Lesson 12 – The decision process

The topic of this lesson is big decisions. I had a chance to:

• talk about big decisions you have made in your life
• focus on language to talk about regret
• focus on time linkers
• practise using contractions and intonation to sound natural when recounting something.

Before that lesson, I was full of expectation and hoped to learn various language – from my point of view which is sentence patterns or phrases. Somehow we might be regret on some of our decision. Indeed, we make loads of decisions in our daily life! I needed to choose a school that I wanted to go when I was at P6. Then,  I could choose the election subjects that I’d like to take after I got into university. When I finished the school, I entered the society and worked as an Technician in a primary school near by my domicile. Since 2016, I have been help out in current position. In the short term, I might need to change my job and go beyond that, I might need to choose whether I’ll live with my parents or move out after I form my family. So, see, there are lots of decisions in our life in terms of education, career, property, family, investment, medication and so on.

Back to the lesson I had, I could really learn certain time linkers but it make me feeling disappointed. The reason is that it was focusing on using “The Third Conditional” to talk about regret. So, if I could have chance to choose again, I would not have taken the lesson – Of coz, it’s a joke. If I did not take the course, I would not have had chance to review what my English teacher in primary school have already taught me. Well, I worked hard more on my English when I was still a child in primary school, I would have been learning other things and might have been pilot already.

Alice: How did you decide to spend a year studying abroad?

Stu: Well, I was always interested in travelling. When I was a child, I would get lots of books from the library about other countries. As I got older, I’d take advantage of every chance I had to talk with people from other countries. Going abroad was always my dream.

Alice: I see, so when you got the chance, it must have been an easy decision for you.

Stu: Well, actually, it was harder than I expected it to be. It was in my third year of university. I had a lot of friends and was settled into the routine of my studies. I knew that if I left for a year, it might be difficult to adjust again when I came back. Also, I would have to take fewer classes in my year abroad, which would mean I had to stay in university for one extra term.

//NOTES: To “settle into a routine” means to start to create a routine for yourself and to get used to it. For example: Working in new environment is stressful at first, but after a few weeks you settle into the routine and it gets to be easier.//

Alice: Sounds like you had lots to consider. But was your experience abroad worth it?

Stu: Yes, it definitely was! Even though there were some difficulties, it was an unforgettable experience! I’ve never regretted it.