Making Your Learning Effective and Efficient

In the previous article, I have explained quite clearly about causes which make our learning seems useless. Just as a remainder, let me state the cause once more here. Our learning becomes not so meaningful because we don't to it effectively and efficiently. We just learn, we just exercise, we just read, and so on and so on without considering whether what we learn is useful or not. Therefore, no matter how much time we have spent to learn something, it seems that there is no result for what we have done. It's because we do not learn effectively and efficiently.

So how can we learn effectively and efficiently?

Alright, based on our discussion of effectiveness and efficiency in the previous article, we have known that effectiveness is the level to which what we inted is accomplished no matter how much energy and cost it needs. Efficiency, on the other hand, completes the term effectiveness in that to accomplish our goal using the minimum cost or energy. In practice, we can make our learning more effective and efficient if we know what is the goal of our learning. Confused? Alright, let me explain this as follow:

In school while we are facing examination, for example, we have two choices: 1) reading all materials our teachers have taught us, or 2) reading only materials which predicted to be included in the exam. While both choices probably will give us similar result if done correctly, I prefer the second because I can save some of our energy and time while, at the same time, the result of our examination will not lower. I call the first as studying vocariously while the second studying effectively and efficiently.

Perhaps you have a question like how can our prediction is correct. Well, in term of school examination I will not recommend you 'just' predict. It is easy to have 100% correct prediction. How? By asking your teacher. Of course your teachers will not answer if you ask for the answer of the examination. But, if you ask for the outline or the curriculum of the subject matter or the lesson they are teaching, they will give you the answer.

Well, the above applies in the school examination. How about the learning in the general? Well, the keyword here is we have to have the goal of our learning. Whatever you are learning, whatever you are reading, you must have the answer if sometime someone ask you "what for you read that?" "Why do you study that?" If you have had the answer, then automatically your learning will be effective and efficient.

Now, the last question, what is your goal in reading this article? Please, write your answer in the comment box.

How to Learn Effectively and Efficiently

Do you ever feel like you have learned a lot but all you have learned seem useless? If you answer yes, don't be disappointed. There are many people out there who feel the same. They have read a lot, exercised so many times, and done whatever it takes but they feel that their brain is still empty. Exactly similar to what you feel, right? So, what's wrong with your and their learning?

Well, actually nothing is wrong. You and they have done the correct thing namely learning or excercising. The only thing which is probably not so right is the effectiveness and efficiency of your learning. So what and how is effective and efficient learning? Well, continue reading this article to know the answer.

Something is said to be effective if it accomplishes what it is intended to accomplish. If your plumb is leaked, for example, and you want to fix it, the your fixing effort is said to be effective when the leakage is gone no matter how much money or resource or energy you spend. As long as the leakage is successfully fixed, then you have done the fixing effectively.

Unfortunately, effectiveness alone is not enough. You need another thing namely efficiency. Since, just like what have been described above, to do some thing effectively sometimes results in wasting of energy, money, or resources. And I believe you don't want to do that. That is why you need efficiency in everything you do. So what is efficiency? Here it is.

Something is said to be efficient if it takes the minimum resources to gain the most result. Related to the plumb leakage case above, the fixing effort is said to be efficient if it takes the minimum cost, energy, or resources but with highest success of leakage fixing. Therefore, replacing the whole old pipe with the new one is not the most efficient effort even though this may result in success in leakage fixing. Perhaps, the most efficient effort would be to cover the leaked pipe with glue.

So, how about effective and efficient learning? To know the answer, please be patient and stay tuned in this blog cause I will discuss that elaborately in the next article. Bye for now...

Teaching Preposition Using Games

English Preposition Games - For many students of English, preposition is an easy material to learn. So easy is it, that they think they don't need any explanation from the teacher. What they need to do is just to open the dictionary, look up the meanings, and memorize them. This view is true for many, but not all, students. Some students, no matter how little their number is, still need teacher's explanation and instruction. Some students even depend on teacher's explanation very greatly. Without teacher's instruction, or perhaps, demonstration, they just can't understand the material thoroughly.

Related to that fact, we, teachers of English should view the material and the students in clear perspective. Eliminating the material from our English teaching and learning plan will be unfair for the later group, those who need teachers' instruction. Meanwhile, teaching the material, preposition, in a conventional way will make the first group bored. The solution for this is for teachers to keep teaching the material while at the same time make those the first group feel involved. And to achieve this purpose, using game to teach preposition is the wisest choice. But, what kind of game I can use to teach preposition? That's the question which may echo in your head. Well, if you are looking such game, then I hope the following game, "do what your teacher says" game is applicable in your class.

Game Properties
Well before I explain how to play the game, let's us first enlist and learn about properties of this game. By the phrase, I mean any learning aspects which the game has and anything required to play the game. This includes objective of the game, language focus of the game and materials needed. To be short, the game is intended to practice English prepositions. The language focus of the game is simple one or two words preposition especially prepositions of location including in, at, on, under, above, below, next to, behind, in front of, beside, etc. Meanwhile, the materials needed in the game are students' learning instrument such as book, ruler, pen, bag, pencil, eraser, drawing book, calculator, etc.

