Facebook

This one’s for all students of English in Korea (and anyone else really) -

To get yourself using English in the real world you need to join Facebook (or MySpace)

Too many students think of English only as an academic subject, yet there is so much more to English than just passing exams and TOEIC tests. English can be fun and more importantly you can use the English you know to make friends all over the world.

So, I have a challenge for all students and anyone else who speak English as a second language:

Join Facebook, create a profile and lets start making friends all over the world. It’s easy. I set up my account in 15 minutes (including adding photos) Just click HERE

Once you have created your account – ask me to join your “friends” – I will and we can create a HUGE user network.

So come on what are you waiting for? …. LETS HAVE FUN WITH ENGLISH!!!!

Learn English, Use English, Enjoy English!!

English Learning Secret 10

Here it is guys – The tenth and final English Learning Secret of my series of the secrets of learning English as a second language.

English Is A Word Language Not A Grammar Language

Many people learning English today are learning English as if it was a grammar language. They spend hours and hours with their heads inside a book, trying to understand why some past tense words end in “ed” and others don’t.

What these students do not realise is that the only reason you are told by your teachers to spend hours and hours studying the grammar of English is because testing grammar is the only way they can test you. Testing whether you can actually speak English is almost impossible to be fair and accurate.

So here’s the thing. When you are studying English stop worrying about the actually grammar of English (after all, you will learn this much faster if you read English articles in newspapers or books) instead, learn English by looking for the patterns of which English words fit with each other. For example:

the words “go” and “home” are partner words.

“Go home”
“Going home”
“Went home” (past tense of “go” is “went”)

OK, so that’s an easy example. No look at these examples:

The word “part”

Part – time
Part – payment
part – company

“time”, “payment” and “company” are also partners of the word “part”

And here’s another, and this one is fantastic. The words “money” and “time” have the same partner words … it is as if they are sister words

Save time / money
Spend time / money
Waste time / money

So stop boring yourself stupid, and start looking for the patterns in English. It is much more fun, makes more sense and is guaranteed to help you through the difficulties of learning English.

Keep studying and if you have any questions about learning English, please feel free to ask me at any time

Missed Opportunities?

There are now over 1 million foreigners living in Korea, yet the financial and telecoms industries in Korea continue to ignore them, offering them nothing but a “Sorry we don’t issue credit cards to foreigners” or “sorry, you need a Korean to guarantee you”

But I have a question here. How many companies around the world will just throw away 1 million potential customers without even a clear explanation?

It seems to me that there is a fantastic opportunity for any bank or mobile phone company in Korea to corner a 1 million strong market right now by throwing off these prejudices towards foreigners, many of whom earn far more money than their Korean partners, and granting them equal rights based on their credit history.

Come to think of it, that means that there is a fantastic business opportunity for any industrious Korean person to tap into 1 million customers by offering a service to these service hungry customers in Korea ^^

Now that’s a thought^^

Entry Class

First Class Business Entry Class … Come and join us

Business One To One

* 영어 인터뷰 준비
* 프리젠테이션 준비
* 국제 학술및 회의 준비
* 집중 일 대 일 비지니스 회화
* 배우고자 하는 부분의 영어를!
* 원하시는 시간에 배울수 있는 영어!

Available at BCM 강남 and 송파

English Learning Secret 9

Hi guys – I hope everything is going well for you.

Today’s secret is a simple one, but still very important.

LEARN IN SMALL STEPS

One thing I have noticed in many students is that when they make a decision to start learning English seriously they start off and try to learn everything in one week. This method of learning is not only stupid, but it is guaranteed to fail.

Firstly, you are never, never, never going to learn English properly if you try to learn a complete textbook in one week. Textbooks, and other learning methods are designed to be learnt over a period of time. At BCM we set a learning program over a period of 1, 2 or 3 months. This is because the human brain is designed to learn things er a period of time, not all at once.

Secondly, trying to learn everything too quickly will mean that you learn nothing and then loose your enthusiasm and motivation and finally you will quit. You need to learn things slowly and methodically and practice what you learn in an everyday environment (this could be your classroom with other students, or by making a foreign friend)

The best way to learn, and this week’s secret, is to learn a small amount and learn it regularly.

