I know I haven't updated the blog for ages... Shame on me...
Well, now I'm going to post some very interesting texts my Upper Intermediate students have written. A few of them are about doing homework (well, you'd be surprised to know how many students value it!) and others are based on famous sayings.
Enjoy and leave a comment if you want!
See you soon.
Teacher Dani.
DOING HOMEWORK EVERYDAY IS A GREAT WAY OF LEARNING ENGLISH WELL
by Erwan Tanter (France)
Some people wonder about the usefullness of doing homework everyday to learn a language. Indeed if the usefullness had not been contested some years ago, it could be different nowadays. It is important not to neglect homework because it is one of the different ways to improve. For sure, it is not the only one and obviously not the best one but it is one of the best.
First of all, doing homework is an important way of practising because you have to understand and apply the rule that you learnt during the class to do your exercices. So you can check what you know and what you don't know about the lesson of the day. In other words, it is an mportant way to estimate your learning and your level. Moreover, it helps you to remember the lesson of the day. It means that is the link between the lesson of the day and the lesson of the day after. It is why, when you do it, you can feel yourself much more prepared for the following day and obviously you can learn more quickly because you will have a good base to learn. Furthermore, it is usefull to assimilate specific things like grammar, which is almost impossible to learn without any exercise. Anyway when you are doing your exercises you improve your level because you read in English, you have to understand the English instructions, you write in English so you have to think only in English.
In contrast, it is obviously not the only way of learning English well. The most important thing to learn a language is to mix different experiences and different ways. In fact, it is important to have as many different experiences as possible. For instance, taking English lesson, working, going out to meet a lot of people and doing some activities to socialise in the country. You also have to mix different ways of learning to increase your level in each topics. You can read books and newspapers to improve your reading, watch TV, films, reports and listen to the radio from different countries (British, US, Canada, Australia...) to assimilate different accents and chat to improve your writing. The more you do different things, the better you will be.
In conclusion, doing homework is very usefull to learn and improve your English level because you can focus more easily on your weaknesses. But you have to diversify and find the good balance to share your time properly. The sharing will depend on what you want to focus on : speaking, listening, reading, writing, grammar...
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by Noelia Vela (Spain)
Sometimes people have better things to do than do homework, but it is absolutely necessary to do homework every day to learn English?
In the first place, to many people think that doing homework every day is very important to learn English, but homework should be varied; one day of grammar and other day of vocabulary etc…
On the other hand, other people think that it is better to meet with friends and practice speaking. At the same time there are people who say that it is very important to do homework every day, but it is also important to go out with other people and speak a lot of English.
In conclusion I agree with the last people. Because I think that everything is important to learn English and other language very well.
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DOING FOREIGN LANGUAGE HOMEWORK
by Ali Rutbil (Turkey)
Languages have a lot of grammar, thousands of vocabulary words, different pronunciations and alphabets so foreign language learning is very difficult. If people want to learn it, they must study regularly and continuously. In the first place, students only going to school to learn foreign language isn’t enough. They should study individually at home but some students don’t study at home. Teachers give homework to help with the cause disciplined study. For instance, some students are lazy. If teacher gives homework, other students maybe study. Moreover, while students do homework, they repeat and revise subjects. As opposed to this, teachers don’t give a lot of homework so that students don’t get bored with a lot of doing homework and they have enough free time to practise speaking and listening. In conclusion, homework is useful for students and their foreign languages improvement.
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HOMEWORK EVERYDAY?
by Argoitz Lili (Spain)
It is said that doing homework everyday is a great way of learning English well, this is what the teachers think mainly. It seems to me, however, that it can be stressfull or useless depending on the kind of homweork. In the first place, most of students complain because they have to work a lot after lessons, homework is boring and they are stressed because they do not have enough time to enjoy themselves. What is more, in some cases they think that they are harmful instead of being useful. In contrast, some teachers follow a different way, they do not send homework everyday because they consider that leisure time is as important as work. In addition to this, they try to send different kinds of homework, not always the typical grammar excersise or reading, there are other alternatives. To sum up, I agree that homework is necesary to improve, revise and find solutions to doubts, but they can not be stressful or boring in order to be a good tool in our improvement.
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by Noelia Vela
Emma was waiting outside her friend John’s house when her phone rang. Her mother told her that her father was in the hospital. A soon as she could, she went to the hospital; her father was very ill. The doctors had said that he would die soon. She was very sad and naturally she didn’t want to separate from him, but finally after more than four hours she returned to her house for a rest. The next day she returned to the hospital; unsurprisingly her father was as ill as the day before. All her family thought that he never would recover but she was still hopeful that he would. Three weeks later, her father was even worse, she was dejected and all of her hop were disappearing, but fortunately two days before a doctor had came to give a new medication. Apparently, he was getting better and a month later he returned to his house with his wife and Emma. That night Emma told her father: “I always hoped that you were a strong men and you would beat this illness”. *************************** WHEN IN ROME DO AS THE ROMANS DO by Erwan Tanter Since last February, I have lived for the first time in a foreign country, for a long term period. While I am French and lived more than 23 years there I decided to move to Cardiff to learn and improve my English level. Nevertheless, I tried immediatly to adapt to the British culture. For instance, I looked for a job the day of my arrived in order to not depend on the welfare state. Because I was keen, I found it quickly. In other words, I didn't want to be a burden to the British society but one component of it. Naturally, I had to make more efforts than British people to get the same things. The rules at work are a bit different, such as : the flexibility, the break times, the lunch times... Furthermore I am trying to learn the language at school in order to facilitate my enculturation and I am going to the fitness club to meet other people. Obviously the culture with France is not totally different but some differences persist. I naturally soak up the British culture to integrate as well as possible.
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Lastest news about global crisis of eurozone.
'Nothing is certain but death and taxes!'
by Romain Garcia (France)
All media talk about crisis and its consequences or impact on purchasing power. But the media also speak largely of crushed by debt and distressed banks, countries like Greece, Spain and Ireland face ongoing recessions, while Germany and the Netherlands, along with members of the IFM, push for austerity measures. Apparently, what are the reals consequences for you or me? We are all the consumers of this economic crisis. Constantly the media and the economists make predictions on the future of the crisis. But remember just four years ago the same people said that the crisis could not reach Europe... Finally, there was just something I'm sure is that you can unsurprisingly prepare yourself for a large taxes increase.
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Nothing ventured, nothing gained.
by Jesus Marquina (Spain)
This is the story of a kiss, only that and nothing else. But you know, sometimes a kiss can put your world upside down. Every story has a beginning, and I would like to start as in a tale: once upon a time, there was a shy boy who was in love with a beautiful girl, nothing extraordinary. He couldn’t remember when he knew that he was in love with Laura, but maybe the inception of that feeling would be the fact that they shared the same class for seven years during the primary education. She was very friendly with him but they were never close friends, although he was is all of Laura’s birthdays since 1989. Naturally, he thought that he would never have the opportunity of proclaiming his secret love, but finally the destiny gave him one chance. One day, during break time, she walked directly towards him and said:” Juan, next Saturday is my birthday and I Would like you to come”. He told something similar to “yes”, because he couldn’t pronounce it better. “This is my chance”, he thought. He knew that he couldn’t tell her about his feelings, so he looked for the best poet for help; and the best poet of love in Spanish is the Mexican Octavio Paz. He went to the party and when he saw Laura was alone, he approached her and said:” Laura, this is my present for you”. Immediately, he felt awkward and fled. When she opened the first page of the book, she could read: “this book expresses what I fell for you”. Next Monday, during break time, she walked towards him and kissed Juan. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.
