Don't wait till you meet a foreigner to try speaking English. In fact, you can use your magazine to improve your speaking. Get together with a friend whose English is about the same as yours. Discuss one of the articles -- in English! If you make a mistake, your friend may recognize it and correct you. If you hear your friend make a mistake, point it out. You will be teachers for each other! If you both don't know how to say something, make a note of it and ask someone who can help you.

Unfortunately the Studio Classroom magazine staff is not able to check the written work of all of our readers. Sorry! We suggest you ask your question at Dave's ESL Cafe, a popular English teaching website. To visit their help desk, click here.

This is a good question.There are many ways to improve your English! First, you consider which areas you would like to improve. Writing? Grammar? Vocabulary? Speaking? Pronunciation? Listening comprehension? After identifying where your English needs to improve, then ask a more specific question -- like the ones below.

Don't stop to look up every new word in your dictionary. Read an entire paragraph or conversation. Underline words you do not understand. After you have read it, try to guess the meanings of the words. Then check your dictionary. You will remember more words this way. Use an English/English dictionary whenever possible.

Choose a sentence pattern from one of our magazine lessons. Write three of four new sentences using that pattern. Examples: I enjoy listening to the songs he sings. They enjoy eating the food she cooks. She enjoys reading the articles we wrote. You can also write sentences with the Key words. Share them with your friends, or keep them in a journal. After studying a conversation in the lesson, write you own conversation on the same topic. Writing takes a lot of practice. Try keeping a journal and writing down your thoughts and activities each day.

Start now! Don't let poor grammar stop you. You will never speak at all if you don't start trying. The sooner you start trying, the faster you will improve. To talk with people, it's not important that your grammar be perfect. It's important that people understand you. They can understand you even if your grammar isn't completely correct. Your grammar will improve as you practice and as you listen to others speak.

To remember new vocabulary, use the Key Word cards in the front of the magazine. Cut them out and carry them with you. You can look at the words and sentences whenever you have a spare moment. Another idea is to buy some flashcards (sometimes called memory cards) from a bookstore. On one side of the card write the English word. On the other side write the meaning in English, or write the Chinese word. Then you just test yourself with the cards. Using Word Bank cards and flashcards to build your vocabulary is great, because you can carry your little flashcards everywhere and use them at any time. If you're riding public transit, or if you have a break at work or school, even for 5 minutes, you can study your English. Every bit helps! Another way to help remember vocabulary is to practice using new words in full sentences. You will learn words much more quickly if you are familiar with how they are used. If you only know the word by itself, when you see or hear it used in a sentence, you may forget, or be confused by the other words in the sentence.

One great way to improve your conversational English AND practice the new words you've learned is to use the discussion questions on our website with your friends. Our website includes discussion questions about each article in the magazine. Find friends who want to practice their English, too, and discuss these questions together. Since the questions are about the article in which you learned the new words, it should be easy for you to find ways to use the new words in your discussion.

To improve your pronunciation, record the daily program reading, or get one of our MP3 discs, audio CDs or CD-ROMs. Choose one paragraph and record yourself reading it. Then compare the teacher's reading with your own. You will discover sounds you need to practice, and you will learn more about phrasing and intonation. If you want to completely lose your accent, that is very difficult to do. If you can speak clearly and people understand you, don't worry about having an accent when you speak English. But do practice the sounds that prevent people from understanding you easily.

To increase your understanding of the teachers' discussion, read the article first. If you do not understand it, read the Chinese translation. Then read the English article again. Do not go back and forth between English and Chinese. Learn English in English. Don't get distracted when you do not understand a word. Listen for ideas and meanings, not just individual words. To increase your understanding, record the program and listen again. Be an active listener. When the teacher asks a question, try to answer it yourself. Make a list of questions about the lesson. Then answer them yourself, or ask a friend.

