Learning Journal -13- 5/29

Today, we had a peer review for the assignment 3. And I did the final exam, too.
I confess, I'm really afraid to see the comments that classmates gave me because I didn't know how to write the article well. I had no confidence. But after I read the two comments, I thought it's okay! Because they didn't gave me any bad comment. I'm so happy :) And from reviewing, I had more information for my second addition, hope it will help me to do the second addition better. ^^ And I really have to thank our teacher! Thanks for your chocolate and beans. :) They are delicious. ha

Learning Journal -12- 5/22

In this week, teacher showed us most of the articles which were written by my classmates. I did got lots of information from analyzing others' mistakes.　And the most important one is that my article is too colloquial, I think.　I didn't use English so often, so I usually write them in intuition, without too much thinking. Is that fluently? Is this word okay for this sentence? Is this sentence match for this subject?　I don't know, maybe I did write the article more fluently than before, but it's really difficult for me to put all the sentences at the right position. :( And sometimes, like this assignment 2, I used too many "and", is there another word to substitute for　"and". I want my articles to be more terse and clear. 　Although there is always a long way for being a good writer, but I think I can do my best to reach it.

And then, when talk about that I have to start to write the next assignment about invention or innovation... Oh, when the first time I saw it, I almost don't know what I have to say. It's difficult for me to write this kind of articles, which has less information in my daily life. Because I think the invention or innovation is becoming a nature soon after appearing. So, the assignment 3 is really a challenge for me. :)

Learning Journal -11- 5/15

After I revised assignment 2, I think this kind of peer review is helpful for realizing the details what one have to describe.　But when teacher introduced us the writing resource on line today, I found out that I still have the problem about the order of each sentence.　I know there is a lot of information that I want to write, but it is really hard to separate them in order.　The resource can let me practice how to write an ordered letter.　It also can let me understand what the mistakes I usually make.

Learning Journal -10- 5/8

I cost almost one hour read my classmates' articles and gave comments to them. From this kind of reviewing and checking, I read more about how my classmates' thinking.
I received different views from them, so that I can easily understood what I didn't mention about, maybe I can write more information in the next second edition.

Before I post the assignment, I had checked it again and again. And I thought my sentences are all correct. But after seeing the comments my classmates gave me, they help me found out some mistakes that I have never found out. It's a good thing for me.

And then, in class, teacher told us a website, then I found out one problem which is distubing me so much, that is "compare", I don't really understood what's the differeces and don't know how they be used. They are"compared to, in comparison, by comparison". After reviewing this website, I can see some examples for how to use them. It's useful!!

Learning Journal -9- 5/1

After seeing the comment teacher gave me, I think I have to pay more attention to verb tense. When speaking, I have made the same mistakes for many times. But I think If I can start to try to use the exact verb tense when I'm writing, since then the mistakes I made when speaking will be decresed. Also, I have a little problem about using "word" exactly. maybe the words are translated to the same meaning in Chinese, but they are not the same in original laguage- English. So, to improve that is to read more articles from VOA or something. And I decide to change my chinese-english dictionary to english-english dictionary. I think it will be helpful.(Although it is expensive. ToT )

And then, we had read some articles from the textbook, to understand how to contrast/ compare with two or more things. I have to think about some scopes of the topic, and write the narrow down scheme down. It will helpful to write a contractive paragraph. It does me a favor.

Learning Journal -8- 4/24

We talked about the home school college first today. After reading the article, teacher asked us for thinking more advantages or disadvantages to support Home School College. I found out to write a composition in English is not the most difficult thing. The most difficult thing is that I have no idea with the subject. If I have to find out more myself, I maybe can just write out two or three reasons.
To sum up the classmates comments, we can write a composition better and more clearly after all.

So, it's important to think about what you want to mention about at first. After knowing the subject that you have to write, then you have to spend time to think seriously. And try to make a scheme of advantages & disadvantages and then you can constrast them in pairs. It's a good way to write the comparison between good and bad, south and north, ...etc. Let the articles be colorful and attractive to read.

Learning Journal -7- 4/17

Teacher shown us how to make the sentences coherently. But I found out it is not an easy thing. Maybe you can express what you want to say clearly. But you can't just express them, you also have to let all the sentences connected. And it is also difficult to control when & how to use the conjunctions. Maybe I tried to use it, but I put them at the wrong position. Or maybe I wrote too many or too few conjunctions to make the article too complicated or incoherent. And I think the best way to improve this ability is to practice and read more. It does help a lot of to understand meanings and you can learn how the writer use conjunctions.

Also, we did some exercises to find out the topic sentence in a paragraph. The first two exercises I did very well, because I can found out the topic sentence in a few seconds. But at the last exercise, I thoungt that I can find it out easily, but I can't actually. So, hope that after doing all the exercises that teacher gave me, I can know more about what is the real topic sentence! And not do the same mistakes again.