Final Essay - Socializing and Learning English

Final Essay

What Is It Like For Me to Learn and Socialize in English

     For me, I had a fairly easy time in school. For a bilingual school, my school concentrated a lot on English. I am a quick learner and I do socialize very well. Socializing and learning in English was never a problem for me as my first language is English. Today, to me English plays an important part of my life as I use it every day to do many things.

     I always found it easy to socialize in English. I am actually better at it than when I do it in Thai and this is due to the years I had, spending a lots of time practicing and developing my English skills. It was ever hard for me to make new friends using the English language, I don’t have much trouble doing this as I do in Thai. There’s no misunderstanding or awkward moments when I try to say things and it is great. Today, I have friends from all over the globe on the internet and using English is just a bliss as we could share fun stories and chat to our hearts content.

     It’s very easy for me to learn just about anything in English. I have my parents and my teachers to thank for my knowledge and understanding of the language today, because of them I just take English like a duck takes to water. It was when my school turned full on international was when things got real and English became a big priority of the school.  I do however sometimes struggle a little bit with spelling mistakes and the occasional usage of wrong grammar and tenses and back in the day I was a very slow reader, I could see the words and read them in my head but it used to take me twice as long to pronounce the words.

     Using English is usually a doddle to me. I can speak and write whatever I want without having to put too much thought into what I’m going to say and that’s just great. However, sometimes mishaps do happen. I may say something the wrong way or something that just didn’t make any sense or just plain and simply sound very silly of me. This is more often or not the case of me saying or writing something too fast for me to fully comprehend the information. It’s a good thing that this happens rarely, no one is perfect after all.

     It was never difficult for me to either learn or socialize using the English language. In point of fact I am very thankful for it. It’s my first language and I’ve had all the practice since when I first learned how to speak and thanks to the exposure to the language on a daily basis both at home and t school it all had a positive effect on my development on the language. I was always pushed hard in learning English to get as good as I possibly could, even if it meant that I had to spend multiple hours of the week in a special class just so that I could develop the skill to read out loud faster in English. I’m very grateful for all the hard work that many people had put into me to get me to the skill level that I am at today just so that I’ll never have any language barrier in the English language and so that many opportunities could be open to me and I can comfortably and confidentially take them.

Movie Review - Star Trek (week 13+14)

     In 2009 a new Star Trek movies stormed into theaters across the world. This movies provided a fresh new take on the series. The movie was a remake that introduced whole new timeline with a whole set of new possibilities for the future to explore. This move was indeed a bald move to try and produce as many beforehand have tried the same stunt and failed with other franchises. However, due to the credibility of this massive franchise fans were left in no doubt that everything will be handled properly. Star Trek is currently one of my newest favourite movies yet and it still excites me whenever I put it on television to watch.

     These are the reasons to why I said that making this movie was actually a bald move in the first place. The newest addition to the series is both a tribute to the original series and is an introduction of the franchise to our younger generation. To start it off, the idea of actually remaking what was considered already to be very good did bother a lot of people. The whole announcement was unexpected and surprising to the Star Trek fandom. We still have our favourite characters but they are now all much younger versions of themselves and they all have new backstories ad this does very much affect their characters. Most people don’t like seeing this kind of change to their personal favourite characters but because this was all tied down so well that it was accepted by fans. The fans of the series were worried on how the producers were going to handle the story and its characters as they weren’t part of the original crew who produced all the movies and episodes. In conclusion, fans were having mixed emotions about this decision to remake the series. They were all in no doubt excited but at the same time they were plagued with worry. Their fears were finally put to rest when they saw the movie and were very pleased with it.

     Being one of my favourite movie so far I quickly fell in love with it and I was very glad to hear such positive reviews about the movie. The story has now changed, it has a whole new look and feel to it and it is for everyone to enjoy. The producers may have had their fans worried for a while, wondering how this all will come out as a final product and were set to ease when it was released. The movie was very entertaining and the special effects were just eye catching. I do recommend this movie for you to watch.

What led me to study in BUUIC (week 11+12)

     What I believe led me to study in BUUIC happened several years ago when I was 10 years old. For the first time I could remember I had to move to Ireland with my family to live with my grandfather. The whole experience was new and nerve wrecking to me, I was so nervous that I didn’t know what to do or say at the time. I was only 10 years old back then and the whole experience, the complete change in life was scary especially for children who are young as I was at the time.

