Reflective Section

During this Q I learned a lot. I really appreciate the teacher her way of teaching because in some way or another, it has influenced my learning. I really appreciate all those videos, songs, laughs and conversations in group we had; I know that all those activities were really helpful for me because now I feel really comfortable talking in English and participating in different activities that involve the use of the language.

One of the challengues I had was losing my fear of speaking in English. Generally, I don't have any problem singing in my bedroom or talking to myself, but when it comes the time to speak to others I used to get a little bit insecure because it was stressful for me to identify if my fluency wasn´t good or if my pronunciation wasn't as it should be. I am really proud of myself because I have improved my skills when talking in front of others. A few weeks ago in my work, I had to answer a call from USA and I felt really secure. I took the call and the words just where like water; it was very nice! A security guard that was near to me turned his head to where I was because it sounded like a professional :D

One more challengue I had was my comprehension when listening to others speaking or even listening songs. But, I have really noticed a big step regarding my understanding. Now I identify the lyrics of the songs without looking at them and that's really exciting to me because it seems it will be a fruitful growth in both my personal and professional development. 

Grammar

In this blog I have to tell you which grammar topics have been difficult for me and how have I dealt with them, and which materials and extra practice I had to use to improve those topics.

I found difficult two topics during this Q:

1. Future Perfect 
2. Future Continuous 

I did the practice we had to do in the Work Book and I realized I needed to practice it more. Here you will see my homework. It wasn't so good at that time, but now I understand how this tenses are used and soon I will explain them to you :)

Now, I want to show you how I understand this topics that in their times were difficult to me:

Future Perfect: The future perfect refers to things that will be in a determinated state in the future. Generally, there are finished things, but it is used to talk about a situation that will have ended

Future Continuous: The future continuous is used to talk about situations that will be happening in the future; that is to say that we are talking about a continuous situation on the future

(I marked in bold type those words that I used in the explanation that are actually in the rule of that tense)

More than just "non-understanded" topics, I also tried to focus on little doubts I could have during the Q. It was because I understood a determinated topic but I have some insecurity with something so I decided to analyze it and learn from it.

For example:

Here you can see more from my learning...

I decided to call this "IMPORTANT LEARNING"

First, in this picture you will see in my book where I wrote my doubt:

And here I wrote my own explanation and learning in my notebook:

One more!!

I wanted to save some words I didn't know at the beginning of this course,so I decided to create my own vocabulary in a specific place. It contains even drawingsto remember the words easily:

I tried to put in practice different things to improve my english with the learning I've obtained during this course. One of my techniques was identifying the topics in my homeworks and in readings.
For example:

I WON A CANDY IN CLASS FOR IDENTIFYING THIS :D

Out of - Class - Contributions

It's important to invest time in practicing English because it depends of us to maintain a good level in fluency, in vocaculary, in writing, etc and it can happen just with PRACTICE!

READING

In the last blog entry "In Class Contributions" I said I wanted to practice my "reading skills" to improve my fluency, the speed, and the pronunciation of the words. So I founded an internet page which offers readings with different difficulty levels so you can look for them, they are short and very interesting. The page is:

"Really Learn English"
 http://www.really-learn-english.com/

I read Love is in the air (click it) 

I recorded myself reading some of this stories but I couldn't upload it here  but this is a great manner to do it because you can listen yourself and PRACTICE ultil you got the best fluency. The first 3 times I recorded myself I sounded weird but I compared the first time with the fourth time and it got better :D 

STARES

BLUSHES

LISTENING TO MUSIC  

One of the easiest ways of learning vocabulary and pronunciation is listening to music! But I think that just with good subtitles we can complement this tool because we can read what the singer is singing and try to say it in the correct way. Also I have noticed that some words are pronunciated very fast so we must accustom the ears.

I really like Michael Jackson, so here is one the songs I listened 

CLICK IT          Billie Jean

Here are some of the words I was interested in because of its pronunciation in the 2:22 minute ***Listen to it!***

The same happens with the MOVIES  

I work in a Shared Service Center that gives support to different countries in all the continents. I am the Site Director's assistant so everyday is a surprise! Sometimes I have to make calls to USA and coordinate with other assistants important meetings, so I try to put in practice what I've learned in class for example different tenses:

Present Continuous:  "I'm looking at the email you sent to me and..."

