Two Bad Habits

Recently, I have read many blogs of my classmates and other students in our school. I found that many of them really want to get a high mark on their provincial exams, but they say that it is really hard to get a good mark, because their English is very poor.

Well, I also tried the provincial sample exams during this weekend. By now, I have taken all the three of English exams, and my marks were 80%, 75%, and 86%. It was not as high as I hoped, but some students ask me how I got these marks. Thus, I am writing something that might be helpful for the students who are worried about their English.

Many students have two bad habits in their way of learning English.

First, I found that many students are using internet language on their blog. Students use lots of slang or abbreviated words in their writing. Maybe they think it looks cool, right? It is okay to use those sometimes, since it is also a part of internet culture. However, if you always use the informal language, perhaps you will get used to write in that way, even when you are writing a formal exam! Also, since this blog is a part of our English class, I think we should try to write in formal language here.

Secondly, if you want to improve your English, you should try to get rid of the habit of using dictionary too often. I see students looking up in their dictionary all the time. It does not really help you improve your English.
As the old saying goes, "Easy come, easy go." Looking for the meaning in the dictionary may help you understand the story more easily at that time. However, it will soon escape your brain, and next time you see the words, you will not understand most of them again. Perhaps you will become a slave of the dictionary, who cannot leave it forever. If you try to find what the word means during you read the story, you will be able to remember them more clearly.

Plus, even if you do not understand some of the words in the story, it does not really affect your reading. Do not waste your time on every single word. Instead, you should try to understand the story as groups of words. Try to understand the overall story, by reading between the lines, instead of translating all the words. Then, you will develop not only your vocabulary, but also your reading skill!

For some students whose English is extremely poor, this process would be a bit more difficult. Well,,, then, you should try to improve your vocabulary as much as you can before the test!

I really hope all of the students in our school can remarkably improve in their ability of English and get superb marks on their test, and I believe that they will definitely attain this hope.

I think all of us are doing great. Let's keep it up until the exam in June!