Introduction
My motivation to improve my English language skills is very strong. That's why I decided to go to University, again in my life, this time not in my home country but in the UK. I applied to Access Course to Languages at Stevenson College. I was lucky and after interview I have got a place. Firstly I chose French and German language to study, but after first month I found it to difficult and stressful to manage with my work commitment. I was consider to give up this course. Instead I have changed it into Spanish Intensive and concentrated on one language only.It worked and I was able to manage work commitment with this highly demanding course.
Positive experience
There are tutors who always want to help you. Dieca was like my mother, always worried more about my studding than myself. Honestly, if not Dieca's constant demands towards me I could find this course to difficult for myself. She had always pictured my and my daughter future what helped in hard moments. Thank you Dieca for that! Never before in my education process I have found such passionate teacher like Alicia (Spanish). It was a great pleasure to learn Spanish. Alicia's positive energy influenced me a lot during the learning process. Evan is a great teacher, with all his love to history , he make me working very hard on my history essays. Madelaine's lessons were very important for me. I have learnt how to analyze literature texts. She thought me the literature techniques, writer's craft and how to write comparative essays. Scott's lessons were very useful for me because I could polish my English skills as writing, reading, listening and oral presentation. He has got a lot of patient for student and always gives you another chance. Thanks Scott for that!
Another positive factor is that I have got to know a lot of friends. Furthermore, I have created a facebook profile to be in touch with them and up to date with all events.
How could be improved
To improve this course I need to say that last 2 months were too busy to compare to first 2 months. Assessments should be more reasonable planned during all year of the course. More hours for History and Literature in second semester would be appreciate.
Evaluation of own performance
My own performance during this course was increasing proportionally to the months spending on writing assessments. Writing skills is my weak point and in this area I had to work a lot during this course. Not only writing essays for assessments but also writing this blogger helped me with it. Very helpful is Thesaurus Online Dictionary where I could find words’ synonyms and descriptions.
Conclusion
I have learnt how to write history essays, comparative essays, how to analyze writer's craft, how to do oral presentation and use Microsoft Power Point. I have learnt how to organised my time to be able to study and work. I have learnt a bit of Spanish and realised that to speak any foreign language takes a long time. I have to read a lot during this course , so I guess my reading skills improved a lot as well. I have learnt at least that on the education trial there are always people who show you your strong points and help to get your confidence back on track.
Sunday, 13 June 2010
Wednesday, 9 June 2010
The last post
I don't know whether you will read this, but here is to say goodbye and good luck for the future to all of you.
Thank you for your feedback. It was honest and thoughtful and showed that most of you have really become reflective learners.
We will use your feedback to keep improving the course.
As a little curiosity, I used an interesting gadget to summarise the 26 pages of comments that your feedback came to and this is what I got as a summary. The bigger the word, then more it had been mentioned. I hope all of you IT nerds like it. (Click on the picture to make it bigger)
Anyway, all that is left is the party and then,,,,off to university!
Buena suerte a todos
Dieca
Thank you for your feedback. It was honest and thoughtful and showed that most of you have really become reflective learners.
We will use your feedback to keep improving the course.
As a little curiosity, I used an interesting gadget to summarise the 26 pages of comments that your feedback came to and this is what I got as a summary. The bigger the word, then more it had been mentioned. I hope all of you IT nerds like it. (Click on the picture to make it bigger)
Anyway, all that is left is the party and then,,,,off to university!
Buena suerte a todos
Dieca
Monday, 24 May 2010
Evaluation
Introduction
After doing two years of Open University courses in the hope of getting into uni, I was gutted to find rejection after rejection. The only course that was admitted to was a Spanish and Italian course even though my application was for German courses and my native language was Spanish.After speaking to the admissions office in Edinburgh, I was advised to do an Access course in languages at Stevenson.
Motivation
My motivation for the course was very strong, even though I had to wait until August to have a group interview and had to hand in my notice in England and move to Edinburgh without actually knowing if I could be accepted on the course.Luckily things worked out and I started the course soon after. I am unsure about what my expectations of the course were. I expected entry into university and polish a few skills here and there. I can see now that I was overconfident and somewhat “cocky “as I had already had A levels and considered myself to be already quite articulate and ready for University. How wrong I was!
Positive experiences
I have enjoyed the course but my personal highlights have been in History, Communications and German.
