Writing Writing is a very important part of communication. In many ways it is through writing that we can best express ourselves. Two main forms are structured writing exercises and creative writing exercises. Though structured writing exercises are helpful, free and creative writing should be highly encouraged.　It is helpful for both the students and the teacher:　 • Students are not limited by shyness (as when speaking). • Students are forced to use vocabulary, correct spelling, grammar patterns, punctuation, and structure. (Be sure to encourage students to use the English they alrea...

Reading skill

Educators frequently ask students to 'read around the subject' with little or no guidance on how to approach this task. Conscientious students spend many hours with a book or article in front of them and eventually either copy out chunks of information or forget what they have read by the time they have left the library. This section and those on Note Taking and Using the Library should, hopefully, make private study time more effective for all students.

There are a number of objectives which academic reading aims to achieve:

Reading to understand a theoretical concept ...

Encouraging Students to Speak More in Class

　Most junior and senior high school students are not confident when speaking English.　Teachers often say that their students are "shy", but most often the reason is because students have little practice speaking communicative—NOT MEMORIZED—English.  With practice and a positive attitude, every student can improve their speaking ability.  The following are some suggestions for encouraging your students to speak:

　

Use English as often as possible and don't respond to their Japanese. Prepare posters of key classroom expressions: "Please ...

Attentive listeners are usually good learners. Unfortunately, many students have poor listening skills, which can be very problematic because students spend considerable time in classrooms during college. Since there is a major difference between hearing and listening, many students believe they are good listeners. Attentive listeners process the information presented to them.
These tips will help you be a more attentive listener:
Listen for meaning
Attentive listeners not only pay attention to words, they also focus on the message these words are intended to transmit. To decipher messages, fi...