HOW TO USE A DICTIONARY

Of the approximately 1 million words in the English language, the average English speaker knows 60,000 of those words. A dictionary can be a very handy tool. Besides helping with spelling and word meanings, being able to use a dictionary effectively and regularly is a perfect way to improve your English language skills through the dictionary's range of other helpful information on everyday language usage and grammar. 

1. Purchase a quality dictionary: If you don't already own a good dictionary, consider purchasing one. It's also a good idea to upgrade your dictionary every now and then so that you have access to the latest new words that are added to the dictionary every year. 

2. Consider purchasing specialist dictionaries if they'd be useful in your study or career: Some examples of specialist dictionaries include language dictionaries, technical dictionaries, rhymes, crossword, subject dictionaries (for example, for math, chemistry, biology, horticulture, etc.), illustrated dictionaries (excellent for learning another language or for technical knowledge), slang and idioms, etc. 

3. Note that many countries have their own native dictionaries that might be more helpful than getting a dictionary from just anywhere, such as the Macquarie dictionary in Australia, Oxford dictionary in England, Webster's dictionary in the United States, etc. 

4. Some schools, universities and workplaces prefer the use of one particular dictionary. This is for reasons of maintaining a consistent style and understanding among everyone using them; make sure you use the right one for your assignments, editing, and reports. 

5. Familiarize yourself with your dictionary: Dictionaries vary in approach. The best way to learn how to use your particular dictionary effectively is to read its introductory section where you'll find out how the entries are arranged. The introductory section of your dictionary will explain important information such as the abbreviations and pronunciation symbols used throughout the entries. There may also be information on pronunciation of words with similar spellings; this can be helpful if you have only heard a word and you're not sure of its spelling. For example, if you hear "not", it might also be "knot" but the "k" is silent, and this list can help you with suggestions. 

6. Know how to look up a Word: When you come across a word you don't recognize or know the meaning of, keep a note of it. When you get around to looking it up, here is the sequence to follow: 

o Proceed to the letter of the alphabet that your word begins with. For example, "dog" begins with "d". Don't forget the possible spellings for trickier words, such as "gnome" begins with a "g", or "psychology" begins with a "p", or "knock" begins with a "k", etc. 

o Check for the guide words. These are located in the upper corner of each page and give you an indication of how close you are to locating your word, speeding up the process of going through the pages. 

o Once close, use the second letter of your word to run down the page and locate your word. For example, if you were looking for the word "futile", "u" is the second letter. 

o Scan down the list of entry words moving past "Furry" and "Fuse" and "Fuss". Since the example word begins with "Fut", go past all the "Fur" and all the "Fus" words alphabetically until you reach the "FUT" area of the page. In this example, move right down through "Fut" where you will find "futile". 

7. Know how to make the most of your find: Once you've located the word, there are several useful elements that you can discover about the word from the dictionary entry. Read the information given about this entry, and depending on your dictionary, you might find many things: 

o A definition of the word. 

o One or more pronunciations. Look for a pronunciation key near the beginning of the dictionary to help you interpret the written pronunciation. Learn how to use the stress marks, as these will aid your pronunciation. The stress mark ' is place just prior to the syllable where the stress is placed. 

o Capitalization, where relevant. 

o Prepositions, such as "in", "on", etc. and their use with the word in question. 

o Irregular endings for verbs. 

o Synonyms and antonyms. You can use these in your writing, or as further clues towards the word's meaning. 

o An etymology, derivation, or history of the word. Even if you don't know Latin or Ancient Greek, you may find that this information helps you to remember or understand the word. 

o Examples or citations of how the word is used. Use these to add context to the meaning of the word. 

o Derived terms and inflections (I am, you are, etc). 

o Phrases or idioms associated with the word, and slang usage. In addition, the dictionary may explain whether a word is formal or informal. 

o Plurals of nouns. 

o Near neighbor words that might be related, such as "futility". 

o Spellings in other English (US English, British English, Australian English, etc.) 

8. Think about how the information you've found relates to the word as you encountered it: If there are multiple definitions, decide which one matches your source or context for the word and notice how the different definitions are related to one another. In an English dictionary, the most common meaning is usually placed first where there are multiple meanings. Try using your new word in a sentence. If it's difficult to spell, write it a few times to help yourself remember it. 

9. Use your dictionary for other purposes than looking up a Word: Many dictionaries come with an array of other useful information. Some of the information that you might find in your dictionary includes: 

o Standard letters for jobs, abbreviations, filing complaints, official writing, etc. 

o Maps and geographical information. 

o Statistics on population. 

o Weights, volume and measurements. 

o Lists of countries, cities, capitals, etc. 

o Flags of countries, states, provinces, regions, etc. 

o Lists of famous or historical people. 

o Lists of facts. 

