Self-assessment

I am going to sum up my performances on speaking, listening, ESP tests, moodle tests and presentation in English classes and working at home.

First of all, I would like to comment my performance on moodle test. It seems that taking test at home by computer is very easy task. However, tests were more difficult than I hoped and taking test at home is not always useful. In my opinion my moodle tests scores are quite well, despite some mistakes what happens to everyone. The system itself was not very reliable. Good answers were mistaken for a wrong one and vice versus. I hope in the future electronic testing will improve.

ESP tests. These tests are very good for one reason, that most of the information that I have learned before writing one test or another is still in my head. Writing from your memory is very useful, if only memory does not fail. In my opinion my scores did not improved, but still I am glad by mine performance.

Speaking. I really enjoy speaking in English and I am pretty sure that I am good at that. However, I think that we should use more offhand speaking, because memorizing text at home and then spitting it out for a grade is not really useful. I am sure that speaking from your heart and not the head will be good for students and for sure I will improve my English speaking skills even more.

Listening. I think that the biggest advantage of this task is writing down dictated text. In my school years we have tried this kind of task only few times so I really enjoyed it in this semester’s English class. It was very pleasant to see how much my grammar have improved. As for the listening I always thought that my listening skills were very good. However, sometimes it was difficult for me to understand English people’s accent, but now I am sure, that my understanding of it has improved.

Presentation. I always enjoyed presenting some kind of topic, mostly because I could be creative. I think that this semester’s presentation was not worse or better than last semesters. Making a presentation is really good for revising and analyzing more accurate a given topic. This could really help you during your tests or exams.

To sum up, I think some of my English aptitudes improved, such as speaking and listening and I am very glad about that. There is no doubt that in the future I will keep improving. I am very glad that now English is not only about grammar, I have learned really important subjects. Now I am looking forward to the new semester!

Psychology of Laughter

Most psychologists concentrate on questions what does laughter mean? It is undoubtedly that in most cases it means amusement. However, quite often it shows negative intensions of a person. This issue is mostly analyzed by psychoanalysts. For Freud, laughter is an "economical phenomenon" whose function is to release "physic energy" that had been wrongly mobilized by incorrect expectations. Other psychologists like Karen Horney claim that it is release of tension or even self-defense. For example, when someone is asked for a difficult question and doesn't know how to answer it, he or she often may begin laughing and joking.
There are many different kinds of laugh:

• Etiquette laughter - people rely on laughter as a means to get along with others. Ancestors hadn't fully developed speech and laughter was a way of communication and agreement.
• Nervous laughter - during the time of anxiety and stress we use to laugh to reduce it and calm down, usually it just heightens the awkwardness of the situation. It considers a afake laugh.
• Pigeon laughter - it is laughing without opening your mouth. It is used in laughter yoga and therapy. This kind of laughter produces humming sounds like pigeons.
• Silent laughter - smile and let your belly to push the air in and out, or just smile. That is how you laugh silently. This type of laugh is also used in yoga and therapy.
• Belly laughter - it considered the most honest. Men can grunt or snort while women can giggle or chuckle. It can make pain go away.

Some psychologists claim that laugh is linked with inner state. Some examples:

• Snorting - expressing disapproval
• Sniggering - insensitive, immature
• Cackling - land, ape-like shrieks
• Chuckling - kind and thoughtful
• Belly laugh - open and trusworthy

All types of laugh are assorted into 2 groups according to different approaches:

• laugh that comes from pure glee
• laugh that meant to send a asocial message

or

• voiced - laugh that is usually spontaneous
• unvoiced - conscious expressions

It is hard to point out the drawbacks of laughter because mostly it seems that it has not any. Still, thinking more carefully might bring into surface some negative qualities. As any kind of emotion expressed in public in a wrong time and wrong place, laugh can also make us uncomfortable and embarrassed. Laugh can also send wrong message or show our real opinion about an idea and etc.
However, it was noticed that laughter increases blood pressure, heart rate, changes breathing, reduces level of certain neurochemicals, strengthens immune system. Even humor therapy for cancer patients was developed. Laugh is also used in yoga for relaxation. Those benefits shade any drawback the laughter may have.