Hello Blogosphere. I’m Lauren, a high school senior with a mind focused on organization, logic, math, and science. I’ve always considered literature and language to be my weakness in school. I struggle with word choice for essays, comma usage, and even verb conjugation for Spanish class. For AP Spanish Language class this year I began to confront my fear of vocabulary and language. I had to learn thousands of seemingly pointless words like suckling pig and stoplight (cochinillo and semáforo. I did my homework). The initial onslaught of words was too intimidating to handle, especially over the summer; so I procrastinated. I eventually approached the 18 vocab lists with surprising ease. To this date I’ll even admit that I actually liked learning wacky Spanish words. Now I want to take a more prolonged look into language.
Facing my fear of language is becoming increasingly important. College application deadlines are approaching. Succinct writing is key. To capture your personality in a 250 word essay is daunting. It requires the elimination of all extraneous words.
This blog could really help condense my writing through practice. Plus, I can explain my wild journey learning new words and emphasizing significant words already in my vocabulary. For this blog I’ll be selecting important conversational and educational words from my teachers, peers, reading assignments, and current events. I’ll investigate the effectiveness of a particular word. Is there a more concise replacement for that phrase? Does that word help the speaker get his/her point across? Are there connotations with certain words that clash with the point trying to be made? From a student’s perspective I want to analyze whether or not the language kids experience is at an appropriate level for their existing knowledge. My goal: enjoy scholarly vocabulary more and examine the use of language in the high school classroom.
Hey Lauren! I gotta say, I'm pretty drawn in by your blog. Exploring the role our language plays in our education and experiences is very important. I feel like I'll be able to give you a whooooole lot of commentary in the future because I, like you, have quite a few college essays to write. I often find myself turning a single word over in my head, or trying to find the most brilliant phrase to get my point across. I look forward to reading more from you.
ReplyDeleteP.S. You mentioned a new interest in wacky Spanish words. Here's one you might enjoy: the word for "pantleg" is "botamango." In mathematical terms: winter footwear+tasty tropical fruit=the part of trousers that encases the lower limb.