Welcome!

Dear Readers,

Welcome to my ESL Blogspot! I hope you will enjoy your visit.

I developed an interest in blogging when one of my classmates in my Applied Linguistics doctoral program told me about his blog on LiveJournal. I started my own personal blog there too, but I don't set aside enough time to post entries, so there isn't much on my blog. My classmate writes about his move with his wife to New Zealand, where they are experiencing a pleasant geographical and cultural adjustment to life there.

Lately, I have been thinking about blogging as a way of reflecting on the disseratation process, which I am just starting. I have to write 80,000 words, including three studies, each of which has to be published. It is a challenging task, but I am looking forward to it. In fact, it is hard to think of anything else.

Grammar class has begun, so my students will be blogging with me. Perhaps everyone will fancy it. In any case, I am modeling the blog assignment for them, so they will have a basic example to follow.

Vocabulary

develop (verb + particle "in") an interest (article & noun) in - become interested in
Applied Linguistics (noun) - the study of linguistics as it applies to another field, typically education
blog (noun or verb) - web log, an online journal
post (verb)- to put on a website or blog
challenging (adjective) - difficult
fancy (verb) - like

Place Name

New Zealand - island country

Vocabulary words are in italics.
Place names are in bold.

Vocabulary Cloze Practice
Fill in the blank with the correct vocabulary word.

1. I __________ chocolate because it is delicious.

2. Every day we _________________ entries on our Google _______________, our online journal.

3. The mother of the young basketball player _________________ ____ ________ in basketball.

4. Winning a gold medal in the Olympics is _____________________.

5. ____________ ___________________ is a field of study that involves language and teaching.

Grammar: List the verbs from the first paragraph. Which verbs are in the past tense? How do you know? When do you use the past tense?