I would always advise that students should learn no more than 30 minutes per day (plus classes). Stick to learning one part at a time and after you have studied it you MUST practice it before moving on to learning something else.

Doing things this way will help you to keep your motivation and enthusiasm high, you will feel like you are learning something and achieving something (which will keep you going when things get difficult)

Keep going guys.

“In 2007…”

Hey guys you have got to check out this video from those guys over at Jibjab. It’s fantastic. (there is subtitles in English if you want to follow the video ) Look out for Steve Jobs in the video … so funny

English Learning Secret 8

Hi guys and welcome to study secret number 8.

This week’s study secret is all about setting yourself a target. Something that you can measure yourself against.

SET YOURSELF A TARGET

What continuously amazes me is the number of students who are studying English who have absolutely no idea what they want to achieve. By this I mean they do not know what they want to achieve by studying English. It is like starting our on a journey without knowing where you want to go. If you do that you will only end up lost. Without a target, you will soon get lost, become frustrated and then quit. It happens time and time again.

To stop this from happening you need a measurable goal. Something that you can achieve and then say “I did it!”

For example, you might decide that you want to achieve a TOEIC score of 850. That is measurable. You study English, you take the test and if you get 840 points, then you are close, but not quite there. You keep studying until you get there. With a targeted goal, you know what you have to do to achieve it.

I have a goal to learn Korean. Sadly, there is no Korean TOEIC, so I need something else that is measurable. My measurable goal is that in 1 year’s time (ie from January 1st 2009) I want to stand up in front of my Korean students and tell them, in Korean, what they need to do to study English. The goal is clear, has a time limit (1 year) and I can measure it.

You need to do the same. You need to think about why you are learning English, how much time you are going to learn English for and what do you want to achieve with English.

It is no good just saying “I want to get a better job” I know this is a fixed target, but here the goal is to get a “better job”. English might not be the reason you actually get a better job so the target is not actually improving you English it is getting a better job.

So, set your target now. How will you know when you have achieved what you want in English? It could be learning enough English to be able to go abroad without going on a tour group holiday, having enough English to prepare, write and deliver an English business presentation or to complete a full English conversation course. Whatever your goal is, make sure you set a time limit, an achievable target and something you can measure it by.

Your goal has to be “S.M.A.R.T”

Specific
Measurable
Achievable
Realistic
Timed

English Learning Secret 7

Here it is guys, English Learning Secret number 7.

CONDITION YOURSELF

A lot of misunderstandings happen because many students have not ‘conditioned’ themselves to listen out for the negative words in English. Words like “not”, “can’t” and “but”.

These words on their own can completely change the meaning of a sentence, and if you have not taught yourself to listen out for them, then you can make some very big mistakes. Let’s look at a very simple example.

“I can come to class but my brother’s car is broken”

This sentence means that you CANNOT come to class, but when spoken quickly it sounds like you CAN come to class AND your brother’s car is broken.

So you need to teach yourself to listen out for the negative words. To do this you should take the time to listen to English TV shows, radio programmes and movies. A good way to teach yourself is through videos or DVD’s that have English subtitles and listen to these, paying particular attention to the written words on the screen.

What you need to do is to ‘program’ your brain to listen out for the negative words. This is easier than you think. Every time you hear “not”, “Can’t”, “but” or “Isn’t”, highlight it in your mind and remember that a negative word has just been said or is about to be said.

Also remember the words “but” and “however” always come after a positive sentence to make it negative.

“I like driving but not in foreign countries”

Means, I like to drive. I do not like to drive in a foreign country.

So, start conditioning yourself today and avoid any embarrassing misunderstandings

Happy New Year Everyone!!

The staff and teachers of BCM would like to wish all our students, past, present and future a VERY happy and successful 2008. We want you to know we are always here to support you and to help you in whatever way we can with English, Chinese and Japanese.

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!

And for some business news … Check out this blog entry from Seth Godin (yes, that boy again^^) on how to deal with problems. It’s a great post (and short too) Click HERE