Wednesday, 27 August 2014

My English Language Learning Journey

     I was born in a second-line city of China. English,at that time,was totally alien. So when I first touched the language, I was struggling to accept anything that was related. I could not memorize the spelling of words and sometimes even their pronunciations.I failed my first few English tests with no surprise. Though I did not give up,I still could not memorize anything. Each day with English was a struggle until a friend of my father passed me a set of English tapes with a set of books that talked about lives in America. I was so attracted to the voice and the music that I started to listen to the tapes almost every second even during my sleep. Before long, I got this feeling that English was no longer my enemy but my friend. Through the tape I found my way of learning English,which was listening to the same content again and again. By doing that, I could memorize the whole textbook even before the school started.This helped me in leading my batch in learning English and eventually cleared my way to Singapore.
      After I came to Singapore, the demand of English usage went to a much higher level. I needed to write much complex essays to pass my exams and at the same time, learning Singlish to merge into the new environment. My teachers in junior college suggested that I write simple English,so that the ideas can be clearer with fewer grammatical errors. However, when my thoughts started to flow, I often found it hard to follow his suggestion. Therefore, I did not do well in my A-level general paper and was trying to avoid English writings since then. Hopefully this course will be the turning point for my English language learning journey.
(edited on 03/09/2014)

2 comments:

  1. Audio is no doubt an important part of learning English. Tapes usually contain a more accurate pronunciation as compared to listening to your peers. Thus, I am sure that it has helped you greatly as you were able to lead your batch in class.

    Overall, I feel that your reflection has a logical flow and is coherent. I hope that you won't "avoid English writings" after this course and instead, embrace it and renew your friendship with English once again.

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  2. Thank you, Zidi, for this honest, detailed reflection. I enjoyed learning about your journey. One thing that you mentioned was how listening to tapes helped you in your "memorization" of a textbook. How did that work?

    Here are a few language issues to take note of:

    1) So when I first touch the language, I was struggling to accept anything that was related. (tense)

    2) even when during my sleep > even during my sleep

    3) no longer my enemy but my friends >>> singular / plural

    4) Through the tape I found my way of learning English,which is listening to the same content again and again. (tense)

    5) After I come to Singapore, the demand of English usage went to a much higher level. (tense)

    6) I need to write much complex essays to pass my exams (tense)

    7) I need to write much complex essays to pass my exams, meanwhile learning Singlish to merge into the new environment. (run on sentence)

    8) suggested me to write (wrong structure) > suggested that I write

    9) with less grammatical error > count versus non count nouns

    Please edit your post to get the maximum out of this exercise.

    I appreciate your effort!

    ReplyDelete