Falling Water

Falling water

This pandemic situations cancel my plans for holidays, erasmus, ect. Now, in the middle of the year I feel soo lost. It's like looking at the time and it's a falling water. And you try to stop it or just catch it, but it falls through fingers.

I hate waiting for nothing. How I can plan whatever when I don't know that maybe my country will be closed in October. Who knows. No one. And that's the problem.

How do you deal with these problems?

language learning made easy

I’ve summarized professor  Alexander Arguelles’ video, because I think this is crucial for language learning. 

There is no magic trick that will help you become fluent in 1 month, but there are very effective approaches to learning a new language and if you combine them, you will surely become fluent.

If you’re learning a new language, the most important thing you need to consider is – what type of language learner are you? 

1. If you:

have a more deductive approach, which means that you’re better at listening to and observing the language first and learning through that, rather than starting with plain grammar points from a textbook

have a fair degree of intuition

like to observe a phenomenon

feel somewhat comfortable with ambiguity for a while, until things become clear

are someone who can feel comfortable being corrected when they realize they were wrong, rather than getting confused and frustrated because they went down an initial path that turned out not to be correct (so you actually learn from being corrected and you don’t get confused by it)

then, these manuals are best suited for you: the Assimil Language Series, the Linguaphone Series, the Cortina Methods.

2. If you:

have a desire to have things explained to you beforehand in a nice and clear way

have a logical and analytical mind (which is usually the product of education in general)

have a need for a systematic approach (basically if you’re most comfortable with a book which is going to introduce the grammar according to an agreed set of methods or an organized plan)

then, you should try out some of these manuals: the Hugo Series, the Made Simple Series, the Teach Yourself Series, the Buske Series. 

3. PAY ATTENTION TO PATTERNS!!!

the most important part are the patterns of a language

no matter what type of language learner you are, I think it’s really clever to incorporate this method into you learning. 

a language is actually made up of patterns which constantly repeat themselves and that is THE KEY TO FLUENCY

repeating the patterns over and over again, until they become natural, until you no longer have to conjugate the verbs in your head before speaking

when you become really good with patterns, your sentences will come out naturally, and patterns are what will get you to fluency

I’ve provided the links, where you will find a review of the books, so that you can have an idea of what they look like. You can find most of these on amazon.

There is also an amazing blog on here, which provides free books, and I think that you can find half of these series for free there.  @lovelybluepanda

Thanks @reinestudies

I'll eat ice creams with my friends in my favourite caffe. Now it souds like a dream haha! And I'll travel to my lovely Greece once again. And everywhere. I miss traveling so much.

@lattesandlearning

what’s the first thing you’re doing after you get out of quarantine?

i’ll start: i want to go to dairy queen again, and go to uptown with my friends, along with heading to my grandmother and aunt’s house and going inside to hug them. not to mention hauling ass to the nearest bookstore- i miss holding physical books i haven’t read yet! 

your turn: @rivkahstudies, @imnotstoppingthistime, @fred-no-gred, @lime-learns-languages, @parleonstudies, @infintestudiesandstuff, @seoulightstudies, and @ every single one of you who wants to do this! 

How I (really) prepare myself for the IELTS test

Well, I basically already told you  (in the previous post), but it was somehow in quite a big picture. 

So, here I am going to tell you what I really did in preparing myself for the IELTS test.

1. Listening

I have been training myself in listening through TV series. Nah, I lied. It was not a real training, well, practically, but, you know, I really love spending most of my time watching TV series. So, IT IS REALLY HELPFUL. (God, no need for the capslock, jeez). The list of TV series I found quite easy to follow yet teach me many things are: Chuck (I love Zach), How I Met Your Mother (of course), Friends (I know!), The Big Bang Theory (a lot of technical words, but-hey, as long as it comes from Sheldon! :D ), LOST, House M.D., etc. Well, I think you got the picture. Pick a genre of TV series that you like, then you can learn a lot from it. AND REMEMBER, try not to use the subtitle in your own language as often as you can! 

I also force myself to watch interesting videos from TED. Have I told you about BBC PODCAST? Definitely, my playlist in my phone is full of the podcast. I downloaded podcasts from “6 Minute English”, “The English We Speak”, “The Why Factor”, “English At Work”, etc.

