Week 10 – Reflection

The last weeks I have been busy with English more than ever. The lessons were very useful for practicing my speaking skills and the different exercises were useful for my writing skills. I learned a few new facts about formal writing, which were already handy during the writing of my bachelor thesis.

I think my English has improved on small parts such as formal language and knowledge of chunks, compounds and collocations. I will continue working on my English through reading, writing and speaking. This summer I am planning on going to Ireland and there I will of course continue practicing my speaking skills. Furthermore, since I am still studying, I will practice my reading skills by reading many articles and study books. My writing skills will mainly by practiced by writing my thesis.

 

Week 9 – Traditions

In this blog, I would like to talk about something that I think is very nice in Holland: traditions. Especially the royal family is very nice when it comes to traditions. Everyone in Holland sat in front of the tv when our prince and princess got married and I also remember watching during the funeral of prince Claus (I was 9 years old). I watched when the three children of our prince were born and I remember the prince eating ‘beschuit met muisjes’ and announcing the name of the new born. Yes, when it comes to important events with the royal family, I do actually remember watching it live on tv, since I was very young.

Tomorrow will not be very different from that. The queen of Holland will abdicate and the prince will be crowned. Since this is not an every happening, I will turn of the tv early in the morning and I will move my studying to the living room. Yes, I know that it might not be interesting to watch the whole happening all day long. However, I know that this is an important event and it will not be happening again for a very long time. One day I will be very glad that I watched this live and that I have actually seen it.

Week 8 – Dutch

This weblog is about English and some parts of the English culture. I have talked about the language, the humour, the books, movies and series. About ways to get in touch with English people and also about the lack of English. It was all the Dutch view on English. But what if you look the other way around? The view of English people on Holland and Dutch people. I can tell you, that is interesting too! I have heard many question during holidays from people who were interested if I smoke weed (no), ride a bike (yes), eat cheese (also yes) and if there are many windmills in Holland (not that much).

A little while ago I found a weblog online, that was so funny, interesting and sweet, that I got stuck there for at least two hours. It’s called Stuff Dutch People Like and it is a view from someone non-Dutch on the Dutch culture with all its weirdness. Check it out here: http://stuffdutchpeoplelike.com and laugh about the funny story on ‘hagelslag‘ or the perfect explanation for non-Dutchies of what ‘gezellig‘ means!

This weblog is handy for foreigners who are planning on visiting Holland and who are interested in the typical Dutch habits. However, for Dutch people, this blog might be even more awesome. While reading, you realise that some of the stuff that you do or eat, might seam completely weird to non-Dutchies. Riding a bike and drinking milk is so normal to us, that no one seems to realise, that it is not usual everywhere. Of course, everybody knows that ‘Sinterklaas’ is something very Dutch, but it is really nice to read the outsider view on this aspect of our culture. Therefore, no matter whether you are Dutch or not: go check out the weblog and be amazed by some very interesting stories!

Week 7 – Penpals

Penpals are nice, interesting and, if you find yourself an international one, good for your English (or French, or German, or whatever language you choose to improve). A long time ago penpals were not easy to find. Your school had to be in touch with another school in some awesome country and then, if were lucky, you would get the contact information of someone who you might like. Or at least, that is my idea of how it went, back in the old days. Nowadays, it is not that hard to find yourself a penpals. Actually, it is pretty easy. I like the website interpals.net but I am sure that there are many different websites where you can search for a penpal.

It is easy. Go to the website, create an account and fill it with some interesting information about yourself. Put some pictures on it as well, so that other people know who they are talking too. Then search or other people from all over the world and get in touch by sending them a nice message. Extra side note for the girls: be prepared to ignore many wedding proposals and romantic poems from 46 year old guys and know that some people out there are actually nice and interesting! Once you see through the many messages that only say ‘hi’, you might find someone who really read your profile and who is interested in talking to you. And if it really goes well, you might start writing actual letters and postcards. This is not only very good for practising whatever language that you wish to practise, I also think that receiving a letter is way nicer than receiving an e-mail, or a message on Facebook.

Therefore, go check out interpals.net and go oldschool by writing many letters to people from all over the world!

