Answers:
G'day,
I used to be an international student in Australia as well and English is not 1st or even 2nd language in my home country.
This is what I usually suggest to my fellow international students:
1. If you like to read, then read alot. This can be newspaper, magazine, comics, paperbacks... basically any reading material that interest you, but not in your native language.
2. How often do you listen to the English radio? All the time? Do you have collection of your native language songs in your MP3? You may want to listen to English songs more just to get accustomed to the words. Hope you don't prefer instrumental musics :)
3. Who do you live with? Who's your friends are? This has affect as well b'cos as you may well aware, if you live and stick with ppl from the same home country as yours, and speak the same language as yours, then of course you will not speak English all the time. So maybe mix your friends with other international students as well? Add Australian friends as well in the mix.
4. This is what my English teacher told me and it is the hardest part. THINK IN ENGLISH! This means that you have to think in English in your head all the time. Example: If you are thinking "OK... what should I eat now?", do it in English, not in your native language. This will accustom your brain not to translate the words anymore and you will be able to extrapolate/guess what the other person said. As you may remember, some ppl in our native language also do not speak clearly, but we are able to 'guess' what the person was talking abt.
5. Be patient. Australian accent can take awhile to get used to and sometimes they do speak abit fast. Just never shy to ask them to repeat the sentence slower. They know you are not a native speaker and most of them will comply for their own benefit as well.
Working is a good idea. You can probably contact the local city council for volunteer works. Pls remember the limit of 20hrs/week working hrs during study period.
Hope this helps. E-mail me at mikegun(at)studentfirst.com.au if you have more questions abt living as international students :) Good luck.
get an austrailan phrase book so if you know what the words are and what they mean maybe you will have an easier time understanding it when soemoen says it.
I know those austrialans can be hard to understand!!
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