If you can't understand everything the teachers say, don't give up! Just do the best you can. As you listen more, you'll understand more. It will help if you listen to each program more than once. Record the radio or TV program or get one of our MP3 discs or CD-ROM discs. Then listen to the program again. As you listen, don't try to understand each word the teachers say. Listen to get the main idea of what they're talking about. You don't have to understand every word to do that. Also, to increase your understanding of the teaching, read the lesson first. If you do not understand it, read the Chinese translation. Then read the English article again. Do not go back and forth between English and Chinese. Learn English in English.

Thinking in a second language is difficult, because you must be quite comfortable with that language in order to do it. There is no real way to train yourself; it just happens naturally as you get more and more comfortable with English. However, here are some things to keep in mind.

1. Try to answer questions that the teachers or other people ask you in English, without first trying to think of how you would say it in Chinese.
2. Think of how you would say it in Chinese only when you get really stuck.
3. You can also try and memorize some basic grammatical structures of English sentences to help you construct your own sentences.
4. Lastly, keep listening to English. As you hear the way others use certain words and phrases, make note of it and try to use it yourself. Keep practicing!

Know your audience. Understanding who you are speaking to will guide you in choosing a topic or topic angle.

• Set a purpose. Know what you want to accomplish, how you will do it, and why you are presenting the subject to the listeners.
• Write an outline before preparing the speech. Write the body first. Then write the introduction and the conclusion last.
• The body of the speech should hold the listeners' attention. Give the main points and back them up with specific viewpoints. Use plenty of details.
• Make the introduction lively. Use a question, a joke or a short story to draw your audience into the topic.
• State a strong conclusion. Quote a famous person or challenge the audience to use the information you've just given to them.
• Practice in front of a mirror. Then present the speech to a friend or relative. You might want to tape-record (or videotape) your speech and listen to it yourself, too.
• Don't wait until the last minute to prepare.
• Don't write out the speech word-for-word and memorize it.
• Don't make your speech too long or too short.
• Don't make your speech too long or too short.
• Don't try to cover too much material.
• Don't go to bed too late the night before your speech.
• Don't look at your notes the entire time.
• Don't stand like a statue or move around too much.
• Don't talk too fast.

Since you don't know the topic, you probably think it's hard to prepare for the speech. But you can do some basic practice by making impromptu speeches on your own. Try to prepare a two-minute impromptu speech on one of the following topics. Then give it in front of the mirror.

• A childhood memory
• Your ultimate dream house
• Something you'd love to do but will never have the time
• A famous person you would like to meet
• What you think you will be doing in five years

Tomorrow when you are given your impromptu topic, plan carefully. Take a minute and write down a few ideas that you might talk about. For example, if your topic is chewing gum, think about things like colors, flavors, why people use it, etc. Then choose the best two or three. Organize them in order of importance. Don't worry about using fancy vocabulary words. Just try to be clear and direct. Stick to your subject.

To find a pen pal you can send an email to Kevin Schular. Please include your full name, mailing address, e-mail address and also your interests. His e-mail address is assistcanada@gmail.com.

There are many good English dictionaries available. At Studio Classroom we use the American Heritage dictionary. On the Internet, you can look up words in the American Heritage dictionary by using Answers.com.

MAY usually refers to "having permission to do something." In other words, you can ask, "May I go now?" meaning "Is it OK for me to leave now? Do I have to wait for you?" CAN on the other hand usually refers to "being physically able to do something." In other words, if you ask, "Can I go now?" it may imply that you are physically able to leave. You are politely asking someone for permission to go somewhere with them.

The way to distinguish whether or not to use "the" is to ask yourself if you are talking about a SPECIFIC object. For example, if you say that you're going to church, it means church in general, not necessarily a specific church. However, if you say "I'm going to the church now," you're referring to one specific building. But that rule doesn't always count. For example, you cannot say "go to hospital." You always need to add the. If you say, "I'll go to the hospital tomorrow," you can go to any hospital. In the same way, you wouldn't say, "Go to sea." Usually people who plan on getting in a boat would say, "Let's go OUT to sea." If you simply want to look at the sea, you might say, "Let's go to the sea shore," or "Let's go to the beach."

The Internet has many WWW sites for learning English as a Second Language (ESL). Here is just a sampling. Let us know if you find any of them especially helpful.

