Johanna's journal

Week #1

Starting the course listening to what we're going to do in it made me realize;  this is actually a course for talking. I need that because I think I'm pretty good writing in English but once I open my mouth I forget all the grammar and how any word is pronounced. 

We've done a few exercises during the first week and they were, of course, talking exercises. I really liked the first exercise which was the game of trouble situations. It was quite challenging because of the situations that could actually happen and also because at times we started just goofing around with friends but it was nice. 

I haven't exactly learnt much yet except pronouncing a word which is a bit out of context but I'm glad I learned to say it: spinach. I learned it on the day we had spinach pancakes for lunch and I was eating with Katariina and Emily.

Our class switched to the ADP class which is quite small but I find it a nice place for us to be because we are not a huge number. Let's see what happens next week.

Week #2

Another week has passed. I can say that speaking in English is hard for me because I've done that to my friends or to Finnish people and I don't seem to want to takeeit seriously since they can perfectly understand Finnish as well or just to hear me say the word as it's spelled - but I sure have been trying, of course! So far I've had so much fun in the classes, even then, when someone else has been my partner instead of my friend. Well, those couple of times that we've had to do an exercise with someone "random", it's been Julius everytime and he's been a good partner so I'm glad. We did this exercise where we saw an occupation written on a page and then we had to try to pronounce it. That was cool. I learned to pronounce a few new words correctly, for example cardiologist and veterinarian. I also liked this exercise where we had to act out situations with a partner and I did it with Milla. We had a lot if fun doing it and I guess it was somewhat useful.

Week #3

Well, this week was filled with other stuff so we didn't have much time to do exercises during the classes. At least we had this quiz about the governments of the USA and the UK and even though I didn't actually know much anything I still found it fun. What made me happy and surprised was this one question that I guessed and it was right. It was something like something called the tories are the conservatories or something, haha. 

During my spare time I've been practising my listening skills by listening to, and even talking a bit with, Himeno on one lunch hour. I've also started watching a couple of shows on the Internet in English without the subtitles. 

Nothing else I could say right now but maybe next week we do a little more stuff than during the past one! :)

Week #4

We did a listening comprehension which actually went quite well! Very well compared to any other listening comprehension I had done for some time. We also played a game with dice and stuff. This week's theme was pretty much circus and magic so the game revolved around that. There were playing together all them girls who weren't absent that day and so guys played with each other. That game was actually fun although circus ain't that familiar to me! I loved the forfeits :')

We got to do a little bit the phrasal verb exercises. It's so funny that I actually know so many of them already without the exercises but it's sometimes hard to say what it's in Finnish. I get the feeling a lot: I completely understand the meaning of an English word but have no idea how to say it in Finnish. There are also new phrasal verbs to me and some sound like they're not right or just weird, for example "do away" which means like getting rid of something or "hand down" meaning "to give forward" or something like that.

We also had to be partners with random people for a change, this time everyone performed a card trick to their partner. Didn't actually teach me any new words but a new trick and that's always cool! At first I did it the wrong way but Juuso was merciful enough to me to let me try the trick again even though I took time doing it, haha.

Oh, and we listened to a chapter and it was hilarious how the CD got stuck at that one part! It didn't matter because we then got to read the chapter with a partner and that's actually what I wanted.

Next week we're having the listening part of matriculation examination, of English. I'm so nervous! We're also going to have the phrasal verb test which is also making me bite my nails. So we'll see what I have to say in a week, ciao!

Week #5

 On Monday we had the listening part of the English matriculation examination and I was so nervous about it. I was right to be because it was hard; in the first exercise there was this awful foreign guy with an accent that made me go "what" big time. One day during the week I went to ask my results from Mika and I had these bad butterflies in my tummy and the feeling of nearly crying if the result turned out bad - it hadn't felt that big a deal before that so I was surprised because of my feelings. Well, I got 65 points so it did not go as bad as I'd thought but I think my results would be a lot better if the test only tested the listening and understanding skills instead of interpreting skills.

On Wednesday we got to do an exercise which was the kind that will be in the oral test; there was a text in Finnish which we had to read and then tell it to our partner in our words. I found it useful to know what kind of exercise it was going to be and now I know it's gonna be hard for me but I think I will be able to manage it. We also listened to jokes and we were supposed to figure out the accents so I was busy doing the figuring out and I totally missed the jokes but it's okay, I got the accents right.

On Thursday we had the phrasal verb test and I think it went very well. I at least remembered all the verbs asked, we'll just see if I put them in their right forms.

On Friday we apparently had a distance class which I and Katru didn't understand at first. We were waiting for a teacher in the computer class but then we decided to go and hang out in the school cafe. We talked to each other in English the whole time, even during our unnecessary waiting. We decided to do that to be somewhat productive and also because of our oral exam which we will have tomorrow. We are both very nervous. The thought of trying to make conversations with a partner whilst the two English teachers are next to us listening is what makes me feel a little uncomfortable and the fact that we should not use that much time doing them but I guess it'll be alright. 

UPDATE: We had the oral test and man, was I nervous! I think it went okay, we got the conversations going and some laughs. I don't know how much the fact that in the second task I forgot all the words impacts the result of the test. I was trying so hard and I used my hands, and Katru seemed to understand - I didn't read the text to her when we were practising. I hate grading myself because I may think I deserve a better grade than what the teacher thinks I should get and then I feel embarrassed. :D But since it's a must I'm gonna say around 7-8.

This course was fun and very useful, thank you!