Hey guys,
Here are the top 3 essays for you to look at, I will try to post more of the winners next week.
Have fun,
Paul
Top 3 essays1st prize winner
Sokheang Thea Topic: Discuss the major problems faced by Cambodian learners of English and make suggestions as to how these difficulties can be overcome.
‘My dear brother, you’re not going to study English this evening after an hour lesson yesterday,’ scoffed my first sister. As I had clearly written down my explanation on the mirror in her room with my mother’s red lipstick, I said nothing. She might have thought her brother was so clever that he would manage to learn Lesson 10 of Essential English Book I, with his 26 English alphabets she had taught days before.
The above is non-fiction and also my initial challenge of learning English. Two or three years later I did enroll on an English course at a nearby school where I encountered a main problem that many Cambodian students share, that is substandard education. I am not talking about the affluent minority of students who can afford high tuition fees at respectable institutions, such as IFL, ACE and PUC, where teachers are carefully recruited and students cautiously assessed. Some of my friends, for instance, are falsely instructed and can easily pass to higher level without adequate effort and knowledge. Here I would suggest students under such condition, if they cannot enter certified centres, continuously seek a dependable trainer. Even though it was too long, that is what I did a year later after wasting time trying to find out what English looked like.
I have always been grateful to one of my friends for his recommendation to his teacher. Due to his unique teaching styles, my English proficiency which was at that time nothing except few vocabularies gradually improved, grammar in particular. He has so far been my respectable English language consultant always providing me with priceless feedbacks, a vital process of English learning. No reliable consultants and accessible materials are also primary woes for learners of English. Once facing with difficulties, some students do not have anyone to refer to, to share experience, and of course to practice with. These can, however, be overcome by looking for trustworthy advisers such as your friends or relatives with high English level. 5steps2english.com is also a helpful one. Many English centres are not, too, equipped with extensive libraries where students can individually learn the language. Fortunately, even though students do not have access to fully-equipped self-access centres, this can be easily tackled as they can also find good, affordable English books and other useful materials at some bookshops.
After approximately three years of studying with him, I went to a highly recognized English centre where, again, I discovered problems that lied within me and probably within most learners, namely diffidence. Two factors, that is to say limited English comprehension and insufficient practice from which I suffered, are responsible for this. The latter was my case. Although my English was acceptable at that time, I could hardly communicate with my classmates in English. It took me as long as a three-month term to gradually gain confidence. This, nevertheless, reflects the essence of progressive practice in accumulating confidence. For the former, that is limited English comprehension, the only solution is to improve our English, but how? The first step is to identify our strengths and weaknesses. With these in mind, we should develop our own study programmes accordingly one section at a time. Here we will unquestionably explore another major barrier that has, as well, buried in ourselves, say, laziness which is neither difficult nor easy to address. What we have to do is to clearly determine our goals and motivate ourselves to attain them. Writing down as many advantages we will gain if we achieve our aims and attempting to live up to our parents’ or girlfriend’s encouragements work perfectly as a motivation. As soon as we have done this, laziness, the primary reason why our English is poor, will automatically disappear.
Having discussed general adversities, let move on to specific ones. Grammar and vocabularies have always been indispensable in the four skills of English. While some students have a very firm grasp of grammar, others consider it as the hardest field. According to my experience, it is important to take short courses in grammar. However, practicing from concise books and observing the ways they are used in sentences would also greatly help. Similarly, for other learners including me, vocabularies are tougher. Reading and listening through various genres considerably assist you expanding your lexical resource. Also, it is beneficial to set your own target, say, 10 words per day. Once you face new words, before looking up and writing down in your vocabulary journal, you should try to guess the meanings from both context and grammatical structures. Learning vocabularies means to know all their definitions, grammatical structures, spellings, pronunciations, families and perhaps registers and tones. To personalize newly learnt words, it is a good idea to compose an example for each word and to learn its synonyms and antonyms. Like grammar, you have to review frequently and try to use them whenever and wherever appropriate. Spelling is another troublesome aspect of vocabularies. So as to spell correctly, learn basic spelling rules such as i before e except after c.
Back to my new English centre, for the first term only, listening is my poorest skill and of course I could hardly pass this skill. English has many accents and, to make matters worse it is not unusual to hear native speakers connecting their speech. Being aware of this danger, I spent more than one hour every day listening to the BBC. As a result, my listening improved considerably, and I did score high for following terms. To many students, at first, they regard listening as the most difficult subject of English. However, with practices, it will no longer be, just as my case. Try to listen as much English as possible such as news, movies and even songs.