A.C.E. English Cafe
Eavesdrop on conversations (at regular speed!), apply for overseas study opportunities and much, much more.

ESL Home Page
A good starting place for learning English on the WWW. This site has exercises on listening and speaking, reading, grammar and writing. Now you can't say you don't have any chance to practice your English!

EnglishClub.com
Yet another site filled with useful resources for studying English. Got a specific English question to ask? Go to the English Club website and ask it! The staff at this site are happy to respond to individual reader questions at their help desk.

Dave's ESL Cafe on the Web
Visit Dave's place for a fun way to improve your English. The ESL Cafe includes helpful information for both students and teachers. Among other things, you'll find sections on idioms and slang and a discussion page. Dave's ESL Cafe is also the host site for the ESL Help Center mentioned above.

Frizzy University Network (FUN) Home Page
Another FUN way to learn English on the web! The Frizzy University Network has links to many good English learning resources.

NOTE: Studio Classroom staff read large volumes of e-mail every day. We regret we cannot offer answers to every English question readers send in. Studio Classroom recommends www.EnglishClub.com as a good website for asking English questions.

不要等到遇見外國人，才開始說英文。事實上，您就可以利用我們的雜誌，來增進口語能力。比如說，找一個英語能力和你比較接近的朋友，一起來討論當中的一篇文章-－記得一定要用英文喔！如果您講錯了，您的朋友可能會聽出來，適時的糾正您。如果您聽到朋友講錯了，也記得要告訴他。這樣你們就能互相當老師啦！當然，也可能遇到您們都不會說的狀況，那麼何妨把問題記下來，請教能回答這個問題的朋友。

其實我們已經接過許多類似的請求，但是很抱歉，由於「空中英語教室」的工作人員，均有各自的工作必須完成，實在無法替每一位讀者檢查作品。對不起啦！我們建議你將你的作品寄到另一個頗受歡迎的英語教學網站 Dave's ESL Cafe。你可以點選這裡以下的網址來進入他們的服務台

這是個好問題。有太多方法能夠提升您的英文程度。先想一想，自己的英文哪一方面需要進步？寫作？文法？字彙？口語？聽力？先了解您英文需要加強的部份，這樣您的問題就會比較具體、明確-像下面這一題。

不要每次看到生字，就停下來查字典。先一次讀完整個段落，或是整段對話，然後在你不會的字底下畫條線。讀完之後，試著猜猜那些字的意思，最後再查字典。這樣，你會記得更多單字。如果可能，建議您使用英英字典。

從我們任何一本雜誌的課文中挑選一種句型。再運用這個句型，造出三或四個新句子。例如：我喜歡聽他唱的歌；他們喜歡吃她煮的食物；她喜歡讀我們寫的文章等等。其次，你也可以運用「生字欄」當中的生字來造句，再把這些句子拿給朋友看，或者寫在日記裡。另外，讀完課文裡的一段對話之後，也可以試著寫下一段對話，用來討論相同的主題。總之，寫作需要大量的練習，不停的「寫、寫、寫」。

現在就開始！別讓破文法攔阻了您。如果不開始嘗試，您就一輩子都開不了口哦。愈快嘗試，就會愈快進步。和人對話，重要的不是完美無缺的文法，而是別人能了解您的意思。即使你的文法有錯誤，只要別人聽得懂，那就夠了。只要您開始練習「說與聽」，文法就會進步。

如果想認識新單字，請利用雜誌最前面的生字卡。把它們剪下來，隨身攜帶。只要一有空，就看看這些單字和例句。另外，您還可以到書店買閃視卡片（有時候叫作記憶卡）。在卡片上寫下英文單字，另一面寫上單字的意思。這樣就可以用這些卡片來測驗自己記不記得這些單字。使用生字卡和閃視卡片來擴充單字是很棒的方法，因為你隨時隨地都能攜帶並閱讀它們。如果你搭公車或捷運，或者如果再辦公室或學校有五分鐘空檔，你都可以學英文。積少就會成多！另外一個幫助記憶單字的方法，是試著在完整的句子當中，使用新單字。如果您熟悉生字的用法，那就比較容易把它們記起來。光是記得單字本身，當你看到或聽到它出現在句子裡時，不但可能會忘記，而且還很容易被句子裡的其他字搞混。

