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Sixth week

 Hi folks! A few lessons ago we talked about the idea that ‘language shapes thoughts. I have read some articles on this since then. I had noticed before that my voice changed strangely, especially when I was reading something in English out loud, but the changes in my thoughts or my approach to myself and my life were not so noticeable. I don't want to talk about what these changes are for now, because I want to focus on why these changes are happening. I am not sure whether these changes are due to English itself or to the teaching method used. What I mean is that every textbook written for ESL students seems to be written by the same author, covers the same topics, and contains the same discussion patterns. I have been exposed to these patterns for about four years now, so it may be shaping my thoughts when using the English language. Another reason for these changes could be that you are speaking English almost like a child and while speaking or writing you have to focus on many...
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Seventh week

Hi folks!  Sometimes it's hard to start writing, not because you have no idea what to write, but because you're really bored with what you've written so far.  Since this is a student blog, I'd like to change my direction a bit, hoping you don't mind. I've been studying soley on my listening skills for two weeks, especially the British accent. I use Podcast Repuclic, a practical and useful podcast app, and there are many podcast channels that I've been following for a while. One of these is Luke's English Podcast, which is very famous for its entertaining and satisfying content - I think everyone who is learning English knows this podcast. Then this week I found Tom Wilkinson 's podcast 'Thinking in English' and it was just what the doctor ordered. Anyway, I listened to two related episodes from this podcast; 'How to Think Critically in English' and 'Logical Fallacies: Mistakes You Probably Make When Arguing!'. I want to talk a...
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Sixth week

We are halfway through our C1 course and I have to write my seventh blog post - but to be honest I feel a pang inside, I don't know why. But I have to write and I have to get out of this gloomy mood. Our topic this week was historical movies -and how important accuracy was in historical movies. Of course, the First and Second World Wars were also among the topics discussed. Although I enjoy reading about wars and recent history, I admit that this topic contributed to my gloomy mood. Now that I am in such a mood, perhaps I should mention the difficulties I face in learning English. First of all, the biggest challenge for me is trying to understand what fast-talking British people are saying. I can't even understand everyday American conversations, let alone British ones. Up until now I have only tried to improve my listening skills through videos on different topics that interest me and 'everyday English' was not among them and now I am lacking of it. Secondly, another...
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Fifth week

  This week we only had one lesson on Saturday, because our teacher was in charge of cheering at the Eurasian Marathon on Sunday. (There are interesting people who come up with ideas like running a marathon or inventing yufka (phyllo). Sometimes I can't help but wonder how it's possible that we're all made of the same stuff, yet our outcomes could be so completely different. Anyway, this is not something I should write about on this blog. Or is it? Maybe.) In our class on Saturday, we talked about dating, real-life dating, and dating apps. Considering our class was mostly young (only 5 out of 20 were over 40 or 50), it was a great idea. For those of us over 40, it was, I dunno, a joke. Being in a classroom full of young people is great for keeping up with the today's spirit (zeitgeist), or at least being aware of it, and developing your skills, but it also comes with some side effects, like having to talk about 'dating'. By the way, I'm not complaining abou...
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Fourth Week

 Hi folks! It was an exciting weekend. On the one hand, I gave a presentation and spoke English for the first time in my life for almost 10 minutes straight, on the other hand, I had an online meeting with my former students who were scattered all over the world right after our lesson ended.  In the presentation, I tried to give my classmates a lesson on how to write and read music notation by simply describing and illustrating the tools we use. Frankly, I think my speaking skills are still at B1 level at most and not good enough for this level, so for now I'm trying to keep things as simple as possible. Therefore, I kept the language simple in my presentation as well. Even if I forgot what I was going to say, it was comforting to know I could say it in another way.  As usual, we did reading and listening activities as well as speaking, and this weekend's topic was 'Language'. Talking about language, and specifically the idea that ‘language shapes thought’, was an excel...
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Third week

 Hello everyone! We moved our classroom this week and I was happy with the move. Our old classroom felt weird and made our voices louder than they should have been because of the blank walls. I know not everyone likes the new classroom, but I hope they will get used to it. The only problem with this classroom is that there is a huge pillar near the middle of the room which somewhat disrupts the sitting arrangement. But other than that, it's a very nice, cute room with Japanese decorations on the walls and various cologne bottles in the cabinets. In our fifth and sixth lessons this week, we talked about different professions and the qualifications they require, and we also listened to some audio recordings and watched videos about this topic. (I must admit that all this talk about qualifications, especially for the 21st century, really makes me feel old. Yes, I am, indeed.) The most enjoyable part of our lesson was watching an interview with folk musician Eliza Carthy. I had never h...
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Second week

  Hi folks, We had our second and third lessons on the weekend.  What we did was mostly speaking exercises on some topics in our textbook and then we had the most engaging activity, the ten-minute meeting with the A1 students. We split up into pairs and tried to talk to each other as much as we could.  This activity was a shot in the arm that I badly needed. It reminded me of where I came from. You know, things don't always go so smoothly in real life, and  neither does mine. Before I started this course, I was stuck at the intermediate plateau and didn't know how to get past it. And I am still not sure if I can get past this seemingly never-ending plateau. Since I started learning English, I have experienced many things that made me put my English studies on hold, and this caused me to forget most of what I learned, and then I had to study the same topics over and over again. But I know that as long as I'm alive and well, no matter how long my journey takes, no...
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First Day in Class

 We had our first lesson on Saturday and there's so much to say. Our teacher first divided us into two groups and then paired us up face to face, one by one, and asked us to  introduce ourselves to the others. Every time we finished introducing ourselves, we had to take a step to the left and pair up with a new classmate. Thus, we have completed an interactive part of introducing ourselves to others, which was more useful and exciting than making individual introductions. After finishing this part of lesson, we were told about some requirements we needed to do in this course by the teacher. In the last part of the lesson we played a different game: 'Pass the ball to the others and tell two truths and a lie.' As the name suggests, in this game, when it's your turn, you have to tell the class three things, one of which is a lie, and then your classmates have to ask questions to determine which one is the lie.  We completed the game and then left the classroom to see eac...
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Getting started

 I've just started a C1 course and this is a blog where I'll write about what's going on in my new class, how I feel about it, and how difficult or manageable it is. The idea of creating and writing a blog -actually an assignment- came from our teacher who wanted us to create a blog to improve our writing skills. So, you might think there's nothing new here and you'd be right.  I don't know if I can make this more enjoyable for you and me, but I'll try to write something readable and enjoyable in case you accidentally end up here.  See you soon 
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