Level 4 >> Post 10 (week 13): English Language Challenges

> What comments can you make about your experience learning English at university? What about the use of blogs?
> What aspects of your English need to be improved and how do you plan to do this?
> Outside the English class, how much are you using English these days? What for?

- Wordcount: 250
- Make comments on 3 of your partners' posts.


Sample:

My experience has been pretty good, I would say. We've had good teachers and we've been able to improve our conversation skills as well as our listening and reading comprehension. I've also learned lots of vocabulary and terminology related to my major and that makes me feel confident that I can continue studying and communicating in English in an academic and professional setting in the future. I think the program needs more flexibility with some activities, since some of them didn't seem relevant to my life at the time. For example, I like writing blogs but the topics were often not really interesting enough and I would have liked different kinds of interaction while using the computer. All in all, I think my writing skills have improved thanks to blogging.

Well, I need to improve several aspects of my English, specially regarding listening comprehension. It's difficult for me to follow a conversation in natural English so I've been watching a lot of movies without reading the subtitles. That's helped me a lot to improve my English. I also listen to a lot of anglo music on the radio and try to memorize and understand the lyrics. I've tried speaking to foreigners a few times, but I can't seem to find enough of them willing to engage in conversation. They're busy trying to learn Spanish. My reading is OK although I'd like to read rich, complex novels like Ulysses, by Joyce, so for that I'm reading whatever I can lay hands on and building my own personal glossary of difficult words.

I hope that by doing this plus my English classes at the university, I'll be able to communicate in English quite fluently by the end of next year.

Level 4 >> Post 9 (week 12) > 2015 - Some Reflections..

Have you had a good year, so far?

Write about:
> Good things that have happened
> Situations that haven't worked so well
> Your achievements
>  A subject/course that you have enjoyed this year
> Other things you want to mention


Wordcount: 250 + 3 comments + a comment on your teacher's post




Sample:

Well, I can say that this year was definitely better than the last one. I have more work now than before. That's been a relief I may say. I have been able to accomplish lots of things too, like, for example, getting some good grades on my final exams. I've really studied hard to get ahead in my classes. I've also done a great deal of volunteer work at a cultural center I belong to. We have applied for several grants for publishing poetry books and are waiting for the results to come out. We've tried to help people to appreciate literature and the arts in general. We have a projecto called "Art in your neighborhood" where visual artists lend some of their pictures to be exhibited in shops and homes of people in a small city area. You can go to Los Andes and see the works of art there! We first did it in Playa Ancha. That's a large hill in Valparaíso.

LEVEL 4 >> Post 8 >> week 11 --- SUMMER PLANS

You have to write about your plans or ideas for this summer.

Among other things, you should write about:

> Places you are going to / would like to visit
> People you are going to / would like to be with in summer
> Activities you are thinking of being part of
> If you are planning to work/study in summer

- Comments: Please leave a comment on your sample post + 3 of their classmates posts.
- Word Count for post 8: 240 words

Well, on my next vacation I'm going to Brazil. Yeah, it's going to be great! I'm going to visit all the beaches in Rio during the day and dance samba all night long. Just kidding. Of course, I'll also visit museums and art galleries. They have really good collections. I'd like to visit the Amazon jungle, but It's too far away and I don't have enough money.

I'm going there because I really love Brazilian culture. I've listened to Bossa Nova since I was a child. Both my parents lived in Sao Paulo when they were young and they brought a lot of CDs and books from their adoptive country, so I grew up listening to and speaking Portuguese as well as Spanish. And this will be my first trip there. I'm so excited.

I'm taking the plane on December 26th just after Christmas I'm going to spend New Year's Eve there with my girlfriend. I would have gone with my buddies, but she's paying for the tickets.  It's a Christmas present. Oh, I love my girlfriend so much!! We're going to visit some beaches, like Copacabana and Ipanema, take lots of pictures and probably eat in romantic places. We´ll also visit the Sugarloaf, of course. The only downside is that my girlfriend doesn't like to dance samba.

I don't think I'll end up working there, though I might take a Portuguese course for a few days if it's available. I also plan on visiting a few universities in order to get to know the academic courses they're offering next year. I'm really interested in following a Master's in Latin American Studies in the near future. Well, that's all for now. Wish me luck!