要增強口語能力，同時又能練習新學到的單字，有一個很棒的方法，就是和朋友一起上我們的網站，利用裡面的問題討論。我們的網站裡，列有雜誌內每篇文章的相關討論問題。找一些志同道合的朋友，共同討論這些問題。因為您的單字是從雜誌文章裡學的，這些問題會幫助你在討論時，更輕鬆地練習生字。

想要讓發音進步，可以試著把每天節目的閱讀錄起來，或者買我們的MP3碟片、朗讀CD片或是每月光碟。選一段文章，把你自己讀的聲音錄下來。再把老師的讀法和你的讀法作比較。這樣你會發現，有一些發音是你需要加強練習的，同時也可以學到分段和語調的方法。事實上，想要完全去除口音是非常困難的。如果講得夠清楚，別人也能聽懂您的意思，就先不用擔心英文的腔調。當然，如果有些發音會讓別人聽不懂你的意思，就要好好練習。

要增加你對老師講解部分的理解，請先把文章讀一遍。如果你不太了解，就看中文翻譯。然後，再讀一次英文文章。不要在中文與英文之間來來去去對照。要用英文學英文。如果其中有一個字不懂的話，不要因此而分心。注意去聽整體的概念與意思，不要光聽個別的字。為了增進你的理解力，可以把節目錄起來，再聽一次。作個積極主動的聆聽者。當老師問問題時，試著回答，也把跟課文有關的問題列下來，再試著自己回答或問朋友。

如果老師說的內容，你不是全都了解，千萬不要放棄！只要盡力就行了。你聽的愈多，了解的就會愈多。如果每次節目你不只聽一遍，幫助會更大。你可以把廣播或電視節目錄起來，或買我們的MP3碟片，或是每月光碟。然後，把節目再聽一次。聽的時候，重點不是聽懂每個字，而是抓到他們談論的中心思想。您知道嗎？要了解中心思想，其實用不著聽懂每個字。此外，想要更清楚老師上課的內容，可以先把課文讀一遍。如果還是不太了解，就讀一次中文翻譯，然後再讀英文文章，不要在中文與英文之間來來去去對照。要用英文學英文。

要用一種外國語言來思考，其實很難，因為你必須對使用那種語言很自在，才做得到。並沒有一種方法能讓你在這方面自我訓練，但等你只要對於使用英文愈來愈自在，就自然而然會開始用英文思考了。不過，我們還是可以提醒您以下幾件事：

• 老師或其他人問的問題，可以試著用英文來回答，而不要先思考「如果用中文」要怎麼說。
• 只有在真的被「卡住」，用英文講不下去的時候，再想一想中文該怎麼講。
• 可以背誦一些英文句子的基本文法結構，來幫助你建構自己的句子。
• 最後，請務必養成聽英文的習慣。聽到別人使用一些單字和片語時，可以記下來，自己也用用看。常常練習！

首先要了解您的聽眾。知道您要跟誰說話，將有助於您選取演講的主題或角度。

• 設定目標。訂定你希望達到的目的和你希望採取的步驟。
• 準備講稿前，先寫下大綱。再寫本文，及前言，最後是結論。
• 演講的本文要能抓住聽眾的注意力。要點出重點，並提出具體的見解。細節要詳盡。
• 前言要生動活潑。可以使用問題、笑話或小故事，使聽眾預備好進入主題
• 結論要強而有力。可以引用名人說過的話，或挑戰聽眾運用你傳達的資訊。
• 在鏡子前練習。然後找個朋友或親戚來試講一次。也可以錄音（或錄影）起來，自己再聽一次。
• 不要等到最後一刻才開始準備。
• 不要把講稿寫出後，逐字把它背起來。
• 演講不要太長或太短。
• 不要包含太多資料。
• 演講前一天晚上，不要太晚睡覺。
• 不要整場演講都低著頭看講稿。
• 不要站著不動像雕像，或是動得太厲害。
• 不要講太快。

