English has always been my Achilles’ heel. I tend to screw myself up whenever it comes to formal conversation/presentation or academic writing. I always have the difficulty in expressing my ideas or thoughts in English
My exposure to English language, apart from academic materials, is very minimal in my everyday life. Firstly, I do not speak English at home as I come from a Chinese speaking family. Secondly, the interaction that I have with most of my friends is usually in Mandarin. Thirdly, I rarely watch English television programmes or movies as I do not really understand what the Caucasians were are talking about most of the times due to their accents. These could be the reasons why I am not able to master well for my English language.
In the primary and secondary school days, English was my weakest subject among all. My English grade throughout the 10 years was constantly revolving at the borderline passing mark. Gradually, I felt disheartened by my English result and lost complete interest for that subject. It was the particular subject that I distained for and disliked to go for lesson in school. Consequently, I ended up getting an undesirable grade for my ‘O’ Level English.
After graduating from secondary school and going to polytechnic, I thought I could actually evade from the English subject but it was not that case. There were 3 compulsory English-related modules to be cleared in order to graduate and get diploma. Moreover, there is this English course, ES1102, which I am currently enrolled in after achieving a Band 2 grade for the QET test. I seriously hate it and hope that this will really be the last English course in my life.
Hello Kai Yao, it was a pleasure reading your post as it is clear and well structured. I like the way you bring up ideas in paragraph 2 using firstly, secondly, thirdly. These transitions made your writing easy to follow. English is also my Achilles' heel till date. However, I believe you can find a more enjoyable learning experience in ES1102 if you step into it with an open mind. Hope to see you around soon.
ReplyDeleteHi Zhi Kang,
DeleteAfter going through 13weeks of the course, my current perspective toward this module is different from the feeling that I had on first week. I had a repulsive feeling on first week and dread to come to the class, but now I am grateful for the benefits that I have gained from this course and miss the class.
My English has improved a lot and I believe you have too. See you around in school. All the best in your future endeavours!
Hi Kai Yao!
ReplyDeleteI was able to follow through your post easily as you used clear transitions to lead the reader through your thoughts, hence I do not feel that you have any problem communicating in English. Perhaps, you just need more self-confidence because your writing is really not as bad as you think! :)
Anyway, I think there is a spelling mistake in your last second paragraph, where you used "distained". Other than that, it's been a well-written post as well as great insight into your English language journey thus far. I felt disappointed initially when I was required to take this module, but I understand that it will be beneficial for me in the long run to get my foundation right. Perhaps that mindset might work well for you too. See you around and hope to know you better soon!
Regards,
Jiewei
Hi Jie Wei,
DeleteAfter been through the 13weeks course, I can be very certain and tell you that my mindset regarding this course has completely changed and I had to agree with you that the course was beneficial to us in the long run.
Your English is actually not bad and I hope you do gain as much as I did from this course. See you around in school. Wish you well! May God always be with you!
Heyy Kai Yao!! After reading so many posts (including yours), it seems like most of us here use Chinese as our main language for conversation. Just like you, we also felt disheartened by our English result. However, I have learnt that avoiding is not a solution and we must learn to face the problem since English is not just a student thing but also an important part of our work and social life in the future.
ReplyDeleteInitially, I have a negative mindset for having to take up this additional module in university, but that will not change the fact or help in anyway. As such, I suggest that maybe you can try to change your mindset and open your heart for this "irritating and yet unavoidable" language? I believe Brad will make our lessons more interesting and different from the usual English lessons we used to have in the past, let's try to enjoy the class and learn as much as we can!
As for the grammar part, pardon me if I am wrong since grammar is also one of my weaknesses. I feel that you are overusing full stops in the first paragraph and some sentences can be combined to express your idea more fluently. I'm not sure about it but I think the 3rd and 4th line can be merged in this case.
"I always have the difficulty in expressing my ideas or thoughts in English as it takes me a while to think and form the words into sentence(s)."
Also, the last two lines of the first paragraph:
"People who are bilingual are indeed amazing and they are the minority elite whom I truly admire."
Cheers!!
Hi Loo Yong,
DeleteThanks for your great effort on writing me such a lengthy yet constructive feedback. I already made the correction accordingly.
Thanks, Kai Yao, for your honest, very detailed reflection. Learning about your background, I can sympathize with your ill feelings toward English study. But you need to realize one thing: the study of a particular skill focus (English in this case) is not the same as the skill (English) itself. 'Studying' can be a burden no matter what the focus, especially if one's goals aren't clear, or if the methods are tedious. My suggestion for you now is to not look at English as a course of study but as a skill, as a means to an end: communication with the whole world, and potentially, a way for you to get ahead in your future career.
ReplyDeleteIn fact, I had to smile when you mentioned that you admire bilingual people. YOU are already bilingual. You have achieved that through the pains of your English study to date. How many people in the world would envy your knowledge of and skill with English! So any work you do from this point forward is simply to polish an already impressive skill set.
I particularly like the advice given to you by your three peers. To quote Loo Yong: "...let's try to enjoy the class and learn as much as we can!"
If you can approach lessons with that positive attitude, your life in general will be easier and each day a bit brighter. :)
As for the post itself, there is one statement that I want to address: "I rarely watch English television programmes or movies as I do not really understand what the Caucasians ***were*** talking about most of the times due to their accents." Here I would use
present tense to show that this is a general statement of truth, as relevant for you today as yesterday. Also, I might not state Caucasians since, for example, if you are watching an American movie, you will probably find members of various ethnic/racial groups---not just whites.
Hi Brad,
DeleteMy definition of bilingual is able to master well in two languages and speak fluently and effortlessly. Thus I envy and admire those who are truly bilingual in that sense.
If you say I am a bilingual, then I should in fact tell you that I am a trilingual. I can actually communicate in Teochew.
Anyway, it was very heartening to hear from you saying that I am a bilingual. I suddenly felt very confident in my English.