House-swap letter

source: the questionable.com

Have you ever heard about house-swapping? As you may already guess the idea is to swap your house or flat with someone from another country. By doing this you won't have to pay a fortune for your holiday and you'll have the opportunity to experience the real lifestyle of a city (or at least of one of its inhabitants). In our English course we had to write a letter to someone we would swap house with and give him or her advice. This is what I wrote, or better what I should have written (it's already the corrected version... :-)):

Dear Karen, 

Thanks for your lovely letter in which you provided me with all the necessary information about your bungalow and the surrounding area. While reading it I got even more excited about our house swap and now I’m impatiently looking forward to it. There are just a couple of things I was not quite sure about and wanted to ask you. First, I was really pleased to read that we’re allowed to use your car, as this will make it much easier to get around on the island, but you also mentioned a special bus to go to Auckland. Did you recommend the bus since it takes much longer to get down there? As far as shopping is concerned, is there a farmer’s market or a supermarket offering fresh vegetables and fruits not too far away from your place? The reason for my question is that we‘d like to save money by not eating out too often and therefore fresh ingredients would be really great. Aside from that I don’t have any questions at the moment, so here’s the information you need in order to spend two beautiful weeks in Graz. 

As you already know from the description, we live in a comfortable, spacious three-bedroom house on the outskirts of Graz. Getting here from the main station is not difficult due to the excellent bus connection. There are two you need to remember: 63 and 68. Take the 63 from the station to the end (“St. Peter Schulzentrum”). Get off and take the 68 heading for “Lustbühel”. Don’t worry if you’re the only passengers as this is quite normal. After about ten minutes you need to get off at the stop called “Pachernweg” and from there it’s just a two minute walk down the main road until you reach our house. I have arranged to leave keys with our neighbor Hilde at number 65. She’s a very friendly elderly lady who will not hesitate to help you out if you need a hand. 

Once you get in and look around you’ll see a number of sticky notes on electronic devices in the kitchen and living room which will help you figure out how they work. The rest should be fairly self-explanatory but be warned, the washing machine is a bit temperamental. Just in case you need it, a good kick will often suffice to get it working again.

I’ll leave a casserole so you won’t have to cook after such a long journey. For the rest of your stay you definitely need to explore our wonderful garden. Besides places to relax or play with the kids we grow our own vegetables and fruits. In the lower end we have a little kitchen garden where you’ll find tomatoes, lettuce, zucchini and peas. We also have some fruits like cherries and apples, berries and different herbs. Feel free to eat and harvest whatever is ripe – what’s ours is also yours! Everything else you need can be either bought at the little supermarket in the village center or at the farmer’s market. I really recommend visiting this market because there you’ll get fresh vegetables as well as homemade bread and cakes In case you get bored with cooking and want to eat out at a traditional Austrian restaurant, you should definitely go to “Bergwirt” which is just a ten minute walk from our house. You and your family will certainly love the fried chicken which is the best in town! 

There are so many places worth visiting in Graz. First of all, you absolutely have to walk up the “Schlossberg”, the landmark of the city. It is a little mountain in the city center from which you can enjoy a marvelous view of the city while drinking coffee or eating ice cream. If you and your family are culturally interested, there are several museums in Graz. In my opinion you’re best off visiting the “Joanneum Quarter” or “Frida & Fred” a museum for kids. Due to its unique architecture the “Kunsthaus” is quite an impressive building but if you ask me, I wouldn’t bother visiting it. The modern art exhibitions are really special but maybe not the kind of exhibition your kids are looking for. Finally, if you just feel like taking it easy not too far from the house, I would give the petting zoo at “Lustbühel” a try. I can promise not only your kids will enjoy stroking the animals but you will also have a great time and enjoy the beautiful surroundings. 

Anyway, I think that’s it for now. If you’re still unsure about something, don’t hesitate to contact me! 

Best regards,

Sarah

Letter to Fiona

Dear Fiona,

After three years of studying Environmental System Sciences with a focus on geography, and regularly attending language courses, I realised that I had ended up studying because of the languages and not because of geography.

I decided to change my subject because I am keen on exploring foreign cultures and marvellous landscapes and I strongly believe that as a translator in English and Russian I will have these opportunities.

There are aspects of the English language like grammar and tenses that I feel quite confident about. I quickly understand the structure of sentences and know which tense to use. At school our teacher set a high value on our oral competence and tried to help us to improve these skills by leading discussions on controversial topics and providing us with appropriate vocabulary. This was one of the reasons why I have always been enthusiastic about English.

Something I really worry about is my range of vocabulary. I have been out of school for three long years now and have never been to an English speaking country for longer than two weeks at a time – but I want to tell you that I am here to learn!

One thing I know for sure is that practice is everything when you learn a language. Therefore I try to spend as much time as possible watching English news and documentaries or reading articles and books – but these are just passive activities. Now I want to focus more on active practice like writing with penfriends, talking and doing grammar exercises.

One of my goals for this year is to improve my vocabulary and get more confident in talking again!

Yours,

Sarah

 My first English homework! I was really enthusiastic about that and had the ambition to give my best!  Well, I should soon realise that it might not be that easy... 

On Wednesday morning, Fiona told us that we would get back our first homework in a few minutes. While writing the letter, I had a good feeling about it ( I thought that I used the right vocabulary, tenses and so on...) - but before I got back my letter, I wasn't that sure about it anymore. Now I know why...

 When I saw my corrected letter (and the version above is already the corrected Version)  I just felt angry with me. Having a closer look at it I realised that I had made such unnecessary mistakes like using time instead of the appropriate word tense or writing sentences that make no sense at all. Can a teacher increase our vocabulary? Thinking logically he or she of course can't. A teacher might help us to improve but that's all.

And in my text there were so many other mistakes that I could have avoided by being more careful.

But well, as I have written in my letter "I am here to learn". And what I have already learned from this first homework is that studying English at University means that it's not enough to just write a text - you really have to  work precisely, think about every sentence, every word you write: Does it make sense? Does this sentence make sense not just to me but to other people who read it? Are the sentences cohesive? AND SO ON! There are many, many things to think about and to concentrate on but for my next homework I will try to keep all these things in mind and write a far better text! :-)  (At least that's my aim!)