Oh hi!
My three weeks of semester break were spent travelling to and fro my home and grandpa's. Nothing much. So when my mother asked why I ignored Facebook, I simply answered
"I do the same thing every day in campus so whenever I got bored I jumped into the unreal life of Facebook. Now is the semester break, the time when I don't wish to see so much of what I see daily."
And so the cycle continues. Hello final semester of my study. Hello final semester of my study. FINAL. (Hurray!) So back is the life where Facebook has so much earned a respectful place. Contradictory to my perspective, my mother did make a good point when she mentioned how I could have simply missed many important things on Facebook, for example; announcements on our cohort Facebook group. My opinion, overlooking hers, is that nothing is of much value unless educational. You must have an idea now of how I have always overlooked the fact that social sites can also be educational. I have been regarding those as an exit to hectic study schedules, only. And that part about my unthoughtful classifying is unhealthy. You sweetie pies don't do that.
Yesterday I discovered a nice twitter profile where its owner and multiple admins take on what I regard as a community service of expanding the circle of English knowledge to as many people they can get-simply by being jovial clarifying word meanings and usages to people! Then I silently rationalised how mother was right when she said social sites can mean much more than just time-outs in between writing essays. 1-0!
On a similar note, throughout our course we have learned quite a deal about how teachers should be accommodating to children-and I tell you now that this is nothing near to easy to apply in real life situations. But we can try. Like those twitpeeps did. :)
Yes, back to what we were discussing. How to sound like a boss when you're not one. (My aspiration being aroused from how amusing I find people sound when they speak and write good English). You, my friend, have to know how my cohort mates and I enjoy playing around with words. We do this for fun. Why? Because I agree with what I saw on @englishjer 's profile. This-
Here, don't you think that proficiency plays a major role? Proficient language users have in-depth knowledge of how different communicational discourses shape people's choice of words, way of addressing others and stuff. In Malaysia, we have English as a second language. Highly crucial for workers to master. Fresh graduates' failure to get ideas across in English, as a matter of fact, is the number one factor that sees downfalls in our graduates' marketability.
And this all starts from one simple point: WE'RE NOT USED TO ENGLISH.
As a person who experience feeling demotivated by my lack of vocabulary and knowledge on idioms, I think the solution to this is nearer to us than failure itself.
How? (Why is my entry starting to sound like an advert?)
BY HAVING FUN SPEAKING ENGLISH!
Play with the language! Laugh at yourself trying to speak English. Get with your friends, mimic native speakers, sound weird, laugh it off, and repeat!
But it's also verrrrrrry important to make sure you have something to talk about. Yes, you can get the ball rolling by tackling English through humours, but seriously scroll down Youtube for the most recent happening-just so you can sound funny and make sense at the same time by having a topic to talk about. This is a point you must take note of in learning languages effectively. There must be a direction. It'll be your guide. You can't be navigating yourself to nowhere. So make a point that you find whatever that amused you as a subject for discussion the next time you meet you clique.
Ha. That's another thing. Your friends must be learning enthusiasts as much as you are, too. Then only you can find the time you spend joking around with your friends worthwhile. And being all out about your own learning is possible, if you are serious about getting there.
At present, me and my friends so enjoy making elaborate sentences either to condescend (jokingly of course) or describe matters. Someone starts making a statement that goes like "In my mind's eye, I don't see you as the kind of worker who will bring my company to a higher prospect." or "I see good personality, leadership and more being the good qualities in my employees. I don't see a trace of any of that, however; in you." in which an employer would use to dismiss a worker from a company. This unusual, unnecessarily elaborate way of saying "You're fired!" somewhat triggers our sensitivity to the features of the Queen's English, and how noblemen speak-which sounds impressive but inessential in 21st century's context. this is where the fun is, to us. The fact that we think while trying to form sentences like those slows down our speech pace, giving time for people to get the hint of what we're getting at, noticing how adjectives usually works best to add details while making the speaker sound fancy altogether. The good laugh we had usually came with a great deal of learning. Whew, that's one lengthy explanation isn't it. But the point is the speaker works at arranging words to sound good, and listeners notice how the speaker put words together to form sentences. It's not necessary to be correct. You'll get better with guidance, so who you talk with matters a lot. And focus on the sentence structure and functions of word classes as a guide.
Whatever way you choose to learn English, the point is to always see enjoyment as a goal. You want to learn English because you want to enjoy being able to understand and speak the language. Voila.
Credit goes to Min, Hanan and TQ for the example dialogues.
Byes!