     It was the scariest and the most intense part of my life. I had so many new things to adopt to in a short period of time without any preparation. Our lifestyle over there was very different to over here, we had a much smaller house and I knew nothing about anything. On my first day in my new school I was very nervous and quickly fell victim to a bully who just made things hard for me. When I was learning there the teachers worked very hard on bringing up my level of English to their standard and needless to say, they were very successful when I look at myself today and it only took them a year to do so. To me it was all new and interesting and at the same time, very confusing and scary.

     For a small child all of this was so over whelming. I was young a young kid in a new world and I had to adapt to so many things at once it was unbelievable, but despite of all that had happened I managed to pull though and survived. I pushed through it and took it as an advantage to build my experience and make myself a better and stronger person. This was the start of it all, the road to my development in English really starts here and eventually over the  years it led me here to study in BUUIC

Writing A Letter Giving Directions (Fictional)

     Dear Mum and Dad, I'm about to graduate in a few days and I'd like you two to come over for the day. We're going to have a graduation ceremony in the morning and then we'll be taking some pictures after. I can introduce you to all of my friends when we're taking the photos, I'd love it if you'd meet them! After the photos we can go out for lunch and dinner and then possibly go and see a movies in the theaters.

     I'm sure that you still remember where I m staying at but I'm going to give you the directions again because it has been a while. When you come through the main entrance just go straight down pass the presidential building. Come up to the 3rd roundabout and turn right toward the big library building, it'll be he one with all the water fountains in front of it. On the opposite side to it will be the Faculty of Education, and next to it will be the International College. My dormitory is actually one of the two buildings behind the college. Go up to the pink building and come up to the 3rd floor. My room is at the end of the left corridor, you'll find the room will be to your right.

     It really shouldn't be very hard to find it but because the place may get a bit crowded on that day it could be a little challenge but if you follow my directions correctly you should be fine! If you do happen to have any troubles all you have to do is call my number and I'll come down to get you. It won't be too hard to get here at all, it's just the ink building on the opposite side of the road to the library building, the room on the right at the very end of the left corridor on the 3rd floor. I'm so excited I can't wait to see both of you again! I believe we're all going to have a great time, it's been a while since we last saw each other and I hope that you're just as excited as I am! Hope to see you soon.

Giving Directions

I’m so glad that you can come over, there are so many things that we can do. We can go for a swim at the beach, go down to Nong Nooch, watch some movies and go for a little shopping if you’d like. There are just so many things to do and I think you’ll enjoy your stay here.

Just come down into North Pattaya. Come off Sukhumvitroad and onto Siam Country Club road, there’ll be a huge red overhead sign with the road’s name on it. Drive straight down all the way on till you come up to a 7/11 shop at a cross junction. Turn left towards the lake and drive a little further down. On your right there’ll be a small bent stop sign at the entrance of this small soi. Turn into it. My house would be the big one with tall trees and a brick wall with a mirror hung up on it.

You won’t have much of any problem trying to find my place, it’ll be hard to miss. All you have to do is just drive up Siam Country Club road and turn towards the lake and turn again at the stop sign. I do hope to see you soon. I can’t wait to have you here so we can have some fun!

Traveling

     A few years ago my family and I had a chance to take a spring tour trip to South Korea. The weather there was very cold. It tried to snow twice and one night there was a sudden huge but very brief gust of wind, it was a good thing that we brought our heaviest clothing from Ireland. There were many attractions to visit there, one of them was the amazing Wonderland theme park. Another very famous attraction was the huge park on an island in a lake that was featured in a famous Korean romance movie. Only a handful of people that we met can speak English but we had fun none the less. The there foods were fantastic and the various museums and traditional shops were very educational on their history and culture. Despite the dreadful cold climate, we all had great fun because we got to experience things and their culture that was very different to that in Thailand.

