Skip to main content

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 challenge for me is to remember words, idioms, expressions, phrases, etc. No matter how much I try to surround myself with English, it is obvious that the lack of people I can talk to and not using the language often enough make the memorization process difficult. Whenever I try to speak English, I feel like my mind is a sack with many holes or a bag with one compartment and everything inside is a mess.

Finally, my short attention span is a real problem that makes me tired very quickly. (I'm not sure if this is because I wake up very early.) On top of all these problems, this course ends in a month and a half, so I will continue to study English on my own, using the only method I know.

I guess I've been a bit grumpy lately, and that, combined with my gloomy mood, is driving me to a very dull place. So I better stop writing now.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

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...
Post a Comment
Devamını okumak için tıklayın>>>

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...
Post a Comment
Devamını okumak için tıklayın>>>

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...
Post a Comment
Devamını okumak için tıklayın>>>