In
this semester, I learned more online English resources, including dictionaries,
corpus tools, podcast, TED, My ET and MIT OpenCourseware, which
are useful to improve English four skills. The class did not let me down
because I could take use of different websites or tools to learn English
without under pressure.
From
the listening section to writing section, what interested me the most was corpus
tools. Before taking the class, I did not know how to search for the correct
collocations; thus, I usually use English-Chinese dictionaries to translate the
collocations I wanted to write in my English essay. However, it would easily
make mistakes since English and Chinese grammar is totally different.
Fortunately, I finally learned the way of looking up the right collocations with online corpus in the class.
In addition to corpus, I was also interested by opencoureware,
especially NTU OpenCourseWare. In terms of having to take calculus classes
during summer vacation, I can preview it at home in advance though I am a
little nervous that I will not catch up with other classmate. I believe that opencoureware
is one of the quickest methods to further study in different subjects because I
am able to sign up any courses anytime and start it when I am ready.
The reason
why I chose the course was that I expected to know more practical online
learning websites and find more ways to learn English. As far as I know,
English is the basic requirement in many industries, but due to the hustle and
bustle of life, I do not have sufficient time to go to cram school. Therefore,
the free tools on the Internet help me save time and money. Only if I choose
the correct methods, I will learn English well by myself. Generally speaking, the
course has not been beyond my expectation because some of the websites or tools
I have already used before. Even so, there are still some beneficial resources.
Before taking the class, I usually listened to BBC radio
or read magazines to enhance my English. Although I had known that there were
many helpful websites on the Internet, I did not take good use of them because
I did not like to spend much time on looking at the screen, and I preferred
reading English on paper. However, getting used to reading books was not
enough. After taking this class, I understood how important computer assisted
language learning was. With technology development, more and more English
learning websites are served for free which provide me more chances to make
English better. Hence, I do not get rid of taking use of free tools.
It is
approaching the end of the class, but it does not mean that my English learning
journey has finished. I still have abundant chances to practice English because
of majoring in department of applied foreign languages. Whether I am an
undergraduate student or a freshman in the society, I will continuously apply
what I have learned from the course to my English even other languages learning.
There is an old saying, “Opportunity favors the prepared mind.” I should not
make any excuses to not have enough time to learn English because opportunities
are all around me.
