On his blog about life at Berkeley College in New York, blogger Jose Navarro debates whether having an accent is a positive or a negative for international students in the US.

He writes of his English language skills:

Now, it’s not that I have a problem with the language, but I do (as most of the people from Spain) have an accent.

In New York it’s not uncommon to hear many different accents from all across the world, but Jose writes that his accent still gets noticed.

I know no one would do it on purpose, but after having done your work, prepared whatever you wanted to say, gather the courage to stand in front of people to speak and hear someone ask “oh, so you’re from Barcelona? you have an accent” is not so pleasant.

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What were your favorite articles from the past school year?

I went through the posts, and picked the ones I remembered. Here they are, in no particular order (except perhaps chronological):

#1) How to Speak English Fluently?, by Nick

I thought that one was helpful when it comes to learning and getting accustomed to the English language. Plus, I didn’t know Nick could write so well.

#2) Empowered to Create Change: Being an LGBTQ Student, by Jaime

The social and political issue surrounding homosexuality in America – and certainly for student life in America – was well-highlighted, I thought, by this post.

#3) My Work Experience with the Female Politicians of Afghanistan, by Farima

#4) Being Afghan and Muslim at a US High School, by Farima

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Acceptance letters (Creative commons photo by Flickr user Adrian Ho)

The final, and possibly most important, of our recaps looks back at the most informative posts we’ve done over the past year. If you’re just discovering this blog or just starting to think about studying in the U.S., these posts will be a good way to start.

Top 5 most informative posts:

#1) Applying to Schools

From deciding to study in America to waiting for the results of your application, this post walks through all the basic steps of applying, including stories from our bloggers about their experiences.

Also see:
First Steps: Deciding to Come to the US is the Easy Part

#2) Exploring Financial Aid and Funding Options

There are so many more sources of aid and scholarships than you may think.  This post helps you get started understanding your options, and shares the various routes pursued by our bloggers to afford their education.

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Continuing our look back at the top posts of the past school year, here are your…

Top 5 most shared posts on Facebook and Twitter:

#1) Transforming from Passive Student to Active Advocate: Shu Wen’s Story

They talked about how free the U.S. education is and they talked about liberal arts education where if you are undecided of what your major is you can try a couple of disciplines first until you find your passion. It kind of struck me, so I just took my chance and applied to several schools in the U.S., and finally got in.

#2) Do You Know How to Give an ‘American Hug?’

Topics covered: (1) How to recognize an American; (2) how to greet an American you’ve just met; (3) how to greet an American after having a few beers.

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As the academic year comes to an end and summer vacation begins, we’ll take a look back at the past school year and share some of your favorite posts…and some of our favorites too!  So stay tuned over the next week or so for a bunch of lists recapping the best of the past school year. Starting with…

The top 5 most viewed posts of 2010-2011:

#1) International Student in Japan Recounts Earthquake Experience: ‘I was so astonished and panicked’, by Seungmin Bang

Photo: AFP

It’s like a movie, something like a disaster film. This is my very first time to undergo such a severe earthquake in Japan. Since never having experienced an earthquake like this, my other international friends and I was so astonished and panicked. On the contrary to this, other Japanese people were relatively calm.

We also spoke several times to Kana Igarashi, a Japanese student studying in California.  Kana’s family was in Fukushima, and she talked about their experience in the earthquake and subsequent nuclear crisis.

#2) How to Speak English Fluently?, by Nick Hoang

I’m not exaggerating in saying that American movies and music were my principal English teachers in 9th grade. I would buy CDs of Westlife and Britney Spears, download the lyrics and sing along to the songs.

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A few months ago (yes, months – sorry for the delay), Ebrahim Alattar posted on our Facebook wall offering to share his experience coming from Kuwait to study civil engineering in the U.S.  Since we love to learn from others, we took him up on his offer, and asked him your questions…and some of our own.

Creative commons photo by Flickr user Stephanie Graves

Abdirahman asked how studying engineering in the U.S. compared to Ebrahim’s native Kuwait.  According to Ebrahim, it was the differences in academic styles between the two countries that motivated his decision to come to the U.S. in the first place.  He says engineering studies were easier in the U.S.

… i had started the academic study at Kuwait University.. and there the study was very hard than you can imagine especially in the third year of study engineering.  … finally.. one of cousin who had started study in the USA refer me that the study is easier than in Kuwait university !!

Ebrahim cautions that this isn’t the case for every university.  Some American schools are harder, and some are about the same, but in general, “the reason for international to select engineering study in USA because the nature study of engineering in their native countries is much more difficult than the study of the same engineering major in USA…”

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Namulang is from Tibet and has been in the U.S. about two months studying English at the University of Kansas Applied English Center. What does he like best about the U.S. so far? The sports, he says, especially KU’s well-known basketball team.

The most popular question I get from my friends in Vietnam is how to speak English fluently and correctly. I realize that it is a aching question that not just my friends, but also learners of this global language are trying to answer. In my case, even though I was taught English since the beginning of middle school in Vietnam, the things I learned then were barely adequate to carry out a conversation or even write up a letter in correct grammar.

