Chose a suitable
place to study in where the things you will need are close
at hand and keep distractions to a minimal.
Make a list before
starting out, including the necessary study materials, the
assignment steps and processes, when these assignments are
due, and remember to put breaks into your schedule.
Work with dictionaries
and reference material that allow you to check up on things
quickly and easily.
Make flash cards
or charts with the new vocabulary and structures learnt
in class. For the nouns, first write the gender (the definite
article der, die, das or the
last letter: r, e, s) and the
plural. For verbs write the past tense and the past participle,
as well as the auxiliary verbs used with the main verbs.
For prepositions, write out in what cases it is used and
provide a few examples of how it is used. New vocabulary
should always be placed in the context it is usually used
in (as you get through your classes, you will understand
what we mean by the grammatical references mentioned in
this section).
In order to improve
your oral performance in every day life situations, try
and repeat the dialogues and texts used in class, try paraphrasing
them and eventually coming up with new ones based on what
you have learned so far.
In order to improve
reading skills, try and get used to following a series of
steps during the reading process: scan the text, pick out
the key words, identify what the theme topics of the text
are, pay attention to how the text is structured in relation
to content, identify characters, things, events, contexts,
tense, setting, etc.
To improve your
writing skills, work in the following way: determine what
theme you wish to write on, collect information on your
topic, organize the text by using a concept map, form your
sentences and then revise and correct the final result.
