English has never been a subject that I can score well since
I started my education probably due to my Chinese-speaking family background
and also my lack of interest in the subject. My lack of interest in English
began in my primary school days.
During primary school I had problems with grammar, verb,
sentence structure and many more, therefore I usually have to stay back after
school for remedial lessons. My English teacher took the effort to explain the
meaning of verb, adjectives and all that stuff, however at the end of the
lesson I did not absorb anything she said. This led to a poor foundation of my
English since young, which translated to poor results and subsequent lack of
confidence and interest in the subject.
In previous years of education that I went through, all an
individual need is a pass in English to advance to the next stage of education.
However, presently, the university education poses a huge challenge to me since
there are lots of writing that needs to be done, thus a good command of English
is vital to survive this education system.
There is indeed regret that I did not take English seriously when i was younger, however since its never too late to learn, I hope that by doing my best for this module, there would be improvements in my English.
Hi Chin Hwee,
ReplyDeleteYour reflection has a good structure. You took us across the reason that caused the problem, the problem, the effects caused by the problem, the future challenges and tying back to this module!
a) English has never been a subject that I can score well since I started my education probably due to my Chinese-speaking family background and also my lack of interest in the subject >>>> (I felt that the sentence may be a little long without any punctuations, either have a ‘;’ or break the sentence after ‘education’.)
b) … ,therefore I usually have to stay back after school for remedial lessons. >>>> (I usually ‘had’, since the rest of the paragraph is in past tense)
c) This led to a poor foundation of my English since young, which translated to poor results and subsequent lack of confidence and interest in the subject. >>>> (This led to the eventual result of having a weak English foundation, which translated to poor results, subsequent lack of confidence and interest in the subject.)
All the best to English improvements! Cheers!
Jasmine
Hi Chin Hwee,
ReplyDeleteYour use of English in this post seems rather decent to me!
I do agree that English is fairly important not just in our education but in our society as well.
All the best in trying to improve your English. I'm sure we will do fine if we put in the required amount of work!
Hi Chinhwee,
ReplyDeleteGood reflection! I agree with Jasmine that you have good structure in your essay. You've covered the background information, identified the problem/experience, and explained its impact on your learning journey and how it will affect your future actions.
Adding on to Jasmine’s comments:
a) “In previous years of education that I went through, all an individual need is a pass in English..” -> It should be “needs”
b) “However, presently, the university education poses a huge challenge to me since there are lots of writing that needs to be done, thus a good command of English is vital to survive this education system.” – In my opinion the sentence seems to be too long, maybe you can start a new sentence after “needs to be done”.
I would have written the sentence this way: However, in the present university education system where heavy emphasis is placed on writing, a good command of English is extremely vital for survival.
Hope that’s of some help!
Let’s do our best for this module and improve our English! (:
Kelly
As your other readers have mentioned, this is a well structured reflection, Chin Hwee. You very honestly assess the attitude that you had toward English. Clearly, growing up in a Chinese speaking environment has given many young Singaporeans the same impression, that English simply wasn't so important. The reality of its value strikes once you start doing exams, studying in secondary school and uni, and then pursuing a job.
ReplyDeleteThere are a number of problems here in language use. Your peers have caught a few. But a few ave been missed or wrongly assessed:
a) Verb tense:
In previous years of education that I went through, all an individual need is a pass in English.. -> In previous years of education that I went through, all an individual needed was a pass in English..
b) sentence structure (run on sentences):
-- My English teacher took the effort to explain the meaning of verb, adjectives and all that stuff, however at the end of the lesson I did not absorb anything she said.
>>> My English teacher took the effort to explain the meaning of verb, adjectives and all that stuff. However, at the end of the lesson I did not absorb anything she said.
-- However, presently, the university education poses a huge challenge to me since there are lots of writing that needs to be done, thus a good command of English is vital to survive this education system. >>>
???
--- There is indeed regret that I did not take English seriously when i was younger, however since its never too late to learn, I hope that by doing my best for this module, there would be improvements in my English.
>>> There is indeed regret that I did not take English seriously when i was younger. However, since it's never too late to learn, I hope that by doing my best for this module, there WILL be improvements in my English.
Thank you for the effort!
Hello!
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed your reflection on your English learning journey. It was well-structured and reflective. It is also comforting that you managed to learn the importance of English and take it more seriously now. (:
Here are some improvements:
- “During primary school I had problems with grammar, verb, sentence structure…”
There should be a comma after school in this sentence as you started the sentence with a time frame.
- Instead of using many transition words like therefore and thus, you can break up your sentence into shorter sentences.
For eg,
However, the university education which I’m presently in requires a lot of writing. In order to do well, one needs a good command of English which I feel that I lack thereof.
Overall, I really enjoyed your writing and I’m sure you will improve with the constant hard work you put in for this module. (:
-Gio