Learn how to use an online dictionary: Online dictionaries are easy. Choose a suitable free online dictionary and simply type in the word you're looking for. The search engine will return the word to you and the definition section should contain most of the elements discussed above. 

o Make use of the audio content provided with online dictionaries. This can help considerably when you're unsure how to pronounce the word. 

o To use Google to find online definitions, type: "define: futile". The search engine will only look for definitions. 

Tips: 

· If you can't seem to locate your word, make sure you're spelling the word correctly. For example, you won't find "isotope" if you're looking in the A section, which you might be tempted to do if, for example, your chemistry teacher speaks with a bit of a southern accent! 

· If you're having trouble spelling a word, try the spell-checker in a word processor and see what it suggests. 

· Even though it's easy to check words using an online dictionary, the free ones don't always provide enough information, so it pays to always have a hard copy dictionary on your bookshelf to call upon whenever needed. 

· Don't be afraid to study the etymology of a word. Since much of our language is derived from Greek or Latin, you'll often find yourself learning root words from them, but after you have, you'll find that it can be easier to understand words that are new to you simply by looking at the structure of the word. 

· Language is defined to a large degree by usage. You can help keep our language alive by using more of it. Try to occasionally use words that are "getting dusty" either in written or verbal communication. English is the closest thing to a universal language on Earth, and it deserves a chance to thrive. Using words like "dude" a little bit less can help to keep our language healthy. 

Warnings: 

· Printed dictionaries may go out of date as the language changes, so check the copyright date of yours. Another way to gauge the currency of a dictionary is to look for relatively new words. 

· Dictionaries vary in content, and some are very specific. Look at the title to find out what you have. If you have a dictionary of rhymes, slang, idioms, synonyms, a foreign language, or a specific interest, such as woodworking terms, seek a more general dictionary. 

BULLYING

Bullying may be defined as the activity of repeated, aggressive behavior intended to hurt another person, physically or mentally. Bullying is characterized by an individual behaving in a certain way to gain power over another person. Norwegian researcher Dan Olweus says bullying occurs when a person is exposed, repeatedly and over time, to negative actions on the part of one or more other persons. He says negative actions occur when a person intentionally inflicts injury or discomfort upon another person, through physical contact, through words or in other ways. 

Bullying is the use of force or coercion to abuse or intimidate others. The behavior can be habitual and involve an imbalance of social or physical power. It can include verbal harassment or threat, physical assault and may be directed repeatedly towards particular victims, perhaps on grounds of race, religion, gender, sexuality, or ability. If bullying is done by a group, it is called mobbing. The victim of bullying is sometimes referred to as a "target". Bullying can be defined in many different ways. The UK currently has no legal definition of bullying, while some U.S. states have laws against it. Bullying consists of three basic types of abuse; emotional, verbal, and physical. It typically involves subtle methods of coercion such as intimidation. 

Bullying ranges from simple one-on-one bullying to more complex bullying in which the bully may have one or more "lieutenants" who may seem to be willing to assist the primary bully in his or her bullying activities. Bullying in school and the workplace is also referred to as peer abuse. Robert W. Fuller has analyzed bullying in the context of rankism. Bullying can occur in any context in which human beings interact with each other. This includes school, church, family, the workplace, home, and neighborhoods. Studies have shown that envy and resentment may be motives for bullying. Research on the self-esteem of bullies has produced equivocal results. While some bullies are arrogant and narcissistic, bullies can also use bullying as a tool to conceal shame or anxiety or to boost self-esteem by demeaning others, the abuser feels empowered. Bullies may bully out of jealousy or because they themselves are bullied. Some have argued that a bully reflects the environment of his home, repeating the model he learned from his parents. 

Bullying stops us from being who we want to be, prevents us from expressing ourselves freely, and might even make us feel unsafe. If you are bullied, say something! If you are bullying, it’s not cool! 

What to do if you are a bullied teen? 

· SPEAK UP: If you feel uncomfortable with the comments or actions of someone… tell someone! It is better to let a trusted adult know, than to let the problem continue. 

· Get familiar with what bullying is and what it is not. If you recognize any of the descriptions, you should stay calm, stay respectful, and tell an adult as soon as possible. 

· If you feel like you are at risk of harming yourself or others get help now! 

What if someone is bullying me online or via text message? 

· Remember, bullying does not only happen at school. It can happen anywhere, including through texting, the internet and social media. 

