Even though it seems like my command of English allowed me to breeze through primary school years, the horror begun during my secondary school education. My confidence level in English dropped a little every single time my English paper was returned to me. In addition, the discouraging teachers, high-standard comprehension papers that were meant for top-notch schools as well as the competitiveness of results among my peers have deterred me from appreciating English. English seems like a chore that I would rather submit 10 copies of Chinese essays in exchange for an English class at that point of time.
Under such pressurizing conditions, I attained a Grade C6 for my English during 'O' Levels. Fortunately, I was still able to enter a polytechnic with a decent overall score. polytechnic to me was a more relaxed setting and every single one of us just wanted to enjoy our polytechnic life. However, I chose to re-take my English 'O' Levels paper without further considerations. I began to notice the importance of English during project works and essay writing. Ironically, without any 'intensive training' and large amount of English practice papers, I scored way better than the first round!
Thereafter, I fell in love with English, even though I got a band 2 for QET. However, I am taking it as a blessing in disguise as this would mean that I finally have the chance to learn English in a proper manner ever since secondary school days.
I believe that with the projects and essays accompanied with this module, we would soon be able to write and speak with awesome English!
Edited 1st September 2014
Edited 1st September 2014
Hi Joan,
ReplyDeleteI have similar situation as you as in my family members also mostly speak Tamil at home so i grew up being more comfortable speaking Tamil. And i have to agree with you that sometimes too much pressure backfires.
All in all, I enjoyed your reflection as I can draw similarities to mine.
Cheers,
Pavithra
Hey Pavi,
DeleteThank you so much for your comments! Glad to know that we have common background! :D
I am in an agreement with what you have shared here, Joan. But, I was surprised that you have taken the initiative to re-take the O-level English paper by yourself, even though it was not a mandatory part of your academic curriculum. RESPECT for that.
ReplyDeleteWe are all so blessed to enroll into NUS where we can freely speak in English with our friends.
I look forward to hearing more from you how you actually "fell in love" with English!
Interesting story nevertheless!
Hey Ye Chan!
DeleteThanks for commenting on my post! I kind of respect myself for that too! :D
Dear Joan,
ReplyDeleteThis is a detailed, honest reflection. I can see that you have many positive experiences with English even though you don't use it at home, and I note in this post that your enthusiasm is strong. Let's enjoy working together on your language development needs this term!
Here's a good place to start:
1) English is never my favourite language since young. (tense)
2) The fact that my mother is an Indonesian, who is never English educated, and my father who rarely speaks English, has forced us all to communicate in Mandarin and Teochew at home. (structure & tense)
3) Even though it seems like my command of English allowed me to breeze through primary school years. The horror begun during my secondary school education. (structure)
4) English seemed like a massive chore that I would rather submit 10 copies of chinese essays in exchange for an English class at that point of time.
5) Under such pressurizing condition ... (count/non count)
6) However, I have chosen to re-take my English 'O' Levels paper without further considerations. (tense)
7) However, I took it as a blessing in disguise as this would mean that I finally have the chance to learn English in a proper manner ever since secondary school days. (tense)
Thanks for your effort!
Dear Brad,
DeleteThank you for your comments and listing out the mistakes I made. I have already corrected the mistakes and edited the posts. :D