Improving Your English
Welcome to “Improving Your English: for Spanish Speakers!” We wish to start out by asking you to be very patient as you pursue mastery of the English language. Without a doubt, the English language is the most difficult language on the planet to learn. That said, we applaud your desire to increase your understanding of the language. English is the only language there is that is required to be spoken in every country on Earth. Please know that if air traffic controllers in Russia, China, North Korea and Zimbabwe can learn English, you can too!
The best way to increase your understanding of English is to immerse yourself in the language. Many Spanish language speakers have been here for five, ten, sometimes twenty years and know little English. The simple fact is, they have continued to watch Spanish language television, listen to Spanish language radio and CDs, they read Spanish language newspapers and magazines, and their daily conversation to friends and family is in Spanish. It is quite possible to go from sunrise to sunset without speaking a single word of English, and many people do.
By being in this seminar, you are demonstrating a desire to not only improve your English, but to perfect your English. We strongly encourage you to begin including English as a regular part of your daily communications. There are countless movies and videos to watch, CDs to listen to, and magazines, newspapers and books to read. Your challenge is to begin the process. Dive in and begin to familiarize yourself with the language as it is really used, not just as you will learn it in a classroom.
The English language is a language of exceptions. While there are many rules you will discover, there are countless exceptions to those rules. The tricks and secrets come with practice and familiarity. In listening to English language television and movies, you can quickly begin to hear for yourself the complex way that people talk to each other. Because America is a melting pot of different cultures, we have embraced words and phrases from other nations and languages and made them our own. The Oxford English Dictionary lists over 250,000 distinct words, not including many technical or slang terms. Most Americans who grew up with English know only a small part of that number of words but still get by quite well. Communicating in English, or any language, is primarily about communicating ideas. Your task as a speaker is to speak in such a way that the other person, or people, can understand your meaning.
In leaving this seminar, your homework will be to begin to take in the English language and become familiar with how it sounds on a daily basis. You speak Spanish as well as you do because you are familiar with it. To perfect your English, you must become equally familiar with it as well. This is simply a choice on your part. No one can force you. No one can do it for you. You must go down that path and make the choice to experience a part of life through another language. Yes, there will be questions, and yes, there may be frustrations, but if you persist in your quest, you will be successful!
As a suggestion for local English language radio programming, consider 89.7 on your FM dial. KSGN is a Christian station and the content is safe for the whole family. You can find them on the Internet at www.KSGN.com
For talk radio in English, consider the National Public Radio station 89.1 FM. This is a local repeater station from Pasadena City College KPCC. The content is very informative and will help you to stay in touch with what is happening on a national level. Many of the words and phrases you hear will help you to advance your English to a whole new level.
One of your biggest resources is the library. There are countless materials we can check out for free. Upstairs and downstairs are computer terminals we can use to get onto the Internet. A powerful site that will help you immensely is www.Google.com On their home page, there is a row of words near the top. The last is "more" followed by a down arrow. If you click on the down arrow, you will see an option for "Translate." By clicking on Translate, you are taken to another page where you can enter words or phrases and the computer will do the translation for you. Simply select "Spanish" after the "From:" option and after "To:" select English.
Resources in the Feldheym Library
Baron's ESL guide to American business English
By Andrea G. Geffner Library # 428.2 GEF
Refining Composition skills: rheotoric and grammar for ESL students
By Regina L. Smalley, Mary K. Ruetten Library # 808.SMA
Teaching ESL Writing
By Joy M. Reid Library # 428.REI
Domine lo básico - Inglés = Master the basics of English for Spanish speakers
By Jean Yates Library # 428.2 YAT
English step-by-step for Spanish-speaking people = Inglés paso-a-paso
By Charles Berlitz Library # 428.2 BER
Painless English for speakers of other Languages
By Strausser and Paniza
Library # 428.0071 STR
Our next "Improving Your English" seminar will be on Monday, March 21st from 7-8 pm in the
New Hope Family Life Center,
1505 W. Highland Ave., San Bernardino, CA 92411.
[corner of Highland and Western]
We will be in Room 24.
The class is likely to fill up quickly, so come a little early for seating.
A very special "Thank you!" to each of our sponsors. Without you, we could not make this seminar series happen.
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