Task 2

Analyse your own language abilities and needs

This is an analysis of my abilities. Though I did this task last month, I have a new understanding of my personal standard of English, because of the two-month study.

The study of this month mainly focused on writing. And I found that I am really poor at writing. In my essay, there are a lot of mistakes on grammar and vocabulary. I still need do some more reading to improve my writing skills.

But speaking and listening are much better than last month. So the environment is so important to the English study. Beside above, reading also made some progress. Everyday I spend some time to do some reading on newspaper. At the same time, I learnt more British culture from the reading.

self-study

Love in an unlikely season

Today I read a story of the true love between two old people which written by Marjorie Holmes. This is a really story happened in her life. The story begins with I’ve Got to Talk to Somebody, God one of books she wrote.

One day she received a call from a man who has a rich male voice. “You saved my life,” he said to Marjorie, “I love you.” And after that, they had their first date. Then as a lot of love story, they were fall in love. Because of the age and some other reason, Marjorie was not very confident at the beginning. But at last, they got married.

“As a young woman, I dreamed of marrying a man who would always be crazy about me. When things didn’t turn out that way, I was bitterly disillusioned. Then I grew up and accepted some ancient truths—there are different kinds of love. There is romance, and there is devotion. Romance, we are warned, is fleeting. So we must settle down and be content. For years, I lived that way. And then, George found me. In the ten years, six months and eight days we had been together—before he died of lung cancer in 1992—I had both romance and devotion, and I learned what happiness really was. As the groom was told at the wedding in Cana: truly, the best wine was saved for the last.” Said by Marjorie after many years.

I am really felt sensationless after reading this story. At the same time, I learned some new vocabulary from the passage.

For example:
Protest vt. Mean disagree with something.
e.g. She protested strongly at his suggestion.

Desperation n.
e.g. She is in an agony of desperation.

Façade n.
e.g. Poverty lay behind the city’s glittering façade.

self-study

The murderer rapped by his son’s DNA.

The news told the reader a story about the police caught the murderer by his son’s DNA after 17 years. When I saw this passage, I felt sad and gratified. Though the murderer named Tobin were caught 17 years later, it still is a comfort for the victim, who was just 15 when she die, and her parents.

“Tobin should rot in the hell,” said by killer’s son.

As his son, I feel shame and angry. Nobody want the father like him. Before he was separated from my mother, I began hating him because he always beating my mother and me. He gave me a very bad influence, but I won’t be the person like him. Because of my mother gave me good education. Now I don’t know the other people see me. If I were not his son, I should have a better life.

Task 17

Reflective writing

This passage is about the seminar on this Monday which is about the “fighting crime with science”. Due to we attended to the lecture, we got a lot of information of the media and crime.

In the seminar, we talked a lot about “surveillance society” and different situations in different countries. In most countries, namely Germany, they use the surveillance system on the highway, bank and some supermarket. There also some special example: in China, they use the cameras in the classroom only for the most important exam.

Though most in our group agree with the surveillance system is useful, we agree with the arguments for reducing the use of this surveillance technology. Because the overweigh using of surveillance will breaches personal privacy. Moreover, we believed that in the future, there will be more laws to protect our privacy.

Task 9

Library resources for seminar/writing preparation

Bearing the topic of this month is media; I should find some more information on it to do the better job. Due to the second essay is about the surveillance system, it is important to prepare some data and information for the subject. I took some notes about the article on my essay title by reading some book which related to the topic.

“The media fulfill three societal roles: surveillance of the larger environment, achieving consensus among segments of society, and transmission of culture including validation of civil society values. Media content analysis applied to a consistent sample over time will allow monitoring of an issue’s progress from a state of disambiguation to legitimation and routinization.” （by Harold Lasswell ）

From his passage, I knew the main reason why the society need the surveillance system is to given the proof of crime. Though the media can not control the rate of crime happened, it still make people feel safer.

In addition, I found the relationship between the media and crime. The surveillance system become more and more famous because of the increase of crime, at the same time more and more people begin to think about whether it infract their privacy.

