Having grown up in a Chinese family, I first came into contact with the English language in kindergarten. Since both my parents neither spoke nor wrote English, the only time I got to practice the language was in school. With limited practice, it explains my poor grammar and limited vocabulary.
I remember back in Primary 3 when I scored 2/50 for my English essay, and the only comment on the paper was "GRAMMAR". I was stunned, being in the top class but scoring probably the lowest in the cohort. Unsure of what to expect next, I chose to ignore the score, so did my teacher since she did not request me to see her after class or anything of that sort. From then on, I chose to avoid English, especially in the form of writing. However, with interests in subjects such as Geography and History, writing could not be avoided. I realised the importance of the language since everything was taught and written in English, without a good command of the language, I would be at a disadvantage. Yet minimal effort was put in to improving my English, I would not read anything out of syllabus to improve my vocabulary or writing style.
After taking the QET, I had the feeling that I would have to take ES1102 and here I am. Despite being an arts student all my life, I felt it was hard for me to convey my intentions with my weak command of English (for example, writing this). Therefore I hope ES1102 would help me improve my writing skills, especially in terms sentence structure and grammar.
Edited 3 February
Hi Eugene! I think your blog post is very relevant to the assigned topic, because it contains your English learning experiences at different stages of your life. I could relate to how having good English would definitely help students achieve better grades in essays, especially arts students. I'm not sure whether if "was in school and school only" was a typo though. hahahaha. :P
ReplyDeleteHello Eugene!
ReplyDeleteI totally could relate to how you felt about having poor grammars. I had a hard time because of that too. Interesting English Language Learning Journey you got there! Let’s work hard together in this module and improve our writing skills, especially our grammars.
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See you later in class!
Hey Eugene!
ReplyDeleteI spot two minor mistakes in your first paragraph: "Since both my parents neither spoke nor write English, the only time I got to practice the language was in school and school only."
You should change "neither spoke nor write English" to "neither spoke nor wrote English" (past tense).
Also, I agree with Hazel as she pointed out her queries on this phrase "the only time I got to practice the language was in school and school only". This does not seem like formal language!
Hope this helps! Looking forward to working hard together in this module as well :)
Thanks very much, Eugene, for this honest self reflection. I appreciate learning about your background and the rationale for your aversion to English.
ReplyDeleteThere are a couple instances here of the issue I mentioned in class of a noun subject not being the proper one for a modifying phrase:
1) Despite being an arts student all my life, having written so many essays and reports, my weak command of English has often left me finding it hard to convey my intentions (for example, writing this).
Check it out.