Week 6 – Remember

Today, I would like to talk about an inspiring book that I am reading at the moment. It is in Dutch and it is called: het geheugenpaleis, in English the book is called: Moonwalking with Einstein: The Art and Science of Remembering Everything. The book tells us about memory and how to improve your memory. Apparently there are actual memory competitions in which the participants remember hundreds of words and the order of shuffled card games. The first thing that came to mind as I read this was: they must be gifted with some kind of talent. But as I continued reading, it became clear that these were normal people with normal brains. They just used different techniques to memorize all these numbers and faces and names and card games.

The way in which they memorize, for example, a shopping list is kind of bizarre, but it works! The trick is to see all the elements in your mind and place them at a place that you know well, for example your own house. In your mind, you walk through your house and you place all the items at different positions. This way, if you walk around your house the second time, in your head, you will remember where you had put all the items and what the items were. And you can even walk the way backwards. This is how memory champions are also able to recite the different data series backwards.

I have not finished the book yet, I am only on page 85 out of 300, so I am very excited for what else there is to come.

Week 5 – No English

Today I would like to tell a little story of one of my travels. I’m sure it goes without saying that speaking a good word of English comes in very handy, wherever you are on this planet. Unless of course, you meet an old slow man in Barcelona. I’ve been through this and it went something like this:

It was early in the morning and we had just arrived in Barcelona. We went straight to the place where we were supposed to pick up the key to our apartment, but the door was closed. There was no light inside, so we ringed the bell and we hoped that this was not some kind of scam. After what must have been like ten minutes, this very old man came walking towards the door. Through the glass door we could see how he took a ladder and placed in in front of the door. Very slowly, he climbed on the ladder and he started to move some cables that were hanging above the door. Not knowing what to do, we waited while we was doing something that seemed to be of no importance. When he was finally done, we had no idea what exactly it was that he did, he climbed back down and placed the ladder against the wall. That was the first time that he seemed to notice us, although he must have heard the bell and have seen us standing there. Of course he took his time with opening the door and when he finally spoke to us, it was in Spanish.

We asked him, in our perfect English, if the office was open yet, but at first, he did not seem to have the slightest idea what we were talking about. We had a five minute conversation in which we were talking English and he was talking Spanish and neither of us seemed to know what we were walking about. It was only after one of my friends tried some words in Spanish that he pointed at his watch and said ‘dose.’ With the little knowledge that I had of French, I knew that this meant twelve. We thanked  him, in English, and we left to come back at twelve o’clock. Fortunately, at twelve o’clock, the office was open and the man behind the counter apologised, because he had forgotten that we would come in early.

The conclusion of this story is that, no matter how good your English is, you might always find yourself in a situation where other people do not speak English. Not at all, not even a word. However, this seems to create the best holiday memories and the nicest conversations.

Week 4 – Books and series

Today, it is the first day in twenty years that there is snow in Holland on March 12th. I know this for sure, because today it is my birthday. I remember many birthdays with cold weather and even some birthdays with very nice weather, but this is the first one with snow. A few months ago I didn’t even know that my birthday is in the winter. I was convinced that my birthday was in the spring, but the white view this morning proved me wrong.

One of the presents that I got for my birthday, is an English book, that I picked from the booklist. I choose Brave New World and I cannot wait to start reading! However, I also have other English books on my bookshelf, that I cannot wait to read. A few of the titles are ‘The hundred year old man who climbed out of the window and disappeared,’ ‘Are you smart enough to work at Google?’ ‘The woman who went to bed for a year,’ ‘Thinking fast and slow,’ ‘The tipping point,’ ‘Room,’ ‘Extremely loud and incredibly close,’ ‘Skippy dies,’ ‘Freakonomics.’ However, if we start talking about books that I’d like to read, I can recite a much bigger list of Dutch books that are in my bookcase, waiting to be read. As soon as I have got some time – when will that ever be? – I am going to read them all!

Regarding the English, I have been watching some episodes of Castle lately. This is a TV-serie about a female homicide detective and a writer who is basing a character on her. He gets to follow her on every case for inspiration, but secretly, of course, he likes her. During the last episode that I watched, the writer’s daughter, Alexis, was kidnapped. Therefore, it was a very exciting episode and also some long kept secret was revealed.