· Learn more about cyberbullying and how to respond if it is happening to you. 

What if I don’t get bullied, but my friend does? 

· Learn how you can be more than a bystander. 

· Read about how other teens have gotten involved. 

· Work with your school to contribute your views on bullying. 

· Start a campaign against bullying. You can make posters and stick them off on visible areas of your school.

HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE

The history of the English language really started with the arrival of three Germanic tribes who invaded Britain during the 5th century AD. These tribes, the Angles, the Saxons and the Jutes, crossed the North Sea from what today is Denmark and northern Germany. At that time the inhabitants of Britain spoke a Celtic language. But most of the Celtic speakers were pushed west and north by the invaders mainly into what is now Wales, Scotland and Ireland. The Angles came from Englaland and their language was called Englisc from which the words England and English are derived. 

Old English (450-1100 AD)

The invading Germanic tribes spoke similar languages, which in Britain developed into what we now call Old English. Old English did not sound or look like English today. Native English speakers now would have great difficulty understanding Old English. Nevertheless, about half of the most commonly used words in Modern English have Old English roots. The words “be”, “strong” and “water”, for example, derive from Old English. Old English was spoken until around 1100. 

Middle English (1100-1500)

In 1066 William the Conqueror, the Duke of Normandy (part of modern France), invaded and conquered England. The new conquerors (called the Normans) brought with them a kind of French, which became the language of the Royal Court and business classes. For a period there was a kind of linguistic class division, where the lower classes spoke English and the upper classes spoke French. In the 14th century English became dominant in Britain again, but with many French words added. This language is called Middle English. It was the language of the great poet Chaucer (1340-1400), but it would still be difficult for native English speakers to understand today. 

Modern English                          

Early Modern English (1500-1800)

Towards the end of Middle English, a sudden and distinct change in pronunciation (the Great Vowel Shift) started, with vowels being pronounced shorter and shorter. From the 16th century the British had contact with many peoples from around the world. This, and the Renaissance of Classical learning, meant that many new words and phrases entered the language. The invention of printing also meant that there was now a common language in print. Books became cheaper and more people learned to read. Printing also brought standardization to English. Spelling and grammar became fixed, and the dialect of London, where most publishing houses were, became the standard. In 1604 the first English dictionary was published. 

Late Modern English (1800-Present)

The main difference between Early Modern English and Late Modern English is vocabulary. Late Modern English has many more words, arising from two principal factors: firstly, the Industrial Revolution and technology created a need for new words; secondly, the British Empire covered one quarter of the earth's surface, and the English language adopted foreign words from many countries. 

Varieties of English

From around 1600, the English colonization of North America resulted in the creation of a distinct American variety of English. Some English pronunciations and words "froze" when they reached America. In some ways, American English is more like the English of Shakespeare than modern British English is. Some expressions that the British call "Americanisms" are in fact original British expressions that were preserved in the colonies while lost for a time in Britain (for example trash for rubbish, loan as a verb instead of lend, and fall for autumn; another example, frame-up, was re-imported into Britain through Hollywood gangster movies). Spanish also had an influence on American English (and subsequently British English), with words like canyon, ranch, stampede and vigilante being examples of Spanish words that entered English through the settlement of the American West. French words (through Louisiana) and West African words (through the slave trade) also influenced American English (and so, to an extent, British English). 

Today, American English is particularly influential, due to the USA's dominance of cinema, television, popular music, trade and technology (including the Internet). But there are many other varieties of English around the world, including for example Australian English, New Zealand English, Canadian English, South African English, Indian English and Caribbean English.

Ten Tips to Learn English

Sign up for a regular English tip: Some websites offer a weekly or even daily short English lesson sent to your email account. If your mobile phone has an e-mail address, it is also possible to have the tips sent to your phone to read on the way to work or school. Please note, however, that such services are not usually graded very well to the levels of different students, and they should be used as a little added extra or revision in your English studies rather than as a replacement for something you or your teacher have chosen more carefully as what you need to learn. 

Listen to English music: Even listening to music while doing something else can help a little for things like getting used to the natural rhythm and tone of English speech, although the more time and attention you give to a song the more you will learn from listening to it again in the future. 

Read a translation into English: Another way of making sure books are easier to understand is to choose a book that was originally translated into English, preferably from your own language. Even if you haven't read the book in your own language, you will find the English is written in a slightly simplified way that is more similar to how your own language is written than a book originally written in English would be. 

Read a book with lots of dialogue: Opening up books before you buy one and flicking through them to find one with lots of direct dialogue in it has several advantages. If there is less text on the page due to all the speech marks etc, this can make it easier to read and easier to write translations on. Dialogue is also much easier to understand than descriptive parts of a book, and is much more like the language you will want to learn in order to be able to speak English. 

