Teacher Discussion Forums

As a language teacher ... I would put that form, and many others, in the "words which high-level learners should be able to understand, but need not be able to use" column. Since it's quite intuitive, I wouldn't anticipate actually needing to give this form more than glancing notice, if it ever came...

Where I come from (north central US), "thinking to" is in common colloquial use, as equivalent to "planning to." As in , "I'm thinking to take a little walk," or "I'm thinking to hit you upside the head," or "I'm thinking to study overseas." Presumably this is how the writer of the sentence intended...