2. Reading

I just think I need to buy a book in English (of course). Because I am still learning, then I bought book which not that heavy, and more like chick-flick. Well, you can buy book that suit your taste, of course. For you Android and iPhone users, download News app that allow you to access any news in one tap, such as: Flipboard, taptu, BBC, etc. Follow journalists or book writers on twitter. I often got new words from them! When you stumble on words you do not know, Write it in your special notebook. Notebook you’re going to use in preparing for the IELTS test. Do not only write the meaning of the words, but also write the word usage in a sentence, synonym, phrasal verb, etc. For instance ==> Word: “discuss (v)”. Meaning: to talk about (something) with another person or group. Word usage:  She discussed the plan with several colleagues. 

I know what you’re thinking, using the word “discuss” for an example? We all know that. Yet, me myself sometimes subconsciously “rape” this word. Sometimes, I put “about” after the word because of the influence of my mother tongue. So, it’ll become something like this: I just discussed about the travel plan with my boyfriend. 

Yes, English language can be this tricky, but you can tackle this issue by checking the “partner” of the word in Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary.

3. Writing

Urgh, this one is the very tricky part. All you need to do is “Start writing everything in English”. That is why I made this tumblr account (well, I also kind of forget the password of my old account). You can start a blog. Or, if you do not want to bother making one, then you can write on your diary in English (e.g. Dear Diary, I bump into my crush today, but, I quickly ran away because I remember I do not wear any make up today). I also write my lecture notes in English. When I was preparing myself to final exam, I took notes by writing them in English. But then, I know, sometimes you get stuck and not sure about the proper grammar. All I’ve been doing is type the sentence in google, and you will get the correct answer.

4. Speaking

Didn’t I told you about my monologue in my room? Yes, most of the time I talk about everything in front of the mirror in English. Sometimes, I pray in English too. :p

And this is the most fun part, I have a friend that also like to talk in English. So, what we do is go to coffee shop, and talk in English like a native (although we did not sound like one! ahhaha). Oh yeah, I joined English Club in my campus. I also participate in International Conference that need me to talk in English. 

So, yeah. That is pretty much it. Gonna add some if something comes to mind! 

I know it is an old saying, but, seriously-

Practice makes perfect,

AFS

Omg greek food, ohhh yaaas!!!

hiya! when you get this, if you want, answer with five things that make you happy, then send it to the last ten people in your recent activity list. have fun! (- studycrim)

well in no particular order: tea with milk, sunny afternoons, hanging out with friends, greek food and snuggling under a weighted blanket!!!! <3

FAMOUS AUTHORS

Classic Bookshelf: This site has put classic novels online, from Charles Dickens to Charlotte Bronte.

The Online Books Page: The University of Pennsylvania hosts this book search and database.

Project Gutenberg: This famous site has over 27,000 free books online.

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Bibliomania: This site has more than 2,000 classic texts, plus study guides and reference books.

Online Library of Literature: Find full and unabridged texts of classic literature, including the Bronte sisters, Mark Twain and more.

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MATH AND SCIENCE

FullBooks.com: This site has “thousands of full-text free books,” including a large amount of scientific essays and books.

Free online textbooks, lecture notes, tutorials and videos on mathematics: NYU links to several free resources for math students.

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CHILDREN’S BOOKS

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Munseys: Munseys has nearly 2,000 children’s titles, plus books about religion, biographies and more.

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PHILOSOPHY AND RELIGION

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Ideology.us: Here you’ll find works by Rene Descartes, Sigmund Freud, Karl Marx, David Hume and others.

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The Sociology of Religion: Read this book by Max Weber, here.

Religion eBooks: Read books about the Bible, Christian books, and more.

PLAYS

ReadBookOnline.net: Here you can read plays by Chekhov, Thomas Hardy, Ben Jonson, Shakespeare, Edgar Allan Poe and others.

Plays: Read Pygmalion, Uncle Vanya or The Playboy of the Western World here.

The Complete Works of William Shakespeare: MIT has made available all of Shakespeare’s comedies, tragedies, and histories.

Plays Online: This site catalogs “all the plays [they] know about that are available in full text versions online for free.”

ProPlay: This site has children’s plays, comedies, dramas and musicals.

MODERN FICTION, FANTASY AND ROMANCE

Public Bookshelf: Find romance novels, mysteries and more.

The Internet Book Database of Fiction: This forum features fantasy and graphic novels, anime, J.K. Rowling and more.

Free Online Novels: Here you can find Christian novels, fantasy and graphic novels, adventure books, horror books and more.

Foxglove: This British site has free novels, satire and short stories.

Baen Free Library: Find books by Scott Gier, Keith Laumer and others.

