Dear Mrs. Hötzel,
Thank you for your letter. I’m doing great! How are you?
My vacation was kind of chaotic, I was visiting Romania with my family in a 9-seated bus filled to the brim with baggage and people. Even though the long car rides were exhausting, it was very enjoyable.
I’ve chosen to partake in this course because I’m generally interested in English and like to engage in English-speaking communities. Even though I communicate via spoken and written English quite frequently, oftentimes I notice a lack of the right vocabulary and unfamiliarity with some grammar rules and orthography errors for some specific words. So with this course, I’d like to advance my English speaking ability even further and familiarize myself with some more advanced topics.
Regarding our Advanced Course, I have a suggestion to make. Our old English teacher, Mrs. Trost, who is absent due to being on parental leave, used to have very I’d say progressive vocabulary tests. It would work like this:
Instead of translating vocabulary from or to German, the tests were English-only. Several words are given, and the students pick some (mostly 7-10 words) and then describe them in full sentences. This description can be an antonym, a synonym, a definition, or an example usage in a sentence.
There were also several other different types of tasks, but the main concept was this. I found it refreshing since it is not just translating words. The format wasn’t liked by everyone, but since we’re an Advanced Course it shouldn’t be too difficult for everyone. It also fits well with the we-speak-English-exclusively-policy.
Well, there’s that. I’ll just add some more things about me here:
- I like programming and even work in IT
- I do enjoy gardening unironically, although it’s more of a chore I’ve grown to like over the years
- I play the piano
- I tend to go overboard with some projects
- I’ve written a piece of software with a combined total of over 10,000 downloads
- I have a brother and a dog, here’s a picture of the latter:
- I do not use any social media
Kind regards
Oskar Manhart