How To Play The Game

For the sake of clarity, I'll break down the game to steps:
Step 1
The teacher prepare the students for the game. S/he should have told them to bring materials needed. Students should understand what they should bring.
Step 2
In this step, the teacher explains about preposition. The explanation should be made as short as possible. However, s/he should make sure that the students understand the function and meaning of prepositions.
Step 3
Assume all students bring all materials needed in the game and they have understood the meaning and function of each preposition. In this step, the teacher tells the students about what they are going to do, namely playing preposition game. S/he also explains the properties of the game.
Step 4
The teacher begins to explain the rule of the game. The students should understand, with teacher's explanation, that they will have to practice teacher's direction. When the teacher says "Put your pen UNDER the book!" for example, they should move their pen and place it under the book. All students in the class should do it together. There is a time limit. Students who could not do the direction in the specified time, then they are out of the game. If they mistakenly practice what teacher says, they are out. The winner is the student who could practice all teacher's direction up to the end.

p.s.: The teacher should prepare as many directions as possible. Over time, the direction should be made more complicated and involve more prepositions. To discriminate the level of students' attention, it is recommended that the teacher use variation of voice speed.

Well, that's a game which can be used to teach preposition. If you have your own games to teach preposition, feel free to share here.

Aspects To Consider In Teaching Writing

How to Teach Writing - Many English teachers get frustrated when they have to teach writing skill. They are often confused about how to teach writing skills effectively and efficiently. However hard they have tried, at the end of the semester, when they see the students' test result, they will usually frown. They are disappointed. Their students fail to fulfill their expectation. Finally, if not blaming their students of being lazy to study, they will blame themselves of not being able to teach writing skills.

Are you one of those English teachers? If yes, then you must arrive here with the expectation to find proven teaching writing strategies which will be very helpful to your duty as a teacher. Well, you may find teaching writing techiques that I've written here and here useful. Hopefully! But, keep it in mind that always depending on techniques made by others to help you cope with the teaching and learning problems you find in your classroom is not wise. Why? Because each class is unique. There are no exactly two similar classes in the word. As a result, techniques proven effective in one class may be found less effective in your class. Therefore, you need to create your own teaching techniques to cope with problems you find. If the technique you create does not show expected result, revise it untill you get what you want.

In relation to teaching writing skills, there are some important aspects you need to consider before creating your own teaching techniques. If you could consider those aspect and adjust the teaching techniques/strategies you are going to create, then the result must be satisfying. In contrast, if you fail to adjust them to your techniques, then there must be weaknesess in the techniques. The aspects are as follow:

1. Students' Level of education.
It is very crucial aspect which will affect the effectiveness of your techniques. You should pay great attention to whether your students are in elementary schools, in secondary school (junior and senior high schools), or in university. If the technique is not appropriately adjusted to students' level of education, then the product could be too easy or to difficult for the students.

2. Students' level of English mastery
Let's say that your students have not understood well about basic English grammar and they don't have sufficient repertoir of English vocabularies. But you assign them to write about their holiday experience. Of course, your students will not be able to do just like what you expect. With this kind of students you should assign them to complete sentences with appropriate words.

3. Types of assigned writing
By this aspect, I mean you should pay attention to kinds of text your students will have to produce: narrative, descriptive, expository, persuasive, argumentative, procedural, essay, resume, creative, or summary writing. You need to consider this because different kinds of text needs different teaching techniques. It is not effective, or even meaningles, of course, to use picture of series of event in your teaching when you actually want your students to write description about one prominent figure.

Well, that is the list of aspect you should know and consider while creating your own teaching writing techniques. I believe, over time, the english teaching and learning activities in your classroom will improve once you are able to create your own teaching techniques/strategies.

English Personal Pronouns

English Personal Pronouns - Before we, teachers of English, could help our students understand English personal pronouns appropriately, we ourselves should first understand well everything about English personal pronouns. If we don't have very good understanding about this subject, it's impossible for us to help our students learn this material. In this article I will discuss important things we should know about English personal pronouns. I believe all of you, English teachers, have understood this material very well. Therefore, let's treat this article as additional reading.

Scope of Discussion
In this article I will discuss only some (not all) aspects of English personal pronouns. They include personal pronoun definition, personal pronoun list, personal pronoun function, and personal pronoun reference. For the sake of clarity, I'll try to add personal pronoun examples in sentences. Of course, if after reading through this article you still don't get it well, you are recommended to ask some questions in the comment box.

Well, here we go

Definition of Personal Pronoun
Basically, pronoun is defined as the words in English which can be used to replace nouns whose identity is made clear earlier in the text. Departing from this definition, we can define personal pronoun as words which can replace nouns of persons.

Personal Pronoun List
Generally, there are seven personal pronouns in English. They are I, You, They, We, He, She, It.

Personal Pronoun Reference
Since personal pronouns stand for nouns of person, they can be distinguised by person. First person refers to the speaker(s) or writer(s) ("I" for singular, "we" for plural). Second person refers to the person or people being spoken or written to ("you" for both singular and plural). Third person refers to the person or people being spoken or written about ("he," "she," and "it" for singular, "they" for plural).

Personal Pronoun Functions
In a sentence, personal pronouns may have four different functions. They are as subject, object, adjective, and possessive. Unlike English nouns, which usually do not change form except for the addition of an -s ending to create the plural or the apostrophe + s to create the possessive, personal pronouns (which stand for persons or things) change form according to their various uses within a sentence. The following is the list of personal pronoun functions and their forms:

Subject	Object	Adjective	Possessive
I	Me	My	Mine
You	You	Your	Yours
They	Them	Their	Theirs
We	Us	Our	Ours
He	Him	His	His
She	Her	Her	Hers
It	It	Its	Its

Well, the above are some important aspects of English personal pronouns teachers should know. Hopefully, this article could be useful for you.