Xerox Posted October 4, 2008 Report Share Posted October 4, 2008 My biggest problem in IB is my languages, I just don't like them at all and never did, therefore I am just no good at them.My subject are Math, Phy, Eco HL and Chem, Swe A1, Eng A2 SL so you can maybe see I am a bit of a science geek.My problem has never been speaking: I speak Dutch, Swedish and I would say English fluently but lack the writing skills. When I moved to Sweden I was the fastest one among my siblings to learn Swedish. Even though I hated our extra swedish lessons.What I tried to do instead was to talk and talk as much as possible during the lesson with my teacher so that she would never have me write or check my homework.Can now say this probebly worked against me, I never learnt basic gramatic structure in swedish and neither in english. Even though I managed to learn the languageand get a feeling what was "right" and "wrong" I never understood the structure of a sentence etc just knew I was saying it right.Well then IB happend and suddenly I needed to write essays, and well that was a shock. Never had I writen a serious literary commentary or even an well structured paragraph before.Hence I failed hard, as apparently all the other students were already pro's. But well I kept trying learnt things from the teachers, and kept inproving.I can now spot some literary features, write oke structured paragraphs etc. But I am even close to where I want to be. Note that i can obtain good grades in all subject except my languages, and due to this I might not quilify for the university's I want to go to.So cutting this whole little tragic language story short, I just don't want my languages to drag my grades down. Hence my quistion to you guys is: "How do I improve myself in a relative short time" My teachers are alright and help me, and can correct extra essays, so I am going to write extra Essays to improve my writing.But I don't think that will be enough. I could improve my writing, but I also need to improve my understanding of literature.Now don't get me wrong i HATE literature, seriosly why are we studying this kind of crap... doesn't help the world now does it?I admit I only do it for the grade, and if it can help me to develop more vocabulary in the process that is great. Essay writing is an important skill in the DP of IB, as EE and TOK essay happends. Moreover the Exams in the social sciencies usually involve essay writing.Thus I can offer some of my math study time to studying language, as studying English will probebly help both English, Swedish and Economics.Any help will be greatly appreciated, yours sincerely Xerox Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
moneyfaery Posted October 5, 2008 Report Share Posted October 5, 2008 Do you enjoy reading? I know for me, when I used to read madly, I picked up vocab, sentence structure, etc and was decent in languages. Too bad that's all gone now though. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xerox Posted October 5, 2008 Author Report Share Posted October 5, 2008 I love reading, but only my own kinds of books. I like fantasy and books like Tom clancy.However I just hate the school books, and I don't really analyse what I read. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Abu Posted October 5, 2008 Report Share Posted October 5, 2008 Get the books you like in a Swedish translation?Where are you originally from? Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tilia Posted October 5, 2008 Report Share Posted October 5, 2008 I love reading, but only my own kinds of books.Even if reading novels like those you read in school probably will improve your language, reading other books will improve it too. Or try to read other people's essays. But I know how it feels to study something you don't like, I do that as well Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chesire_Cat Posted October 7, 2008 Report Share Posted October 7, 2008 I understand your problem, I had the same problem when I got to Dubai. My suggestion would be to choose any book, and just read and keep on reading, it really helped my spelling and my grammar. Another trick would be to get a book in your first language (Dutch?) and then read the same book in English (or Swedish, or both), and every time you find a vocabulary word you don't know, look at the version of the book in Dutch, and you should be able to understand what the word means. It's a lot easier than looking it up on a dictionary, and it saves you a lot of time. If you can't get a book in Dutch, then you should write the vocabulary words on a piece of paper and look them up later (or try to figure them out from the context). Also, ask your friends who are native speakers to check your essays, it might help you to understand why your sentence is wrong. My school has a Writing Center, to improve people's skills at writing essays, so you might want to check if there's anything similar to that at your school.Also, most of the people in my school find English (both SL and HL) a hard subject, so you're not alone! I hope this was helpful Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
uummmdonuts1 Posted October 7, 2008 Report Share Posted October 7, 2008 whats your native language?i would agree with reading... like hell, any spare moment, also maybe read some literature essays so you can get a feel for how they structure it etc, and what kind of sentence structures to use aswell Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
QueenSara Posted October 7, 2008 Report Share Posted October 7, 2008 I'm a language person, so maybe I'm not the most qualified one to give you advice, but as other people have said; READ, READ, READ! Nothing improves writing as reading, as when you learnt how to speak Swedish when listening, you will learn how to write when reading. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xerox Posted October 7, 2008 Author Report Share Posted October 7, 2008 (edited) My native language is Dutch, however, I speak swedish just as well.Really speaking is not the big issue, and well of cource you can increase your vocabulary by reading books and then looking up words etc...But doesn't someone just have some lists of words and stuff like you had in middleschool when you first learnt english, but with more advancedvocabulary??? (english only, and swedish people if you know some good place were i can find words for "högskolaprovet" then plz tell me)I have probebly am one of the most well read persons in my class, I seriously read damn much. But I need to improve my writing that is the most important part and my analytical skills. To be able to spot literary features and stuff.as when you learnt how to speak Swedish when listening, you will learn how to write when readingI know that reading will improve writing, but not neccesary the writing of academic essays as they are structured so differently from say a novel.I am looking for a way to study english like i would study a science or something like that. Edited October 7, 2008 by Xerox Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
QueenSara Posted October 8, 2008 Report Share Posted October 8, 2008 My native language is Dutch, however, I speak swedish just as well.Really speaking is not the big issue, and well of cource you can increase your vocabulary by reading books and then looking up words etc...But doesn't someone just have some lists of words and stuff like you had in middleschool when you first learnt english, but with more advancedvocabulary??? (english only, and swedish people if you know some good place were i can find words for "högskolaprovet" then plz tell me)I have probebly am one of the most well read persons in my class, I seriously read damn much. But I need to improve my writing that is the most important part and my analytical skills. To be able to spot literary features and stuff.I know that reading will improve writing, but not neccesary the writing of academic essays as they are structured so differently from say a novel.I am looking for a way to study english like i would study a science or something like that.Then what you must do is to read other's essays. Ask your teachers for materials or google for samples. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vvi Posted October 9, 2008 Report Share Posted October 9, 2008 I have a similar problem in Finnish. It's my "mother tongue" since both my parents are Finnish, but since I have never gone to school there I can't write very good essays.I read lots of magazines in Finnish. Since they are shorter than entire books, I can stand reading a one page article on anything (politics, housecleaning, China, etc). The magazines are so varied, I pick up on a lot of vocabulary and different sentence structures.If it's Swedish spelling that you are having a problem with, I get you I tried to learn Swedish, and just don't get the spelling. Nothing is said how it's pronounced. Don't have any tips though, my parents have no problems with spelling and I quit learning Swedish. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
QueenSara Posted October 9, 2008 Report Share Posted October 9, 2008 If it's Swedish spelling that you are having a problem with, I get you I tried to learn Swedish, and just don't get the spelling. Nothing is said how it's pronounced. Don't have any tips though, my parents have no problems with spelling and I quit learning Swedish.Actually I never heard that before But I guess it's easy for me to say since it's my mother-tongue. WHen it comes to Finnish however, I really admire those who actually CAN speak it, what's the thing with the double-vowels everywhere? ;P, like ää all the time, strange Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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