECG, HIV/AIDS, K+ channel.
3. Use language that can be understood by a non-specialist with a general knowledge of science.
4. Make sure the summary exactly reflects the original article and the implications for future research.
5. State in one or two points what is already known that led to the present work and what the paper adds to existing knowledge.

http://jp.physoc.org/site/misc/keypointssummary.xhtml

How to write a good summary?

1. You should understand completely the materials that you are planning to summarize.  

2. Use as few words as possible to convey the main ideas. (About 150 to 200)
3. Combining the thesis with one-sentence summaries and add some important details from the passage.
4. Check your summary against the original passage
5. Using your own words.
6. Revise your summary. (You should insert transitional words and phrases where necessary to ensure coherence).

http://hk.knowledge.yahoo.com/question/question?qid=7007042105609

Key ideas and skills

There are several skills we learn in the textbook. The skills illustrate that we can comprehend words in context without using dictionary such as knowing the root meaning and then know the strange words by their suffix and prefix. Using these strategies can aid you to understand unfamiliar words. The second skill is related to writing a successful short answer. Writing a short answer can help you a lots especially, you prepare your homework or you join the test and exam. It is a best way to save your time. Thirdly, doing speed reading usually. For AP4 students, our speed shouldn’t be less than 133 words per minute. If it is possible make sure the accuracy of questions higher and higher. And the last one is knowing what is reference and its form what is its effect. In addition to that, using example in your writing is necessary. It is easy to understand the content of your writing,and readers can remember your writing deeply. Finally, scanning in reading is very improtant step. When you read a article, you should find main point, primary support and details which can help you to comprehend the article quickly.  In short Unit 1 is good for everyone’s English studying.

photos

By Judy and Terri



 

Terri's host family

 

 

others

 



Picture

Visit Henry and Owen's blog

By Judy and Terri

 

  We visited Henry and Owen's blog,and we learnt lots of from it.

  From Henry's post we got 3 points of learning strategies.They are 'everyone need to find some styles which are suit you','Listening- Note taking' and 'managing your time'.It is really useful for us students.And he gives us some examples to explain his points.

  From Owen's post we got 2 another points 'textbook reading' and 'exam preparation'. These two points are extremely essential for students who can do very well in the classes or outside discusses  group with classmates.

  In all,we think their posts are very good and the blog is wonderful.We hope these points can help each student in English studying and everyone in AP4 can read it.

 

http://www.henryandowensblog.blogspot.ca/

Learning Strategies

By Judy

There are three strategies which are useful for learning second language. First of all, listening and note-taking is extremely important during the classes. It is an easy way to learn a new language. For example, when the tests come, students can study their notes to review some points and take a best test grades. The second strategy is related to vocabulary. Vocabulary strategy can aid students to acquire the meaning of new vocabulary. Students can easy to memorize many vocabulary words. For example, students can play interesting game with words to remember vocabulary words quickly. Third, Meta cognition is very useful before learning. Meta cognition consists of three basic elements. The use of questions before, during and after instruction can improve your learning. First is developing a plan of action. When you are developing the plan of action, you need to ask yourself some questions. The questions are about  what should I do first and in what direction do I think. Second is monitoring the plan. You should ask yourself how am I doing, am I on the right track and should I move in a different direction. Third is evaluating the plan. You need still ask question as how well did I do. When you use Meta cognition in studying, you can do very well.

 In brief, Learning strategies not only help students to understand information but also solve problems.

http://www.kucrl.org/sim/strategies/first.shtml

http://grammar.yourdictionary.com/grammar-rules-and-  tips/vocabulary-strategies.html
http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/issues/students/learning/lr1metn.htm

Learning Strategies

By Terri

  I read a article about 'Learning Strategies' on the website.I knew something about it and then I will tell you.
  Learning Strategies can help students understand information and solve problems.It's a skill for student to study.And if a student do not know or use it he/she will be not good in school.In all Learning Strategies have 3 advantages.
  Firstly,Learning Strategies can teach students how to acquire information.It include from paraphrases and pictures.If you don't know how to do it,of course,you can't use your text books better.And then you will fail the exams.Learning Strategies also can improve your skill of understanding , remembering and asking questions.
  Secondly,Learning Strategies can help students study information once they acquire it.These strategies help prepare students for tests.So it's useful.
  Thirdly,Learning Strategies help students express themselves,including writing and monitoring their works for errors.Expressing is the last step of studying.And this is the best step to prove you understand the studying.
  So,in conclusion,Learning Strategies is important and useful in our studying.Try your best to get it!

 

http://www.kucrl.org/sim/strategies.shtml