Book 1 of 20 Importance of theory. Importance of oral practice. How to do your study. Non-detailed study. Detailed study. Learning in bursts. Do a lot of general reading. Ordinary novels suit fluency-building best. Recommended reading. You need a good dictionary. Avoid bilingual dictionaries. Avoid high-sounding and rarely-used words. What dictionary should you buy? Fluency, only through idea units. ‘Speech’ comes first, and ‘writing’, only next. Non-native speakers learn English the ‘wrong’ way. Learning words alone won’t help. Bite-sized pieces of ideas. How does natural speech come out? What does natural speech come out in? Let ready-to-assemble units do your work for you. Idea units: Your key to speech and fluency. ‘Idea units’ of speech, and “sentences” of writing. How context helps the speaker. Importance of context. Types of idea units. Word knowledge and word mastery. Why can’t we speak in ‘sentences’? Just a little at a time, and not a mouthful. Strands of information. Length and shape of idea units. Points for dividing speech. Guidelines for dividing speech into idea units. Embedding and lining up. Roundabout connectivity. Straight connectivity. Speak in idea units, and not in sentences. Contents A word before the Lessons start, 5 Read aloud and silently, 5 lmponance of theory. S lmponance of oral practice, S How to do your study, 6 Non-detailed study, 6 Detailed srudy, 7 Learning in bursts, 7 Do a lot of general reading, 9 Ordinary novels suit fluency-building best, 10 Recommended reading, 10 You need a good dictionary, 11 Avoid bilingual dictionaries, 11 Avoid high-sounding and rarely-used words, 12 What dictionary should you buy? 12 Fluency, only through Idea units, 13 'Speech' comes first, and 'writing', only next, 13 Non-narive speakers learn English the 'wrong' way, 13 Learning words alone won't help, 14 Bite-sized pieces of ideas, 1 S How does natural speech come out?, 16 What does nawral speech come out in?, 16 Let ready-to-assemble units do your work for you, 17 Idea units - Your key to speech and fluency, 19 'Idea unics' of speech, and "sentences" of writing, 19 How context helps the speaker, 20 lmponance of context, 21 Types of idea units, 23 Phrases, 23 Phrases as idea unics, 24 Oon'1 let a few grammatical 1erms scare you, 25 Word knowledge and word masrery. 25 Clauses, 26 lndependenr clauses, 26 Non-independent clauses, 27 No complicated grammatical scuff, 28 Incomplete clauses and incomplete phrases, 29 'Whole plus' clauses and phrases, 29 Why can't we speak In 'sentences'? 31 Just a little at a time, and not a mouthful, 32 Strands or information, 33 Length and shape of idea units, 34 Points for dividing speech, 34 Boundary of a 'whole' grammatical unit, 35 Boundary or an 'incomplete' grammatical unit, 36 Boundary of a 'whole plus' grammatical unit, 36 Other spots, 36 Guidelines for dividing speech into idea units, 37 Embedding and lining up, 45 Roundabout connectivity, 46 Straight connectivity, 47 Speak in idea units, and not in sentences. 4 7 The thing to do, 48
