6/28/2016

Preparing for the second stage exam of Eiken Part 2

I took an online English lesson to practice for the second stage exam of Eiken Grade Pre-1 two days ago.

I wrote about the second stage exam in my previous post :
https://a-o-j-m.blogspot.jp/2016/06/preparing-for-second-stage-exam-of-eiken.html

I tried narrating the four-cell comic in English, but I couldn't remember appropriate words to describe the story.

As for the four questions to answer, since the topic was not related to me at all, I couldn't make it well.

I was disappointed.

When I study English, it often happens that I am about to be discouraged.

I often feel the high wall that I can't get over.

When I was a high school student, I was majored in English.

But the class level was too high for me, so I didn't enjoy studying English.

I gave up studying English.

When I was a college student, I had a valuable opportunity to stay in Canada for a month.

I took an ESL class at the college and studied English again.

But after I came back to Japan, I didn't have any opportunities to speak English, so I stopped learning it.

This time, I started studying English again about two and a half years ago.

I don't want to give up again.

I want to get over the wall one by one.

I would like to concentrate on preparing for the exam, so I will write my blog after the exam ( I sometimes might write it.)


 
Thank you(^o^) for reading this article!
If you enjoy it, please click the button below and vote me!
I will be encouraged by you.

にほんブログ村 英語ブログ 英語の日記(英語のみ)へ


2 comments:

  1. Hello Kumi-san,

    Although you have a long road ahead of you in learning the English language to the level you want. Remember that you have already come a long way. In general you have reached the level where you can use the language and that it something to be proud of. Yes occasional mistakes are made but they usually do not have an impact on the ideas and concepts you are trying to express to the people reading.

    Even when you do make a mistake that does change the meaning of something you are saying, your language is advanced enough to be able to understand those issues when they are pointed out to you.

    You are doing well.

    Here is a list of some of the issues found in the rest of the post:

    Part 1:

    This line:
    Preparing for the second stage exam of Eiken Part 2

    Should be:
    Preparing for the second stage of the Eiken exam Part 2

    Reason: Just filler words and word order changes to make it sound more slightly more natural.

    This line:
    I took an online English lesson to practice for the second stage exam of Eiken Grade Pre-1 two days ago.

    Should be:
    I took an online English lesson to practice for the second stage of the Eiken Grade Pre-1 exam two days ago.

    Reason: Word order changes.

    This line:
    I tried narrating the four-cell comic in English, but I couldn't remember appropriate words to describe the story.

    Should be:
    I tried narrating the four-panel comic in English, but I couldn't remember the appropriate words to describe the story.

    Reason: Two corrections. First, four-cell comic would generally be worded as four-panel comic. Second, added filler word "the" before the word appropriate to make it sound a little more natural.

    This line:
    As for the four questions to answer, since the topic was not related to me at all, I couldn't make it well.

    Should be:
    As for the four questions I had to answer, since the topic was not related to me at all, I didn't do well.

    Or:
    As for the four questions I had to answer, since the topic was not related to me at all, I had some difficulty narrating.

    Reason: First, changed "to answer" to "I had to answer" as this sounds a little more natural. Second the ending of the sentence "I couldn't make it well" was changed to "I didn't do well" or "I had some difficultly narrating"

    This line:
    When I study English, it often happens that I am about to be discouraged.

    Should be:
    When I study English, it often happens that I get discouraged.

    Reason: Removed some words that were not really needed and reworded sentence so that it sounds more natural.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Part 2:

    This line:
    I often feel the high wall that I can't get over.

    Should be:
    I often feel like I am (hitting/climbing) a wall that I can't get over.

    Or:
    I often feel that English has a steep learning curve which I can't climb.

    Reason: There are three common idioms that we have in English for expressing that we find something difficult to achieve.

    "Hitting (a/the) wall" - Generally used to express that you try to do something and you stop improving or cannot do the thing (in general but not always).

    "Steep learning curve" - Generally used to express that something is hard to do and generally there are a lot of things to learn. You may or may not be progressing in your task.

    "Over coming hurdles" - Generally used to express that you find something difficult and had to actively find ways around those difficulties to progress.

    "Road block(s)" - Similar if not identical meaning to "Over coming hurdles"

    Examples:

    I set myself the goal of learning 30 new words everyday. But I hit a wall and am only able to learn 25 words.

    I feel that learning English is important but the learning curve often seems very steep. Though I am learning, albeit slowly.

    I have been trying to teach my child Kanji recently but it has such a steep learning curve that she finds it difficult and I have to find ways to get her over the hurdles. Kanji places many road blocks in the way of progress which must be over come to progress.

    A related idiom we have in English is "If at first you don't succeed, try and try again" or "If at first you don't succeed, try, try again".

    This generally means that if you find something difficult, do not admit defeat and instead carry on trying to progress. It's a flowery way of saying you have perseverance. With my limited Japanese it seems as if it has a similar meaning to 頑張って[がんばって].

    Example:

    I have tried to make the perfect okonomiyaki but have failed many times, still if at first you don't succeed, try try again, is what I always say!

    This line:
    When I was a high school student, I was majored in English.

    Should be:
    When I was a high school student, I majored in English.

    Reason: extra word "was" removed as it unneeded.

    This line:
    I want to get over the wall one by one.

    Should be:
    I want to get over the wall bit by bit.

    Or:
    I want to over come the many hurdles one by one.

    This line:
    I would like to concentrate on preparing for the exam, so I will write my blog after the exam ( I sometimes might write it.)

    Should be:
    I would like to concentrate on preparing for the exam, so I will write my blog after the exam (Though I may sometimes write entries to keep you updated.)

    ReplyDelete