Study Tips
Organise your stuff!
Everybody has a different way of organising themselves,
studying, planning and preparing. Some of you may already
have some tried and tested methods, some of you may still
be working out what works for you, and some of you may never
even have thought about being organised! So here are some basic tips to help
you think about how you might do it or change the way you do it to be more effective;
Have a binder with separate divisions for grammar, vocabulary, verbs and historical/cultural
information (or however your teacher asks you to divide it up).
OR have an exercise book and write class notes in the front, and grammar in the back, and a
small notebook for vocabulary
OR have different exercise books – one for Grammar, one for class notes and one for
vocabulary
Keep everything! Save old materials, especially reference materials, keep work you have
completed in clear pocket files.
Use your internet browser bookmarking to save useful websites you have found or use a
social bookmarking site like Diigo and share your resources with your friends (and your
teacher!)
Save documents on the computer in separate folders and give them a
clear easily recognisable name.
Save special documents in your eportfolio.
If you have a separate vocabulary book think about how to organise it.
You could write each letter of the alphabet on a separate page in a
notebook. Then, as you learn vocabulary throughout the year, add the words to the correct
page.
You could write vocabulary according to the unit you are working on and have a new section
for each new unit.
You could organise the vocabulary according to topic, nouns, verbs, adjectives, time phrases,
etc
Use a daily planner or homework diary.
Create and organise a flip chart, using note cards to organise grammar, verb charts, etc.
Make flash cards with the word in the target language on one side and in English on the other
side. You can use these on your own or play games with them with a classmate.
Write a word with a drawing or symbol on one side of a card, and write a synonym or
definition on the other.
Practise regularly – just 10 minutes every day is much better than an hour a week.
Look for cognates and patterns in the words you are learning – cognates are words that look
like the English words, patterns may help you with the spelling as well as the meanings of
words.
Write and/or repeat out loud the new vocabulary or verb tense repetitively until you
remember.
Make recordings of yourself saying the new words and listen back to them
or swap recordings with a friend and correct each other
"Chunk" words together that have something in common (i.e.
masculine/feminine).
Make associations with the words (example: billet/bolet=ticket, so think "ballet ticket").
IN THE CLASSROOM
Don't be embarrassed. Relax. Have a go. Don't get discouraged. Everybody is learning and
making mistakes is the best way to learn.
Use the words you do know and then experiment with new ones. Don’t be afraid to say “Comó
se dice “dog” en español?
Don't fall behind! – this sounds harsh but it really means concentrate all the time, get
involved, participate otherwise it is easy to lose concentration, go off into dreamland and
before you know it you have missed some crucial information and you are behind. It is much
more difficult then to catch up as you lose confidence.
Speak daily, even if it sounds like "baby talk" – the language we are learning will sound simple
by comparison with the ideas you can express in English but remember that you have been
learning English since you were born! Don’t try to be too ambitious.
Repeat words. Practise new, strange sounds. When you are asked to repeat sounds in class
make sure you open your mouths and speak clearly – this is your chance to try out the sounds
of the words and the feeling of the words in your mouth when nobody else can hear you so it
doesn’t matter if you make a mistake!
Act a little. Exaggerate your pronunciation while speaking!
Ask questions. Again, don't be embarrassed.
Memorise a few classroom phrases immediately such as “No entiendo”, “Perdón”, “Comó se
dice “-------“ en español?”
Listen for cognates.
Mimic/copy others. Watch what others are doing and follow along.
Study at Home
Use the text to speech applications on the websites I have suggested – these help your
pronunciation heaps!
Use the podcasts and sound files on Dionet at home to help your pronunciation – nobody can
hear you in your bedroom!
Download podcasts and Spanish music onto your MP3 players and listen to them secretly!!
Learn to use the dictionary correctly – paper as well as online dictionaries.
Do not use translation services – they really don’t help you learn.
Don't translate word for word – language is a strange and wonderful thing
and is as individual as the people that speak it. We have words that mean
the same sort of thing in different languages but once you put them
together the sense or feeling may be different. Sometimes we may use one
word in English where four are needed in Spanish!
Learn the alphabet and the phonetic sounds in the target language.
Take notes, but don’t get hung up on writing down every word I say in the lesson. It is
better to listen first and get the general idea. I will always give you time to think about
what you can remember and share your thoughts with classmates. There will always be
somewhere you can look up what we did in the lesson so that you can write your notes at
home. That way, you have to reflect on what you learned in the lesson and work out what you
really understood and what you need to spend some time on.
Make your own quizzes and games either online or on paper to help you practise.
Practise with a parent or classmate – but make sure that if you work with a friend you have
something structured to do or you will get distracted !
Study out loud in front of a mirror – watch your mouth moving and experiment with the
sounds.
Find a quiet place without distractions.
Go through the chapter or lesson and think up possible questions or use the study guides at
the end of the chapter.
Review flash cards or the day's lesson for fifteen minutes every evening.
If you need to listen to music, choose soft, wordless music to avoid distraction – Baroque
music is apparently the best!
Catching up after an absence
If you are absent due to illness talk to a classmate to find out what you have missed and
arrange to copy up work from their book. Have a chat with me and we can arrange a catch up
session if you have been away for more than a couple of days.
If you know you are going to be absent, speak to me well in advance and I can give you some
work to do if it is appropriate.
Be proactive - have a look at some of the resources on Dionet and watch the next episode of
Mi Vida Loca and do the interactive activities.
WRITING
Many of the strategies outlined above are also true for writing;
Avoid translating English idioms and colloquialisms (phrases that don't translate
directly), as well as slang into the other language.
Do not write in English and then translate into the language of study; think and write in the
target language.
Check your work carefully, swap your work with a classmate and check each others’ work –
often you can see somebody else’s mistakes but not your own!
READING
Guess the meanings of words from the context - you don't need to know/look up every word.
Take notes on what you've read – make a note of words you really don’t know once you have
identified the words you do know, the words you can guess because they look like English
words, and the words you can guess because of the context. Then check the meanings of
those unfamiliar words in a dictionary.
Be careful when translating. Do not take every word literally!
Read as much as possible – there are some great websites for kids – it
doesn’t matter if you don’t understand everything just like when you listen
– seeing the words and listening to them exposes you to the language and it
all sinks in eventually!!
Use reading tips learned in English/Reading classes – learning is cross-curricular – techniques
you learn in one subject can be transferred to others.
TEST TAKING STRATEGIES
Come well-rested and prepared.
2Do not cram right before the test; you will likely become more confused.
Study (at least) two nights before the exam, review the evening before the exam and then
briefly review the morning of the exam.
Look over the test before you begin, so that you know what to expect.
RELAX!
Plan your time – don’t spend ¾ of the time on the first section and then run out of time. You
can always go back to a question and look again if you find you have enough time. Also you
may find that you can answer a question better once you have read the whole paper
Read the instructions carefully then read them again.
In Listening examinations listen for special instructions. Listen to the whole thing before
being tempted to write the answer down as soon as you hear it – your brain can’t cope with
listening and writing at the same time and you will just miss the next bit of information.
Apply the strategies you use in class in examinations e.g. Read a question first, read the
selection, look for key words and guess the meaning of the words you don't know.
If you get stuck on a question, move on – you can always go back to it later (think about
planning your time).
Never leave an answer blank - a guess is better than nothing.
Leave enough time to check over your answers at the end of the examination.