well, i
was there for a year as an au pair, August 2004-August 2005.
And a part of this program was language courses in college there. I went once a week, September- june. It was really nice, cause we had lots of students from different countries, and i made lots of friends,
it's a
pity that i keep in touch only with
a few of them.
They were from Poland,
the Czech Republic, Spain, Italy, Tenerife,
they were also from Brasil, China, Japan, Russia, Latvia, there were
a few girls from Lithuania in
the other group , but they didn't want to speak
weird people
We had different things to talk about every week, as well as it was grammar and
listening lessons. We had
homework also. But i got lots form
? that, because until that time, i
had spoken only with the family for a month, and previously, here, in Lithuania, i
hadn't had a chance to speak. so it was really good practice for me.
We had a great party for Xmas, where everybody had to
make their country food ! So i made pancakes with apples. Everybody enjoyed
them,
especially our teacher Gina, who, by the way, has roots in Poland. She still remembers me! i was so glad to hear that !
After that, we had
an exam in June. my level was the lowest needed level to pass (there were Level 0, 1, 2 and 3) if i
wanted to study in university (in england) later. Above mine (Level 3) was one more Entry 1, where i could go also, if i
stayed there, but unfortunately i had to go home. So we had 4 exams - listening, reading, writing and speaking. I passed them all,
worse was speaking, but still good. We had to tell the story which we
picked during the exam, also imagine, that somebody comes
to the city, where we live (in england at that time) and to tell what to do and see there, where to eat, etc.
Also we had
a dialog with my partner about traditions in each country, where we had to ask as many questions as possible,
also we had to answer and for that we got points. and the last was listening
to the tape and
telling the short version
of what we
heard. And that was for speaking ! For listening we had
a tape also, and we had to answer the questions, and another part was to listen also and to write if
the sentences were true or false. For reading
there was
a text and questions as well, and for writing
there were 2 parts - one was
a letter, and another one - we
had to make notice? where we had to tell about smth lost or find, and how to
got it etc.. but the main was that it
had to be short, comprehensible and haunting! we
could also draw something.
The funniest thing was that reading and
writing exam we did in the church
cause there
was a big hall, so somebody took the church chairs, and brought in tools and tables.but it was kind of
a different church from
ours, there were
no scenes on the
walls, just like a simple hall with
an altar and
a few candles and chairs to sit
on. we were laughing, that we
had to pass
then, with the help of GOD ! we went there, cause there were about 50 students from all 3 groups.
So i`m very proud of myself
, that in my
drawer there are 4
certificates from University of Cambridge (cause they made and
checked all
the exam, we had to wait 1,5 months for the results ! ).
Now please correct my mistakes
If you can correct other people's mistakes, why not correct your own? Keep it in mind next time.
Well it's not the first time I
have written here
It's hard to evaluate my own english abilities. English tests
have shown my level is advanced but I know my drawbacks. I have to improve my written english, should repeat a lot of english
grammar rules too. Besides I want to learn more business english, especially marketing, advertising terms.
With spoken english
the situation is better cause as Grange I talk in english
every day so
I have an opportunity to practise and improve.
At
first I'd like to thank Pasaulė for correction of my mistakes.
Also thanks to Grange for
such an interesting and exhaustive story about her
courses. I had a look at my dictionary time and again because
I found many unknown words So I think it was very useful for me.
