2     I can describe my progress and aims

A    Making progress

When I started learning English, I was very enthusiastic and motivated, but I found the pronunciation difficult and people couldn’t always understand me. After a while my pronunciation improved and I was able to express basic ideas quite effectively. It was obvious that I was getting better and that was very encouraging. But at intermediate level, I made slower progress. There were so many new words and phrases, but also words that I could understand but couldn’t use accurately. I think I was more aware of my mistakes, which was good - but also frustrating.

 

Glossary

enthusiastic  very interested in sth or excited by it. enthusiasm N.

motivated  If you are motivated, you really want to do sth. motivation N.

after a while  after a period of time

improve  become better. SYN get better, make progress. improvement N.

express sth  say or show what you think or feel.

effectively  in a way that gives you the result you want. effective ADJ.

obvious  easily seen and understood. SYN clear.

encouraging  If sth is encouraging, it gives you hope and makes you want to continue. encourage V. encouragement N.

accurately  with no mistakes. accurate ADJ.

be aware of sth  If you are aware of sth, you know about it.

frustrating  making you annoyed because you cannot do sth you want to do. frustration N.

3     Test yourself. Look at the glossary words and cover the meanings. What are the meanings?

B    Future goals

Felipe’s goals

• I understand everyday English, but my vocabulary needs to expand so that I can understand a wide range of subjects, and express mere complex ideas.

• I’d like to be more fluent when I’m speaking, and be able to talk about things in more detail. And I need to get better at using appropriate language when I speak.

• I can understand general things, but I want to read texts that are relevant to my work, and some of these contain quite specialized language.

 

Glossary

goal  a thing you want to be able to do in the future. SYN aim.

everyday  normal or usual.

expand  become bigger or make sth bigger.

a wide range  a large number of different things.

complex  not simple; often difficult to understand. SYN complicated.

fluent  able to speak a foreign language easily and well. fluently ADV.

in detail  fully and including a lot of information.

appropriate  right or suitable in a particular situation. OPP inappropriate.

relevant to sth  useful for and connected to sth. OPP irrelevant.

specialized  having or needing a lot of special knowledge. 

 

spotlight  contain and include

We can often use contain or include with the same meaning.

The film contains/includes scenes of violence.

Sometimes we can only use one of the verbs.

The box contains magazines. (There are magazines inside the box.)

The price includes service. (Service is one part of the price.)

 

6     ABOUT YOU  Write down your learning goals, or tell another student.

Answers from a Polish person

I’m learning English at the moment. My goal is to speak it fluently. I want to expand my vocabulary and be able to speak on a wide range of topics. I would like to learn complex structures and specialized vocabulary relevant to my job.