Talk about English - Webcast
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City life Thursday, March 29, 2007
This week our phone guest Mauricio in Brazil selected 'enthusiasm' as his favourite English expression. We would like you to write a short piece which includes this phrase and any other vocabulary from this webcast. It can be any kind of writing, a short story, telling us about something that happened to you, a poem, whatever you like. 300 words maximum please.
The winning entry will be published on this page along with comments
from us. We say what we think about your essay and also offer some corrections
(if necessary). Closing date Monday 2nd April, 2007
Thank you for sending your entries. This competition has now closed.
This week's winner is Marzena Muszynska from Poland. Well done! We liked
this entry because it was well written, used the target vocabulary and
contained some excellent advice for other learners.
Here's Marzena's entry:
My name is Marzena and my name seems to have something in common
with1 daydreaming in my native language. As you may guess,
I am enthusiastic about English. I would like to have a perfect command
of it.
Unfortunately, I am not so full of enthusiasm as far as my systematic
work in this field is concerned. I feel torn between2
my aims and personality hindrances3, the latter making
it really difficult to keep pace with my ambitions. Not once did
I promise myself4 to study the vocabulary systematically...
Yet, the progress I have made is not satisfactory for me. My acquisition
of spoken English gives me the impression I'm proceeding at a snail's
pace5, but I have to rush with my verbal skills. It is
vital as the competition in today's world is enormous. Actually, maybe
because I am rather an introvert, I feel much better in the world of
thoughts, whereas I often feel awkward where speaking is involved. I
am fully aware that everybody must go at their own pace6
in acquiring a language but such a process may last ages.
From the day I entered your fabulous site, my days have been passed
with learning English. I have been trying to make use of all your linguistic
material available. I have been "pacing" my dictionaries7
- if I can use such a metaphor - and looking up new expressions or browsing
your broadcasts in order to tune into English.
I have set my own pace high as I hope that my work will be effective
at last. I will not let it imprint in my mind that I can't cut it8.
I can! I believe that if people spread their wings9
and are persistent enough, they can move heaven and earth. At the end
of their lives they will not feel disillusioned10
or unfulfilled.
P.S. move heaven and earth - in Polish we have the idiomatic expression:
to move mountains.
Comments from 麻豆社 Learning English
This is a very nice personalised piece of writing which uses lots of
appropriate expressions at the right time. The numbered comments below
relate to this as well as some suggestions for correction.
1: It would be better to say 'my name has a similar meaning'
to daydreaming in my native language.
2: This is a good expression to use here.
3: I think it would be better to say simply say 'my personality',
or even my 'personality traits', which means a particluar characteristic
of my personality.
4: You need to change the tense to present perfect: 'have
I promised'. Otherwise it sounds as if your study of English has
finished forever.
5: This is a great use of some of the target vocabulary from
the programme.
6: Again, this is a very appropriate use of a natural sounding
English expression.
7: It's not clear what you mean here. I think you may be using
'pacing' wrongly. Perhaps you want to say that you've been 'going
through' your dictionary to find new words and expressions. 'Pacing'
means controlling the speed of something.
8: You've used the expression 'I can't cut it' very well
here. To make the whole sentence better I think you should start off
by saying 'I refuse to believe' instead of 'I will not let
it imprint on my mind', which sounds unnatural.
9: Here is another very natural sounding expression used well.
10: I like your use of the word 'disillusioned' here. It means
disappointed and fed up and fits in perfectly in this sentence.
Congratulations, Marzena. A prize is on its way to you.
We'd also like to mention Kirsti from France who sent us a poem. You didn't
win this time, but we thought it was very impressive that you managed
to write a poem in English using rhymes. Here it is.
Where do they all rush?
A race? Did you say a race?
I can't see for the crush,
Packed people, leaving no space.
I can't cut it, that dense crowd.
And why do they all shout aloud?
What a deafening noise
Made by a gang of boys!
For what is this enthusiasm?
The whole of me rather goes into spasm.
Forcing the pace
There's a winner at last.
Though surely it never went fast
'Cos it was - a snail's race.
