The second week

I had as much fun in the second week as I had in the first week. We learned some work & health words, explaining the words and again a lot of talking. I also learned how to pronounce some occupations that were new to me.

The best part of this week was when we practised telephone language. There were different situations to train it out and that was super fun. The telephone interview was cool. I learned some new advice how to act in conversation with an employee over the phone. I’ve considered going for an au-pair so I really saw it helpful.

I also liked the word explaining exercise. It was very worthwhile for me because I learnt many other ways to explain the word. Before I had just tried to explain the word, but now I used the opposite for the word and synonyms.

Working with the health vocabulary was great. I liked it when we acted some patient-doctor conversations. I have never been in those kinds of situations but if I someday get injured abroad, it’ll surely be a good advantage that I know what to do and say.

Week #2

The second week started and we kept talking. Things have been pleasant so far. There have been enough homework so far. I like that we do not get that much homework. Just enaugh to keep us focused .
I learned new words during this week. Glossary sections can come really handy in the future because words are used quite often in our daily life. We did read them out loud and had conversations with our partners.
Phone language exercises with our partners was also fun and teaching. It can be bit different between English and Finnish speakers. It is useful to learn speak English on the phone too. It would be really tricky speak English on the phone without practising. These exercises helped me a lot and now I have some experience of the speaking over the phone.
I was also interested about Merjo's real life stories. Even native speakers can get in awkward situation and all we can do is that we learn about them and try to figure out different solutions to get things go on smoothly and less awkward.

2nd Week

I don't really have anything special to say about our second week. Like others have already written, we kept talking in English and also learning words about health, for example. I also think that those words are really useful, so it was good that we went through them in different ways. We had conversations in which we had to use those words and we also learned to spell the words right.

I liked the exercise in which we had conversations as a doctor and patient. That was fun! We also learned a bit more about phone language, which seemed kind of boring but maybe it will be useful that we talked about it too.

I think it's nice that we don't have a lot of homework, because we're all really really busy studying to this autumn's matriculation examination, so it's nice to have this kind of an "easier" course in this period too :-)

First week

I'm also a bit late with my texts because I seriously forgot the whole journal at first, but I'm trying to remember this thing better for the rest of the course!

So, we all had chosen this oral course, and as soon as we got to the class and heard more about it, we started the course having conversations and playing games in English. I find it really nice to speak English, and also really useful, so I think this course will help all of us to speak a little more :-) The game we played was really nice and fun, and like Mirna said it reminded us of the game "Afrikan tähti". We had fun in our group because of the funny questions and answers.

It was also nice to hear what others had done in their holidays and one great thing was also Miina's presentation of her exchange year in Croatia. It was really interesting and Croatia looked really beautiful in the pictures she showed us! I'm glad she had a great year there and learned the language in such a short time :-)

Anyway, I think this course will be really useful for all of us and at least I think it's much more fun to have conversations and play games than do exercises and learn more grammar. I think I'm gonna enjoy this course because it's pretty easy but also useful.

...and the second week

We kept on talking during the second week, which was a good thing. We learned some new things like the phone language and some health vocabulary. Especially the health vocabulary was very useful and a good thing to learn in my opinion. For example if you go abroad and get sick, it is much easier to be able to tell what is the problem compared to the fact that you could only act or desperately try to explain it. We also practiced that though.

The phone language was also a good thing to learn and I think the job interview-exercise especially was something that some of us may need in future. And just like Merjo told us about the travel reservation thing, the phone language might be very useful somewhere else than in the interview also.

The first week...

I know I'm not on time with this text but isn't it better late than never..? I was only a half of the lessons in school, because I had some private things to take care of. Anyways I had to cheat just a little to remember all the things we did during the first week.

First everybody got to tell each other what they did during the summer holiday. I worked the whole summer so I didn't have that much to tell about but it was nice to hear what everyone else had done!

We also played this game that reminded me of the game that we here in Finland call "Afrikan tähti". It was really fun and very useful in my opinion. Even though some of the questions were quite hilarious, you may need the knowledge of asking could you get a mosquito repellent to your hotel room, for example.

All in all, I think this is a very good course because here we really get to use our English and not just hear every kind of texts, do a lot of homework and try to learn all the grammar. This course is all about oral skills and I'm glad we have this kind of course.