Week 3 – English humor

This far, I have discussed the English language, however, that is not the only thing English that I like. I can also enjoy English humor a lot. My first encounter with the real English humor, was when I watched the movie ‘The hitchhikers guide to the galaxy’ with the scouts. I am totally not into movies that take place in space, though this movie was so absolutely brilliant, that I did not mind at all where it took place.

In the beginning of the movie, a man is worried, because a highway is being constructed in the place of his house. He tries to stop the machines from taking down his home. Little does he know, that at the same time the whole planet earth is going to be destroyed to make space for a new hyperspace bypass. Later on, the movie has a scene in which a substance that is supposed to be tea, is described as ‘almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea.’ Well, that is brilliant, isn’t it? Also the scene in which a whale and a plant are falling towards a planet is really nice.

Lately, I’ve been watching an English series, which also has a lot of good humor in it. The series is called ‘The IT Crowd’ and it is about two guys and a woman that work at the IT department of a big company. Their department is set in a dark and messy basement and most of the day, they are busy with things other than work. Their standard pick-up line, when the phone rings, is: ‘Hello IT, have you tried turning it off and on again?’ By the end of one of the first episodes, they made a machine that answered their phones in this way, making them do even less work.

Week 2 – Reading, writing, speaking

Last week I’ve been so busy with my thesis proposal, that I didn’t take much time to do some extra effort for my English. Good thing though, that my research proposal is written in English. I spend the last week trying to write nice sentences in perfect English about a topic on which I had to read a lot of papers. Therefore, I practised my reading and writing skills and I also used the formal language tips from the last lecture a lot! I made beautiful sentences with furthermore, moreover and however.

Now that I’m thinking about it, I also practised my speaking skills a little bit yesterday. I went to my figure skating lessons and our trainer is French. Since most people in our group do not speak French, we got training in English. Of course I don’t see how terms like backwards cross rolls and inside three turns will help me in any formal conversation in the future, however every conversation in English is an extra practice. Even if the interlocutor has a French accent.

This week I might also start in a book for English. I have many English books in my bookcase, though none of them is on the booklist that we got. Therefore, this is a really good reason for me to buy some more books. Not that I have any place left in my bookcase, but I will figure that out later. I will pick a nice book from the list this week and order it online, so that I can start reading soon!

The best book that I have ever read, was in English by the way. It was ‘We need to talk about Kevin’ but I will not write about that on my blog in detail, since I am going to use that book for my review.

Week 1 – Personal learning plan

Welcome to my weblog! This blog is connected to an elective course I’m following at Tilburg University: English for the future. Before I start with this course, I think it’s a good idea not only to write down where I’m heading, but also where I’m coming from. Why do I want to improve my English and how did I learn it in the first place?

For starters, my mother was born in Australia, so she grew up talking mostly English. That’s why she teached me some English basics at a young age, just for fun. I remember counting to twenty in English when waiting for the bus. I had no clue what I was doing and I got stuck at thirteen, because that number was just too hard to remember. And I also believe that I said all numbers above thirteen in random order. That was all the English that I knew. When I got older, and watched the musical Annie almost twice a year, my vocabulary extended. I knew the lyrics of Tomorrow and by the age of, I believe, 10, we got English lessons at school. This all continued until I was 17 and graduated from high school. I started studying and most of my books were in English. By now, reading in English isn’t that much of a problem anymore, since I also like to read novels in English. But I also like to write, so I found myself some nice international penpals online. This way I could extend my vacation-English into something more and I would also learn more about other cultures. And besides the writing letters and reading books, I’m sure it goes without saying that I watch quite a lot of movies and series in English. Without subtitles, because I watch most of them online.

So that’s where I’m at now. I can write letters in English, I can talk the usual holiday-English, I understand the spoken English in movies and series and I can read study books in English. But since I might choose an English master and since the economy is getting more and more international, I think it would be a good idea to take my English to a higher level. With this course I would like to improve my English on all levels, but I’d like to focus the most on my pronunciation and writing skills. I expect that those skills will be improved and I also think that I will refresh my memory with regard to English grammar and that my vocabulary will expand. I think the reading skills project would be a good choice for me though, since I absolutely love reading. But maybe I’ll do more than just one skills project.

At the end of this course I hope that I will be better prepared to start with an English master and to write my master thesis in English. I also think that this course will help me with any job that I’ll get later, since English is everywhere.