It sounds like you had an amazing experience in Thailand, Donna. Could be something to write about!!! : )
Using the message board instead of a blog site creates a delay. There are too many technical details, I know! Please stay in touch with an email if you need anything asap. Thanks Donna. - Tamara

Tamara .... It was a great experience learning Thai. The alphabet has 44 letters and 22 of them are vowels! We had a tutor who only worked with my husband and I, it was pretty intense. It was easy to adapt after the first year and I found myself speaking to foreigners visiting Bangkok in Thai, that was weird!!! They would just give you a strange look and then I would realize what I did. Since each word has five separate meanings because of the tones, the Thai people would laugh at me and then correct me. I volunteered in a slum daycare and the kids would help me with my Thai and I would help with their English, so it worked for all of us.

You're quite right Donna, it IS really hard for folks who take on academic studies in their second language. How did YOU do it to learn Thai?? That seems like an insurmountable task to me. The other languages I know are similar to English because they share the same Greek and Latin origins, not to mention the same alphabet! It's so impressive that you tackled an Asian language!

Reflecting on this course, I must admit that I am fortunate that English is my first language. We learned to speak Thai during our stay in Thailand, I can't imagine learning to speak and write a new language at once. I give credit to anyone completing this program without English as their primary language. Good luck with your studies!

The bonus marks for online participation come from the optional blog. These journal entries make up the grade for assignment 10, which is finalized upon completion of the course. This mark won't show up until you've completed all the assignments. The bonus mark on the assignment feedback is a different form of online participation, the blog at http://english177-189.blogspot.com/.

I can understand entirely how disappointing it must have been to find out the course doesn't count for credit towards your degree. Bureaucracy and institutions can be very frustrating to deal with. But I'm glad you feel like you're taking something useful from the course work. Hopefully it will make your upcoming courses go that much more smoothly because of the writing practice.

I have not been too motivated lately and I think I either need a kick in the pants or a lot of caffeine to get through the assignments. I am not sure if anyone is reading my comments, I have had no response to any of my posts ... I will not take personally. My assignments are returned without any mark for online participation ... that is probably not a good thing. I will have to follow up with Tamara.

I just received notice that this course will not count for my nursing degree and have to admit I am disappointed. I realize it's great practice for my upcoming courses, but it should be noted a little more clearly in the outline that this course is not recognized. I am not upset that I have taken the course, because it is helpful, just would have like to have known upfront.

I have to admit, I have been a little absent minded lately. We are back and forth between Canada and Thailand and the sleep deprivation is getting to me. Assignments are complete and emailed for marking. I am finding the assignments interesting. It's nice to read about the west coast of Canada. We have travelled to the west coast many times but have not read the history of the area, very interesting. A few more assignments to go and then the exam ... hooray!

Wow, another assignment completed and marked. This isn't so bad afterall. Thesis statements, sentence topic and transitions are all new to me, but I am enjoying the learning curse. If you would have asked me a year ago if I would be doing something like this I would have said you were crazy. I just finished my first short essay and am looking to the feedback. Have a wonderful Canada Day everyone!

Assignment Two

Thank you Tamara for your feedback. I definitely need to work on my punctuation. The Owl website you referred me too is very helpful. I will watch for the impersonal writing style and try to be direct. Have a great week.