When I was a student, I used to have a lot of questions in my head. Why am I studying this and what am I studying? What’s the purpose from this and that? How can it help me? What role can those enigmatic subjects play in my future? I am sure many of you have the same questions, sometimes not finding answers even makes you feel unmotivated to carry on.
Motivation plays a very important role in life, especially in learning and working. As an educator now, I don’t believe in low and high levels of students, I believe that it’s only about the levels of motivation that they have.
Motivation needs a trigger, but how? If you observe humankind history and what we have achieved so far, you could notice that our curiosity and needs are the things that brought us to this very point of reality. We got tired of spending huge amount of energy and time travelling to other places. We domesticated animals to move us faster, we invented cartwheels and vehicles that can even fly us through continents and even to the outer space. This is a very small example and it may sound ordinary for us who live in this century of modernity, but if we delve into the bottom of the humankind psychology, the answers will become very apparent: curiosity and needs. Wanting to travel fast with spending less energy was the trigger for our motivation and innovation.
When it comes to English grammar or any subject that some learners find boring or hard, it is the same thing, it’s not a question of hard or easy, it’s a question of motivation and discipline and how to use the new knowledge according to our needs.
The secret to learn adequately and efficiently is knowing the purpose from learning that subject, being curious about it and seeing it differently, like trying to solve a puzzle in a boardgame, or trying to finish a video game by ascending through levels, being curious of what will happen next.
Two questions that can make a huge difference in your learning: Why? How?
So let’s imagine that today there’s a new grammar lesson, a lesson that contains a lot of rules. Students’ heads feel heavy and the teacher asks: “Did you understand?” and most of them reply: “Yes, but I need to memorize and remember”, then the teacher asks again: “Do you have any questions about this grammar topic?”, and most of these students reply with: “no, I don’t”. It usually takes a few days or a week that the teacher discovers that the learners don’t remember the topic or understand it fully.
People’s brains function like this when they feel unmotivated, because the first mistake that was done by these students was trying to remember and memorize, not to understand, and the second mistake was avoiding asking questions to understand. “The man who asks a question is a fool for a minute, the man who does not ask is a fool for life.” — Confucius.
Understanding the rules is more efficient than memorizing them. If you understand something, it sticks to your memory, and if you spend time to memorize something, it might disappear with the sands of time.
I mean, just try it out, develop your curiosity and motivation, your learning discipline and commitment to reach your goal, try to change your perspective about learning new things and try to channel your thoughts to find it fascinating.
Why am I learning present continuous? Because I want to be able to express actions that are happening now, maybe I want to describe an image like a painting, or maybe I want to announce my future arrangements, e.g.
— I am writing this article now. (an action that is happening in this moment)
— In Valentin Serov’s painting, the woman is smiling and sitting on the couch. (describing a painting).
— They are meeting at Big Apple School tomorrow evening. (future arrangement).
So you can see that just by asking why, you could understand three reasons for why we use the present continuous. Now we understand why, but how?
How is separated into two sections, how to write it and how to speak it. We usually speak what we write, so understanding that the present continuous requires the auxiliary verb “to be in the present simple + action verb (ing)”
The auxiliary verb “to be” in the present simple takes three forms “am, is, are”, and after that you can use any action verb and add “ing” to it, e.g. I am explaining the present continuous tense.
So now you answered Why, and How you use it, isn’t better than memorizing? You learned how you write it, and it’s the same way you when you use this grammar skill in speaking it. This is the case for every grammar lesson or any other lesson that you had and will have.
VERBS — Глаголы:
Carry on /ˈkær.i ɒn/ — продолжать
Domesticate /dəˈmes.tɪ.keɪt/ — приручать, одомашнивать
Delve into /delv ˈɪn.tuː/ — углубляться, уйти с головой
Ascend /əˈsend/ — подниматься, повышаться
Memorize /ˈmeməraɪz/ — запоминать, заучивать наизусть
Discover /dɪˈskʌvər/ — находить, обнаруживать
Avoid /əˈvɔɪd/ — избегать
Disappear /ˌdɪsəˈpɪər/ — исчезать
Express /ɪkˈspres/ — выражать
NOUNS — Существительные:
Purpose /ˈpɜːpəs/ — цель, целеустремленность
Subject /ˈsʌbdʒɪkt/ — тема, предмет
Educator /ˈedʒ.u.keɪ.tər/ — преподаватель, педагог
Level /ˈlev.əl/ — уровень, степень
Trigger /ˈtrɪɡər/ — импульс, триггер
Humankind /ˌhjuːmənˈkaɪnd/ — человечество
Curiosity /ˌkjʊəriˈɒsəti/ — любопытство
Amount /əˈmaʊnt/ — количество
Cartwheel /ˈkɑːt.wiːl/ — колесо телеги
ADJECTIVES — Прилагательные:
Enigmatic /ˌenɪɡˈmætɪk/ — загадочный
Unmotivated /ˌʌn.ˈməʊ.tɪ.veɪ.tɪd/ — не имеющий мотивации
Apparent /əˈpærənt/ — очевидный, явный, видимый
Efficient /ɪˈfɪʃənt/ — продуктивный, рациональный
ADVERBS — Наречия:
Especially /ɪˈspeʃəli/ — особенно, специально
Adequately /ˈædɪkwətlɪ/ — адекватно, достаточно
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