Summer Courses This is an assignment I was given in a course: I had to make a small change in one learning activity of mine, in order to "adjust the same activity to make it more active and intense"; then, I had to share my exercise with other participants, writing it in one single sentence. This is my sentence... actually I think that there are more than one, but anyway it is a very short period...! My answer: "To improve my English skills, I'm reading a novel and listening to its audiobook version as well: my change consists of alternating reading and listening within the same chapter, paragraph by paragraph, so that I change a more passive activity into a more active one and I concentrate more."

A message to a classmate I registered in an open online course: this is a message to a classmate of mine. I'm writing to ask about her studies. "Hello xxxxxx, how are you? My name is Paola. I see that we are classmates at the same Reading course. How are you doing with your studies? I like the course and I enjoy the reading and the quizzes. I find it harder to join the discussions and to fulfill the assignments because I'm not used to writing in English. I think that I'll start at some point, the sooner the better. How about you? Good day, Paola".

Reading and writing Is writing a difficult activity? Is reading a difficult activity? Even though most people are able to write and read in a broad and basic sense, both reading and writing are actually complex activities and can represent a very hard task.

It's been a long time A long time has passed since I wrote my last note. Last weekend I met some friends. Some of them came from USA and some of them came from Europe. We spoke different languages and English was the only common language for most of us. I had to speak English for two days and it was funny and interesting. I also had to admit, by the way, that my difficulties with this language made it hard to communicate with people as I would have liked to do. A friend of ours came from USA; he has been studying Italian for many years. The first time we met, many years ago, his Italian was quite correct, but he spoke extremely slowly and his accent was a little funny. Now he speaks perfectly: he seems a native Italian speaker and I think that his Italian is almost better than mine! He teaches Italian, too. I'm sure that he is a good teacher. He often came to Italy on holiday but he lives in the US. I'm impressed that his accent has become so good even if he usually lives in his native country. I don't expect to become as good as him, but I want to exercise and improve.

My answer translated for an italki friend Today I answered a short question. Since the questioner was neither Italian nor English - even though he was studying both as foreign languages -, I tried to answer both in Italian and in English. The question was about the meaning of the word "trifolato". Here's my answer: (IT): "Trifolato significa o insaporito con tartufo, oppure cibo cucinato tagliandolo come se fosse tartufo (a fettine sottili) e poi condito con aglio e prezzemolo" - - - (EN): "Trifolato means either flavoured with truffle, or food cooked having it cut as if it were truffle (into thin slices) and then flavoured with garlic and parsley."

Hello >> Ciao

I just want to say "Hello", italki translators! I'm helping translate italki to Italian.

>> Desidero solo dire "Ciao", traduttori italki! Sto aiutando a tradurre italki in italiano.

Let's do homework now I'm going to start doing my homework now. I see one of the mistakes I've made in my first note concerned the use of the verbs "to lack"/"to miss". I'm trying to write some short sentences using these verbs. "I have'nt seen you since last Christmas: I've been missing you!" "I miss my dog: Jon is the best dog in the world, but I couldn't keep him here in the city with me . He would lack the garden he is used to run about at my parents home, in the countryside." "I've missed my goal, but I don't surrender: I'll try again. I just lack practice." "I think I don't lack time nor money, but the question is: - how do I use them? - " "You are missing the point: it doesn't really matter how many books you read, if you don't understand what they mean."

At a late hour It's night. It's late and I feel a little bit tired. Anyway, I'm writing this short note and I'm going to translate a few words for the website or to make some correction. I don't want to procrastinate, to wait for the day after. Since I'm trying to make a habit of doing this exercise, these early times I prefer to write frequent notes and short content, than vice versa. Good night..!

Oh wow! Wow. Deryck was great: his help has really encouraged me and I feel grateful. Now, the first question I ask myself is how to procede in my practice: a matter of method, I suppose. By now, I have read the correction and I have copied all the mistakes on my notepad. On my notepad I wrote the correct form first; then I wrote my mistaken one and I cancelled it; now I'm keeping both the error and the correction in mind, in order to correct myself while writing. My purpose is to try to create specific exercises for correction and improvement: I could write some sentences with the same words and expressions, in order to practice the correct form. I think that it will not be enough to reapeat the same sentences in the correct form: I need also to practice that form in different sentences and - most important - I really need to grab the meaning of my mistake and the rule I must learn about it. I will think about it for a while, then I will let you know how it's going on. Thanks again by now and... oh, I have already witten my second text. Good bye, see you soon! PS: in this note I use the verb "to copy" in the -ed form; I spell it "copi-ed"; in my previous note I used "to enjoy" in the -ed form and I spelled it "enjoi-ed": it was wrong. I try to form and to remember the rule: when the verb ends with "y" and you add "-ed", if the last letter before "y" is a vowel "y" doesn't change; if the last letter before "y" is a consonant, "y" changes in "i". To copy -> copied; to enjoy -> enjoyed.