Evan’s enthusiasm has been so contagious and I have enjoyed learning about British and European History, in fact I am hoping to take History or Social Anthropology as a third subject next year.
Scott was demanding and meticulous with my work. Even when other teachers said that my English was good enough, Scott showed me that I was making a lot of punctuation mistakes and he showed me how to develop a critical argument on paper.
Deborah, is a fantastic language teacher, she is very thoughtful in her lesson plans and deliveries both in German and in French. She was also great company in our trip to Berlin which was an incredible experience. Not only because of the amazing places we visited but because I had the opportunity to speak the language I had been learning for nearly three years.
Investigating Europe was also really fun because we were allowed to research any subject. It was great to have the independence to investigate my subject area at my own pace.
How the course could be improved
I found that the beginning of the course was very slow. I would like to have done some short essays straight away, even if they didn’t count for anything but it would have been good practice for everyone, especially us non native English speakers. Three months down the line, the course got incredibly busy which of course had to coincide with personal difficulties which made it harder for me to meet the deadlines.
I would have liked to learn more about literary concepts as it was the first time I took literature and I found myself really lost with all these new terms. Writing small essays in literature would have been a great way to learn how to structure my literature essays.
I think tutorial could be improved by making SMART plans about our assignments and maybe mixing it with Study skills.
Grades would also be beneficial as it would be great to see where there is room for improvement.
Evaluation of your own performance
I have to admit that my performance in the first 3 months wasn’t great. I took advantage of the relaxed attitude at the beginning of the course and I didn’t make time to study more.
Then I panicked when the pace quickened and became very inefficient. I guess I had to go through those peaks and troughs to understand what was required of me.
Finally just before Easter, something clicked and I was not only able to catch up but to become more organised. It felt so good to feel in control again!
Conclusion
As mentioned before, I thought I was ready for university for after doing this course I realise that I was far from ready.
In doing this course I have learnt to manage my time better, to prioritise my work load and to keep calm even when personal circumstances are far from idea. I have also learnt to be more evaluative with my work and research.
To be honest it took be the best part of 6 months to become organised with my work but for the first time in life I’ve done it. I am on top of all my work and it feels great.
I still worry about literature but I know that if I keep calm and become more self critical I will be ok.
After doing two years of Open University courses in the hope of getting into uni, I was gutted to find rejection after rejection. The only course that was admitted to was a Spanish and Italian course even though my application was for German courses and my native language was Spanish.After speaking to the admissions office in Edinburgh, I was advised to do an Access course in languages at Stevenson.
Motivation
My motivation for the course was very strong, even though I had to wait until August to have a group interview and had to hand in my notice in England and move to Edinburgh without actually knowing if I could be accepted on the course.Luckily things worked out and I started the course soon after. I am unsure about what my expectations of the course were. I expected entry into university and polish a few skills here and there. I can see now that I was overconfident and somewhat “cocky “as I had already had A levels and considered myself to be already quite articulate and ready for University. How wrong I was!
Positive experiences
I have enjoyed the course but my personal highlights have been in History, Communications and German.
Evan’s enthusiasm has been so contagious and I have enjoyed learning about British and European History, in fact I am hoping to take History or Social Anthropology as a third subject next year.
Scott was demanding and meticulous with my work. Even when other teachers said that my English was good enough, Scott showed me that I was making a lot of punctuation mistakes and he showed me how to develop a critical argument on paper.
Deborah, is a fantastic language teacher, she is very thoughtful in her lesson plans and deliveries both in German and in French. She was also great company in our trip to Berlin which was an incredible experience. Not only because of the amazing places we visited but because I had the opportunity to speak the language I had been learning for nearly three years.
Investigating Europe was also really fun because we were allowed to research any subject. It was great to have the independence to investigate my subject area at my own pace.
How the course could be improved
I found that the beginning of the course was very slow. I would like to have done some short essays straight away, even if they didn’t count for anything but it would have been good practice for everyone, especially us non native English speakers. Three months down the line, the course got incredibly busy which of course had to coincide with personal difficulties which made it harder for me to meet the deadlines.
I would have liked to learn more about literary concepts as it was the first time I took literature and I found myself really lost with all these new terms. Writing small essays in literature would have been a great way to learn how to structure my literature essays.
I think tutorial could be improved by making SMART plans about our assignments and maybe mixing it with Study skills.
Grades would also be beneficial as it would be great to see where there is room for improvement.