既然不知道題目，你可能覺得很難準備。但是你可以用以下主題，試著作兩分鐘左右的即席演講。然後在鏡子前練習。

• 一件童年回憶
• 你夢想中的房子
• 一件你很想做、但絕不會有時間去做的事
• 一位你想認識的名人
• 你覺得五年後你會做什麼

明天，當你拿到即席演講的題目時，仔細地計畫一下。花一點時間，把可能想到的一些想法寫下來。比方說，如果題目是吃口香糖，就想一下顏色、口味，還有大家為什麼吃口香糖…等等。然後，挑選當中最好的兩或三個，按照重要性先後順序組織起來。不用擔心要用什麼新奇有趣的字彙。只要清楚、直接，緊扣主題就行了。

想要英文筆友的話，你可以寫信給Dan Wooding，附上一些個人資料，加上姓名、地址、電子郵件信箱，以及你的興趣。Dan就會幫你找一位可以通信的筆友。電子郵件或一般信件都可以。
他的電子郵件信箱是： danjuma1@aol.com .

郵寄地址如下:

好的英文字典很多。在空中英語教室，我們用的是 American Heritage 字典。在網路上，你可以從 Answers.com 裡頭的 American Heritage 字典查不懂的生字。

MAY有「要求可以做某事」的意思。換句話說，問「May I go now?」的時候，意思就是「我現在走可以嗎？我必須要等你嗎？」另一方面，CAN代表「身體上有能力做某事」。換句話說，問「Can I go now?」的時候，是在暗示你在身體上有能力離開了。你只是禮貌地請某人答應讓你離開。

想分辨該不該用「the」，你要問自己，你說的是不是一項「特定」的東西。舉例來說，如果你說你要上教會（church），指的是一般意義的教會，不見得是一間特定的教會。可是，如果你說的是：「我現在要去教會（the church）了」，你是在指一間特定的建築物。但是，這個規則是有例外的。比方說，你不能說：「去醫院（hospital）」，而是一定要加「the」。如果你說：「我明天要去醫院（the hospital）」，你其實可以去任何一家醫院。同樣地，你不會說：「去海上（sea）」。通常，如果有人計畫到船上玩，他們會說：「我們去海上吧（go OUT to sea）」。如果你只是想看看海，可以說：「我們去海邊吧（the sea shore）」，或是「我們去海灘吧（the beach）」。

網路上有很多網站，幫助將英文作為第二語言（ESL）的學習者。以下只是一些例子。如果你覺得其中有一些特別有幫助，別忘了告訴我們。

A.C.E. 英語咖啡廳
可以收聽對話（用正常的速度呢!）、申請海外讀書機會，還有很多有趣的東西。

ESL 首頁
想利用網路學英文，這是個不錯的起點。網站上有很多練習題，包括聽力、口語、閱讀、文法和寫作。現在你可不能再說沒機會練習英文囉！

英語俱樂部.com
又是一個資源豐富的網站。碰到英文上的難題嗎？到英語俱樂部的網站來問吧！站內「詢問台」的工作人員很樂意答覆個別讀者的問題。

大偉ESL網路咖啡廳
逛逛大偉的網路咖啡廳，找個有趣的方法增進英語吧。ESL咖啡廳的資料，不論對學生或老師都很有用。此外，還有一些專區，專門討論片語和俚語，也有討論區。大偉ESL網路咖啡廳也是上面提到的ESL首頁的附屬網頁。

Frizzy大學網路(FUN)首頁
也是一個可以有趣學英文的網站！Frizzy大學網路有很多連結，方便尋找更多學習英文的資源。

注意： 空中英語教室的同仁每天都閱讀大量的電子郵件。我們很抱歉，沒有辦法回答每個讀者來信詢問的英文問題。我們建議你上英語俱樂部.com，去問英文問題。