Final report

Now it's the time to sum up the whole CAL activities. It has been a bit difficult course for some external reasons as well as some problems related to the process of autolearning. I have been working regularly during the course and, in general, I would say that I have taken profit of the CAL. I am aware that in total I haven't completed the hours scheduled in the course, but it has been a very complicated semester, with a lot of different adversities which have culminated in the tonsilitis that affected me the week that I had to finish the CAL blog.

Leaving the problems apart I think that I have taken much more profit from the CAL that in the year before, even though I have done less hours of work than last year. The conversation classes have been very useful to my English, especially to get the confidence I lacked and to try and say what I am thinking. Normally, when I think in English I don't have problems with language, but when the time to speak comes I get a bit blocked. Going to the conversation classes has been a way to train speaking as well as a good entertainment. This CAL course hasn't been some boring series of exercises or a big amount of work. It has been a funny way to learn English.

Obviously, if it had been funny but completely unuseful it hadn't been positive. I have improved a lot during the course and now I can maintain a conversation with confidence and with plenty of different vocabulary resources. I am better in the vocabulary that have centred the news because of the way I've worked in my vocabulary (using the news online). But in general I believe that the learning has been correct and very interesting.

I have been regular with my work except for some different moments during the semester when I have had lots of things in my mind and I couldn't work in the CAL. The course has passed through the winter break and the exam period so I find reasonable that I have missed some hours in the end. Apart from that, we have had the occupation problem that has moved all the work that should have been done during the whole course in my degree to the end of semester.

Anyway, I have found the CAL course useful and very interesting in order to improve some specific vocabulary and skills, in my case speaking and some specific vocabulary in a very personal way. It's a bit hard to follow the discipline but it gives you a sometimes needed freedom to finish the work in flexible timetables. As I said before, I think that I have taken much more profit than last year even though I've worked less hours. And that's it.

Time Spent: 2 h

Vocabulary work

Last post was a bit short, but I was out of time and I had to write the report in a hurry. Today I have more time and I'll be able to write and introduction. I have been reading a diferent news page today, the BBC one. It's good to change the fonts because the style is always different. After reading newspapers usually I find it easier to understand the vocabulary. That's why there aren't many words in this report. The topics are similar so the specific vocabulary about the Israel conflict, the Obama election or sports is easier. Here are the new words I've learned:

outcry: a protest

stakeholders: someone entrusted to hold the stakes for two or more persons betting against one another; must deliver the stakes to the winner

lead: mechanical device consisting of a toothed wheel or rack engaged with a pawl that permits it to move in only one direction (trinquet)




http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/7896994.stm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7897631.stm



There's a word that I haven't understood. Speaking about mortgages: "Forecloser". I tried to fins it in the dictionaries but it wasn't there.


Time Spent: 2h

Vocabulary work

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/feb/16/pakistan-torture-mi5-agent-binyam

detainees: detinguts

devised: ideat, concebut

lenient: indulgent

bear: aguantar

chill: refredat

starvation: inanició

emaciated: esquàlid

indictment: acusació

pinch: robar

amongst: entre

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/feb/16/pirate-bay


Time Spent: 2h

Last conversation class: 13/02/2008

So, we reach the final conversation class of the CAL and I can say that I have improved a lot, looking at the first classes. I feel confortable with my English, but I have also improved my pronunciation and my accent is coming far more natural than it was. The conversation was completely normal, as it would be in catalan or spanish. We talked about my English studies out of school and about the different exams I have taken to get English degrees. I don't have much to say about this conversation class, as I was alone and I didn't found any problem in fluency or vocabulary. I am going to work in some vocabulary during this weekend and I'll go on with the conclusions next week.


Time Spent: 1:30

Conversation class 11/02/2009

I was alone in the class and adding to this, I was ill, so I was a bit idle during the class. A way to evaluate my English in adverse conditions! It's better to always take the good look at things. I didn't have much problems. We talked about blogging in the internet, the exams, the theatre play that I am in and about the cold that was attacking me. Apart from that, she brought some exercises to learn structures used when you doubt and you can't find the correct word. As an example:


For lack of a better word

What do you call it...

What's the word I'm looking for?

It's kind of hard to explain

I can't tell much about my performance as I am still a bit sick and I should write the conversation class report before the next class. I believe I spoke well and didn't have problems of vocabulary except for a thing (sistema del boca-orella = By ear). Today I'll go to another classe and during the weekend I'll work in my vocabulary. Next week will be focused in the conclusions of the entire CAL.