The 2nd week

This week we continued talking a lot and also learning new words. I liked that we studied the words related to health because those words are probably the most useful for the future. I learned a lot of new words but also revised some words I already knew. 

The exercises that I liked the most were the job interview thing and doctor-patient conversations. I liked those the most probably because I feel like I might get into those kinds of situations in the future. I have considered working abroad and I want to travel when I'm older so I might have to go to hospital while I'm travelling. Now I have some experience and vocabulary for those situations so I think I'll be fine when I face the real situation.

There was also one exercise that I didn't quite understand or at least not the purpose behind it. It was the exercise where we had to discuss about how we act if we don't remember a certain word. I understand that we have to realise that it's not the end of the world if we forget a certain word because we can always for example use body language or synonyms. But I just didn't find the exercise that useful.

In its entirety the week has been great and I hope this starting week will be as great or even better!

The 2nd Week

The second week of this course went by the way I had expected: a lot of talking and just a little bit of homework, which is really nice now that I'm busy with a ton of other school work and studying for the matriculation examination.

What I liked and what was sort of new to me was the health vocabulary. It's something you don't really hear every day (unless you watch hospital series on TV), so I thought it was good to learn more of those words. I was already familiar with most of the words, but there were also some that I didn't know yet, and those were the ones I concentrated on. I think it's very usful to know those kind of words in case you end up in a hospital while abroad. How stressful would it be if you couldn't explain what's wrong with you and didn't know what's happening?

The phone language exercise was a bit boring in my point of view since I've spent a LOT of time on the phone in English, so that wasn't really anything new to me. The good thing about it was the job interview part, though: another good thing to practice and be able to do, also in English.

This week

This week continued the way I expected. We talked a lot and learned a lot of new things and ways to say different stuff. Perhaps we got some new vocabulary about health which is always good especially if you're into travelling. I can say this from experience that health vocabulary is very good when you're abroad. When I was in Croatia, I got sick and I had to go to the hospital so it was good that I was able to explain what was the matter. So this kind of vocabulary that we have learned in the course is very useful in real life too which is important. You never know when you are going to need it so it's good to know it just in case.
Also the exercises for health were really good. It was something different. Something where you had to stop and think about it ( for example the improvised exercises). And there was also some funny stuff (the Ozzy thing) which is always nice when you're learning.

I was sick this week so I missed couple of hours but I tried to do the exercises at home as well as I could. The phrasal verbs are really good to know because they are so common and people use them a lot but it's also a lot to take in because the words are so similar. But in the end that is also a good thing.
So far I really like the course. :)

The second week

The second week is now behind too. It has been pretty nice as well, mainly talking and very little homework. We went through a couple new things.

Two things I remember the best from the week are phone language exercises and practicing to explain something in other words.

Practicing talking on the phone was pretty fun. The book had different kinds of situations listed we were supposed to act out. The situation was explained and then we had to go it through as well as possible. For example, the situation where a student called their teacher on Sunday thinking they were late for the matriculation exam was fun.

Then the explaining. I think it was very useful. Especially, if you have to speak English not being a native speaker some words may get lost. But it's not that hard to explain the word somehow to save the conversation. I think I pretty much had the skill to do this already, but I realized that I had always done it by describing. So I got lots of new tips for explaining, like using the opposites for example. Now I don't always have to explain things the same way.

On top of these we practiced pronouncing difficult profession words, like archaeologist or meteorologist. Some of these I was familiar with already but not all of them. Some words were challenging which I actually really liked. I felt like I really learned something new.

(#1) Warm up week

Finally...finally we have a different kind of course in english. For a change it is nice to be in course where we mainly practise oral skills. It feels more comfortable when you don`t have to use your pen all the time and write something. The exercises of course 8 are mostly fun and intresting, example the game where you had to say something correctly or live by situtation to earn money.

There is nothing negative I could say about the course or I can`t think any reasons why it would be. Sometimes when we have three people in our group, somebody have to wait for his turn when we talk in pairs, but it`s not big deal because the person who don`t talk can have a little break and listen what the other two are saying.

We are in familiar groups, with the people we know well. That`s one reason why I like this course. It feels like there are no barriers between the people you know. Of course you have to work with the somebody else too, somebody you may not know so well, but it is nice variaton when you are not in your comfortable zone all the time. Others often talk as easily as the person you normally would speak and I appreciate that.