Why I Enjoy Speaking English

Christmas Dinner

     Christmas day is an international Christian holiday celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ. My family celebrates Christmas every year and it's always bee a family fun time for us. The family and our closest friends will sit down together for dinner, stories and such gets passed around allowing everyone to have a good laugh. All the dishes are heavy meals themselves such as the turkey, roasted lamb, vegetable soup, mashed potato, beaked beans, and boiled vegetables. We'd eat so much in one go that we'd stuff ourselves, usually becoming very full for the rest of he day. We always have interesting deserts after the dinner, such as black pudding, Christmas cake, and trifles. The pudding and cake are full of raisins and cherries and the trifle is of our own recipe, my dad love o chuck in large quantities of brandy and whisky when we were making them. By the end of it all we're so full we couldn't take another bite of anything but it never mattered as it was always a great family day.

La Iluvira

     I find the painting La Iluvira to be very interesting. The details on the painting I find to be very well done. The usage of colours are easy on the eyes and are well thought out. The painting provides the feeling of safety. The people are huddled together for food and warmth which adds on the feeling of comfort and family. The image also gives me a small insight of the culture in the painting. The darker background can be seen as hard times but the people will always pull through together and it shows their close and strong bonds. Due to these reasons it is why the mural La Iluvira is interesting and appealing to me.

 

What is it like to communicate in English

     In my opinion, my ability to use English is like the painting "A Sunday on La Grande Jatte", a picnic in the park. I can speak, read, and write very well as I can understand the information that is given t me and I can give the information back out just as accurately. I am not very worried of my English because it is my first language and I have had a lot of practice and I'm a quick learner. I am very relaxed in the language because my level is already so high I needn't to worry about it and because I don't find it very hard to study. As a result of all of this I find English to be like a stroll in the park.

My New Classmate

My New Classmate

     Marion is an interesting new classmate of mine. She is a 3rd year student who is studying Information Business Management (IBM). She choose to study that major for it's large general knowledge and its cultural relations. Some of her classes are International Financial Management, Import and Export, and International Marketing. While she is studying hard she also seems to be a nice and laid back person. She likes to play the guitar and she also likes to draw during her spare times. Marion likes the location of the college as it is close to the beach, and she likes it for it's size as it is easy to get around and it's not too big. When she gets older she would like to be a real estate agent, renting out houses to people. It is why she wanted to take IBM s her major. To me, Marion is an interesting person because she does study hard for her lessons as her chosen subjects to require a lot of study, but in academic class she seems very laid back, comfortable, and calm and her hobbies are fairly playful and relaxing.

My English Level

     I am a native English speaker. I say this because I can speak, read, and write fluently in English. I can read and write for hours on end id I wanted to and have long standing entertaining conversations with people. Another reason is because of my communication skills through the English language is very well developed. I can give people directions just as well as receiving them and using them. And lastly, my background plays a major part for my level of English. Back at home my family and I heavily use the English. Parents sent me to a private school which also focuses heavily on the English language and they encourage us to use it as much as possible while on the school grounds. Due to my communication skills and the understanding of the language I believe that it is safe for me to say that I am a native speaker in English.

My draft from the class

Academic Writing

This Class

     I expect to do very well in this class. I have taken this class before during my summer intensive English course last year and now I am going to expand on it a bit more. Hopefully my past experience will help me improve on what I have already learnt.

     I expect to be able to write fully fleshed out essays with full confidence and as few mistakes as possible. I would often spend a little too much time on thing on what topic should I write about and how they should be written. Writing a full essay without stopping halfway through to think of what I am doing is correct or not  is a bit of a struggle for me to do, especially when I already have everything planned out from the start.

     My determination to do my very best will assist me in getting the grades that I am looking for. I have the fixation to continue working on my works to the best of my abilities on till it is finished. Often I would spend hours on end to get as much as possible done for the day. Because of my hard work to do my best, it all does eventually pay off in the end when my grades are given back to me.

     While I have the determination to work, that only kicks in when I am working on a piece. I can often turn out to be too laid back on my work, leaving to do it at the last minute possible or get really distracted on doing other things. Because of this behavior it does have an affect on my performance. The stress level will increase as the due date creeps up closer and closer, forcing me to speed things up on my work. This could have an affect on my grades as my performance in my works will not be at its best and I may end up forgetting to add in some details which would leave my assignment incomplete.

     Despite having some minor bad character traits of laziness I should be doing well in this class over all. While I can easily get distracted I can just as easily get back on track and start doing or continuing my assignments. I have the advantage of being able to quickly research up on information and type very fast which does help speed things along. My English is already very good and this class can help me to improve it to make it better and help to make me more confident in my writing skills for my assignments.