Why do you need to learn English? While this TED video, World's English Mania, raised few controversial points discussed in the comments section, it asks the right question; is English a tsunami washing away other languages? "Not likely. English is the world's second language. Your native language is your life. ....... The world has other universal languages. Mathematics is the language of science. Music is the language of emotions. .... English is becoming the language of problem solving. .... " It is a pity that most of the ESL (English as Second Language) teachers across the world (at least the ones I met in a MOOC in 2012) say that current generation of students neither learn English beyond the level required to be a mere consumer of goods and services (be it computer games or online travel information) nor they learn their own mother tongue. While most students could possibly read well, very few are able to write and speak well in any language. Is this a side effect of stress on STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) or is there some other cultural change that no one is bothered to identify and address? Grammar Resources for Primary School StudentsWhile English language teachers and literature students may offer their own book lists and methods to learn, here is our list for the serious student:
P. C. Wren is the author for all of the above books. This is a grammar series for children in multi-colour. School textbooks should usually suffice. However choice in schools, curriculum, and textbooks (both private publishers and government publishers) has created a huge mess. A child may not continue in the same school or curriculum. A given school itself does not usually stick to one publisher for more than few years. This creates the weird situation where siblings going to the same school may not even use the same textbooks few years apart. Is this really warranted? So the above list is for those parents who are confused and would rather make sure their children are not lost. If your ward has finished primary school before you came across this series, you may use the following for diagnostics and reinforcement:
Resources for Middle School (6th through 8th class / grade) StudentsAssuming that textbooks are useful (use NCERT and SCERT books linked elsewhere on this site if your own textbooks are not good enough), use the following for diagnostics and practice:
Resources for High School (9th through 12th class / grade) Students
Beyond High SchoolYou may have already been introduced to etymology (word roots) in high school either as a part of biology or independently. Your dictionary usage should come down dramatically in college years. This is not possible if you have not developed superior vocabulary in a methodical way and have the capacity to learn words in a given context without looking up meaning in a dictionary. Here are some of the classic resources for vocabulary:
Avoid common mistakes:
Read, Read, Read
|