There is nothing better than a good conversation.

The 1st week is behind

The first week of course 8 went pretty soon but we did many good exercises. We shared together things about our summer holiday during the very first lesson. It was nice to hear about what the school mates have done in summer. We played some game in groups and it was really useful because we had to talk ourselves out of troublesome situations. The exercises of the active listening were needful, too. I noticed that it's boring to talk to someone if the other person doesn't comment or use any filler words. It's polite and important to be an active listener and pay attention to the other people.

I'm glad that we have course of oral skills. It's necessary to practice our English and I hope and know that I will learn a lot during this course. For example phrasal verbs are quite new thing for me so after this course I'll know more and more new words. I'm looking forward to the next classes!

On Friday Miina gave us a nice presentation about her year in Croatia. It's was really pleasant to hear about her life and experiences there. I saw from the picture that Croatia is so beautiful country and I want to travel there maybe some day.

Week #1

The first week is behind us and lots of stuff to come. First week may be tough all of us but we did it! It is nice that most of us enjoyed course 8 so far, I did too.

First lesson started nicely and all of us shared a bit our summer vocation feelings and memories. Basic and usual stuff as always. Start of the lesson was steady and flawless. I really enjoyed that. I believe that this course can encourage me to speak more English than before. I have heard this could be one of the best courses and it feels already so.

Lessons exercises have been so far good. Now I can say that I have some experience about how to be good listener. Active listener is good talent even so Finnish are not that active than Americans. Also I learnt something new about American college. It can be very different compared to Finnish school system. Every school system has pros and cons but I am glad that we Finnish people have free meal at school.

I was not at Friday lesson but I read that Miina held her presentation and I think I missed good presentation but it is nice to have this blog so I can read highlights of the presentation. This course has been different and excellent so far. I am looking forward to the next week!

The beginning

The very first thing I have to say that it was rather difficult to come up with a new and origin title, because all the "first week" titles were already said in many forms before, so I just decided in cold and harsh way write title "The beginning".

Anyway, to speak of the main subject, the beginning of the course was really nice because we did all kind of interesting exercises and I just like to practice to speak english. One reason for that is because part of my future plans I have this idea of doing voice acting perhaps in my own computer games, and in order to do so I should know how to speak to english. It is very exciting idea for me, and that's why I'm quite eager to learn how to do it.

One of the most entertaining exercise this week was a board game where you had to throw a dice and occasionally try to speak or explain something in english such as you had to explain to hotel's lobby staff four things (?) that was wrong in your hotel room. That was fun exercise and very important one too if you are travelling abroad and you have to use english language in order to communicate with other people.

I'm looking forward for next week where will hopefully be more interesting and fun excerices :)

The first week

The first week of the course is now behind us and so far I don’t have anything to complain about. Every exercise has been useful in some way.

My favourite exercise of the week was probably the game we played in groups. It's one of those exercises that is really useful for the future. You never know when you get into those kinds of situations and you have to survive one way or another. And there is always something you can learn from those exercises, new words or just the experience of a new topic.

The reason I came to the course was that I want to learn to speak English better and more fluently. And also I want to get more courage and to learn not to be afraid of mistakes. And I think that the only way I can get better is to talk as much English as I can, and the course hopefully helps me. So far it has been helpful!

Also on Friday Miina gave us a little presentation about her experience as an exchange student. I enjoyed it really much and I learned new things about Croatia. Definitely the highlight of the week one!

Looking forward to the rest of the course :)

The fist week

I’ve learned a lot during the first week of course 8. I liked especially when we practiced using the short polite filler words and being an active listener. Using those filler words in Finland is uncommon, so at first it felt a little strange when I used them. Eventually I realized the words gave the speaker a courage to say more and it felt polite. It was nice to notice that when I said something, my pair used those phrases instead of staring at me and not saying anything. It really made me feel that my pair is interested in the things I say.

I also learned to talk about school system in English. We did the listening comprehension task about American college system and it taught me some new things. It was discovered that the private schools aren’t always the best ones, and some state schools can actually be even better quality.

On Friday it was fun that Miina gave us a presentation about her exchange year in Croatia. I learned a lot about the topic, e.g. that being exchange student doesn’t mean you have to study English all the time, but you’ve actually a chance to get to go to other countries and see different and beautiful places, too.

