Re: A Dormitory Life

Hi Terry,
 
Thanks again for your prompt response. It's nice to hear your answers to my questions so quickly.
 
I'm glad that you are adding to your vocabulary. I'm happy to help, so feel free to ask questions any time!
 
About your question on reporting live, yes, it is really fun. When you first start, there's a lot of excitement involved in reading the news on the air. But to tell the truth, it's such an incredibly busy job, that there's not much time to feel excited or nervous. I used to prepare newscasts to read every hour. That meant I would read from (for example) 7:00 a.m. to 7:05, then run back to the newsroom, check for anything new, find good sound clips and record them, plus write, write, write my 8:00 a.m. newscast. It was very, very busy. However, when a big news event happened, such as a huge storm, it was really exciting to be talking and learning about it. Plus, this job makes you feel very confident about your communication ability because you are pushing yourself a lot everyday.
 
I have a couple of suggestions on something you wrote about the broadcasting job. You wrote:
 
How was it feeling while broadcating live?
I guess it must have been a little bit of tension and excitement!!
 
I have bolded the words that you should change. Rather than "was it feeling," please say, "how did it feel" because we normally don't use continuous tenses for feeling/thinking verbs. So your sentence should read:
 
How did it feel while broadcasting live?
 
Next, rather than "it," write "there." You can see if you turn the sentence around that "there" fits better.
 
A little bit of tension and excitement must have been there, I guess.
 
"There" explains the place or situation better than "it." So please write:
 
I guess there must have been a little bit of tension and excitement!!
 
Now, about dormitory life, I think you have assessed the pros and cons very well. I lived in a dormitory in a private school for my last year of high school. It's true that you won't waste time commuting and you will make good friends with your dorm mates. I did miss my family, but I kept in touch by phone a lot. I think it was overall a really good experience for me and I'm glad I had the chance to experience dorm life.
 
About your question on:
 
 I cannot be neglecting at all,
 
I think you should choose a different word from neglecting; it's not quite right. "Neglect" has a very negative meaning which doesn't fit your sentence. It's better to use a more informal word like "goof off" or "slack off." While these words are pretty casual, they are appropriate for your situation and age. They mean that you can't "stop being self-disciplined and waste time relaxing (slack off) and having fun (goof off)."
 
About "kill time," I think you mean "waste time." We say "kill time" when we have nothing much to do and want the time to pass until there is something better to do. For instance,
 
I had to wait for an hour to see the dentist. I was sitting in the waiting room. To kill time, I played games on my cell phone.
 
Needing to "kill time" is not normally an experience of high school students in Korea; they always have something to study! So "waste time" is better for your meaning.
 
Finally, alternate words for expression are:
 
phrase
saying.
 
Alright, this message has become very long and I'm sure your eyes are getting tired from reading it. So, I'm going to say goodbye for now. Plus, I want to leave you with another question: what have you heard about the food at Sangsan? Pretty delicious?
And, one more question, do you have to do exercises at midnight? One of my students told me that about a high school that is of interest to him. 
 
Have a good day,
 
Gwen