I am supposed to be studying for my first mid-term, English grammar, tomorrow, but it's REALLY boring, so I decided to write something here first. I was trying to study "compound sentences", "complex sentences", "cleft sentences", "fronting", none of which sounds familiar to me. Must admit I've never known there are such things called "coordinators", "subordinators", or "conjunctive adverbs", though I've been using all of them almost all my life. And don't get started on "run-on sentences", "comma splice", "stringy sentences", because it's what I'm doing on a regular basis. Having to study the real grammar is like...WOW, they are soo very formal and academic. (See? comma splice, I'm doing it again!)
To be honest, I haven't seriously studied English grammar probably since middle school. During high school, I didn't pay attention in English class AT ALL because most of them were extremely boring and not at all challenging. For example, we kept doing the "If-clauses" and "Reported speech" over and over for hundred times, which made me feel soooo sick of it. Not enough reading or speaking practice for all students. Thai Teachers sometimes can't even teach it right! The English curriculum in my secondary school was extremely WEAK, if you ask my opinions, which is pretty normal because I'd say most Thai schools aren't successful with teaching English, unless they're bilingual or international schools. I can reassure that I NEVER got any knowledge out of it.
Until I came study here and found that English isn't as boring as high school. We were given reading tests from Times magazine and stuff. I did enroll in Academic and Oral Skills course in sophomore year, and really loved it. Before that, I thought I was going to die when I had to deliver 15 minute English speeches, but now I have a little more confident when doing presentations in English. I'd love to study more, especially about English academic writing skills, because, as you can see, my English writing skill isn't really impressive. But I CANNOT. The schedules between Japanese and English classes always clash one another. I'm a Japanese major, so I have to choose Japanese classes over English ones, and it really sucks. Japanese, Chinese, and Spanish majors in my faculty aren't allowed to have minor subjects; as a result, the students are stuck with the languages that they choose. Otherwise, I would have been Japanese major and English minor already!
Well, I should get back to "Determiners." Ugh, I really HATE Articles!
7 comments:
I was an English major in college and even I HATED grammar! It's so boring an dry and I don't think that's what language is about. It should be alive and exciting...like speech and good writing can be. Just stick with it though because it IS necessary to be a good writer, although not as much to be a good speaker.
And don't belittle yourself regarding yuor English writing skills. My wife (Thai) has been in the U.S. for over 3 years, working and interacting with Americans on a daily basis and her written English is still improving. It's a complex language and honestly your writing is probably better than many (native English speaking) university students in the U.S.
Wow, thank you so much Steve. I feel really flattered! Personally I'm not really satisfied with my English writing skills and feel the need to improve it as much as I possibly can. Writing this blog is another way to practice my English skills since I don't get to use English on a daily basis here in Thailand at all.
Well then writing the blog seems to be working! Did you learn English just in Thailand or have you studied abroad?
Only 10 months in PA, USA when I was in junior year in high school. And I've been studying English in Thailand since kindergarten.
Are you serious? PA?? That's where I'm living :>)
What part of PA? Were you here on an exchange program? How did you like it? If you were here 10 months then you got to enjoy our winter huh? It's like -3 degrees today and I HATE IT! I'd much rather be in the heat than the cold. I think I hate it even more than my wife sometimes.
Did you study English in Thailand at a government school or Int'l school? Sorry for so many questions, I'm just curious by nature.
Wow, what a coincidence!
I was in a very tiny town called Shanksville in Somerset county, about 2 hour drive from Pittsburgh. It's the place where flight 93 crashed. I didn't like it too much because basically the town had nothing! In the beginning it was truly a culture shock for me coming from big city like Bangkok. And yes, I was on the AFS exchange program.
Winter in PA can be pretty severe! First I was excited then got tired of it after seeing more and more piles of snow. Luckily, my host family didn't make me shovel :-)
Well, for the first 6 years, I was studying in private Catholic school, and then changed to Thai public school for another 6 years. Apart from those 10 months in The States, I've been and still am educated under Thai educational system all my life.
If you hate the cold, how about relocating to Thailand? It's about 90 degrees here today. No winter so far this year!!!
I live on the other side of the state, but I'm familiar with Somerset and have even heard of Shanskville :) I can only imagine what a huge culture shock it must have been!
My wife was the same with winter. First year here she loved it every time it snowed. Now she is just as disgusted with the snow and ice as me. Even worse for her is the dry air during winter REALLY dries her skin out.
Yes, 90 degrees today and that IS your winter! The relocation to Thailand plans have already commenced. You can read more about it on my blog...maybe start here...Thailand Startup Costs.
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