Thursday, October 28, 2010

MY SECOND REFLECTION

The second week was over and also its time for me to look back what I have done and improved for my English over a week.

+Reading:

 I found that it is seem a little bit difficult because sometimes I got confused when I was looking for appropriate answer for each question. I can understand the article but don’t know what the answers exactly are. However, our teachers, Carla and Sara, also spend time to explain for us how to analyse an article, which part the answer locate on and eliminate other information that is not related to the questions. We have much more practices than last week as well.

+Writing:

This week Carla did not focus too much on listening because she realised that we need more time to practice writing and the most important reason is that we will have the first writing test next week. She wants us to understand clearly an analysed essay including structure, language and especially the Belt principle through a simple essay and answering any questions that we are still wondering why and misunderstand as well. We also have to finish an homework essay by Thursday as we did last week, but this time it is 500 words rather than a paragraph with an argument.

+Listening:

Carla and Sara spent the whole Tuesday and a half of Friday in order to help us practicing our listening before we take exam in week 4. We mainly listened to the lectures and try to use note-taking skill as much as we can to get specific information. It was really hard when I listened at the first time because my note-taking skill was not very well. Therefore, I always leave out some important information as main ideas and specific words when the speed of speaker becomes faster. Sometimes I completely get almost information when I hear from lecture but I can not find out the answer for the question that related to the topic. That is because I did not take notes logic and clear in order. By the end Tuesday, Carla recommended us a CD which she took from REW. It contains many lectures that are relevant to a variety of topics and really good for developing listening. We are lucky because Carla let us make a copy and encourage us to listen to it on the weekend so as to practice. I intend to improve my note-taking skill step by step through listening this CD everyday for 1 hour. Listening is really a important skill because when I practice listening, my speaking also advance.

+Speaking:

I would like to say that my speaking is advanced very quickly because this level requires ability of speaking fluently and clearly without a few mistakes. However, everyone in my class speak English very well, particularly Leon and Derek and it is definitely an great opportunity for me to make my speaking more fluent when I talk or discuss with them in class or outside class.

Sunday, October 24, 2010

My frist reflection week

I was really excited on my first day at E7. I saw a lot of class mates of mine who have studied with me in E6 and new friends as well. The first morning we mainly introduced ourselves to each other in my class and my teacher, Carla. She made an adjective list that related to our name in order to remember all members of my class. She also gave us some information about our course. This course is really much more difficult than I thought because the style of learning is quite different from other level and the way I learn in my country. I was confused when my teacher was trying to explain what we will have to do in this level. We have to complete a lot of tasks as class activities and blog journey. However, this level also gave me a lot of advantages and opportunities to advance my English before I study my Masters. In fact, we got used to new style of learning gradually over one week.  I’ve found that reading skills at this level are very important because it requires a deeper understanding of English and a wider academic vocabulary.

  Carla has also taught us how to analyze an article in both reading and writing skills. My work writing was quite difficult because I have never wrote an essay like a response essay, but fortunately provided us with some clues about structure. On Thursday and Friday I found out that I have to improve my vocabulary. We practiced listening and presentation with Sara , our another teacher , particularly on Friday. We discussed about some topics as well.


  Although I thought I would have a hard weekend. I have to finish all my work as well as complete my blog and prepare my topical presentations.