Back on track?- Meral- AEP 10- Blog 4

This term is hands down my busiest, packed with assignments and school events. Juggling through all this is honestly tough, hence the aptly titled blog. Hopefully, things get back on track and I regain my motivation and improve myself in several aspects. On a positive note, I'm pleased with the productivity of another two weeks in AEP class.

On January 8th, AEP classes had resumed with an unexpected announcement. The weekend prior, Miss Disa had assigned us two essay writing tasks to complete the upcoming week. Initially, when I received the notification, I thought it was just an early heads-up. However, when Miss Disa didn't show up on Monday, it became apparent that we would have a substitute teacher. 

For the remainder of the period, I shifted my focus on one of the essays. At first glance, Essay 1 seemed simpler, as everything I needed to include was clearly labeled, leaving little room for further analysis. The topic revolved around the process of cement production and how cement is subsequently used to make concrete. My primary concern was structuring my sentences to ensure an organized flow while still incorporating the essential information.

To tackle this, I began by jotting down key words in bullet points. Fortunately, I managed to complete the essay before the end of the period, requiring only final adjustments before submission. Once I returned home, I decided to get an early start on Essay 2. Surprisingly, I ended up finishing that one as well, mainly because I wanted to utilize the two periods the following day for musical updates. 

However, things took a turn the next day. This time around, we were instructed to the AEP classroom with Miss Jonna as our substitute. Having already completed the essays, I was feeling quite relieved. I was more worried about the spelling test scheduled later in the day for English class. 

To my surprise, it turned out we had to complete a crossword puzzle based on the vocabulary list from Unit 9. Quickly finishing the puzzle, I began searching up the definitions of the words, writing them down as I went along. Honestly, I hadn't realized it was the words from the site, and so the explanations I provided were from Merriam Webster, comprising of more than one definition for a lot of the them. Regardless, the exercise enabled me to familiarize myself with the words. Not having Miss Disa around indeed altered the atmosphere and dynamics of the classroom, making me realize and appreciate the stability and structure that Miss brings to our class. 

The following week, I was delighted to have Miss Disa back. Since we couldn't use the board for our usual warm-up game, Miss instructed us to review for the upcoming Vocab test scheduled for the next day. Eager to prepare, I clicked the site and took the test multiple times. By the end of class, I somewhat memorized some of the words.

However, when it came time to fully memorize them at home, I didn't allocate much time, leaving it to the morning before school. Fortunately, I managed to finish memorizing in 30 minutes before hopping onto the bus, hoping that I would retain all the meanings in my mind. When the time came for "spin the wheel", everyone accurately defined the words, resulting in a perfect score for the class! 

Following this, we took a quick break before moving on to the next task of the day, which involved reviewing our essays. Miss Disa dictated a sample essay on cement and concrete production at a reasonable rate, and we transcribed it onto paper. I was immediately reminded of the listening exercises we had done in the previous years. It's interesting how it's only during AEP that those moments resurface. Anyway, the next period served as a detailed recap on the parts of composing an IELTS essay, focusing specifically on process diagrams. 

To wrap up, these two weeks in AEP were quite productive! We tackled two writing tasks, a vocabulary test, and comprehensive reviews, making the most of our time in class. 

Thank you for reading this and I'm hoping to see you in the next one!

Signing off,

Meral