Ask your company to start English lessons: Even if you don't need to speak English at work, English lessons can be a fun and reasonably priced way for your company to spend their training budget in a popular way. 

Watch English language films with English subtitles:.For people who can't understand a film without subtitles but find themselves not listening at all when reading subtitles in their own language, this should be the way of watching a film that you should aim for. If it is too difficult to watch the whole film this way, try watching the first 10 or 15 minutes of the film with subtitles in your own language, switch to English subtitles after that, and only switch back to subtitles in your own language if you get totally lost following the story of the film. 

Read the whole thing with no help: Although using a dictionary has been shown to help with both short term and long term learning of vocabulary, the fact that using it slows reading down can stop some people reading in English at all. Reading a whole book quickly just for pleasure from time to time will help you remember how fun reading in another language can be. 

Keep a list of language to learn, e.g. a vocabulary list: Even if you don't often find time to go through your vocabulary list and it keeps on building up, just the act of choosing which words you need to learn and writing them down on a special list can help you learn them. 

Online chat: The closest thing to speak for people who don't have the chance to speak English is online chat, as you have to think and respond quickly, and the language is short and informal just like speech. 

Record your own voice: For people who don't have much or any correction of pronunciation from a teacher, recording yourself and listening back makes it easier to hear whether you are really making the English sounds that you are trying to or not.

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The Four Language Skills

When we learn a language, there are four skills that we need for complete communication. When we learn our native language, we usually learn to listen first, then to speak, then to read, and finally to write. These are called the four "language skills".

What is Listening? 

“Listening” is receiving language through the ears. Listening involves identifying the sounds of speech and processing them into words and sentences. When we listen, we use our ears to receive individual sounds (letters, stress, rhythm and pauses) and we use our brain to convert these into messages that mean something to us. 

Listening in any language requires focus and attention. It is a skill that some people need to work at harder than others. People who have difficulty concentrating are typically poor listeners. Listening in a second language requires even greater focus. 

Like babies, we learn this skill by listening to people who already know how to speak the language. This may or may not include native speakers. For practice, you can listen to live or recorded voices. The most important thing is to listen to a variety of voices as often as you can.

What is Speaking? 

"Speaking" is the delivery of language through the mouth. To speak, we create sounds using many parts of our body, including the lungs, vocal tract, vocal chords, tongue, teeth and lips.

What is Reading? 

"Reading" is the process of looking at a series of written symbols and getting meaning from them. When we read, we use our eyes to receive written symbols (letters, punctuation marks and spaces) and we use our brain to convert them into words, sentences and paragraphs that communicate something to us. Reading can be silent (in our head) or aloud (so that other people can hear). 

Reading is a receptive skill - through it we receive information. But the complex process of reading also requires the skill of speaking, so that we can pronounce the words that we read. In this sense, reading is also a productive skill in that we are both receiving information and transmitting it (even if only to ourselves).

What is writing? 

Writing is a method of representing language in visual or tactile form. Writing systems use sets of symbols to represent the sounds of speech, and may also have symbols for such things as punctuation and numerals. 

a set of visible or tactile signs used to represent units of language in a systematic way, with the purpose of recording messages which can be retrieved by everyone who knows the language in question and the rules by virtue of which its units are encoded in the writing system.

What is Bilingualism?

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People use the term “bilingualism” in different ways. For some, it means an equal ability to communicate in two languages. For others, it simply means the ability to communicate in two languages, but with greater skills in one language. In fact,it is more common for bilingual people, even those who have been bilingual since birth, to be somewhat "dominant" in one language.

The following three types of bilingualism are usually used by researchers to describe bilingual children:

1. Simultaneous bilingualism: Learning two languages as "first languages". That is, a person who is a simultaneous bilingual goes from speaking no languages at all directly to speaking two languages. Infants who are exposed to two languages from birth will become simultaneous bilinguals.
2. Receptive bilingualism: Being able to understand two languages but express oneself in only one. Children who had high exposure to a second language throughout their lives, but have had little opportunity to use the language would fall in this category. For example, many children in Chinese or Mexican immigrant households hear English on TV, in stores and so on, but use their home language (Chinese or Spanish) in everyday communication. When they enter preschool or kindergarten, these children are likely to make rapid progress in English because their receptive language skills in English has been developed.
3. Sequential bilingualism: Learning one language after already established a first language. This is the situation for all those who become bilingual as adults, as well as for many who became bilingual earlier in life.