Last weekend, I asked Corey who works in Dining Centre to help me checking my first major essay. We spent about fifty minutes talked about how to improve English. Corey is an international student who is successful in studying English. Actually, it was the first time that I asked someone to check my essay so I was afraid and nervous that he would laugh at my mistakes. At the beginning, we discussed on grammar. He easily found my weak point is using different tenses. He told me that I had to pay attention to these tenses, especially verb tense. He suggested me do more practice to improve my grammar. Also, he recommended me to use more academic words in my essay to make my essay looked more professional. I asked him if he has any good advice could help me to improve my vocabulary. He said I could increase my vocabulary by reading. That was a helpful way he used before. He mentioned there are some campus newspapers very good for me to read. And I can also borrow good reading books from library. We discussed on another topic was about how could I improve my spoken English. He told me one thing to improve my spoken English is speak English with others as much as possible. especially with native speakers. On another hand, I should read something in English loudly everyday. Being honest, he said when he studied in the University of Calgary in the first year, he had the exactly same problems on his English study. He understood my situation and he was willing to help me any time on my English study. How lucky I was! We had a good conversation. I appreciated his help. I learned a lot of study skills from his experience. I could see Corey’s English is really good. At the same time, I knew my English is improved a lot in this year. I will regard him as my model. Work hard on my English. In addition, Speaking Journal is a good way to improve my English. In the last year, I have learnt a lot from doing Speaking Journal. I will keep working on it, and I believe I can achieve even greater successes in my English study.