Simple Present:"She doesn't have space in her agenda at that hour so..." 

In - Class - Contributions

The class is the place were we learn everything! I believe that using creativity to teach is an effective way to remember what we see in class. Fortunately, we do different things... Some of the most common ways of learning we have are reading, speaking, listening, watching videos, and making the activities from the books. 

Please follow me in this journey! I will show you what I have learned!

Reading  


With the readings we make in class I have learned to read with the right order; now I know the correct way of making pauses when there is the comma, reading fluently, and using the right tones of voice when I need it, like making emphasis for example:

"She did love him"
The emphasis in the sound should be as shown below:

 

 Writing

As in reading, now I know where to put commas, exclamation marks, and writing in an efficient and thrifty way for example:

Speaking 

Now I feel more comfortable about asking my classmates something. I feel I have learned the auxiliaries pretty well like have, had, do, did, etc. I realized I was getting better making questions when I said "Have you ever listened to that kind of music?" or "Do you know who Phill Collins is?

I used to take notes in my notebook about things I learn or understand "beyond the whiteboard", for example:

Understanding English...

" I will be eating with Jane this evening"
"I'm eating with Jane this evening"

What I learned is that both sentences are correct, but the difference is that the first one is telling a situation that will happen in the future and the second one is a plan that is "in process" to happen.

 Following up with Grammar...

I had forgotten the correct use of ON, IN and AT, but, I wrote this in my notebook to remember...

ON = (Months - Days)    IN = (Years)   AT = (Places - Hours)

 Interesting Vocabulary...

Match =         Garnment =   



Sick Leave =   






Wavelength =

I think I need to improve my "listening skills"; I want to start watching movies with English subtitles to start practicing and in the next blog entry "Out - of - class - contributions" I will show you all the things I've learned. Also, some of the things I want to improve is my "reading out loud" skills, because I consider it would be good to listen myself speaking to analyze my tone, fluency, etc.

I WANT TO SHARE WITH YOU.... 

As you know, my favorite music is the 80's!!! And curiously I heard in one 80 song one of the words I've learned in this class.... The word is "eye to eye".... The song is "The Living Years" of Mike and the Mechanics, and the word is in the 2:12 minute. Listen carefully! ;)

Here is the link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=agC7SoihH-o

¡THANKS FOR WATCHING!

My Profile

My name is Jessica Esquivel. I am 19 years old, I am studying Business Administration and this is my 4Q in ULACIT.

I love life! I love to see, feel and appreciate the wonderful things that life offers day by day. I like to appreciate nature and its greatness; the sunsets... the sunrises... the moon and the stars... all of them are simply fantastic to me and the greatest thing is that you don´t have to pay for it! I try to share with other people the emotions I receive with small things :)

I enjoy a LOT listening to music; I couldn´t live without music, specially 80´s (THEY ARE THE BEST). I would have loved to born in the 60´s to enjoy the 80´s at this age I'm in right now. I have many favorite songs, but I think my top 5 are

• I can´t fight this feeling anymore - REOSpeedwagon (if you want I leave a link to this song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nd4j1Ms1VYE)
• Never Surrender - Corey Hart
• Please Forgive Me - Bryan Adams
• Nothing is gonna stop us now - Starship
• Carrie - Europe
• (but definitely Always - Bon Jovi is totally a SUCCESS!!)

One of the best things in life for me is eating! I eat a lot, and sometimes I am the one who eats more in the house. My favorite food is palm heart (palmito), I eat it all days and it is curious because I'm the only one who likes it in my house... 

My favorite animal is the dog! I have a small maltese dog, Chispa. She is the baby of the house, she has a lot of attention from everyone. But I have always wanted to have a Golden Retriever <3

My favorite car is the Range Rover.... GOD! it´s my dream to have one of those. One of my dreams is to be a dancer, I really enjoy to dance and make choreographies, my dream is to be dancing with important singers on the stage :3.

I love to laugh and always being happy, I think life is very short to loosing time being sad or worry about little things. We must appreciate our health, our family, and the oportunities we have all days to become a better person. I procure every day to say thanks to God because of the life that I have.