Task 3

Diagnostic Language Test and follow-up

In the first week of this month, Simon gave us a diagnostic language test which was quiet different from last month. I completed it and found my poorest area.

Organizing information is my poorest area in this test. When I did the first essay this month, I lose a lot of mark because of the poor organizing. So it is important to improve it. Bearing this mind, I went to the ENGLISH-ZONE which is a useful website for English study. I did some test on this last month about the vocabulary, and thought it’s really helpful. Moreover there are many students in my last group use this website, and most of them think English-zone is nice.

This time, I found some test about the grammar. I believed that grammar is the basic of organizing. There also are some introductions about how to use the modals and auxiliary verbs just like the picture below.


After that I found some passage about how to write the essay. Due to I got a low mark of the first essay, I should get more information about it. The English-zone really help me a lot.

Task 12

THE LECTURE

Last Friday, I attended a lecture in our university. The topic of the lecture named 'fighting crime with science'.

Nowadays a lot of science and technology were used into the fight for crime. Just like the surveillance system and CCTV. They are really helpful. Firstly, the lecture gave us an example of how the media help the police to find the student who killed his professor: The CCTV which is in the room where the violent took place saw the part of face of the student. After that the police found many things that the student had ever toughed and worn. So they got the DNA of the student in order to identify the killer.

Beside all above, we knew something more. There are many cameras around us. When we walk along the street or buy some food in the supermarket, we are seeing by some others. More and more people believe the surveillance system breaches their life.

So everything has two sides. Though the surveillance system is really helpful to the police and fight for crime, it can not keep the people far away from dangers.

From this lecture, I got a lot of knowledge of media and crime. Moreover, it really helpful to my listening skills for understanding lectures and talks.

self-study

This weekend I did some reading in newspaper. Including leant some new vocabulary, I got some information from them.

Due to the topic of this month's study is mediam, I think it'll helpful to get some information about it.

There is a little passage which is very interesting. It's about the sing star. As an important member in media, newspaper has been chosen by a lot of people. A lot of people say the star and fashional people on newspaper, and want to be like them. Is it real happy to be a famous star? I don't think so.

Every corn has two sides. Though they have luxory life and a lot of nice things, the life of them isn't easy and comfortable. From the passage, I know these famous people can not do everything they want to do, because of thier job. They can not let anything not good distract them from their glory.

Above all, it is better to be a common person!

Task 7

Tower of London

Travel to London, impressed me most is the Tower of London.Tower of London for hundreds of years played a castle prison and now even the guards have become the focus of the tourists chase.

Tower of London including Byward Tower, Bloody Tower and White Tower, all the Towers is the focus of the visit.Tour guide told me that Tower of London's history is very mysterious, Carved in the handwriting on the wall, from which you can listen to the death of prisoners for a voice that is full of cruel and bloody history. Tower of London is full of mysterious colors and it has witnessed the history of the United Kingdom.

In addition, the Tower of London, there is a way. Can not not go, this is the museum treasures. Possession of one of the world's largest diamond piece, known as the "Island of the Stars" (Re-530 kt).This is not spoiled for choice, you travel to London is incomplete, since it will be very difficult there is a second chance to meet with the.

Travel to London, the Tower of London is my favorite spots, which broaden my horizon, enrich my life and cultivate my temperament.

Task 14

Recently, I got a vocabulary book named CRAZY ENGLISH from my friend who came from China. He said that this book helped him a lot when he just came to London. I have been here for two months already. I think it will be helpful to me in my life.

THE LIST OF VOCABULARY AND NEW EXPRESSIONS

UNNERVE vt. to make (someone) feel less confident and slightly frightened.
E.G. The interview unnerved her.

BUT THEN
E.G. He speaks very good Chinese, but then he did live in China for 5 years.

ANNOYANCE n. the feeling of being annoyed
E.G. He came in with a look of annoyance.

QUIT v. to give up to do something
E.G. Quit fooling around.

STRETCH n. a continuous period of time
E.G. at a stretch
E.G. I worked for five hours at a stretch.

INTERFERE vt.
E.G. Don’t allow pleasure to interfere with duty.