Evaluation of your own performance
I have to admit that my performance in the first 3 months wasn’t great. I took advantage of the relaxed attitude at the beginning of the course and I didn’t make time to study more.
Then I panicked when the pace quickened and became very inefficient. I guess I had to go through those peaks and troughs to understand what was required of me.
Finally just before Easter, something clicked and I was not only able to catch up but to become more organised. It felt so good to feel in control again!
Conclusion
As mentioned before, I thought I was ready for university for after doing this course I realise that I was far from ready.
In doing this course I have learnt to manage my time better, to prioritise my work load and to keep calm even when personal circumstances are far from idea. I have also learnt to be more evaluative with my work and research.
To be honest it took be the best part of 6 months to become organised with my work but for the first time in life I’ve done it. I am on top of all my work and it feels great.
I still worry about literature but I know that if I keep calm and become more self critical I will be ok.
Monday, 17 May 2010
Final assessment: Reflection on the course
For the final assessment I would like you to post in your own blog a reflection on the course.
Please take your time to do this properly, it will show whether you have really become a reflective learner.
You can write in essay form, as you are so good now at wrtiing essays.
This is what your essay must include:
-Introduction – motivation and expectations
- Positive experiences
- How course could be improved
- Evaluation of your own performance
- Conclusion – what you have learned
Good luck!
Please take your time to do this properly, it will show whether you have really become a reflective learner.
You can write in essay form, as you are so good now at wrtiing essays.
This is what your essay must include:
-Introduction – motivation and expectations
- Positive experiences
- How course could be improved
- Evaluation of your own performance
- Conclusion – what you have learned
Good luck!
Sunday, 21 March 2010
22 March 2010
Communication4
I have wrote next assessment for Communication4 based on a documentary program “The future of brain”. I found it very interesting and challenging with the academic and science language and bright jokes directed to the audience.I feel more confident with understanding and writing tasks.I enjoyed really Marta's presentation last Thursday as she made audience to stand up and practice salsa steps different for women and men. The presentation was impressive with great sense of humor.
Spanish Intensive
I am working on preparing to my speaking part of assessment in Spanish. I find it quite difficult as the grammar tasks still are problematic for me. I do spend time on study the grammar Alicia it just sometimes doesn't come so easy like you would wish. Please be patient and understand that speaking skills come the last in the process of learning foreign language.:-)
I have wrote next assessment for Communication4 based on a documentary program “The future of brain”. I found it very interesting and challenging with the academic and science language and bright jokes directed to the audience.I feel more confident with understanding and writing tasks.I enjoyed really Marta's presentation last Thursday as she made audience to stand up and practice salsa steps different for women and men. The presentation was impressive with great sense of humor.
Spanish Intensive
I am working on preparing to my speaking part of assessment in Spanish. I find it quite difficult as the grammar tasks still are problematic for me. I do spend time on study the grammar Alicia it just sometimes doesn't come so easy like you would wish. Please be patient and understand that speaking skills come the last in the process of learning foreign language.:-)
Thursday, 18 March 2010
Literature
I am stretched by Madeleine with my comparative essay. She is very detail and deeply looks into the subject. I find her comments very helpful and challenging. So again I try to do my best and try to fulfil her expectations. Another challenge ahead – comparative essay ‘Heart of Darkness’. In my opinion it very difficult to read for non native speakers because of the language and sentence structures.
Power Point Presentation
I started with my Power Point presentations for Communiccation4. It is quite a lot of preparation and synchronisation music with pictures and test. In this moment I am on gathering information and materials for the presentation surfing on internet. Surely I am learning more about how to operate the program and synchronise all the pictures and music together.
Monday, 8 March 2010
Spanish/Reading Assessment
Last Tuesday I have write an reading assessment in Spanish and I am very glad I have passed it. I found it a bit difficult because of the vocabulary and details in questions but manageable to do it. Today I have take an listening assessment in Spanish and let see the result. Hopefully will be passed.
"Heart of Darkness"
I am trying o get through the novel of Joseph Conrad "Heart of Darkness". I have red it before in polish language so for me now its easier to understand it in English. Personally I am not very kin of the novel but i have seen the film and I liked it. Now I am preparing to write an essay for Literature about this book. It seems to be a hard job.
