Without patting myself too hard on the back, JJ and I both did well this semester.  We received our grades before we left for vacation and were pleased to have had all A’s.  It was much different going back to school after having received my undergraduate degree ten years ago. Most of the difference was in my attitude towards studying and performing well in my classes.  Since the start of the semester, JJ and I really didn’t do anything beside study.  A good friend of mine recently commented, “Every time I call you, you are always reading.”  Between fulfilling my obligations for my assistantship and going to class, the only time left had to be spent studying and reading research papers.  One benefit of this new mindset was the lack of the need to cram.  I studied everyday and really felt that I was prepared for every test that I had to take.

Spent Most of my Time Here

History of English

I spent the majority of my time studying for this class. It was the hardest class that I have ever taken but also the most interesting.  We basically traced the history of English from 55B.C until the present day.  Not only were the tests extremely detailed, but we also had to show our ability to pronounce both Old and Middle English and explain the differences in the two.  I wrote two small papers ( 5 page)  for this class one on the influence of Latin on English vocabulary and the other on the East Midland dialect.  The final exam for this class was a monster.  I can’t remember exactly how long the test was but it was close to 10 pages of essay and open-ended questions.  It was probably the best test that I have ever taken, and the section that required us to show what we have learned about the changes in English was extremely difficult but fun.  I enjoyed learning about the historical aspects of our language and have already started doing extra research on my own.  I thought that the Norman influence on our language was incredibly intriguing.  Not only did I learn a lot of from this class, but acquired a huge list of books that I should have read before now.

Latin Influence Research

Teaching Reading in ESL Classes

This class was online and ended up being a little bit more time consuming than I thought it was going to be.  This class and the Applied Linguistics class required me to write a paper a week and both required large projects at the end of the term.   I enjoyed reading about the different ways to teach reading in the ESL classroom.  I feel that I taught my classes fairly well in the past, but there were many ways in which I could have taught them better.  The assignments for this class were interesting.  I had to create a chapter of a reading textbook for ESL students which was around 25 pages long and also consisted of another ten pages of a teacher’s handbook.  This project took me a few weeks and was quite hard to edit down to 25 pages.

Applied Linguistics

This was another online class that required writing a paper a week.  There was also a big project at the of the semester.  My project compared function words in Korean and English , and then I created three instructional activities that were based on the principals from the paper.  By the time that I had done my research and had started writing the paper, I realized that the topic I had chosen was a little bit over my head.  I had to do more research on the Korean side of the paper since my Korean ability is not strong enough to confidently write about the grammatical aspects of the language.  After doing the research on Korean grammar, it inspired me to study Korean more intensively.

Teaching Languages

My fourth class was Teaching Second Languages and was another class filled with lots of work.  This class consisted of a huge portfolio.  It took a lot a work, but the assignments were very interesting.  I had to write a language learning history that was very eye opening.  After writing the history, I felt a renewed urge to restart my Korean language studies.  It was difficult to write about the time that I have wasted in trying to learn Korean, but I was also able to see my successes in learning the language as well.  This class also allowed me to see the ways in which the classes that I have taught were not taught in the most productive manner.  I learned a lot about using authentic materials in my class and also teaching the language in context.    I also was required to observe four different ESL classes.  I observed classes at the English Language Institute at USM.  Observing these classes reminded me of how much I miss teaching, and  I look forward to finishing my program and getting back in the classroom.

After this first semester back in school, I have decided that I took too many hours this term, and next semester I will only take three classes.  It will be nice to be able to allocate some serious time to my Korean studies.  I am thinking about getting a tutor, but I haven’t made up my mind.  I do know that I need to spend a little bit more time doing research and working on a few papers that I have in mind as well.

I also realize that I need to be more proactive in scheduling my free time.   I felt guilty anytime that I wasn’t studying.  I can look back and see that I really need to feel more free to relax more often without feeling guilty.  I plan on enjoying the rest of my vacation and then getting ready to hit the books hard once again when classes start on  January 18th.