Time Spent: 1:30

Impossible to write this week

I haven't had time and until tuesday I won't be able to write anything. I finish exams that day and then I'll try to work like 10 hours in the next two weeks to accomplish a reasonable number of hours.

Conversation class 29/1/2009

Todays class has been very long and very productive. As I felt that I was taking profit of the class I decided to stay for the second hour and continue talking. We talked about a wide variety of things, but with a very normal style, it really felt like a normal conversation in catalan. We started talking about the exam time, how were the tests going and our thoughts about the future subjects. I had had a hard exam the day before and I talked about my bad opinion about the teacher and the subject in general. After that, we discussed the advantages and disadvantages of working in a group or alone when writing the projects in the degree.

Andrea Sofia had brought a sheet with some topics around dreams and we talked about it. The conversation then changed to the Vila Universitaria and we compared it with the dorms in the USA. We explained Andrea Sofia how was the day of the heavy wind episode here in Bellaterra and in the rest of Catalonia (for example, those poor 4 kids in Sant Boi...). Then we talked about driving and the fact that in the USA a sixteen year old person is able to drive a car and we agreed that this isn't a good idea.

I would rate my English today as very good. Everything was going right, apart from some normal doubts and some words that didn't come to my mind as fast as the rest, and I was improving as the class was going. I learned some vocabulary today too:


Bankbed: "llitera"

Matress: "matalàs"

Bedframe: "somier"

Fences: "tanques"

I always try to define words with my own expressions, but I can't even define them in catalan, so I suppose that it is valid to just translate them.

Time Spent: 2:30

Conversation class 21/01/09 and other things

I had a meeting with you yesterday and we talked about the things that I should do for the last month of the CAL. The work since today has been okay and doesn't need to be changed. The most important thing is to publish something in the blog each week, even if I don't have anything to publish. Is a way to show that I am concerned about the CAL. This week I think that I will only go to one conversation class. Next week will be focused on vocabulary because I am not sure that I'll be in the UAB after Tuesday.

I went to a conversation class today. I think that today's class has been very positive for my confidence. I don't know why I feel that confortable some days, and why I am completely useless in others. It doesn't have a concrete reason, or I think so. Maybe it's the topic, how sleepy I am or what I have eaten for lunch. Today we talked about the differences between the pre-university exams in the States and in Spain. She told me that the exams there were much more difficult and it was hard to get to the university you want. My feelings about our 'selectivitat' are the complete reverse. I explained that I found it quite easy. After that I talked about some particularities of our catalan. The main point was that incredibly useful word that we in Osona use always for everything. Yes, I am talking about 'cardar'. The other student that was in the class was a bit astonished when I explained our uses for the word, but it's normal, it happens usually.


Time Spent: 1:30h

Vocabulary work 08/01/09

Today I worked again in my vocabulary as I couldn't go to the conversation class because I wasn't in the university at that time. This time some things have became clearer to me because I amb getting used to the technical words used in the news today (the Israelian problem, economical problems...). As a result, I got a little less vocabulary. Here's some vocabulary and links:


http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2009/jan/08/carlos-tevez-west-ham-inquiry-premier-league-fa

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/jan/08/miliband-gas-ukraine

cabinet: the ministers of a government

premises: land and buildings together considered as place of business

ransom: freeing from captivity

dwindling: becoming gradually less

rekindled: to become important again

swamped: swanked

allegedly: declared but not proved

jointly: in conjuction with, combined



Time spent: 1:30h

Vocabulary work 07/01/09

As I went to the library and the teacher wasn't there I worked in my vocabulary today. I surfed through the BBC page and I wrote down the vocabulary I didn't understand. I have a pair of links to some of the news that I read:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7815929.stm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7814987.stm


Here's the vocabulary:

truce: ceasefire, stop a war for a determined time

lull: period of calm

halted: to be stopped (the troops)

smuggling: Illegal trades through the frontiers of the country.

tatters: to be in tatters is to be in a very bad condition.

gross: flagrant, brutal

stalemate: to be stuck somewhere (in a negotiation)

hinges: the piece where a door can turn (bisagra)

ditches: to get rid of

playwrights: the person who writes theatre plays

unrest: disappointment

thug: person who gets paid to make violent actions


Time spent: 2h