How to correct your own errors

I know I make mistakes and this makes me very upset. I would like to speak English without errors but this will take a very long time. I feel that I am not making progress.

Working with errors
The most important thing to realise about the mistakes which you make is that they are usually a sign of progress. Often, errors are a result of our trying to say something before we have learnt the necessary grammar or vocabulary. This ‘risk taking’ is a good way of learning because it makes us experiment with the language.

To learn from your mistakes, it is important to reflect on the error and what you know about English. You can then try to correct yourself.


Reflecting on errors
Each of the following sentences contains an error related to some of the work you have done in this booklet. Try to correct the errors.

1. My friend Jane is flying to Madrid at Saturday.
2. She might to visit the Prado art gallery when she is there.
3. She is interested by Spanish art and culture.
4. She also loves the weather there – there is no thick rain!
5. She had been to France last year.
6. She didn’t like the owners of her hotel there – they were very unpolite!
7. Next year, she goes to South America!

* Learning tip The most important thing to do when you are speaking is not to worry about making mistakes! Try to focus on what you want to say, not how you are saying it. Listeners are generally very tolerant of grammatical errors as long as your message is clear.

To help yourself learn from your mistakes, remember to ...

• proof read anything you write carefully. Check any written work twice – once to ‘hear’ how it sounds – can you improve the vocabulary you use? And a second time to check for grammatical errors.
• if you have a cassette recorder, you might like to have a conversation with a friend in English. Record your conversation, then listen. How could you improve what you said?
  

Learning task
There are nine errors in this paragraph. Find and correct them.

I find studying English very enjoying. At first, when I was began to learn, I have made many mistakes and I was scared to speaking in English. Now, however, it’s a lot of fun. I listen the radio every day and I do a note of some of the new words which I hear. Then I look them in my dictionary and try to use them the next day. In general, I find reading and grammar more easier than listening and speaking.The most difficult thing about English is speaking. I’d like to go to school to learn to speak English more fluent.