The 1st Week

So, the first week of this course is over now, and so far I've enjoyed the lessons very much - probably because I like talking in English and that's what this course is all about!

The exercise that I liked the most this week was the imaginary conversation between a Finnish and an American high school student. I was the "American" in the conversation and it was fun to talk about the differences between the two school systems and "going back" to my exchange year - or at least the memories :). Perta and I got so deep in the conversation that we didn't even get finished by the time we had to stop!

Another nice exercise was the game that we played in groups. Games are always fun and this one was also good for practicing oral skills in English in everyday situations so I thoght it was pretty useful.

What I also liked was the listening ex. about American college system. I found it very useful for myself, because I'm going to go to college in America, hopefully already next year, so I'm trying to learn as much as I can about the different school system. Although I have done quite a lot of research on the college system there, there still are a few things that are unclear to me, so the exercise helped me a little. For example, I didn't know before that majors don't need to be chosen until the junior year, which was a good thing to find out.

One more thing that I really liked was Miina's presentation. It was exciting hearing about her exchange experience and seeing all the beautiful pictures of her year in Croatia. And, as some kind of a "language freak" (I love learning new languages), I think it's fascinating that Miina learned the language so fast! I guess one year in a foreign country can make miracles happen :).

The first week

During the first week of course 8 we got to do different exercises for practicing our English, especially the speaking part. This week we have played games and had just normal conversations only in English. I also did a presentation of my exchange year in Croatia.

             I think the course has been great so far. It kind of makes people to speak which is really good because Finnish people are usually afraid of mistakes when it comes to foreign languages and because of that we Finns don't use that much English.

            The exercises that we have done in the class have been very good for different situations. For example the game that we played was good because you can come across with that kind of situations in normal life. Practicing that was useful. Also the exercise 'active listening' was very good in my opinion. I hate talking to the people who don't show any emotions, no interest or anything. Some Finnish people happen to be like this because it's kind of part of our culture. It is so much nicer to talk to somebody who is interested in what you are saying and continues the conversation like we noticed in the exercise. If we think about these exercises like this; could they be useful also in the future and in real life? I think this course gives us so much for the future which is important. I think it's useless to learn things we don't need in real life. We might not need all the information that we study right now but maybe in the future, who knows!

Last thing I did in the class was my presentation. I think it was a good idea because for my classmates the timing is good, they are still young and able to do it. I also find it interesting. If somebody else has done an exchange I would want to hear about it. I think not everybody knows what actually comes with exchange, people think that it's only some friends and the language. I think my presentation showed different sides of exchange, being independent, getting to know different people and different cultures, also being by myrself in a  country that I've never been before with the people I didn't know before, thousands of miles away from home.
So far this course has been fun!
I'm looking forward to the next lessons! :)

The first week of course 8

The first week of this course is nearly behind and so far I've liked it. I'm pretty motivated when it comes to studying English and especially, speaking it. And that's what this course is all about.

We've chatted a lot in groups and pairs and I've enjoyed those exercises. I really liked the one where we had to tell our pair about certain subjects, like our parents' jobs. First the pair was told not to respond in any way. After that the pairs had to listen actively, responding with fillers. It was easy to sense the difference between those two! It made me compare Finnish and American cultures in my mind. In a way I understand why Finnish people listen quietly, just to respect the speaker's statement. But it's true that the American active listening way makes the listener seem more polite and interested, at least in my opinion. So I guess I'm more American than Finnish when it comes to that.

On top of learning oral skills I've learned simple facts about American school system. Some of them I already knew, but I've also gained a lot of brand new information. For example, I had no idea that the first two years of college are very similar to high school studying, so that was new.

So I've already learned and got to practice conversation skills. The course seems nice and I look forward to the next lessons.

ENA8.1 Journal Fall 2013

Muurame Senior High ENA8.1. Journal. This is a venue for ENA 8.1 to write entries to their journal. After each week (/lesson if preferred), everybody is to write something about the tasks done. Remember that this is more about quality than quantity... Be reflective and keep in mind that this is a process and not something that is done towards the end of the course! Hope you enjoy the course itself as well as writing about your thoughts and feelings in a true to yourself way :)