Padova-Dickinson exchange: let's begin!

[Photo from Google Images]

Hi everybody!

Here I am after a long break. On January and on February we had exams at university...We had an hard time! We started the second semester two weeks ago. In the next few months, our activity on the blog will be a little different. During the first semester, we learned how to use some Web 2.0 tools for language learning and now we should be able to work by ourselves. I have to admit the activity we had been doing during the first semester turned out to be very stimulating and useful. During our break, we wrote a mid-term paper, in which we were supposed to reflect on our improvements in English language learning. Well, I certainly developed some skills in the past few months and my English is a little better now than in October. But I realized I need to work harder on my oral skills. I have been studying English for 13 years, but I still find difficulties in speaking, above all in speaking spontaneously and fluently. So, since this is my last semester at university, I definitely want to take advantage of our English course. This is the reason why I decided to take part in the Padova-Dickinson exchange. Using Skype, I'll have the opportunity to speak once a week with an American girl, who studies Psichology and Italian at Dickinson University, in Pennsylvania. We started our Skype exchange last Wednesday. I was a little nervous before starting but when we started our conversation I relaxed. She made a good impression on me; she seems to be a nice and kind girl. At first, we spoke about ourselves: where we are from, our families, our hobbies. We were supposed to speak about the educational system in America and in Italy but a little of time to know each other was necessary! Anyway, we spoke about our universities as well. She lives in a campus and said that the life there is just like we see in tv. Great, isn't it? Well, I'm quite satified with my first Skype exchange. I hope she could understand my English well...Sometimes I got lost with what I was saying just because I wanted to say too many things together! Anyway, it was just the first time...Fortunately, I have enough time to better my conversational skills!

Next week we're going to speak about American primaries and Italian elections...I need to read something about that to prepare for my next convesation. I'm not ready to answer my American peer's questions! ;-)

See you next week!

Martina