And what is your New Year's resolution?

The beginning of a New Year is always a good time to start anew. Cleaning the house, your room or your apartment is like cleaning your mind. Start with everything fresh.

So please let me make a suggestion to help you with your future study abroad. Promise yourself to work on your English for a short period at least once a day until you depart from Thailand. Every little effort helps and working at it regularly and frequently builds not only knowledge but confidence. Here are a few more ideas to make such study entertaining:

- watch at least one film a week in English, without subtitles

- play an English language tape as you exercise

- have plenty of English language recordings on your iPod

- try to remember an English language text and repeat it as you shower, but not while cleaning your teeth (for fear of biting your toothbrush in half!)

- make a rule to speak with one of your friends in English only when you have a coffee together (assuming you are not following me and giving this up for the New Year)

- speak to at least one passing foreigner in the week (even if only to ask the time - having taken off your watch in advance). You could be braver and (pretending that you are not Thai) ask the way on the Skytrain to somewhere. Nothing strange in one tourist asking another is there?

- teach your dog or cat English, but talking them only in English (I promise they will not laugh at you)

- sitting in the traffic, listen to English language tapes, or at least, the radio

- learn the words of one song in English and go to karaoke with some friends (and hopefully impress them) - (be even braver and take with you the foreigner that you met on the train!)

They say that in learning a language, little and often helps most. So there you are - think about it. If you are speaking English more of the time then you have less time to: drink coffee, eat cakes, watch pointless TV dramas, and so many other things that could also be one of your New Year's resolutions.

John Kelly, director, Mentor International

www.mentor.ac