Shiho Nakajo's Blog

 I had a writing assessment and a listening assessment this week. I had to read a essay topic before the writing test so I spent much time on reading the topic carefully and taking notes. And I found many vocabularies I do not know therefore I also  spent time to checked the meaning of these vocabularies. I thought I could prepare for the writing assessment well. However, after the writing test I noticed that my preparation was worse and I should take more time to understand deeply. In addition, I did watch TED talk only one time before the listening test but it is enough. People speak natural speed in a lecture but it is difficult for me to listen all vocabularies now. I think I need to watch many lectures or TED talk and I have to get a skill of good taking note. Therefore I am going to engage on watching these videos at home.

 I am going to take a reading test and a speaking test next week. In the pre reading test, I realised that I have many vocabularies I do not understand well. So I will answer some questions on moodle and check the meaning if I found the vocabularies I do not know before the reading test. Moreover, I have to prepare my presentation individually for couple of days. I realise that I need much time to make a presentation because I always spend much time on making slides and structures. I will be searching some issues in detail to be able to  answer the people’s questions, therefore I want to make my plans before searching and use library effectively. In addition, I feel nervous when I speak in front of an audience and I often read my paper during my presentation. I think it is important to practice my own presentation many times so I will make cards which is only written keywords and practice my speaking at home.

 I took a writing test on Tuesday. I received a topic last Friday so I engaged myself in reading the topic and preparing for the essay last weekend. However, I was quite scared of this writing test because I am not good at writing essay and I had only ninety minutes.

 Beginning of the test, I made my essay plan then I started to write introduction. I understood contents of this topic but I noticed that I spent much time on making plans and writing second paragraph. I thought that I could not complete my essay, and this feeling made me confused. I tried to complete my essay clearly but I did not have enough time. I took some notes on my paper before the test, but I did not do my best. I think I took much more time than other people to write an essay or a report, so I need more practice by myself. In the future program, I will be writing some essays too so I have to acquire writing skill. Thus, I will check how to write an essay and rewrite the essay if the topic returned.

 

 I practiced group work presentation this week. Our group decided to present about travel in the UK. We divided into four cities and each of us searched their cities on the Internet.  I had only three hours but tried to make my presentation clear.

 After researching, We did a presentation in front of our classmates. I always feel nervous when I speak in a room so I took a deep breath to be relaxed. I would like to make eye contact with everyone during my speaking but I often watched my draft. I wrote many sentences on the paper however it is not useful to make hearers attract. I think it is important to make eye contact with an audience and try not to read my paper, therefore I am going to practice hard individually and prepare a keyword paper.

 I took a writing test on last Wednesday. I was given a topic two days before the test. I had to read the topic and prepare for the test. The topic was about science. I am not good at science, so it is difficult for me to understand. But, I checked the meaning of words which I do not know and I tried to understand hard.

 On Wednesday, I was given a essay question. I had to answer the question and write an essay. I was quite nervous when I watched the question. I forgot how to write Introduction so I felt confused. I spent quite a bit of time making a plan of the essay. I did not have enough time to complete my essay. I thought my preparation was worth. I realised that I had not reviewed the way to write an academic essay carefully. It is important for me to acquire academic writing skill but I only concentrated on the topic. Therefore, I will check my notebook repeatedly and spend much time preparing.

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