Before I talk about my English learning journey, I would like to do a short introduction of myself. I am a Taiwanese. My family migrated to Singapore in 2006, when I was thirteen. My parents realized the importance of having good English skills, and Singapore is definite an ideal place for my sister and I to study English. Therefore, I am here.
Unlike most Singaporeans, my English learning journey only started when I was studying in the Primary school. My English learning journey can be divided into three stages. First stage, when I was learning basic English in Primary school in Taiwan. Second stage, when I moved to Singapore and started to learn basic sentence structure in Secondary school. Lastly, when I learned to write critically in Junior College.
When Brad talked about how Japanese university students struggled with English, I could totally feel the same pain of those Japanese students. Although there was increasing emphasis placed on English education in Taiwan, reality just do not match the expectation. I only learned simple vocabulary and grammar when I was in Primary school. Singapore students could write short essays when they graduated from Primary school. However, Taiwanese students could not even construct a proper sentence without the guidance of a teacher. That is how poor my English skill was when I graduated from Primary school.
I am lucky to move to Singapore for a better learning environment. When I entered local Secondary school, I could barely speak a sentence of proper English. However, I worked extremely hard to catch the standard of local students. I had never pass English exams in Secondary school. Fortunately, I obtained C6 for English during GCE "O" level, this enabled me to promote to local Junior College.
I learned English in a totally different perspective in JC. When I was still struggling with writing essays in proper English, critical writing skill was introduced in English class. Now, I had to master both writing and critical thinking at the same time. My English skills were always inferior to that of local students. However, I feel that I am luck to pass my General Paper. I am looking forward that I can further improve my English skills in ES1102.
Hi Cindy! I am sure that you have worked really hard to come this far hence good job! :) It must have been tough adapting to a new life in Singapore back in 2006! I hope Singapore have been a comfortable home for you. I can never understand what you feel about English language as I grew up with English but you should not give up. I do also hope that you can improve your English after leaving this course. Grammar wise, you have a few mistakes but I was able to understand the intend of your sentence. Therefore, it is just a few mistakes here and there which I believe you can fix. Nonetheless, I enjoyed reading your experience with English language, all the best!!! :)
ReplyDeleteHi Cindy! I like that you broke your reflection into different stages as it made for easy and clear reading. There were minor errors in your reflection but I am sure you can improve on that with a bit more practice. I really enjoyed reading your reflection and I hope that you can further improve your English writing skills. (:
ReplyDeleteHello Cindy! Before commenting on your post, I would just like to say that Taiwan is a very wonderful place to travel to haha! Organisation wise, you have written it in a very good sequence, making it easy to read and understand. The essay is very relevant to the topic and easy for me to relate to. There are some mistakes in your language and I hope you won't mind me correcting them for feedback purposes. Some corrections: When I was thirteen, my family migrated to Singapore in 2006
ReplyDeleteand definitely. Overall, good job and I feel that the effort you put in to come this far is really remarkable! Continue working hard (:
Hi Cindy, i like how yo structured your essay. From primary school to focusing on the difference between Taiwan students and Singapore students. You proceeded to talk about secondary education and then to JC. I believe that all of us know about the pains that we face academically when we are not as strong in English. I believe that we will all improve in one way or another after this course so lets continue to work hard!
ReplyDeleteI realized that there were grammar and minor spelling errors here and there.
e.g. That was* how poor my English skill was when I graduated from Primary school.
Now, I have* to master both writing and critical thinking at the same time.
Also, i feel that you could have used other connecting words in some of your sentences.
eg. Fortunately, I obtained C6 for English during GCE "O" level which* enabled me to get* promoted to local Junior College.
Lets continue to work hard in ES1102E! :)
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ReplyDeleteThis is a highly detailed, self critical reflection, Cindy. I really appreciate the way that you weave together a short autobiography and the English language journey overview. You have certainly put in the time and effort to reach a level of English equivalent to your Singaporean peers. That is evident in the fine quality of this post.
ReplyDeleteThere are still a few issues to take note of:
1) Singapore is definite an ideal place ... > Singapore is definitely an ideal place...
2) ...reality just do not match the expectation. > (verb tense)
3) problems with capitalization
4) I had never pass... > (verb form)
5) Fortunately, I obtained C6 for English during GCE "O" level, this enabled me to promote to local Junior College. > (run on sentence)
Thanks for this effort. I look forward to working with you this term