Before deciding how
to study them best, what are they?
Irregular verbs are...
verbs that change their spelling and sound in
upredictable patterns for different tenses. An example is the verb
'eat'. In the past form, it is 'ate', and the form in the perfect tense
(called a past participle, but that is not very important) is 'eaten'.
Irregular verbs
don't sound
like each other very much, so in spoken
English their sounds must be memorized. The written forms are also
somewhat different and need to be memorized. There are over 350
irregular verbs in modern English (see
here). But not all of them are difficult to
learn. Some of them, like the verb 'put' are quite easy.
If you learn one
verb a day, you could master a
difficult portion of English within a year. Some energetic people could
easily learn five per day, and be done in a little over three months!
The Way
Till Now
I have seen many
students with verb lists written out.
They study the lists, they study flashcards, they study by writing. And
this method works. The hard way.
Now, I
think reading and writing are an important way to
study. I study that way too. But they are not the only way to study.
And particularly
for languages, which are mostly spoken,
reading and writing should be supplementary study methods, the help us
go faster.
The problem is that
for many people, studying by reading
and writing is all they know. And reading and writing are convenient.
And quiet. So you
can study without disurbing others.
But This
is Changing
But thanks to
technology that is changing. Now you can
listen to recorded English anywhere, easily, and without bothering
other people.
And if you have a
private space, you can practice
speaking while you practice listening. This is the new way.
The New Way
In the
new way, Listening is King. When you listen, you
remember the sounds. After listening, reading is easy. The reverse is
not always true. Listening has been a difficult part of learning
English, but that is coming to an end.
Now, with computers
and mp3 players, if you listen to
something and don't understand, you can play it again. And again. And
again!
In fact, now we are
starting to break down listening
into separate skills. In the past, students said, "I don't understand!"
Then they began to
practice using their computers and
mp3 players. They did lots of listening practice and drills.
Now my students
say, "I couldn't hear the sounds
properly," or, "I can't remember the whole sentence, so I don't
understand." Their comments are clear and specific. They know their
weak points, and how to fix them.
Using techniques
like shadowing, and listen and repeat,
students can easily master the basic listening skills. From there, they
can master listening to and understanding irregular verbs. Then it is a
small jump to the high level skills like comprehension.
And now we can go
even faster, with spaced repetition.
Using a computer-based flashcard system, students can review and
practice only the difficult points, and only when they are just
beginning to forget. That means they don't waste time practicing skills
they already have.
But...
But it
costs alot!
I hear some people
saying this to me. They tell me that
technology is expensive. Well, it may be. On the other hand, studying
for hours and hours without building real listening
and speaking skills is a waste of time, and that is far more expensive.
Plus,
the computer or mp3 player that
you buy can be used to study other subjects besides irregular verbs (I
use mine to help me
study French, traning methods, relaxation techniques, and many
more...), and can be shared among family.
Plus,
the cost is coming down all
the time. If you tell me that it is expensive, that was
yesterday. Today it is cheaper. And good shopping can cut the cost even
further. I recently bought a video camera for less than half the retail
price!! It took some good shopping skills on the computer but it was
worth it.
But it is slow!
I heard some of my
students tell me that the listening
practice techniques were slow, and they were not gaining skills fast
enough to satisfy them. This was after one month of practice. I asked
them if the old ways of studying were faster. They told me yes. Then I
asked if the old ways gave them real listening and speaking skills with
irregular verbs.
They hesitantly answered, 'no'.
After three months,
my students were telling me how much
they had improved. They were smiling, and happy. They told me that
listening practice was much faster than just study by reading and
writing.
Summary
One: irregular
verbs are verbs that change form without
a pattern when used in different tenses.
Two: There are many
in irregular verbs English, but not too many. They
can be learned
within a year without too much trouble.
Three: The
traditional way of study with flashcards, and
writing is
slow and can be improved by:
Four: The New
Way to study by
practicing listening
skills which speeds up learning irregular verbs using:
Five: Technology
like computers and mp3 players (or cell
phones, etc)
Six: Study can be
even faster with spaced repetition
like some computer
based flashcard systems
Seven: It may cost
more than old fashioned flashcards,
but it is much
much more effective: you really speak better!
Eight:
It may seem slow
until you get used to it, but then it is much much faster than just
reading and writing.