Learning journal EPIM1 Rachel Nye
Astrid Coucke 0592476 27.05.2022
Initial Entry wrote: 19.10.2021
I studied English because of my profound feelings toward the English language. I
feel like it is one of the most passionate languages. It makes me feel more than
any other language can. This language also has a great history and is a popular
language worldwide. Which shows that there are many resources to be found in
this language. There is plenty to discover, to research, that intrigues me. I
started university at fifteen, where I studied to be a pharmacist. After
graduating, I studied one year of medicine and two years of law. Now I’m here
because, after all this time, I truly believe literature is the subject I cannot live
without.
I don’t know what my strengths are. I have the desire and motivation to be a
good student. That is one of the most necessary qualities a student can have.
I only watch TV series, movies, and the news in English. And I have a lot of
friends who are native English speakers. This made me understand the ‘local’
vocabulary. Most of the books I read are in English; I believe that strengthens
me in a way I can trust my intuition more because of the experience I have.
I’m not good at pronunciation, especially for talking in front of people. I need to
learn how to cope with the social anxiety of talking in front of other people. My
English is far better when I’m on my own, but when I have to use it, it seems
like I have never heard of the language before.
This year I would like to work on my presentation skills, and my ability to have
an adult conversation with people that goes beyond ‘How are you?’.
, Entry 1 (sessions 3-5: 18.10.2021, 25.10.2021, 15.11.2021) wrote 17.11.2021
The focus of the lesson over the past sessions was:
The main focus of these sessions was register and our learning journal. I had no
idea what register was, after explaining we learned how to use it. And how
important it is to use a correct register, it goes beyond civility. Apart from
receiving useful documents that could help us with the entries for the journal,
we learned a great amount of vocabulary. Now I know what ‘colons’ are, and I
will never call them ‘double dots’ again. I also try to only speak British English,
so will now say ‘full stop’ instead of ‘period’, I thought these two were just
synonyms.
Something specific I have learned/ made progression/ received feedback on in
the past sessions.
I was absent for session 5, but I have talked to other students about what we
did in this class, and I have taken a look at the PowerPoint. I have discussed my
writing assignment with a couple of classmates and they gave me some
feedback. I received the feedback that my informal writing, which I would use
for the student room, was too formal, so I changed it.
The revision of the vocabulary was very useful, and I made a list of all the words
I keep forgetting.
Something I have done independently to work on my proficiency in English over
the past sessions is:
Some of my friends are native English speakers and when I’m with them I speak
English and they try to speak Dutch. And when one of us makes a mistake, we
correct them. However, when we send text messages we don’t correct one
another, we made the agreement that from now on we will. This will help me
with grammar and spelling, I also stopped using ‘autocorrect’ on my phone. I
hope that this will help me, considering normally my mistakes are only corrected
or pointed out in class, so the other six of seven days, I speak the way I believe
is correct.
