Lesson 13 Topic: Basic problem solving strategies Time: 80min The Problem

Diagnostic Matters
It is probably necessary that you identify which subjects are related to the most serious concentration problems. You may notice that you really don't give yourself a chance with these subjects because of the time, order, or place you use to study. It may also be valuable to assess what your motives are for studying in the first place? What is your reward for your efforts?


Handout 1.Look at the following list of words for two minutes. Then, write down as many of the words as you can without looking back at the list.
hole puncher Rome sofa thorough light blue dictionary
Monaco thirty five UFO ocean miracle BBC
elegant PINK commitment dry dig out Velvet armchair
pineapple knitwear humour action UK
thirty life Masterpiece artwork Paris silky £ 1 million
dog hand holiday book HAPPY doctor necessary


Handout 2.

Acronyms

I wish there was a simple way to learn the punctuation in English…

Zarema, 30

You form acronyms by using each first letter from a group of words to form a new word. This is particularly useful when remembering words in a specified order. Some examples of acronyms are LASER (Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation), UzTEA (Uzbek Teachers of English Association), CALL (Computer Assisted Language Learning).

What other common acronyms can you think of?
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Some examples of how acronyms can be used to learn English:

• 
  6 coordinating conjunctions before which we put comma i.e. For (meaning because), And, Nor, But, Or, Yet, So – FANBOYS
  
• 
  NEWS - North East West South
  

Although acronyms can be very useful memory aids, they do have some disadvantages –they do not help comprehension. In other words, memorization does not necessarily mean understanding. A second problem with acronyms is that they can be difficult to form; not all lists of words can easily be turned into acronyms. Finally, acronyms, like everything else, can be forgotten if not committed to memory.
(Adapted from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acronym_and_initialism )