As we stepped on the land of Singapore, it was inevitable to face a environment of English. The world is very different now, as the people are connected with each other more closely than the past,so there's nothing we can do without a communication tool. In the light of this, English seems to be a good one, for its simplicity in learning and wide-spreaded. For we students learning English as a second language, certain methods should be taken if we want to learn English well.

The basic elements of English are listening speaking reading and writing. As an old saying goes: Practice makes perfect. We need to practice the four skills mentioned above in order to master English. This seems easy, but is hard to be done. The real questions are how to find out what is the skill that is needed to improve most and how to arrange time properly to improve your English in a whole.

Different people have various ways of learning English, though a few of the ways are efficient. Students today have their laptops now, which can also be a useful assistant for English learning. First of all, many tapes have been turn into mp3 so that we can play them through our media player which can save much misery compared with using tape recorders. Secondly,the use of Microsoft word to help us when we are editing an English document, which saves paper as well as time, is available when having a laptop. Thirdly, through using certain kinds of English software, e.g. setup an English dictionary, we can learn English more quickly than before. Lastly, computers provide us a chance to surf on the internet, which allows us to acquire knowledge and information almost to their maximum. For example when surfing on huasing, we can find much useful information and share our experience.

However, as every coin has two sides, computer and internet can also cause many problems, just as games and some information on the internet are very attractive to us young, while this is not the topic here.

That’s what I came up with about learning English, what’s yours? All ideas are welcome.

多听，多说，多读，多写，

首先呢我的承认我在语文上面很失败。英文很不好，至今还在要边读论文边查字典，何其耻也。但是正所谓没吃过猪肉，好歹见过猪跑，自己不好，未必不知道别人之好。故此，斗胆献芹，以为绵薄。计有四端，如上所陈者也。

所谓听说读写，言文之四维，四维不张，言文灭亡。听88.9, 是BBC International广播，24小时不断重复，以为练习听力。

多说，尤其是bridging course的时候，课後多与老师交流，不仅锻炼口语，还能借此和老师建立深厚感情，一举两得。

多读，bridging course的课本内容有限，多读其他书，我的老师曾经推介Russell 写的<History of Western Philosophy>，还有charles Lamb的 Essays 。这类文章好比《古文辞类纂》里面收录的模范文章，值得多读，不仅得其陶范、亦可增广见闻，一举两得。还可以读一些诗歌，以体会外国语言的韵律之美。18-9世纪的英国诗歌语言朴实，韵律整齐，文字也有可观者，读来可以感受三百首以外的诗的特色。

多写，不言而喻。但是并非作长篇大论才算写。不妨以每天的经历做日记，练习用英语纪录见闻，表达观感。

这里说的大都是课外的。至于上课，诸君自然比我有经验，故无从置喙了。

老兄太过自谦，受教了。

to my experience
1. read VORACIOUSLY. No matter what topic, choose the ones u r interested.
2. talk to people whose first language is English. Don't care much about grammer, simply make urself understood.

会读则能听，常说则善写。可谓正中要害。

听英语时尚有口音和方言，以及吞音、弱读、连读等现象，且不论语气语调对句子意义的改变；再则人人都会用口头语去写作而用书面语交流么？

听说读写互相促进，不以偏废。

互文放在白话里面就容易造成误会。本意是读和说，可以促进听和写。呃，就是这个意思。:)

个人认为与local讲话只能锻炼singlish,所以后来我就讲中文了.跟vietnamnese,Indonesian,Foreign Exchange讲英语效果好得多.
听力方面预科班就多听BBC吧，说实话你把那个搞定了都不容易，怎么也得几个月吧。多看电影，english subtitle or no subtitle。
写的话多看就好，看什么都行。不过M兄所说Russell的东西我不赞成，那都太老了。你需要看的是newspaper,journal,bestselling novel之类的，国大有很多资源，也可以自己买。
学英语这种东西得靠兴趣，并不是说为了生存，没那么严重，英语滥的人比比皆是，都生存下来了不是，但是英语跟其它能力同等重要。

至于Russell的书，看看语句结构，介词连词的使用，段篇章的组合，还是不错，比时下的文字用心细致很多。