520R Reading Journal #2

I have been in 520 Reading Course for one month, let me think about what I have done so far.
On the first day when I came to this class, I was curious about why there wasn't any iCAP students except I. I doubted that whether this class was not so popular among my peers. As I knew, many of them chose TOEFL reading classes, which could help them prepare for the TOEFL exam. I was no sure if the word "academic" had a magic on we teenagers. But after a few days, my misgivings disappeared. I could discuss freely on class, enjoy the wonderful and active atmosphere, and get to know each other. Most of the students in my class have already finished their undergraduate degrees, so I think their critical thinking skills are pretty good, the way they think about a question is more mature than mine. I have a humorous teacher, Eilidh. She always makes me laugh.
I'm a quiet boy in my class, because in my country, we students are more likely to receive knowledge passively than to show our opinion to others. Besides, I find the other students know more vocabularies than me. Like my good friend Bassam and Sung Hwa, they can express their opinion fluently. Sometimes I do not know how to express one thing in English.
However, I know this is a process in learning a different language, I have to practice more to overcome it.
Mentioning about the textbook, it's very interesting. It talks about many interesting and useful topics, which are both academic and modern. However, I found there are so many vocabularies which are new to me. I couldn't understand the passages totally. Every time I need to spend a long time to read the whole text and understand its main idea.
I have learnt some useful reading skills, like: reading in chunks, summarizing, paraphrasing, highlighting main ideas, and predicting what the author is going talking about by reading the whole paragraph within a short time. I also learnt some useful skills to make my expressions vivid, like: simile, metaphor, and so on.
In a word, so far so good. I hope I can gain more progress in the coming few weeks.
Typically, I 'd like to point out that if you are going to take the TOEFL or the IELTS examination in the coming year, you should not only focus on your study in ELI, but also put your mind in practising the exams. Since they are essential for us to apply for university, we should treat them cautiously. I heard that you must have special training before you take these examinations, otherwise you won't get a satisfied grade.
I hope this can help you. Thank you for reading.

reading journal #1 on 520 reading assignment

The biggest difference between academic reading and reading for pleasure is your reading motive.
The purpose of academic reading is to teach you knowledge and skills. You receive the information passively, so you may forget it soon. However, academic reading is an essential part to your study, you have to try your best to memorize them. Besides, some material of academic reading are not that vivid, even out of date. Sometimes it's very long and complicated and you need to finish reading it on time. What's worse, you must focus your mind on the article so you may get tired easily. As a result, many students do not like reading academic material. On the contrary, reading for pleasure is more popular among students. They can choose some topics that they interestd in. It's a initiative selection. You can receive knowledge unconsciously while enjoying yourself. The purpose of reading for pleasure are devided. Some are just in order to amuse you, but some are also useful to broaden your horizon.
In my opinion, I prefer reading for pleasure. When I was young, exactly before my high school, I had read a lot of novels and fictions. This really help me in my study gradually and unconsciously, especially in my writing. But after I stepped into high school, the heavy study led to a serious problem. I had no more time to continue my reading. If I had time, I think I would have read some newspapers or magazine. Gradually, I felt hard to finish my composition perfectly.
Now I enjoy reading material about business and commerce. It's very important to select the right material to read,that means you have to choose a good publisher and focus on the books which are appropriate to your ambition. Reading for pleasure does not mean to read aimlessly. You should do learn something instead of spending your time. You should learn some latest information to help you adjust to the modern world.
When I do some academic reading, I like to sit in a quiet place, with a pen on my hand in order to mark some sentences. Also thinking about the potencial meaning. But I like reading for pleasure lying on my bed, imagining what I can do when these occurred to me. This is a very useful way to digest the auther's opinion.
Thank you for your reading. What's your opinion? Please add some comments after reading.

Hi,welcome guys!

Hi ,I'm Shiyi Huang.You can call me Vincent too. I'm a Chinese boy.From the south of China,a city near HongKong.I'm 18 this year. Feel free to contact me.
P.S:I like collecting shoes,especially athetic shoes.