The Road to Romance: This website has books by Patricia Cornwell and other romance novelists.

Get Free Ebooks: This site’s largest collection includes fiction books.

John T. Cullen: Read short stories from John T. Cullen here.

SF and Fantasy Books Online: Books here include Arabian Nights,Aesop’s Fables and more.

Free Novels Online and Free Online Cyber-Books: This list contains mostly fantasy books.

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Project Laurens Jz Coster: Find Dutch literature here.

ATHENA Textes Francais: Search by author’s name, French books, or books written by other authors but translated into French.

Liber Liber: Download Italian books here. Browse by author, title, or subject.

Biblioteca romaneasca: Find Romanian books on this site.

Bibliolteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes: Look up authors to find a catalog of their available works on this Spanish site.

KEIMENA: This page is entirely in Greek, but if you’re looking for modern Greek literature, this is the place to access books online.

Proyecto Cervantes: Texas A&M’s Proyecto Cervantes has cataloged Cervantes’ work online.

Corpus Scriptorum Latinorum: Access many Latin texts here.

Project Runeberg: Find Scandinavian literature online here.

Italian Women Writers: This site provides information about Italian women authors and features full-text titles too.

Biblioteca Valenciana: Register to use this database of Catalan and Valencian books.

Ketab Farsi: Access literature and publications in Farsi from this site.

Afghanistan Digital Library: Powered by NYU, the Afghanistan Digital Library has works published between 1870 and 1930.

CELT: CELT stands for “the Corpus of Electronic Texts” features important historical literature and documents.

Projekt Gutenberg-DE: This easy-to-use database of German language texts lets you search by genres and author.

HISTORY AND CULTURE

LibriVox: LibriVox has a good selection of historical fiction.

The Perseus Project: Tufts’ Perseus Digital Library features titles from Ancient Rome and Greece, published in English and original languages.

Access Genealogy: Find literature about Native American history, the Scotch-Irish immigration in the 19th and 20th centuries, and more.

Free History Books: This collection features U.S. history books, including works by Paul Jennings, Sarah Morgan Dawson, Josiah Quincy and others.

Most Popular History Books: Free titles include Seven Days and Seven Nights by Alexander Szegedy and Autobiography of a Female Slave by Martha G. Browne.

RARE BOOKS

Questia: Questia has 5,000 books available for free, including rare books and classics.

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT

Books-On-Line: This large collection includes movie scripts, newer works, cookbooks and more.

Chest of Books: This site has a wide range of free books, including gardening and cooking books, home improvement books, craft and hobby books, art books and more.

Free e-Books: Find titles related to beauty and fashion, games, health, drama and more.

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Free Web design books: OnlineComputerBooks.com directs you to free web design books.

Free Music Books: Find sheet music, lyrics and books about music here.

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MYSTERY

MysteryNet: Read free short mystery stories on this site.

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Mystery Books: Read books by Sue Grafton and others.

POETRY

The Literature Network: This site features forums, a copy of The King James Bible, and over 3,000 short stories and poems.

Poetry: This list includes “The Raven,” “O Captain! My Captain!” and “The Ballad of Bonnie and Clyde.”

Poem Hunter: Find free poems, lyrics and quotations on this site.

Famous Poetry Online: Read limericks, love poetry, and poems by Robert Browning, Emily Dickinson, John Donne, Lord Byron and others.

Google Poetry: Google Books has a large selection of poetry, fromThe Canterbury Tales to Beowulf to Walt Whitman.

QuotesandPoem.com: Read poems by Maya Angelou, William Blake, Sylvia Plath and more.

CompleteClassics.com: Rudyard Kipling, Allen Ginsberg and Alfred Lord Tennyson are all featured here.

PinkPoem.com: On this site, you can download free poetry ebooks.

MISC

Banned Books: Here you can follow links of banned books to their full text online.

World eBook Library: This monstrous collection includes classics, encyclopedias, children’s books and a lot more.

DailyLit: DailyLit has everything from Moby Dick to the recent phenomenon, Skinny Bitch.

A Celebration of Women Writers: The University of Pennsylvania’s page for women writers includes Newbery winners.

Free Online Novels: These novels are fully online and range from romance to religious fiction to historical fiction.

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Authorama: Books here are pulled from Google Books and more. You’ll find history books, novels and more.

Prize-winning books online: Use this directory to connect to full-text copies of Newbery winners, Nobel Prize winners and Pulitzer winners.