General Studying Tips

As a student in G12, you need to know the following tips:

• Writing Tips
• Reading Tips

• Listening Tips
• Speaking Tips

• Grammar Tips

Reading Tips

Reading is a very important language skill. It is usually a silent skill. It helps us acquire new knowledge, enrich our personal dictionary with new vocabulary, and gain more experience with the language itself.

• Natural reading is a SILENT skill.
   
• Don't waste your time trying to find the meaning of individual words. Instead, try to guess and understand the meaning from the context itself.
   
• Read quickly to find the main idea of a paragraph (skimming). Try to understand what the write is tying to say.
   
• Read the text quickly after you have read the questions.  That will give you the general idea of the text and help you answer these type of questions.
   
• Don't use your pencil while reading.
   
• Make some predictions; what will come next.
   
• When you finish reading, turn to the questions and start thinking about the appropriate answer(s). You may read the related sentence/ section again for more details (scanning).
   
• Try to summarize the main idea(s) of a reading to your partner or to the teacher.
   
• Reading exercises include different types of question. Some of the question types are
  • choosing the correct main idea or title for the text
  • deciding what pronouns (they, he, she, etc) refer to
  • understanding the meaning of vocabulary
  • inference (reading between the lines or making a good guess)
  • understanding the text as a whole
  • understanding particular sentences or parts in the text

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Grammar Tips

• When you look at the pronoun, first decide if it is a person or a thing. Then you can decide on the right noun.
   
• When you read grammar questions look at the context (the other words in the sentence) to help you find the correct  tense.
   
• Check your spelling if you write a sentence.
   
• If confused with a word, look it up in a dictionary.
   
• Read the whole sentence before you decide on subjects or pronouns.
   
• Study verb tenses inductively within a context and ask your teachers or search the internet for more examples.

Writing Tips

• When writing, it is a good idea to use the important or ‘key words from the title in your first sentence. This is called the ‘topic sentence’.
• It's important to write a good and catchy title for your writing that makes a good summary for your overall writing.
• Brainstorm, in any form using words, mind maps, or images BEFORE you start writing.
• Once you started writing, give your mind freedom to write freely without paying much attention to mistakes.
• Give yourself the chance to be creative.
• If asked to write about your opinion, be honest in your response. In other words, write what you know/ believe and do your best to support your views.
• Make sure you include the three following main components in your writing;
  • An Introduction: a summary of your writing plans, main idea, point of view, or the purpose of your writing.
  • Body Paragraph(s): With more details, examples, stories, facts, assumptions, etc..
  • Conclusion: As you finish your writing, restate your main view/ opinion that you used in the introductory part/ paragraph.
• A good writing is one that has a good and clear outline.
• Language: Pay clear attention to the following as main elements in your writing:
  • Spelling (not spileing!)
  • Punctuation Marks (, - . - ? - ! - ; - : - "" - - )
  • Use the appropriate grammar tenses, subject-verb agreement, sentence structure, etc..
  • Use transitional words (first, second, also, additionally, but, then, etc..)
• If possible, ask someone to edit your writing. Speak to your editor to find out more about the type of mistakes you made.

Listening Tips

• Make notes of the main ideas, including any names of people or places while listening.
• Don’t worry about how much you understand.  Listen to get an overall idea and record any details as much as you can.
• Write a brief summary (one or two sentences) of each story.
• Set yourself a few questions to answer.  Then listen again for the answers.
• Make notes of any new vocabulary you think is important.
• When you feel confident, try listening to different programs in different accents.

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Now, are you ready for a little practice? If yes, then turn to the themes page and choose from the list of tasks available under each.