found a new home?

The universe just got a bit more crowded

NASA scientists have announced the existence of 7 small planets, and they are only 40 light years away! They are similar to the Earth in size and composition, and maybe they have water on the surface.
Have we found a new home?
WATCH the video HERE

Blah, blah, blah...

Arrrgh!! The exam was horribly difficult! Frustrating! I'll never be able to understand those horrible videos! How can I improve my spoken English?  I hate writing!

OK, calm down and take it easy.  Language learning has to do with patience, regularity and love (yes,  love) rather than trying to learn it all in a couple of days/weeks/months.
You know that class time is NOT enough, so  you'll have to use English  at home, in the street, driving to work... you have to live it, you have to love it, you have to make it part of your life.

Below you'll find some  tips that you'll have to adapt to your own habits (like talk to yourself!). The five language skills are  connected so the time invested in reading, listening, writing, and working on 'use of English' will sure contribute to your speaking skills-and vice versa.

• Learning tips ( tips n.2,3,5,6,13 particularly interesting)

And a very important one: KISS (Keep It Short and Simple), which means DON'T get entangled in your own story -generally because you wanted to translate  word by word from your mother tongue. You don't need to do this. You know a lot of things by now, you know more than you think, so use the things that you know, not the things that you don't know.

Don't translate. Forget about your mother tongue, forget about yourself.  Be another person... and speak English! There is a saying in Czech that goes : " Learn a new language, get a new soul"

Sorry there's no pill. Or rather, the only pill is regular practice and patience. But you know all that jazz, don't you?   So why don't you use this mini holiday to put  things in order, revise aspects we've done in class, revise things from last year, catch up with things you missed, organize your work, organize your life, and promise yourself you'll be in contact with English at least 20 minutes a day.

Of course, frustration may be part of the process, but it's transitory AND normal.  So don't worry too much. As they say, keep calm and carry on:

• Tips to overcome language learning frustration (by a school teaching portuguese)

...and you can always scream and shout in this blog if you need it. If you have any other useful  tip, please let eveybody know!