The hell is AL, Js?
Bubble a guess, what about?
It has been almost for a year I haven't touched this AL things and it bores me to a moderate extent since I once was this fist-sized interested in this AL. You know, one doesn't simply let go easily of things he was once enthusiastic in. Not even to think of it once in a while.
If you are a linguistic student, you might have heard of this AL, a fine tough subject that is both boring and entertaining to study.
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Like economics, AL is a subject dubbed with many theories (and both are respectively interesting, though somehow complicated). To many students (I included), AL is one headache-causing subject; trust me, it is. Guess what? You'll find the theories hard to understand and then there are several more for you to digest.
That moment.....if you know what I mean.
You might be doubting! See, do you even catch up what I'm talking? AL is this hard to be explained. I myself, though having going through the course, can't even get across what AL is all about.
I chanced to study this AL once during my college time, in my final year. Well, just last year. And, now I'm missing it and all the stuffs. But, why do I even miss it when it's boring? Because, simply, it's fun too despite all those so-called tough theories and miniature details and elements. Below, my friends, are 5 things I miss about the course:
#1 I miss all those theories and details....
There are lots of things to remember and digest and review. Again, AL, I can say, is all about language learning and teaching. Let's just put it this way: the first part in AL deal with the basic of the language (English): how the language evolves, the origins of the words, the rules of grammar, the combination of words, syllables, phonology, phonetics, syntax and more. You see, I miss these damn rules and things. Not yet to even recall other theories related to language teaching and learning. Personally, I found joy in those things despite the fact that they are hard (brain-wrenching) to understand and remember. I just want to learn more about those, you know.
#2 I miss how I tried to digest all those things....
Trust me when I told you you'll get less out of an AL class if you don't read ahead and don't ask questions. I remember reading the book in advance and trying to understand all those WTF facts and details. Little surged in, my folks. The fun part? Those theories related to language teaching and learning! There is this theory Second Language Acquisition that sparks up the whole headache. Mainly those theories will tell how and why some second language learner learn and acquire language faster and more effectively and why some struggle so hard. And I miss all those damn things in trying to understand all the theories. Guess what? It's not a one-time read to understand. Many many and many plus with the explanations from teacher. What moment is that when you keep talking to yourself slowly just to coax your brain to let the details flow in? Awesome level: 9.9!
#3 I miss those research, self-learning and in-class discussion....
Has ha, it's some kind of fun to have some time trying to read in advance, do a bit of search and talk with other doubting classmates, and after all, understand the least.
My teacher would spare for us some time to read during class and then a whole-class discussion was on. LOL! Not many mouth opened! Why? LOL, either because so little was understood and because of, maybe, the "why do I share first when they don't even speak?"
Plus, teacher would spark fun and mock at various mates who showed sour face during the class. It was really fun when he do that and the whole class just laughed. Everyone started to talk less and share, just in fear of being word-shot by teacher who, though, always found a good way to engage during his session.
#4 I miss that level of frustration and speedy respond...
In the course, there was this thing called in-class writing. LOL! What a shame! As part of the assessment, teacher would give us this task. Simple! We were given a set of materials about theories and asked to write an argumentative essay, using those as reference. Books were allowed. Even the internet. Do whatever you felt suit. When time dang, just submit the essay. I missed how things went that time. Books, internet and even discussion on Facebook. LMAO! In the last 30 minutes or so, each of us became the author, created and coined new theory that never ever exist. LOL! Then I realized how good I was in writing. 20 minutes for an essay! Why not? I even cited properly.
In other aspect, when it comes to tests, well, you call it, my folks. Time for migraine and rote-learning. See? The fear of failing made me productive and lesson-focused. And for result? Well, not bad! That one time, test 2! Teacher extracted some vocabularies from the AL glossary that he handed out at the very beginning. Many of us doubted where the h those terms and things came from. Good job, teacher! We didn't expect that.
#5 I miss my teacher....
How would I not? What would you think of a teacher who on the first day ever managed to remember all the students' names?
Not only that thing that earn him my reverence and respect. He's knowledgeable too in the subject; he gave clear lectures with concrete examples and details and projected moderate amount of fun.
Besides, I would be nostalgic for him being so good at word-shooting students. As time ticked pass, during his lectures, he kept finding acceptable ways to shoot at respective mates, to a level that instilled in us this: I have to be careful with what I do and say during his class.
Just thinking of that, my mouth and mind find grinning laughter. A good memory there!
In a conclusion (there is only one conclusion, yay!), these things about AL make me nostalgic about the course itself: the lessons, how I tried to understand the lesson, those time for self-learning and research, the frustration during exam and test, and, mainly, my teacher and how he responsibly and fun-ly tortured us.
What a course and a life!
AL actually stands for Applied Linguistic, a subject that concerns mostly about learning and teaching the language. How to solve the problem of real-life language learning and teaching, why some students learn languages faster than others, where (the hell) this word derive from, and etc are several exemplary issues of AL. My explanation of the subject might not be clear; you may wanna read AL out here.
Trust me, it's an entertainboring subject.
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