This weekend, Relax!

"enjoy your weekend, relax yourself" Murray said to every EAP 3 student. I thought his words was right because we are smart enough, right guys? I had some plans for this weekend, but I still needed to review those textbook, especially vocabulary. For listening, I tried to take notes more effectively and quickly than before, but it was still hard for me to take notes when i listened to lectures. I thought everyone had the same problem, but the difference was more or less. I was trying to get used to Murray's note-taking method, Cornell. I think it is a pretty good method for taking notes. I always think about how to improve my note-taking, and I listen to CBC radio every day. However, I think I should take notes when I listen to the Radio. There is a English Saying "Practice makes perfect". I truly feel that because my co-workers, Canadian friends and my parents all said that My English was huge different from the first day I arrived here. I will try to get more hours from where i am working now, and try to find another job in order to get more opportunities to practice my English. I remember last summer I worked 6 days a week, and my English blew like a boom(I know it is really hard but I was happy about practicing English every day). And I will do the same thing in this summer, try to be aggressive and hard-working (should work smart).

we've done the final writing exam by 3:38 pm!

I was quite shock when I finished my essay because I used causal chain structure essay. I had never ever use it on my essays at all before I took the writing exam. I chose the first topic for my final essay in EAP 3 program(I hope so), and the topic was "what is the major reason why most businesses fail in their first five years of operation." well, I didn't know why I wanted to talk about this topic, and I was pretty interested in this topic. Moreover, I remembered what Scott taught us about causal chain in the class because I concentrated on that class, and I liked to try something new(honestly, it's not a good idea for important exams). At the beginning, I was struggling how to organize my essay. I had some supporting ideas to form a chain, but I didn't have many really good examples. However, I started to write because there was not too much time allows me to think that long. Every one knows brainstorming is very important, so I tried to do well on brainstorming.

Finally, I was done at three minutes before the exam was finished. I was concerned about my grammar part, but I didn't really look at it. In stead of that, I checked my every sentence to see if is made sense to my readers. I hope everybody doing well for the rest of exams.

I can't believe I am gonna graduate from EAP program

I still can't believe it, I am almost done for this semester. Meanwhile, I will graduate from English for Academic Purpose program(I hope so). when you've done something, you may ask yourself what you got from it. Therefore, what did I learn from EAP program? That's a big question for me and anyone in EAP 3. This is good to recall what we've done and what we've learned by the end of the semester. First, I like to talk about my writing. Well, I think I still need to improve my writing such as increasing my vocabulary, perfecting my grammar, expanding my strategies(metaphor). However, I think I need to how to brainstorm and organize my essay (through EAP 1) because there were two great teachers(Pam and Marcia) in EAP 1. I had built up my strong traditional English essay structure when I was in EAP 2. I felt my weakness was vocabulary, and also I needed to rich my sentence structure(how to express ideas in different ways, it's kind of grammatical improvement) after I finished EAP 2. Now, I can see that I have made some improvement on my vocabulary, especially academic words. Also, I've learned about comparing and contrasting more. Those knowledge is what I need to succeed in the university and my career. Listening/Speaking, I still need to improve my listening skill, especially note-taking because that is very important for those who are going to universities and be successful. I'll work on it in this summer. Speaking, I am glad I can have a terrific speaking/listening teacher. I really enjoy his teaching on pronunciation, and I am very interested in it. He taught us many tricks on pronunciation. I like to practice them because I know speaking is very important, and even more important if someone wants to find a job in Canada or US because everything is on it. I think Murray is right, it's good to practice and have a good pronunciation, and then fluency. I can study and practice pronunciation a day long. I don't know why, but I'm just interested in it. Most of the time, I like to repeat someone's word, especially Canadians, because I think it is really helpful. Some of my students may laugh at me, but so what? I like to repeat people words in TV. I talk to myself when I take shower, and every time I come out from the bathroom, my mother asked my if i was on the phone when i took shower. Am I idiot? if yes, so what?

I am excited about finishing EAP 3 and also feel sad about finishing EAP 3. I am excited because I can do my degree, and I feel sad because everything in EAP 3 is unique and worth missing. good luck for everyone.

Am I nut?

Crazy! I said a word i am not supposed to say in my final presentation. I think I completely lose my mind. I had no idea why I said that, and it just came out automatically. I wish I would not say that word, seriously. I have to get it over. Tomorrow, I will have a writing exam which is the hardest one to pass, actually I am doing all right in my writing.
I really need to motivate myself because I am concerned about I don't have time to finish a 400-700 words essay because I write pretty slowly. Moreover, I need more time to brainstorm to come out terrific ideas, hee. What can I do is go through the textbook and remember some "power" vocabulary, and that will help me a lot on the category of language use. On the other hand, using academic words will help to elevate your essay to higher level, and beautiful words also can make your essay more attractive. There is another thing you can do to prepare for writing is read the essays you've done before. First of all, it will help you to pick up your grammar a lot because you would know what you did wrong before, so you may not do it again. Second, you will review those strategies and structure you used before, it will help you organize your essay well.
therefore, it is important to review essay we've done before. (this is conclusion ?)

Can you Believe it!!

Can you believe we're almost done for this semester? holy shoot. I feel I just started this semester yesterday, and now I will finish it in two weeks. Oh, Time is flying so fast that I couldn't feel it. we are all struggling our last term paper and OTHER assignments. Speaking of term paper, I think this major assignment is very useful and realistic for EAP students to have a feeling what university's life looks like. I do like it even thought it is a really killer for us. Everyone is working on his or her term paper, and I think everyone wants to write a fabulous term paper in order to get a high marks because it worths 15% of the final grade in writing course. If someone gets a good marks on term papers, it will really help him or her pass writing course significantly. When I did my previous term paper, I did not do well on my research part. I spent too much time in researching information, but what I got is not really helpful for me. I think this time I need to do well in researching, and develop my ideas from the information I've got. I think the most important thing is how to develop one's own ideas from specific information. I mean how to glue one's ideas with the information. Another thing is how to make information support the ideas, and it will dramatically elevate the content of the term paper we are doing. Above suggestions or ideas are my term paper tips. I hope it can help everybody do well on their term paper.

PS: The dog in the picture is my parents', she is gonna be the first audience of my last presentation, hee, hee :) she may say "what the heck are you talking about?"