In 9th grade, I decided to focus on studying English intensively on my own, which helped me land a scholarship to study in America through an exchange program – a thrilling turn for my education.

Obviously, being in the native speaking environment was a golden advantage, but at the same time, I still had to study and practice the language. By the end of high school, I was very confident with my English skills. All of my hard work paid off even more in college, because the classes at St. John’s College are discussion-based, so there’s a lot of talking.

Here are some of the things that worked for me when I was learning English. Since everyone has a different learning style, what worked for me won’t necessarily be best for you, but hopefully this will at least help you along.

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Two fun online games to help you improve your English that we’ve stumbled across this week:

1) Knoword – a vocabulary and spelling game. The computer gives you a definition and the first letter, and you type in the word.  You can also switch between American English and British/Canadian English.  Thanks to the QI elves for the tip.

2) LyricsTraining - A game based on song lyrics.  You select from a set of YouTube videos, and as the video plays you fill in the missing song lyrics.  Song lyrics can be particularly tricky, and even native English speakers can sometimes have trouble – for a good laugh, visit KissThisGuy, a website of misheard song lyrics (via @ESLGurus).

And studying English ever gets too hard, here’s some inspiration.  New research shows that learning a second language helps delay memory loss and could even prevent Alzheimer’s disease.

It’s a busy season for college students – March, when half of the semester is gone and there’s still half of it to go. It’s a busy time because midterms, the biggest exams next to finals, start soon. It’s a busy season for those in student organizations since big events are coming up. And it’s particularly busy for me because, in addition to those two factors, we add a job (not VOA’s internship but a real campus job), which I just started two weeks ago.

I am working now as a student assistant in the AEC (Applied English Center) of the University of Kansas. I will be helping teachers in class by taking small groups of students and helping them with their homework, doing group activities, having personal tutorials, and other responsibilities. For what subject? Well, as the name of the institution says, we are teaching English.

Yes, that’s me; a non-native English speaker will be trying to teach the language (oral and grammar) to other international students that are just getting to the country.

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It’s not as scientific a measure as most viewed or most commented, but here my top 5 favorite posts our bloggers wrote in 2010.  Although, let’s be clear, all the bloggers are amazing, and picking out just 5 feels really unfair.  As a bonus, I’m also including my top 5 favorite “Question of the Week”-style posts.

My top 5 favorite blogger posts:

# 5) On Colours of American Armour, or Why I Refuse to AmericaniSe my Spelling, by Nareg

I shall definitely “graduate” in May, and not “pass out”, as I would have in India. Although, the exhausting way we work here at St. John’s College, it may end up being a little of both.

# 4) Rethinking Democracy, by Sebastian

But something I found interesting is the fact that voting day here in Kansas is just like any other week day, and if someone doesn’t vote, there is no penalty for that.

# 3) A Personal Take on “Americanization,” by Nick

On my plate was a sizable cheese burger, sitting on top of a bunch of curly fries, accompanied by plenty of ketchup and pickle slices to round up the over-packed plate.

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Ho ho ho, Merry Christmas! Even if you don’t celebrate Christmas, it’s a festive time of year here in the U.S., what with all the sparkling lights and pretty trees.

Many of you have said that one of the best ways to practice your English is to watch American movies.  So as a Christmas present, here are 5 classic movies you can watch to practice your English and get into the holiday spirit.

A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965)

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If the avatar wasn't so smiley, we might quarrel over favourite (British) v. favorite (American), but who could argue with such a happy tweet?

This week’s Question of the Week was about keeping up academically, especially when English is not your native language.  How difficult is it to compete with your American classmates?  What’s been the hardest part about taking classes in English?  How can you make sure your English is good enough when you arrive?

We got so many good responses to this question.  Here’s what some of you had to say:

Kaze (posted to recom.org):

I’m currently studying engineering in the US. One thing I love about engineers is that we don’t care that much about language structure. As long as the project reports / lab reports can be understood by the one who’s grading it, it is good enough. Of course I have to write essays for my liberal arts classes. I realized that it took me longer than my fellow American classmates to write a piece of essay. But I still manage to do it before due dates. During summer, I had native speakers to tutor me one-on-one on English writing. Basically we focus on how to organize the contents, facts, and arguments when writing a paper. The results had been wonderful but I’m still learning.
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File this under: things you never thought to think about.  Why do Americans say “OK” so much? Turns out, the word was invented as a joke, and just sort of stuck around.

It was on March 23, 1839, in a Boston newspaper, that the newspaper first used ‘o.k.’ and explained those as an abbreviation for ‘all correct.’ And, of course, the joke was that ‘o’ is not the beginning of ‘all’ and ‘k’ is not the beginning of ‘correct.’ So this thing supposedly all correct was not all correct.

VOA Learning English has an interesting interview with the author of a new book all about how “OK” was invented and became part of everyday speech.