The English language was never one that I am good at. Unlike other subject such as Mathematics and Science, I could never grasp how English works; or rather, somewhere along my life, I stopped trying to. Since post secondary education, I have never really seen the need to polish my English. I did not feel the need to better my English as being in a Science course, all we do is to understand, memorize and write in point form. English was never really an issue for me. Having spent the past 2 years in army, I could say that I had totally no contact with English except for when speaking it to communicate with my friend. Things changed after I enrolled into National University of Singapore.
Looking back at my years spent studying and learning about English
language in primary and secondary school education, I realized that
somewhere near Primary 3 and Primary 4, I lost my interest in English.
That was when I accepted that English was never something that I could
score in. No matter how hard I tried, the most I could get was a Band 3.
As much as I tried to understand and make proper usage of the English
language, I found myself putting in idioms into my essay like jigsaw
pieces and never really understood what I was doing. Then came the
introduction of verbs, adverbs, nouns, etc at a time where I lost my
interest, and my passion for English. Till date, I could say that I do
not quite understand what those are, and such is my foundation of English
language.
Being a first year student in Bachelor of Science (Real Estate), I was ready to embrace the opportunity to start studying again. I was able to pursue my interest in Real Estate, especially so knowing that it will benefit me in years to come. I enjoyed the lectures and the content that was being taught to us. However, once the discussion forum started, I often found myself facing the problem of not knowing how to translate my ideas into words. Looking through at what others were posting in the discussion forum, I felt that my knowledge and usage of English language was way behind theirs. The way they wrote was as though I was reading a newspaper article. That was when I realized how much of a difference English will make. That was also when I realized how applicable English is to my course of study and in my course of work in the future. The type of impression good and proper English language will bring across.
On 24th December 2013, I received my QET results and was hoping for a Band 3. I did not want to waste my time taking on another module, and one that has no credit at all. However, being made to write this reflection made me remember the importance and how lacking this language is to me. There sure is a lot of work to be done, but now I'm sure that all these work that I am made to do will be beneficial to me. Having read through other people's reflection, those that had took ES1102 the previous semester, it gives me the confidence that I will feel the same improvement in my English language as them as long as I put in the effort.
Your reflective writing is very impressing. It pursues me deeply and makes me imagine the picture while reading. I have the same feeling from the bottom of my heart about English. Both content and structure are well managed. Each and every of statement and idea can be easily followed and understood. Further more your use of language and vocabulary is so appropriate that I really had a hard time to spot a single mistake.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading your writing as I think that this is what most of us, who always think that there is no need to brush up our English, have encountered before.
ReplyDeleteIt was really good to be able to see that you could identify the root cause of your decline in interest for English.
Furthermore, I think that your sentences are really well-structured and punctuations were appropriately used.
I do have the same problem as you for not speaking proper English and also not writing essays for such a long period of time. This journey in university education is tough as well. Hopefully we will be able to brush up our English during this ES1102 journey. Content wise is great, detailed and appropriate.
ReplyDeleteJeremy,
ReplyDeleteContent: Thank you for sharing your very honest attitude towards learning English with us. I enjoyed reading your blog.
I am so glad you wrote this reflection, as I believe it has achieved the intended purpose. The best way to go forward now is to make sure you ask me questions/further explanations of things we discuss in class and you are not sure about. Don't be afraid of making mistakes and don't be afraid of asking questions, ok?
I will certainly try my best to ignite your passion in learning English. I hope you will see from now on that learning English is for communicative (not exam) purposes. With effort, I am sure you will see tremendous progress in your work (like you saw in my previous semester's reflection).
Organisation: Your reflection is very informative and interesting, but think about how you can organise the ideas better. As is, your paragraphs are arranged like this:
para 1: recent past (army to now)
para 2: NUS experience
para 3: primary school
para 4: future
It would be better to introduce the writing from past (further from the past to more recent past, to present and then future.
Language: Pay attention to the following:
1. Subject-Verb Agreement. English + work/works?
-Unlike other subject such as Mathematics and Science, I could never grasp how English work;
-Look at this sentence: I did not feel the need to better my English as being in a Science course, all we does it understand,
2. Complete the meaning of sentences.
Unlike other subject such as Mathematics and Science, I could never grasp how English work; or rather, somewhere along my life, I stopped trying + to ?
3. Verb forms: have/has (present perfect tense) + past participle. Can you spot the error?
Since post secondary education, I have never really see the need to polish my English.
4. Use of tenses: Can you see you changed between past and present tenses though you referred to an experience/event in the past.
-I enjoyed the lectures and the content that was being taught to us. However, once the discussion forum start, I often found myself facing the problem of not knowing how to translate my ideas into words. Looking through at what others are posting in the discussion forum, I felt that my knowledge and usage of English language was way behind theirs.
-No matter how hard I try, the most I could get was a Band 3. As much as I try to understand and make proper use of the English language, I found myself putting in idioms into my essay like jigsaw pieces and never really understood what I was doing.