Hello, Learning English listeners, readers and writers!

Dr. Jill RobbinHello, Learning English listeners, readers and writers!

I’m Dr. Jill Robbins.

I’m new here at VOA, and want to get acquainted with you in my first post on this blog. I’ve taught English in the U.S. and overseas for more than 30 years. I’m very excited to be working with VOA Learning English. My nickname is “Dr. Jill” because I have a Ph.D. in Linguistics. I’ve studied 11 languages and think that language is the greatest invention that humans ever made!

Our topic for writing this time is advice. I am a mother of four children. They are almost all out of college and well on their way with their careers in life. I know that it’s too late for me to give them advice on what they should do. But sometimes I wish I could go back in time and give myself advice!

Science fiction movies often use this idea as the basis of a story about changing history.  Maybe it’s a little silly, but we can always imagine how life would be different if we’d made a different choice.

I would start with the computer programming class I dropped when I was in college. I’d tell myself to stay with it and get help on the problems I had with math at the time.  I’d also tell myself to write down more of my thoughts and experiences, including the names of people I studied and worked with.

This would make it easier to find them now on Facebook!

How about you? Would you give your younger self any special advice? Or do you wish that your future self could come back in time and help you make the right decisions today?

As I said before, I can’t give advice in the past, but I CAN give you some advice on your writing now and in the future. I’m looking forward to hearing from you and will make suggestions or reply to your comments on this topic.

Drop me a line,

Dr. Jill