Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Why learn Academic English?

For many of us English was not the first language we learned. Because of this many have trouble writing in English, its two different things writing in the "language" English and writing in Academic English. What do i mean by the "language" English? I mean you read the paper in English but the words and sentence structure is composed as another language.  I say this because I had an experience where a former English Teacher told me i would write in Spanish. I was confused at first because I didn't understand what she had meant by that. How can i be writing in Spanish if I'm writing in English. Then i realized what she had meant by that. Yes, indeed I was writing in English but the way I wrote my sentences and the type of words I used were those of the Spanish language. I came to the conclusion that it's very important to learn Academic English. I feel its very important to learn Academic English so you can be successful in life. Whether it's in you career or any other none career based job, its very important to know the right way to write and speak English.  
You wouldn't like to be in a business meeting and speaking like if you were with your friends. Many will argue that Academic English is the same as the English we speak, but in reality it's not. For example you wouldn't use the words gonna, finna, dunno, etc while talking to your boss. Even if you are the best worker with a PhD the person you are speaking with its mostly likely going to see you as inferior for your poor usage of words. These reasons and many others are great reasons for everyone to learn the right way to speak English.

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Introducing Myself

Hello my name is Norma Ceballos this is my 4th semester at Northeastern and my major is accounting. But i hope to major in art soon because art is one of my passions. Graduating is very important to me and my family, for as I will be the first one to graduate college. I am the oldest of 4 children which puts a lot of pressure on me. I’m Mexican American, I was in Chicago but my parents were born in Zacatecas, Mexico. Unfortunately I have never visited Mexico but hope to do so soon.  I’m a very easy to get along with and I enjoy working with others. All the different cultures around the world and their customs interest me a lot. Learning of the different customs the different religions makes me want to visit their countries.  I have many goals for the future; I plan to graduate in the next two years. Also I would love to travel to Europe and other countries around the world.