Week 1- A New World for Me

Before entered into E7, I heard many information about how difficult E7 is and have no confidence to pass the final exams.

In the first day, we met Robyn, the teacher who teach us from Monday to Wednesday. She gave us a reading list, articles in the list are all come from real journals or magazines. I felt so shocked at first sight in the very cramped, close characters. However, after I followed Robyn's advice, highlight all the words that I knew of the first three paragraphs, WOW! I was really surprised how many words that I actually did know, and most of the new words are always not really important to understand the whole section. As a result, I felt a bit more confidence after the first day learning. Back to the reading list, all the articles in the reading list are about English language. We have to read these before class, and then, we will discuss the topic in a small group, as a tutorial group. It offers us a chance to communicate with new students and speak with more courage.

On Thursday, I met another teacher - Carla, and faced a new problem, that is creating my own blog. How to create a new blog, how to follow my classmates, and how to beautify my blog, all of these basically problems seem impassable for me, not mention that post my course goals or link my blog with Discussion Board. Until now, I cannot use the tools smoothly, however, I believed I can control it in the near future.

I borrow some e-books from Vina about ielts test and advanced grammar and vocabulary and printed them out. It is really helpful for my English study, and I introduced these books to my group, hope these can help us in proving our English.

NOTETAKING SYMBOLS & ABBREVIATIONS

When you are listening to your instructor and trying to take notes at the same time, it can be a little bit difficult to write quickly enough. Using symbols in your notes will help you write more quickly. Here are some symbols you can use:









http://www.english-zone.com/study/symbols.html

My Course Goals and strategies in REW advanced 2

During this period (5/31-7/2), my main goal is to pass the exams on week 5 and enter into university course successfully. However, all of the four exams are so difficult that I need to plan my study and work hard according to it to improve my English skills. My language learning goals is listing below.

READING
Read fast and accurate.
- Become more familiar with academic texts and journals in my major(commerce). I can borrow some special books from school library or state library and read more business news on the newspapers, such as The Age and The Australia.
- Improve my reading speed.
- Do not use my dictionary when I was reading unless the new vocabulary influence my understanding to the whole meaning of the sentence deeply.

WRITING
Have fewer errors and give unique opinions
- Improve the range of my vocabulary by keeping a vocabulary book.
- Keep practicing academic essay at least twice a week.
- Check the essay I write at least twice before hand in, minimize my grammar errors.

LISTENING:
Familiar with different pronunciation and understand a long academic lecture
- Use useful websites, such as Academic Earth and Behind the News to improve my listening skills. Try to understand each sentence I heart and make notes.
- Can follow local people's daily communication when taking a train or tram.
- Become more familiar with academic lecture and can retell the main points of a lecture.

SPEAKING
No Chinglish, more academic vocabulary and logical speak
- Improve my oral presentation skills by more practice.
- Participates actively in the tutorial group and be more confidence when I was giving my opinion.
- Communicate with everyone in English even talking with a compatriot.

About listening article "English as a Lingua Franca"

This lecture explains what a "lingua franca" is, and the role it plays.

At present, English is regard as the most important lingua franca due to two countries: the UK and the USA. In history, British empire made English widely used all around the world. Nowadays, because of fast development of American economy and high-tech, English is more widely accepted as a second language in many countries. Oversea students choose to study in English speaking countries can be regarded as a result of the increasing requirements for English.

Although it seems not equal to other languages, English is the best choice to be a global language.

My Learning Styles

I am a visual learner!!


Visual learners
Visual learners attend to information most effectively when they see something, for example, pictures, diagrams, films and videos or demonstrations. Check to see if some of the following characteristics may apply to you.

Behaviours/ characteristics of visual learners:•Remember what they see rather than what they hear
•Remember diagrams and pictures
•Prefer to read and write rather than listen
•Have trouble remembering verbal instructions
•Need an overall view and purpose before beginning a project
•Like art more than music
•Sometimes tune out when trying to pay attention.


Study hints for visual learners:•Take written notes in lectures & class
•Use colours to highlight important points
•Pay attention to diagrams, charts and pictures in text books
•Use mindmaps ( with colours & diagrams) to organise information for an assignment or for revision for an exam.
•Put summaries and mindmaps on the walls in your study area
•Use a wall planner.

http://www.dlsweb.rmit.edu.au/lsu/content/1_StudySkills/study_tuts/learning%20styles/visual.html