Interview Transcript – Jana

Describe the course in your own words. How would you describe the course?
If I would describe the course, it’s a course about basic academic skills. That means that you learn how to study properly in English. That doesn’t mean that you improve your English vocabulary, it means how to learn strategies in studying in English.

What did you learn on the course?
I learned on the course how to improve my study skills. That means how to read properly, how to speech your presentation, how to write an essay.

Did you acquire any new learning strategies on the course?
I learned learning strategies on how to recognize the structure of a text, how to recognize several arguments of the writer, and how to recognize some linking words, how to work a text in an essay.

Where there any new teaching or studying methods, type of assignments, etc. on the course?
There were new types of assignments for me in this case of the Dialang test that means that you test your own English skills. And afterwards we had to write an essay about it, and it was like reflecting our skills, reflecting our strengths or weaknesses, and that was very good and useful.

What is your opinion about the pace of the course – was it too fast, too slow or suitable?
The course was suitable, it was not too fast or too slow. It was in the very beginning of the term in September. That means that the most exchange students have a lot of time to study, so it was suitable.

What is your opinion about the course material?
The teachers gave us several opportunities to learn or to study. We watched news, we read newspapers, essays, we had discussions, and we learned how to argue, and there were several ideas how to learn English or how to improve.

What do you think about the work load of the course?
The work load was appropriate, it was not too much work. We went to the course in the morning, had two hours in the morning and then in the afternoon. It was just one week, so you know that it will end and you can see the end.

Did the course meet your expectations?
First not, because I didn’t know that it’s a course for studying skills and not for improving English. And I would say that was the main problem for the people attending this course, because a lot of them weren’t on the level to speak or to think about their levels or their skills, they really had to improve their English. And that meant that there was a big gap between people on higher level and on really low level.

Was the course suitable for your skill level in English?
That’s difficult to say that it was suitable to my English level, because in the beginning my English was really on a low level, I would say, but still it was better than some other people, I could at least express my opinion or my ideas. And when there are so many people with different levels, it’s difficult to study together.

To whom would you recommend this course?
I would recommend this course to persons who are already aware of their English skills and who wants to study in English, not to refresh their English vocabulary, or their, yeah, their English vocabulary.

What was best on the course?
The best point of the course was the final assignment about our skills. We had to reflect our own English skills. And that was really useful to get what problems you have and what weaknesses.

What was unnecessary on the course?
Bad on the course was what I already said about the different levels of the students, I guess.