Servinna

 This is a good song that I found in this book, "English Phrasal Verbs in Use"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghd5weu5Mpg  (Barbra Streisand)

Isn't it rich?
Are we a pair?

Even the most studious among you will probably have difficulty studying at some stage in your academic career. If or when this happens, the only way to  (1)                            this problem is to go back to basics. First, make sure you have a comfortable environment to (2)                             in. Some students need to have a quiet space to themselves and can’t (3)                            if there are too many distractions. Others need some sort of background noise, such as music or the company of friends. Whatever your personal preference is, you need to   (4)                              this first of all. Next, make sure you have all of the equipment or tools that you need. For example, if you are (5)                              a geography course and you have to (6)                                about countries and their capital cities then you will need to have your atlas to hand. If you’re (7)                                your maths homework then be sure to find your calculator, ruler, protractor and compass before you start. Perhaps you’re not preparing a homework assignment or project, but are trying to (8)                               for an exam. If so, you need to know exactly what is on your curriculum. You should also (9)                                 your notes and make sure that you have a clear understanding of what your lecturers have (10)                                you. Of course, people with a learning disorder such as dyslexia may need to work harder than others at their studies as they often struggle to read even relatively simple texts.

concentrate

do

learn

Can I control any of unexpected activities like new assignments or my favourite actor appears at the local cinema that tend to interrupt my studies?
Draw up a study plan for myself for next week.
Study skills - Listening, speaking, reading and writing.
                     - note-taking, logic, spelling, organising notes, making footnotes, skimming, writing references
                     - organise notes, take notes, present ideas, ask questions, find a book in the library, find information in textbooks, write footnotes, think logically and clearly, organise ideas around a theme,write papers using correct layout, know the meaning of words, be able to revise quickly, pass examinations, organise study time and materials, speak out in a group, state the main idea of a lecture, remember details in a book.

This book can help me adjust my skills of learning English. By Mary Waters & Alan Waters
Unit 1 How do I learn?
            I need a notebook for each subject I study. It should contain all my notes and assignments for the subject.
            I also need a wordbook like a personal dictionary. I can keep a record of new vocabulary and spelling words in this book.
            Write a recipe for successful learning of my own. What are its essential ingredients?

Critically evaluate the Ballard and Clanchy text. Is it true that an international student must learn a new way of thinking and writing when they come to study in a UK-type academic environment?

Recently, a considerable number of people have studied to different countries such as the UK, the USA and Australia. However, there are some problems resembling lack of critical thinking, the ability to analyse and the aptitude to question when students are taught abroad. This is because these educational experts have claimed that an international learner should find out a new method of thinking and writing while they study in an English academic environment. In this essay, I will summarise the theory of Ballard and Clanchy’s and then further discussed the evaluation of their points.      

Firstly, it is generally believed that students from different countries may have a variety of purposes which may lead to various consequences to their thoughts and styles of learning. For instance, a student from Japan, who had excellent academic performance in Japanese Educational system could not adjust appropriately concerning learning in the first semester. Furthermore, he misunderstood the purpose from the lecturer which was to comparing, analyzing and evaluating between the views. Also, his critical analysis to the theory about Friedman and Samuelson was not pointed out. According to Ballard & Clanchy, Japanese can not think critically because they are not expected to do so in their education system. It is worthwhile to mention that many lecturers of universities encourage students to evaluate the theory of scholars and critical skills are taught. Nevertheless, there have been some learners who are confused about critical thinking although they might have critical lessons before. In my opinion, Japanese educational system is similar to the Taiwanese one. Hence, in Japan, critical skills must be taught as well. As a result, Ballard & Clanchy’s explanation regarding Japanese student may be incorrect. Moreover, an academic theory can not be proved by only one evidence as the Japanese student.

       The two experts have argued that different cultures lead to various attitude to learn. Therefore, it is often indispensable to study with a new method of learning when a student is in another cultural tradition. As we can see, there are four students from foreign countries such as Singapore, Japan, India and Indonesia and they have dissimilar problems to learn. Ballard & Clanchy drew attention foreign learners should change their traditional ways to study like to develop the potential to question, to analyse and to extend critical thinking. In addition, they have claimed that querying is not encouraged in some countries or the teacher teaches all of the knowledge in a variey of educational systems. However, it can not symbolize that students should learn new methods absolutely. This is because I will suggest that the traditional training of education should not be varied completely and students should adjust their attitude properly and learn actively. For instance, in Taiwan and Japan, students are trained to memorise knowledge and calculate effectively. Additionally, it is generally believed that teachers encourage students to ask questions but the learners do not query enthusiastically. In this case, they need more lessons to build up critically skills preparation like thinking, presenting ideas and asking questions. Moreover, students may find out a significant number of information if lectures can provide lots of datas. After that, these learners may be not simply to memorise lots of data as well as they can learn how to find out the main points, make available a thesis statement and think critically.

        It can be argued that individual approaches to thinking and writing can be produced by various cultures. “The cultural differences in the nature of rhetoric” is mentioned by Robert Kaplan and he points out the evidence from the analysis of students’ writing to maintain his opinions. According to Kaplan, there is a sub-culture each type of discipline. Therefore, it can be required to write with different pattern in other nations. For instance, a Taiwanese student can not illustrate writing with oriental patter in England, otherwise it may cause some problems like lack of explicit judgement, evaluation and critical opinions. Furthermore, the point of sub-culture can be accepted because it may be an access to develop students’ skills of writing and thinking extensively. Also, studying more than one discipline can be accepted. The more students study, the more they think. For example, the Department of Museum Studies in the University of Leicester, students are from diverse areas like education, history, art, media and biology. Consequently, they may learn different types of discipline when they are taught museum studies.

        In conclustions, students should learn a new method of thinking and writing while they study in an English educational environment. According to the essay, learners should adjust their attitude of learning appropriately. Therefore, if a person needs to develop their skills to analyse or think critically, they have to learn to compare various approaches, query and discuss with others. Nevertheless, they should maintain the useful skills like memorising and calculating which are taught in their own nations.