Communication4
Oral Presentation Skills
I have prepared with my polish friends Agnieszka and Ania the presentation for Scott at the weekend. The subject of our presentation is Learning English and leaving in UK. We have done a plan for the presentation, set up the target audience, prepare the material appropriate to the purpose and visual aids. We are going to compare similarities and differences in culture, workplace and policy. Hope it will be interesting for Scott.
I have prepared with my polish friends Agnieszka and Ania the presentation for Scott at the weekend. The subject of our presentation is Learning English and leaving in UK. We have done a plan for the presentation, set up the target audience, prepare the material appropriate to the purpose and visual aids. We are going to compare similarities and differences in culture, workplace and policy. Hope it will be interesting for Scott.
Tuesday, 2 March 2010
Monday 1 March 2010
The last couple of weeks I have spent on improving my writing tasks. I found a bit harsh to write a long essay in English language so I needed a learning support and teachers support. Finally I have understood the tasks in writing skills.
History Assessment
I have passed it so I am really happy with that. The Assessment was not very difficult for me because I chose a subject which I really like about women rights to vote . Furthermore Evan prepared us really good for this assessment. He is a very good teacher and his lessons are clear and helpful.
History Assessment
I have passed it so I am really happy with that. The Assessment was not very difficult for me because I chose a subject which I really like about women rights to vote . Furthermore Evan prepared us really good for this assessment. He is a very good teacher and his lessons are clear and helpful.
Monday, 8 February 2010
Powerpoint Presentations: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
Following last week's work on presentations, here are two links that illustrate what you should and should not do when using Powerpoint for a presentation.
www.iasted.org/conferences/formatting/Presentations-Tips.ppt
This link shows you a bad presentation and explains why it is so bad and what to avoid.
http://elmhurst.edu/~jacobh/WorstPresentationEverStandAlone.ppt
www.iasted.org/conferences/formatting/Presentations-Tips.ppt
This link shows you a bad presentation and explains why it is so bad and what to avoid.
http://elmhurst.edu/~jacobh/WorstPresentationEverStandAlone.ppt
Monday, 25 January 2010
Andy's Philosophy of Language experience
Greeting oh fellow students and sufferers,
This is to tell you a wee bit about my experiences with a Philosophy of Language evening class I’m taking.
It’s a 10 week course on Tuesday evenings 6.30-8.30 at the Edinburgh Uni Office of Lifelong Learning. Back in December I saw a programme and the Philosophy of Language course sounded interesting, and the time fitted my busy lifestyle! So, I got some more info from the internet, and thought Yup, let’s do it…I plan to study Linguistics and then course should be relevant and challenging! I paid my £50, and took the course book out the library…MISTAKE…it is a well heavy academic tone and I’ve managed about 5 pages of the intro!
I decided the book might make more sense after the first class, and cheerily trundled along. We started fine, with background to language but then quickly got into heavy issues about Analytic philosophy; Plato wrote on the conventions of naming objects, but then you knew that, right?
I came away blinking in a confused rabbit like way, but determined to keep at it. I emailed the lecturer, and he sent me the powerpoint notes and some links to some sites. I read a bit, but still found the whole philosophy business to be a bit, well philosophical! Is there an answer? What does answer mean anyway?
So, the next Tuesday I persuaded Sara (you know, the Mexican lass!) to join me, and we puzzled through Frege’s theories on sense & reference. Again, fascinating but so difficult to get my head around, and I reckon Sara felt the same.
I decided part of the problem is the depth of the material…it’s just too deep! I went to the college library and took out a basic introduction to Philosophy, which provides good background to the whole subject, and a book that is about Philosophy & Language…it’s still not exactly straightforward, but through perseveration we shall overcome!
Plan is to do some revision on Tuesday afternoon, then meet with Sara to go over it with her…
Sláinte and enjoyer yer haggis!
This is to tell you a wee bit about my experiences with a Philosophy of Language evening class I’m taking.
It’s a 10 week course on Tuesday evenings 6.30-8.30 at the Edinburgh Uni Office of Lifelong Learning. Back in December I saw a programme and the Philosophy of Language course sounded interesting, and the time fitted my busy lifestyle! So, I got some more info from the internet, and thought Yup, let’s do it…I plan to study Linguistics and then course should be relevant and challenging! I paid my £50, and took the course book out the library…MISTAKE…it is a well heavy academic tone and I’ve managed about 5 pages of the intro!
