Hello, welcome to the second term of the English course. From this term we¡¯ll be able to put something new on the internet once every fortnight. We¡¯ll also conduct discussions over bbs at the end of each month. See if you find them useful. We welcome your suggestions. Now to start with, some learning tips: How did you do with the end-of-course exams of the first two terms? Pretty well, I suppose. To be frank, in the overall design of the course, we deliberately lower the level of difficulty of the first two courses because we don¡¯t want to make you feel discouraged when you first start the course. Perhaps some of you had not been involved in any serious study for a long time and you needed some time to get accustomed to the new mode of learning. Therefore, if you found the first two courses quite easy to follow don¡¯t assume you will be able to follow the two courses of this term without much effort. Otherwise you would not make much progress and find yourself in trouble by the end of the term. The present two courses are certainly more demanding than the first two. Did you do all the tasks in each unit last term? It wouldn¡¯t help if you only read through them. You are supposed to do all the tasks. Always remember learning by doing. To understand the text is one thing, but to be able to use the language yourself is something different. How many hours are you going to spend learning the course? We suggest around ten hours per week. You might think it¡¯s impossible since you have other responsibilities. We know how difficult and challenging it is for an adult to come back to school again while she/he has already got family, career and social responsibilities. However, if you are determined to take up learning again, you have to make time for it. Forget all the excuses and manage to plan your life, work and study sensibly. And most importantly make a realistic plan and stick to it. Don¡¯t forget to seek help and support from your family, your unit and from us as well.