Hi guys,
we’re getting close to the beginning of the new academic year! I must say I’m looking forward to it, although summer flew by! It seems like just a couple of weeks ago we were all sweating for May and June’s exams. Actually, I think if you do the calculations there are only 3 days between the end of the spring exam session and the beginning of the fall one! heh heh heh… joking.
Anyway – to start off, here’s some news! Prof. Ferguson has created a blog for English III! Excellent source of fundamental resources and support for moving ahead in English!!! All of you in the III year MUST use this blog!!! It’s the right thing to do!!! See – we are an expanding, evolving Faculty thinking of YOUR best interests!!!
So – the Fall exam session went ok. I’m proud of all of you! It’s never easy to sit for exams after a summer of sun, sand, friends, parties, vacation, work, etc. To those of you who are moving on – good job! If you’re moving on to English III – I’ll miss you!!! If not, I’ll see you in B2!
For those of you who didn’t do so well – please – DO NOT waste time and energy feeling bad about it! As some of you have done, COME AND GET HELP!!! Language learning IS like going to the gym – it requires constant effort!!! Like going to the gym, some of this can be fun, while other parts are more work-like. DO come to the professors’ “ricevimenti”! Some of you have organised with me weekly meetings to go over things and have asked for external reading!!! Remember – good quality language input (music, film, literature, newspapers, magazines) will help you understand the language faster and more accurately! DO NOT think that the material we give you is the total amount of language exposure you need to become a proficient speaker/listener/reader/writer!!! It take a lot of practice and you have to do that yourselves! This may include: reading novels or other forms of writing – on any topic as well as business topics.
READ detective novels, classic and new literature, newspapers etc. AS WELL AS specific business literature such as THE ECONOMIST!!!
WATCH movies, documentaries, news programmes and other TV programmes in English! If you don’t have a satellite, use the links on the right hand side of this blog under English Language Audio and Video (scroll down a bit) to watch English Language news online.
WRITE compositions, keep a diary, write letters, etc. AND bring your writing to YOUR TEACHING staff for correction and advice!!! We don’t have the time and personnel to teach writing courses to all of you in the first few years, BUT you should try to write as much as you can!!!
SPEAK to everyone and everything as much as you can in English!!! Particularly English speaking people, but also your cat, dog, brother, sister, etc. IF YOU HAVE English-speaking family members – USE THEM!!!! Remember – speaking is also a listening exercise!!! Experiment with different forms of spoken English! Instead of answering “How are you” with “I’m fine, thanks” – answer, “actually it’s been a terrible day” or “Life is great, I couldn’t be happier” or “I’m really happy I passed my Economia Aziendale exam” or something!
SO – much work to do this year! Which is a good thing, I’d hate for anyone to get bored!!!
See you soon!
Pete Cullen
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