Time just flies by: Lesson three.

As we knew we were going to talk about the video we watched last time, the one presenting metaphors. We were supposed to write down what we remembered and then to underline words or sentences we weren't happy with in our texts. And then to discuss in our own groups, which was nice as always. In our group we had different memories about the video. I understood that I remember the funny examples and things I recognized from before. The lecturer in the video talked about Elvis Presley, "The king of metaphors", and showed some examples from Presley's songs. I remember the lecturer talking about Presley since it was a surprise to me; why would there be things told about Presley in a video about metaphors?

The definition for metaphor that I remember from the video is the easy definition: "giving a name for something else". Example: X = Y.

After these discussions we started, to my surprise, the group discussions. We were shuffled as groups (it's nice to talk to new people but then again I like the group I'm used to) and we had a group leader presenting a subject. In my group the topic was mandatory Swedish (pakkoruotsi), which is an issue that has been in the media for a while. In the group I represented someone who has always went to a swedish-speaking school, so I've never really chosen whether to study the language or not. In the group we talked about the opportunities you have when you know Swedish, how much each of us has used the language and so on. It was interesting to talk about this topic even though I've heard about the question a lot.

After the class I had a really good feeling. I was happy talking in English about different subjects and felt more secure than the first lecture. I stumbled up on some words but mainly it went well and I was happy with my performance. The happy feeling actually made my rest of the day really good so it was a great day on the whole :)

Good night!

Lesson number two.

Last Thursday we had our second lesson in English. The teacher started the lecture by asking me and Helmi show our blogs to everyone. On the big screen. But it was fun, although I had just started mine and I hadn't had time to write here that much. But still looking forward to write in this blog :)

And the theme of the second lecture? Mistakes. Not the easiest topic. The teachers asked us to discuss in small groups about the mistakes we remember from school regarding our English and how traumatic these mistakes were. In our group we talked about traumas we've had and for all of us the most 'traumatic' mistake, if you want to call it that, was about oral presentations. The ones where you are alone standing in front of the whole class and try talking in English, which isn't very fluent for any of us. When you're not the most comfortable in front of a whole class and on the top of that you're supposed to talk in a language you're not totally fluent in. Not the best combination. Although I don't remember having any bad response I was always nervous for those lessons and presentations. We discussed in our group about the feeling when you get caught up on some words and you have a hard time to continue.

The teacher asks us later what we think about our mistakes - were they positive or negative? My thoughts are the following: positive if you want to try harder next time and you feel that you learned something and you know what to do next so that you'll get better and not to make the mistake again. Negative, if one's self confidence gets worse and you don't feel secure when next time having an oral presentation or whenever you made your mistake. Whether the mistake is positive or negative depends much on one self and the situation around the mistake, that's what I believe.

Our teacher points out that there are different kinds of mistakes: the ones you don't know about and those you can correct straight away.

At the end of our lecture we watch a video (with English subtitles that I see right before the video ends) about metaphors that is really interesting to watch. Apparently we are going to talk about it the next lecture, which is tomorrow. Until then!

- Anni

Lesson one!

Here we go. This is my first time writing in my new blog, which is related to my English course in the university. I believe my writing and spelling is going to change during the course, but I don't know how yet. We'll see! This feels exciting and I'm pretty inspired to do this. It's nice to have an opportunity to write you reflection journal in a blog, it feels more relaxed then our other option.

We had our first lesson last week. The group seems nice, the teacher inspiring and the assignments interesting. I just hope I'll manage to do every task required, it was a bit confusing what we are actually supposed to do and is the course worth 3 or 5 points?

Anyway, as a whole I enjoyed the first lesson. It was nice to start it with simpler tasks, so we get used to use English with each other. We were supposed to be in smaller groups and tell each other what we study and why. It was nice just to chat with the others, who are so different in talking this language. Some talk with no stress and very clear, others are really insecure. I'm somewhere in between, I'm not scared to talk but not totally secure either. I can't wait to talk some more and see how I become better. Hopefully I do.

- Anni