SIGHT WORDS

Hi! It's me - Professor Panda with a new and really important new English lesson. Today we are going to revisit, SIGHT WORDS! What is a SIGHT WORD?

• A sight word is any word that should be known to a reader automatically. Sight words are pronounced without thinking about how the word is spelled. A common first sight word is a person's name. Beginning readers are at an advantage when they learn to read sight words that occur frequently in print. However, it is possible to read a word on sight but not know the meaning of the word. For example, a student might be able to read on sight "there, their and they're" but not understand the differences in meaning. So, learning words by sight only, should not be seen as a complete reading solution.

• It is estimated that there are approximately 100 to 220 common words in English that require specific memorization.

So, here are the first group of sight words for you. Memorize them and if you are not clear on their meaning or use, look them up in a nice dictionary.

A very good way to learn sight words is to make a flash card for each one. Write the word down on one side, and on the other, write down a sentence using that word. Look at these cards at least once a day, or more! The more you practice, the more automatic they will become, and the better your English will be.

Here are the first 15 sight words you should know:

the Did you see the dog?

of I saw two of them.

and I saw Kimiko and Ichiro.

a I saw a cat.

to Takumi went to the store.

in Shou is in the house.

is Mr. Saito is here.

are Are you going home?

that Did you see that bird?

it I put it on the table.

he He took my bike!

was Kouhei was late for school.

for Mai made this for you.

on The cat is on the chair.

are Aoi and Aya are cute.

Remember: Each sentence begins with a capital (big) letter and ends with either a period, question mark, or exclamation mark. As you practice these sight words and become more comfortable with them, try to make up your own sentences.

THE PARTS OF SPEECH

Hi everybody! I thought it would be fun to begin to study the basic "parts of speech": all the words we use to speak and write English well. They are like our basic tools and we can't do a good job on something unless we know our tools well. So let's get started!

THE PARTS OF SPEECH

Words in English or divided into eight parts of speech, each one different, according to their “job” in a sentence. Oh yes indeed, there are different kinds of words and each kind of word has a specific function in a sentence. They are:

Adjectives
Adverbs
Conjunctions
Interjections
Nouns
Pronouns (No, these are not nouns that have given up amateur status to become professionals!)
Prepositions
Verbs

These are some of the “nuts and bolts” (the basic parts) that make up English, and to speak and write English well, we must have a good understanding of them and their jobs. I say “some”, because there are other parts of speech, but I do not want you to go running away into the night, screaming in terror, so I will keep them to myself for a while until you are comfortable with the parts I have mentioned above.

So, let’s get started!

NOUNS

A noun is simply a word that names a person, place, or thing. A good way to remember nouns is this:

NOUN = NAMAE

A noun is a name and they come in different varieties; and just like names, there are some what we like, some that maybe we don’t like so much, and some that we are stuck with no matter what. The varieties of nouns are:

Common nouns
Proper nouns
Compound nouns
Collective nouns.

Don’t panic! It’s not as complicated as in sounds, as you will soon see. For today’s lesson, we will explore two types of nouns: common nouns and proper nouns.

Common nouns – nouns that name any one of a group, or class, or type of person, place or thing.

girl
city
food

Easy right?

Proper nouns – nouns that name a specific or certain person, place, or thing.

· Mitusko
· Osaka
· California Roll

Until next time, look through your favorite magazines or books, and see if you can pick out common nouns and proper nouns. I am sure you will find lots of them and suddenly you will discover that you have a new way of thinking about the words you see.

Ok, now let's relax and have some tea!