I decided the book might make more sense after the first class, and cheerily trundled along. We started fine, with background to language but then quickly got into heavy issues about Analytic philosophy; Plato wrote on the conventions of naming objects, but then you knew that, right?
I came away blinking in a confused rabbit like way, but determined to keep at it. I emailed the lecturer, and he sent me the powerpoint notes and some links to some sites. I read a bit, but still found the whole philosophy business to be a bit, well philosophical! Is there an answer? What does answer mean anyway?
So, the next Tuesday I persuaded Sara (you know, the Mexican lass!) to join me, and we puzzled through Frege’s theories on sense & reference. Again, fascinating but so difficult to get my head around, and I reckon Sara felt the same.
I decided part of the problem is the depth of the material…it’s just too deep! I went to the college library and took out a basic introduction to Philosophy, which provides good background to the whole subject, and a book that is about Philosophy & Language…it’s still not exactly straightforward, but through perseveration we shall overcome!
Plan is to do some revision on Tuesday afternoon, then meet with Sara to go over it with her…
Sláinte and enjoyer yer haggis!
Monday, 18 January 2010
New year blog 2
Nothing much has changed this week
I still feel the exact same way as i did
in my last blog
I still feel the exact same way as i did
in my last blog
Monday, 11 January 2010
New Year, New Term
This is going to be a more reflective blog this time around, looking at what I have done and what I am now going to do to go forward.
SPANISH
I find this subject to be the biggest challenge of all. However I am able to read and understand what is being said. Speaking is an ongoing process but with learning a new language It shows me the amount of study I have to do to keep all the information fresh.
Overall I want to be able to hold a simple conversation in Spanish which I know I will be able to do by the end of this course and with the work we are doing this is not an unrealistic task.
COMMUNICATION
This is very good for self confidence and learning how to put my thoughts and ideas onto paper. The essay skills, especially the critical reading and writing exercises are good and I am able to transfer these skills to other subjects.
LITERATURE
Poetry was my first introduction into literature and at first I thought it was a load of rubbish, but after a couple of weeks I started to get into it. Learning how to dissect a piece of writing, analyse, criticise and formulate answers makes the understanding of how poetry and other styles of writing work more enjoyable. I am looking forward to the short story section because I am better equiped to deal with the work that will be set out.
HISTORY
History has shaped our lifes and I find this the most interesting subject. I have handed in all essays and I am getting good feed back on all of them. I have an essay to hand in on 22nd Jan so I will set aside an hour a night to compleat this task.
COMPUTING
This is an ongoing subject but it enables me to be more confident in using them.
MATHS
Nearly at the end of this subject and I am surprised at how well I have done. I am able to problem solve now!!!!!!!!!!!
INVESTIGATING EUROPE
Compleated this subject and it has taught me so much. I was able to use the skills I have learnt in; Communication, Literature and History into practice along with self investigation, time management, goal setting and individual learning.
SPANISH
I find this subject to be the biggest challenge of all. However I am able to read and understand what is being said. Speaking is an ongoing process but with learning a new language It shows me the amount of study I have to do to keep all the information fresh.
Overall I want to be able to hold a simple conversation in Spanish which I know I will be able to do by the end of this course and with the work we are doing this is not an unrealistic task.
COMMUNICATION
This is very good for self confidence and learning how to put my thoughts and ideas onto paper. The essay skills, especially the critical reading and writing exercises are good and I am able to transfer these skills to other subjects.
LITERATURE
Poetry was my first introduction into literature and at first I thought it was a load of rubbish, but after a couple of weeks I started to get into it. Learning how to dissect a piece of writing, analyse, criticise and formulate answers makes the understanding of how poetry and other styles of writing work more enjoyable. I am looking forward to the short story section because I am better equiped to deal with the work that will be set out.
HISTORY
History has shaped our lifes and I find this the most interesting subject. I have handed in all essays and I am getting good feed back on all of them. I have an essay to hand in on 22nd Jan so I will set aside an hour a night to compleat this task.
COMPUTING
This is an ongoing subject but it enables me to be more confident in using them.
MATHS
Nearly at the end of this subject and I am surprised at how well I have done. I am able to problem solve now!!!!!!!!!!!
INVESTIGATING EUROPE
Compleated this subject and it has taught me so much. I was able to use the skills I have learnt in; Communication, Literature and History into practice along with self investigation, time management, goal setting and individual learning.