Reading, on the other hand, has always been my outstanding skill. Since we have done most learning through reading, few students complain about their reading ability. Nevertheless, it is still practical to read novels and your subjects of interest. To improve your reading comprehension, you can use SQ3R method, that is survey, question, read, recite and review. Having read an article, summarize it by writing and present it to yourself by speaking. In this way you can surprisingly practice three skills simultaneously. Also, do not forget to list new words in your vocabulary journal and to write down summaries in your writing one since they will certainly be useful for both your writing and speaking.
Even though my writing is not as satisfactory as my reading, it is my favourite skill of English. A good piece of writing consists of ideas and structures. Most students usually do not have arguments to develop rather than do not know how to write. After having learnt basic writing process and organization, I would recommend you read and listen as widely as possible. By doing so, not only will you acquire invaluable ideas but also improve your writing. Try to copy well-written models and ex-pressions, and also to observe how writers organize and develop their arguments. That is certainly what I have been doing. Daily journal entry is, as well, a beneficial writing exercise. If possible, have your language consultants checked your writing, and ask them for feedbacks, which allow you to determine which areas to develop and mistakes to avoid.
Speaking surprisingly receives as high credit as writing amongst English learners. In fact, it is the skill that I and maybe others have always neglected, and therefore it is my poorest skill. This might be due to a lack of chances of practice. Consequently, my advice would be to attempt to pursuit as many opportunities to speak English. My perfect speaking exercises have been to think in English and to speak to myself in front of a mirror. Another point worth considering is that, in academic context, you will inevitably have to broaden your general knowledge. For this, just do the same as writing and learn some buffer languages. Pronunciation is also problematic for English learners. Mentioning this, the real problem may lie in pronouncing word endings such as s and ed. Although it is not at all common in Khmer’s, special attention and ongoing practices will banish this problem. Besides, learning phonetic symbols would also help you pronounce words correctly and stress on appropriate syllables. My best pronunciation practice tool has been computer programs. Fluency and accuracy are other two major criteria for good speaking. I personally believe whenever you speak, it is vital to focus more on fluency than on accuracy. Once you have acquired satisfactory level of fluency, and then pay your attention on the latter.
All in all, to improve your English, the first thing to do is to determine priorities you wish to develop. Having identified, you have to polish them up gradually one section at a time. In this way you will see your own progress, which perfectly works as motivation. Also remember, practice makes perfect.
…‘Your English is very much better than mine, friend! What do you usually do every day to improve it?’ one of my friends babbled. I was flattered and replied, ‘You have to be industrious, man! At first, I learnt lots of grammar. When it is perfect, I learnt vocabularies every day. I read an article a day and write in my journal. There’s a lot to tell, but one thing for sure, be industrious!
2nd prize winner Mr. Eng RaminThese days the numbers of students who are learning English are increasing all over the world. English is a language which is considered to be an international language for global communication. In Cambodia, English is also used widely in studying at universities and also working places, but still there are lots of problems encountered by Cambodian learners that are needed to be considered and dealt with. This essay is going to analyse the hitches and give possible suggestions.
To begin with the difficulties that are faced by most of learners, first the lacks of good quality teaching and learning materials for example, most English books that are read and used in Cambodia were published more than 5 years ago, so it is very hard for learners to catch up with brand new things. Second, most of English teaching schools in Cambodia do not meet the international standard; in addition students have to study with Khmer teachers who are not native speakers. In this regard, students would have troubles with the style of pronunciation, accent and intonation which can probably be missed while studying with non native speakers. Another huge problem for Khmer learners of English is that Khmer and English language are two completely different languages and based on different culture for instance there are always difficulties for students while learning slang, idioms and phrasal verbs because they usually consist of complicated non literal meanings which are implied in English culture. Last, Cambodian learners always face the calamity when they try to speak to English speaking people, in this respect Khmer learners always find it too hard to catch up with them due to the speed when they talk which is very fast and also consists of many slang and idiomatic expressions which is too hard to understand. Learners also got stuck by their own fear when they are speaking, and they worry that they won’t speak correctly and look stupid, so they decide not to speak anymore.
