Hi Chittisa

Hi Chittisa!

Gosh, what a great way to start a day; reading your blog and the comments on both my blog and yours. I’m amazed that you and I are living in neighbouring countries too! I’ve been to Thailand many times and have always loved each visit.

Chittisa there is so much to congratulate you on; first there is your enthusiasm for learning English and also your insight into your learning process. I think the more aware you are of your learning, the more successful you will be. Congratulations on your TOEIC score too. You write with great energy and zest and I can feel your personality shining through. I think I understood everything but am not sure about your job. Have you found a temporary job and are you continuing to search for a permanent job? There are a couple of times when I wasn’t sure what you meant for example;

In my point of view, this is a good way to apply for a job, but anyway it is not the best.

Did you mean?

From my point of view, this is a good way to apply for a job but not necessarily the best.

..but the job which I am responsible for at the moment is not a civil engineer but I believe that I will be able to develop my knowledge and make a different contribution for the company

Did you mean?

..although my current job is not as a Civil Engineer, I believe that I will be able to contribute to the company and develop my knowledge

I’m really interested in finding the best way to help you develop your written English. Is this kind of reformulation helpful to you? Would you like me to try another strategy? Let me know what helps.

I think that getting your first job is a milestone in life. When I look back over my life, I guess that was when I first felt an adult. Why did I become a teacher? I’m not really sure is the honest answer. I studied English and Theatre Studies at University and I loved drama. I didn’t have the guts to try to make a career in professional theatre which is very tough and so thought becoming a Drama teacher was a way of sharing my enthusiasm. In fact I only worked as a Drama teacher for 2 years and then became an English teacher-but that’s another story!

Chittisa, you are at a really interesting time in your life and I’m sure will have a great number of stories to tell us. I am really interested in your experience as my daughter Hannah is currently an undergraduate, in her second year at university and so will be in a similar position soon. There is quite a lot of discussion in the Malaysian press about the number of unemployed graduates and some commentators have linked this partially to a lack of English language proficiency. The implication is that it’s easier to find a job if you can communicate in English effectively. In other words a good command of English gives you an advantage!

Tricia


Some interesting lexis and grammatical patterns from the blog;


• ..the more aware you are, the more successful you will be

• ..you write with energy and zest

• an insight into something

• a milestone in life

• to have the guts to do something

• reformulation

• The Malaysian press

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