STICK TO
E.G. I must stick to the schedule until I pass the examination.

CONSISTENT a.
E.G. My idea is consistent and never changed.

MERCY n.
E.G. The poor child was treated without mercy by his stepmother.

UNFORTUNATELY ad.
E.G. I want to take part in that party very much but unfortunately, I have to work overtime that day.

FAIRNESS n.
E.G. …and these pages had to be added to the total, in fairness.


All above are the new vocabularies I have learnt today. My friend is right, this book improved my vocabulary and skills in recording, activating and remembering new language.

Task 3

9th November, 2008
Diagnostic Language Test and follow-up

Today I completed the diagnostic language test which my teacher gave me.
I found vocabulary is the most important problem in my English studying through the Quick Placement Test. Collocution is my weakest area. There are also many problems in phrasal verbs and word meaning.

Then I went to the sirirat siwilai' s self-study blog and found the link of http://www.english-zone.com/vocab/vic01.html. As sirirat said it is useful and help me a lot.

Example:
1) After the harvest, we had an abundant amount of apples. We made apple pie, apple sauce, and apple juice because we had so many apples!
What does abundant probably mean?
A) a shortage B) not enough C) very red D) plentiful

2) When Sara was sick, her voice was almost inaudible. We couldn't hear what she was trying to say clearly.
What does inaudible probably mean?
A) very loud, easy to hear B) very soft, hard to hear C) very strange, uncommon D) very shy, introverted

All of the test help me identify my weak areas in vocabulary and develop my skills in identifying useful language reference materials.

Task 13

8th November, 2008

Computer skills for creating charts for research reports.

The chart below is created by myself.

The graph shows the data of the problems which international students encountered in their lives. The vast majority of the students did not like the weather in London. The other most important problem is cost of living in London. 87.5% of students believed that it was too costly in Britain. In some other areas, a significant number said it was easy to open an account in London when they first came to London. And only two students interviewed hadn’t had the bank account. Over 87% foreign students thought the transport in London and travel between the university and the place they lived in was good enough. A very surprising finding was that though over 81.7% students did not feel it was hard to make friends or socialize in London, 62.5% in all the students did not like the British culture.

The charts in report can make the report more effectively. So good computer-based skills is improtant.

I have learnt many skills about how to use the softwares (e.g. Excel, Word and Powerpoint). I believe it will helpful in my further study and report writing.

Task 10

7th November, 2008

Weblearn language resources

In order to improve my own weak area in language, I went to “self-study tools” on weblearn and choosed the links about writing which I think are most useful for me. From this article I knew more about how to write a report. And it is really helpful to my writing.

This article gives some general guidelines on how to write a report. It describes the `standard model' of report writing, and some alternatives. The article is intended for the student who is currently undertaking undergraduate or master's degree projects, or expect to do so in future.

The link told me if I want to write a report successfully, frist of all, I should know what the report about,what you are trying to say, who you are writing for and how long it is.

Then I know a good report should be clear and concise.The ability to write clear, concise reports is an asset to almost any professional. Because the main purpose of a report is to convey the information. 'The report should place as few hindrances as possible between the mind of the writer and the mind of the reader,' said the writer, 'A good report needs careful planning. '

Grammar and spelling is another important part in report writing. Most academics are relatively fussy about grammar and spelling. This is probably because the people who read a great deal, and have learned to extract as much information from a document as possible in a limited time. This is only possible if everyone follows very similar standards of grammar and spelling.

Task 7

London visit

1st November, 2008

The people always saying:” Why not go on a walking tour or take yourself to Buckingham Palace?” When I came to England, I knew more about it. Buckingham Palace is Royal London residence, which also use to be administrative headquarters of the monarchy.

To be honest, I have not been there .But there is one of the places I most want to have a visit. I have already do a lot of works for the visiting. For example, I did a lot of reading about it.
Buckingham Palace has a long and interesting history. It was built on 1703, and be bought by royalty on 1762. Queen Victoria moved in and word there on 1837. Form then on, Buckingham Palace became the place where royalty live and word. The palace is different from the palace in China by warmth atmosphere just like home.

