Time flew so fast since I came to Monol. Then, I was so full of excitement for a new challenge. And now, after my 12-week stay, I am about to leave.
I would like to share what I have been feeling and learning during my 12-week stay and how much my skills improved.
First, I studied Regular Speaking ESL for 8 weeks and then I changed to Intensive Speaking ESL for my last term. Regular Speaking ESL has 5 subjects: Speaking Listening, Writing, Reading, and Pronunciation; which can help students build their foundation in English and with the purpose of being ‘friends’ with English.
Most students in Monol take the course!
My purposes for studying English are not so much different from others. I just hope to improve my speaking skills and have no plans to take official exams. That is why I started studying Regular Speaking ESL.
I realized while taking the course that it is important to speak in English all the time and expand my vocabulary.
Honestly speaking, to speak in English for a whole day is difficult for Koreans because we are very conscious of our mistakes and we assume grammatical errors in our sentences all the time.
Also, based on my experiences, I was not able to speak in English naturally because I worry and overthink. What if others ignore me after noticing my speaking abilities?
I learned from my lesson that we should speak in English ‘often’ and establish confidence first. ‘Correct sentences’ are not important because whatever we try to express, regardless of correct sentences or wrong grammar, teachers can understand or interpret as well.
If you have limited vocabs although you are really good at grammar, your expressions are so poor. Expanding vocabs is applicable not only in the school but also anywhere and anytime.
To polish my vocab, I always take note of the words while communicating, search the meaning, and memorize at night.
After 8 weeks of studying, I took Intensive speaking ESL because I wanted to improve more on my listening and speaking skills.
In this course, students can have more opportunities to talk about various topics.
The differences between Regular speaking ESL and Intensive speaking ESL are class hours. We also don’t have homework.
Some students became lazy after changing to Intensive speaking ESL course because they are not able to handle the extra time. But in my case, I spent my free time to review the lectures and overcome my weaknesses by myself.
I am about to graduate and many friends ask me if my skills really improved. Of course, I always answer YES! Actually, I thought my skills did not improve. However, I am thankful to see the difference – if I compare my first day and last day.
You should know that a 12-week stay is not enough to study English and I still cannot express fluently in specialized topics but still I am satisfied with my English skills now.
by MIA