Welcome back!- Meral- AEP 10- Blog 1

Would you like to know my first ever impression of AEP classes? Well, it dates further back than when I actually was a student entering the first ever online AEP class, troubleshooting my way through signing in to websites Miss Disa had requested of us to. My sister was in the eighth grade at the time, and I was in the sixth. I remember her showing me all the assignments she had to complete before the end of the school year, and I was overwhelmed for her to say the least. And although one could say I got lucky with how Miss Disa switched her strategy of teaching, incorporating warm-up activities and delivering lessons one at a time, I’d like to say otherwise.

On July 28, Miss Disa announced on google classroom that this school year would be different. We would have more Seatwork's and squander no time, apart from our free time tickets (I’ll explain in a moment), to improve our comprehension, essay-writing and vocabulary skills. Apart from feeling slightly scared, I was exhilarated to be focusing on what I feel I need most this academic year! That entails studying graphs and composing essays in accordance with the guidelines. 

Before stepping into the classroom, Miss Disa had assigned us three tasks to complete in order for us to get an overview of the challenges that will await us this year. First up, I had to read the syllabus and answer a short google form regarding it. Next up, I took an IELTS task 1 pre formative assessment. Lastly, I answered several questions testing my English level. These brief assignments were really helpful to me in getting a taste of what to expect upon the first meeting.

As promised, AEP class started strong! After a quick round of Diffle, we were given our first activity which was to analyze a bar chart on full-time and part-time education, within a three period duration, among male and female in Britain . We were to form points based on the similarities, differences and alterations as illustrated and create an essay of about 150 words.

Upon observing the chart, I jotted down some main points/ features that stood out to me the most. Afterward I immediately started my essay. As one would expect, the approach in structure was a little difficult for me to construct, especially because I was writing in paper rather than typing, which to me makes a vast difference. Perhaps it's because of online classes that I feel a lot more at ease when typing, knowingly that I can easily adjust my sentences. Luckily we have had last year to go back to the normal way of things, and a paper and a pen don't feel as intimidating as it first was.

Anyway, I then grouped the points for my essay to flow well together. I believe the part where I lacked most was actually writing the essay. Maybe lessening the planning and organizing bit would have worked better, considering the time limit. The bell rang and it was time for our break. Yay! We walked around the hallway for a while, and soon enough, made our way back to the classroom.

Feeling delighted to learn that we would be discussing the chart further, I listened and took some notes on improvements and suggestions of how we're expected to respond to the task in hand. The main takeaways I learned was to start by paraphrasing the first sentence of the prompt, give an overview before straight off pointing to the intricate data's, and build our lexical resource for a more profound composition.

To add on, this school year vocab tests will make a comeback! Of course this means we'll need to put more effort in but on the bright side, it's for a good cost. There is never enough words one can learn! Also, as I mentioned, freedom tickets are a new insertion to AEP, where we'll earn a minute of freedom for every piece of work submitted on time. How fun!

On the whole, while I find the previous years to be wonderfully strategized by Miss Disa, I believe the timing for turning up the heat for this school year is essential to improving our writing skills. What can I say? While I'm somewhat terrified, I'm also excited and hopeful to see changes in my abilities in writing essays. Thank you for reading and I'm hoping to see you in the next one!

Signing off,

Meral