How I best learn a language...

                                                                                                  

                                                                                                                    Baeyoung Moon

When I was in a middle school,  my English textbook consisted of only parts of reading and grammar. The style of my class was teacher centered. So most English classes were boring. We just had to listen to teachers without any reponse.  However there were a few great teachers who tried to motivate us to  have an interest in English.  I was so excited about  my English class and looked forward to having it because of one special teacher.

He was old at that time , looked over 50, and very thin wearing glasses all the time.   He looked like E.T which was a maincharacter of a famous SF movie. And he was an English Teacher. So he was called E.T  because of  these two reasons.

His class was always exciting and impressive to me.  He introduced some poetry and  many beautiful popsongs including 'on a wagon' sung by Carpenters who pronounced lyrics very clearly and  beautifully

All the lyrics she sang sounded like beautiful poetry.  That made us sing along all the songs delightfully. I think he provided me special motivation of my interest in language, English learning.

In fact it goes without saying that learning English as a second language is very hard in EFL environment.  In Korea, it is also hard to learn speaking English skills. When I look back on my studying days, I have tried to expose to English environment which contains listening to radio' EBS programs, watching TV or, using internet, participating in clubs, taking exams related to English and so on. Even a few years ago it was rare to meet native speakers so I attended the classes in some foreign language institutes to improve my English speaking ability.

 But I was not stressed while I was doing all the activities. I think this is the most important to keep me study language learning continuously. My learning English is kind of my hobby. Sometimes I quitted studying when I was exhausted,  but I would like to do again because I really continue to learn until I am good at speaking English. Steadies and enjoyment are important to aquire something. In particular they can apply to learning a language as well.

An Approach to Academic Writing

Baeyoung Moon




An Approach to Academic Writing


This week's reading is simple but so helpful for academic writers including me. On page 15, the author said that one difficulty in using the appropriate style is knowing what is considered academic and what is not. Before I read this book, I just wrote my essay regardless of what is academic writing or not. Even I have never thought about what kind of style an academic writing is. Now I realized it exactly. Fortunately I have followed the style somewhat without my intention.


With regard to the usage of metaphors and vivid expressions, if it's necessary to deliver the main ideas well to audience and unless it goes against the purpose, I think it could be allowed. When it comes to the vocabulary shift, this part is one of the most difficult parts to nonnative speakers. Because nonnative speakers have difficulty in distinguishing between informal vocabulary and formal one. However I am sure that it can be overcome through training continuously.

Reflection: Critical Incident Protocol

Reflection: Critical Incident Protocol

Baeyoung Moon

One student who looked untidy didn’t pay attention to the teacher at all. Even he shouted and disturbed other students during the class. He didn’t bring any materials except a pen in the English class. The teacher complimented him a lot on the fact that he brought a pen. Later he brought a pen and one book ( consisting of 2books for class). One day the computer was broken in the classroom. The teacher asked him to repair. He made it. And he repaired the air conditioner and telephone and so on. Whenever machines were out of order he helped to manage the class repairing all the things. While he was praised by the teacher continuously.


Actually he was not interested in not only any subjects including English but school life. His writing an essay in Korean was okay but not excellent. But it might be harder for him to study English. He had some problems with his family and peers. His father was not generous and got married a few times. He had to live apart with his mother. That’s why he seemed to be insecure mentally. However he had one thing that he really loved . He looked happy whenever he was praised. That was it. The teacher praised everyday and it worked. As a result he brought his book. Of course it might take a long time to bring all the materials and pay attention to the teacher. But the teacher believed that happened someday. And she found out that he was good at mechanical things. And she helped him to motivate having his pride.

He was likely to carve for everyone’ love. First of all he needed his family’s affection and his confidence about himself. In fact he got the mental problem caused by all the cases mentioned the above. Since then he visited a doctor to cure. And his behavior got better. He might gain affection from family and peers.

It is said that teachers convey knowledge and philosophy as well. Teachers meet the students as human beings and teachers have to get duty to educate students prior to giving knowledge. In order to cope with various students’ characteristics, teachers have to make a lot of efforts to understand why they are doing that and what they need all the time. And then teachers could look for the ways to motivate students to get knowledge efficiently based on the previous reflection. Teachers can influence students’ whole life. That’s why the teaching is the most important.

Educational leadership / What prevents ESL/EFL writers from avoiding plagiarism?

(Writing for Academic Purposes)


Baeyoung Moon



1.Educational leadership

This article explained two protocols'Guided Reflection Protocol and Critical Incidents Protocol' I would like to support the second theory'Critical Incidents Protocol, For shared Reflection' on personal preference. First of all we know the proverb: Many hands light work. Even though one teacher can gain new insights in the implications of ordinary events through the process which the writer expressed, when collegues share stories, ask clarifying questions and discuss, implications from all the processes will be more abundant through listening to collegues and debrifing and talking . When we go back to the classroom and apply to our students who prepare for writing, second protocol can be more effective because most middle school students prefer working with peers all the time. It is true that students don't like to write but if they work together with their friends they will feel excited about even writing.



2.What prevents ESL/EFL writers from avoiding plagiarism?~

P. 252: last paragraph, the author says that such ingenuity is expressed not simply by combining some textual elements but by combining those textual elements with assumptions the paraphrase.

When it comes to ingenuity it seems to be hard to define. Can we think combining those textual elements with assumptions the paraphrase is ingenuity? In my opinion the difference between combining some textual elements and combining some textual elements with assumptions the paraphrase is ambiguous. It is necessary to define the specific standards for classification in order to reproduce into writings avoiding plagiraism. This cause stems from the problem that is hard to define paraphrases. As the author said in page 250, paraphrases are difficult to write and it is unclear what colleges mean by acceptable paraphrases. First of all the limit of paraphrases has to be fixed.