I have already missed the dates when Buckingham Place open to the public. I knew it would be open to the public from August to September every year. So I think I will have a visit there next august. That will be good for culture study in London.

30th October, 2008

THAT “OTHER WOMAN” IN MY LIFE

Today I did some reading in the afternoon. The story which named THAT “OTHER WOMAN” IN MY LIFE affected me deeply.

The author is a man after 22 years of marriage. He had discovered the secret to keep love and intimacy alive in his relationship with his wife, Peggy: He started dating another woman. And it was Peggy’s idea, actually. “You know you love her,” Peggy said to the author one day, taking him by surprise. The “other woman” Peggy encouraging him to date is his mother, a 72-year-old widow who had lived alone since the author’s father died 20 years ago. Right after author’s father died, he moved far away from home and started his own family and career. When he moved back to his hometown six years ago, he promised himself that he would spend more time with his mom. But with the demands of his job and three kids, he never got around to seeing his mom much beyond family get-togethers and holidays.
Then he began his first date with his mother. They had a nice talk over dinner. Nothing earth-shattering just catching up with each other’s lives.
After that they went out for dinner a couple of times a month. Sometimes they took in a movie, but mostly they talked. The author told his mom about his trials at work and took with pride about the kids and Peggy. His mom filled him in on family gossip and told him about her past. All of this were important to him, a part of his life.
At last, he said:” Like many baby boomers I tend to fill my calendar to the brim as I struggle to fit family, career and friendships into my life. I often complain about how quickly time flies. Spending time with my mom has taught me the importance to slowing down.”

This story really made me thinking a lot. Parents are care-givers for children. But the children will not be care-for forever and they will grow up. Life is too short. We need to spend time with the people you love. That will make us closer!
Beside above all, I also learned many new words. I enjoyed it very much!

Task 2

29th October, 2008

This is an analysis of my abilities by myself.
I have been here for three weeks. I can feel everything is getting better and better. But there are still a lot of problems in my English study. Though my pronunciation and speaking are both ok, my listening is real poor. Many times, especially when I just came to Britain, the people around me can understand what I said, but I can’t catch the point they made.
I think there is two main reasons for my poor listening. The first one is vocabulary which is the most important thing make me can not understand the other people. When I was in China, I spent a lot of time to study the grammar, and neglected to remember more words. So in my further study I will spend more time on vocabulary. The second one is different people from different country have different pronunciation. I really need some time to be suitable with them.
And now, three weeks have gone. I think I’m much better than before. Thank teachers and my friends very much!

27th October, 2008

5 COLLOCATIONS WITH RESEARCH:
carry out, explore, seek in , investigate, find out. about..

5 COLLOCATIONS AIM:
random, select, evaluate, purpose, representative.

5 PHRASAL VERBS AND 5 WORDS YOU DON’T KNOW FROM THE BACKGROUND, FIND THEIR MEANINGS FROM A DICTIONARY.
5 PHRASAL VERBS:
pilot project, anecdotal evidence, it would be useful…, lack of, less is known….

5 WORDS YOU DON’T KNOW FROM THE BACKGROUND:
potential, recruit, essential, decade, campaign. (All of them have been found in the dictionary. Now I know what do them mean and how to use them.)

Task 1

ABOUT ME!
I'm Winkie who come from China.Tianzi LI is my Chinese name.
This is the frist time I came to Britain.And I arrived at night last friday.

In my opinion,London is a beautiful city.Though I don't know about of the culture of it,I really like it.I believe that I'll have a great study-life here.

When I was in my country,my major is journalism.We studie something about how to interview,how to writte news,and so on.Now I chose the similar curse which named "MA MASS COMMUNICATIONS"in London Metropolitan University to let my study continue.

After I graduate from here，I'll come back to my hometown to be a journalist.That is a important dream in my life.And I will try my best to let it come ture!

My hometown which named QingDao is in Shandong province.It is a seaside city.Most of my friends are stay there.So I often feel lonely in London.But I think I will have many new friends soon.