Self - Assessment of ESP Learning

WRITING SKILLS:

• Summaries. I think, I improve my summary writing. First, it was hard but after some writings I understand how summaries should be writen.


• ESP vocabulary tests. I did not pay a lot of attention at that so it is not so good as I wish it would.
• Self-designed tests. I think, I was good in this task. This helped me to plug in in the text.
• Dictations. This task was hard for me bacause sometimes I could not understand the words and make a lot of mistakes in punctuation. I think, I need more practice on that.
• Contributions to weblogs. In this term I did not write a lot of contributions to weblogs so I think, I am standing in the same place as I was last term.

SPEAKING SKILLS:

• Participation in class discussions. When I am talking in discussions I feel that I make a lot of mistakes. It is hard to improve my speaking because I do not speak a lot in English.
• Presentations. I do not like doing presentations because I have public speaking fear. Also, it is hard to remember all the information. But now I know how to make a good presentation.
• Speaking in pairs. I like this task because it helps me to improve my speaking and also, I hear sometimes new information and of course it helps me to learn how to listen people.

LISTENING SKILLS:

• Listening activities in class. I think, my listening improved because the texts which we listened were quite easy so it was not so hard to plug in the text.
• Listening to podcasts. This task was good because I could read the text of podcasts and translate the words I did not know.
• Listening outside of class if any. I am watching movies in English. I think, that helps me to improve the understanding of this language and also, it helps me to cream off what is the most important.

READING SKILLS.

• Home reading. I think, my reading improved because I read a lot of text in this term which is related to psychology.
• Class reading. I think, this also improved because we discussed about text we had read.
• Read comprehension exercises. This task was a bit hard for me because not always I could cream off what is important.
• Computer tasks. I think, I improved this because first of all, I found out new pages which I can use after classes, moreover these tasks where interesting so I wanted to plug in into these texts.

Artificial Intelligence

When I am talking about artificial intelligence I always imagine not computers but robots. Now inventors are trying to construct robots which could change people in some areas in the nearest future and I am afraid that it is not as good as it looks like.
If robots replace humans in work area, what will people then do? How they get money? If person doesn’t have a job, he doesn’t earn money, and then there is no ability to survive. Also, we should raise a question: are humans replaceable, especially with robots? I think, absolutely not! What if robots get a virus? I think, then they will not help us but do a lot of harm.
So everyone should think carefully about robots and artificial intelligence.

Body language

Body language is a term for communication using body movements or gestures instead of, or in addition to, sounds, verbal language or other communication.
I found in the Internet one chart in which was written about nonverbal behavior and how to interpret it. I will write here some examples.
Examples:
1) Standing with hands on hips that mean readiness, aggression.
2) Hand to cheek that mean evaluation, thinking.
3) Biting nails that mean insecurity, nervousness and etc.
It is good to know about body language because than you can more easily to understand people.

Chimps beat humans in memory test

Restatement sumarry

Three pairs of mother and baby chimpanzees and university students were tested in memory tests which were made-up by Japanese scientists.
Before tests chimps had already been taught to "count" from one to nine. During the experiment, each subject was asked to look into the monitor in which numbers were shown for a short time and when the numbers were replaced with blank squares, touch them in appropriate order.Scientists found that young chimps showed better results than their mothers and university students.
Dr Liza Pair said that this happened because of our increasing reliance on language-based memory skills.

Meditation

I have to confess that about meditation I know nothing, just that it is a form of relaxation. And also, when someone tell word meditation I imagine a person sitting cross-legged and saying "aaammmm".
But I thought that it is not enough to write one paragraph about meditation so I decided to find some information in the Internet. And I  found one interesting page. I want to share it with you http://www.learningmeditation.com/ (2007-11-26)
Now I know that there are different ways of meditation and it is enough to spend a few moments of relaxing if you do it in correct way.
I think meditation is useful in our fast-moving world because of its help we can relax and find some time for ourselves.

I have a friend.

Sometimes in our lives come strange persons who refresh our boring world.

***
It happened in 8 class when on September 1st came new classmates. One of them was Toma. From the first look nothing special, but now I know that I was wrong.
We started meeting after school, do a lot of things together.

“Toma, what are you doing?”
“Nothing, and you?”
“Me too. I am coming.”
“Ok”
And after 15 minutes I had been sitting in her home, talking with her, eating sweets and drinking tea.
Always when I wanted advice I called her and we together decided what to do. And now I am doing the same. It is good to know that there is a person who cans always advice even in the late night time.

And now after 6 years we are the same best friends though we live in different cities. But we talk in the Internet, we call each other and when we meet we have a lot what to talk about.

***
I have a friend. Her name is Toma. She influences me.
This influence rises from respect.

Phobias

When I am in higher places (it is enough to look down from third floor window for me) inside I 
start to feel fear. Fear of heights. It is called acrophobia .
Because of this task I started to wonder about acrophobia and now I know that it is one of the most natural fear human beings can have. But it does not help me when I am in higher place. When I am feeling this fear I do not want to be alone and I need that someone support me, maybe take my hand and say "Everything will be Ok, don't be afraid".
And also acrophobia often goes hand in hand with other phobia, a fear of flying. And it is true. I have this one too. So when I am in the plane my sister often takes my hand and then I feel relaxed. I often try to sleep when I am flying. And it helps.
I think, everyone has its own phobias and try to cope with them in defferent (for them more suitable) ways.