"A little learning is a dangerous thing, drink deep or never taste the cup"

Excellence or even success in at English is a far-fetched goal. This is the opinion of so many students. They claim that they don't know how to read, write, speak and listen to English lectures. To pin it down, they repeat English for so many times to the extent that they see English as the monotonous motif that, supposedly, blocks their minds.

 Students are asked to choose the best way to be at least good at English (reading, writing, and reading, listening and speaking skills). Most of the students have chosen the following methods:

1.      Reading books and articles (to read correct English).

2.      Learning vocabulary items by heart, and Chatting on the net with others. (To speak good English).

3.      Taking lessons in grammar (to write good English).

These modes help students store information in the short term memory and help them study Basic English, but what we need is long term storage in memory. To reach such an end, they have to dig deep into English by applying the following tips:

1.      Zest for English leads to good English: It is found by many researchers that optimistic learners tend to understand much better than a pessimistic one. Moreover, determination and patience result in good understanding. This should be the inherent thought before taking any lesson in English.

2.      To be a good reader, use the dictionary while reading books, stories, and magazines. All the students who are top in class make use of the dictionary.

3.      To be a good speaker, be a good listener. Great speech comes from great listening. Don't listen to textbook conversations; they are not interesting. You need books that motivate you. You can open Web pages especially set for students who are weak at English (you can watch natural English lessons. Click (http://www.english4today.com/usr/video/ytv/?p=70.). This page provides you with an English lesson. All the sentences that the speakers voice for are written on the screen, so you can listen, read, and understand the meaning of any word due to the video tape. There are many of them on the net.

4.      To be a good writer, carry a pen and a paper whenever you are. Try to write once everyday quickly. Don't stop to correct your spelling or grammatical mistakes. After a few days, you can come back to see what is wrong and what is right.

5.      You can listen to audio-visual grammar lessons by surfing the following Websites:

a.     (http://www.english4today.com/usr/video/ytv/?p=87)

b.    (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXnDmvBBHHs&eurl=http://www.english4today.com/usr/video/ytv/?p=103)

c.     http://www.english4today.com/usr/video/ytv/?p=91

d.    http://www.english4today.com/usr/video/ytv/?p=79

These websites provide you with four audio visual lessons related to Simple Past/Part 1+2+3. Try them and comment on the way English is taught.