Moving onto some suggestions that can be discussed, firstly the Internet would be a best and convenient way to improve our English, for instance this global network can provide us a great amount of superb and practical information, every learner are able to use it as cyber library in order to search everything in term of education. With this fantastic ability of the Net, it is possible for us to study online, take various kinds of tests, download extra learning materials, and join English chat rooms where we can share strategies, techniques and useful experiences with other people across the globe just like a free website called
www.5steps2english.com. Secondly, it is a good idea that we had better study with native speakers like tutors from Britain, Australia, and United States that is because there is a better chance for us to be accustomed to real English language and also are able to concentrate properly with the pronunciation, intonation and accent which is a very crucial part of learning English and try to learn everywhere and every time as we can, this will help our study faster. Next, all students ought to try as much as possible to surround ourselves with English and that plays an important role, in this regard we might read a lot of English books like grammars, stories, and other related academic subjects so as to improve and expand our vocabularies and background knowledge and get used to English step by step, I believe that the more English material that you have around you, the faster you will learn and the more likely it is that you will even begin “thinking in English.”. Watching English movies especially with English subtitles and listening to English music are also vital because those will help us to develop our listening skill by visual ways and get more ideas in understanding the way to express opinion of speaking in English rather than translate them directly from Khmer language. Lastly, it would be a great chance for learners to improve their English level, if they could get contacted with English people; in this way we are able to understand the pace in natural speaking and also exchange cultural knowledge so as to gain more ideas. Another way that is seemed to work well is working as group with our friends for example we can set up a group to discuss various kind of things which gives lots of opportunities for us to practice and feel confident when we are speaking with our own friends rather than the other people, or we can do exercises together in order to learn from each other’s mistake.
In conclusion, Cambodian students of English are encountering with many problems such as shortage of good quality materials, most school are not standardised, some are unable to learn with native speaking instructors, and different culture. However these matters can be cleared up by learning everyday, try to make English as common as possible. I personally believe that in order to get best result we have to try hard and that ‘‘Practice makes perfect’’, and following this regard in the future there would be a lot of Cambodian people specialized in English.
3rd prize winner
Denith “Can you tell me, which is the best English school in Cambodia?” this is a frequently asked question heard all over the country. Despite the increasing number of English education centers in Cambodia as well as the amount of people pay money to study this language, the number of well-educated English language user, or learner, is still below expectation or in other word: low. There are many topics to talk about the reasons behind the problems, which Cambodian English learners are facing, but this essay will only discuss some important matters and also an ideal solution to end these difficulties.
To start, the internal and external influence to the English learners are the main reasons that keep them from being good at using. The internal influence is their confidence. Most of the learners have difficulties using English in certain circumstances such as examination and real-life conversation. They do well in class, but when it comes to real-life practice, they lose concentration and confidence. There are many people complaining about these similar problems, and you can find some in 5steps forum. For example Likeav who claimed that she is good in reading in pre-test in class, but received low point in the real examination. Members suggested that she must have lost her concentration during her examination. Moreover, some members have problems speaking to English native speakers. Most of their problems come from shyness and less confident. Thus, confidence is crucial for English learners to enhance their capability to use English well in real-life situation.
The external problem, on the other hand, also leads to those adversities. The external burden concerns on educational standard of each institution. Unprofessional and unqualified teacher, lacks of material and poor management, are the evidences to show that English institutions are offering low-quality English education to those who pay for their service. For instance, reportedly, teachers give student a wrong instruction or explanation. The recent “Compurer” issue, which also is a hot topic in 5steps forum, is a good example. English learners confuse about the pronunciation of the word “Computer” as “Compurer” which actually does not even exist in any dictionaries. Consequently, it is obvious that some English institutions need academic observations to continue its business and educational service.
However, there is always a light to return to the right path, there is hope for those learners to cope with those difficulties. One good advice to lower the difficulties using English in real-life situation is to register for forum such as 5steps forum or any other English learning forum. The essence of this kind of forum is that they offer free-paid explanation to any kind of questions regarding the field of English. Being of member of the forum allow learners to participate in both questioning and answering. Hopefully, learners will be able to gain more experience from the forum.
To conclude, because of the internal and external influence, Cambodian English learners are having difficulties using English in certain circumstances. Confidence is the essence of internal influence and the external one lay on the quality of the English institutions. To end those adversities, learners should visit the forums for English learning to gain more experience for English using. For Cambodian society, English language is required at most workplaces. Thus, English learners must study hard to achieve such standard to compete with others for a position in the company.
