Being
born in Singapore, I was introduced to English language at a very young age. My parents would read to me bedtime stories
from various English storybooks. Coming from a Malay-speaking family, my parents
were vigorous in encouraging me to read more English books. I
remembered clearly how dreadful it was to go to the library and was forced to
borrow a minimum of 4 English books!
When
I entered primary school, English language was just another subject that I have
to pass in order to move on to the next level. I have yet to understand
the importance of grasping English language. Hence, English language was
never my forte subject back in primary and secondary school. I had difficulties
tackling the comprehension questions, doing summaries and my most hated
component of all; composition. I hated composition because my vocabulary is limited
and I do not know how to express the story well in an essay writing form.
However, with a lot of guidance from my teachers and intense practices from the
ten year series, (trust me that book helps a lot) I managed to scrape through
the o-levels’ English with a C5. Of course, it was not a fantastic grade but it
was a great achievement for me.
At
tertiary levels, English language is no longer a compulsory subject and in
Singapore there is also a slang called “Singlish”.
Singlish
has become a habitual routine for me and this affected my proper command of
English by using the wrong grammar and poor sentence structures.
However,
my English language learning journey does not stop at tertiary
level as I am constantly broadening my vocabulary through reference books
while doing school assignments and occasionally read the newspaper articles
online.
Edited on: 11/11/2015 at 0052 hours.
Edited on: 16/11/2015 at 2133 hours.Edited on: 21/11/2015 at 2200 hours
Thank you, Siti, for uploading the blog and posting. I see you've also edited your post already, which really warms my heart.
ReplyDeleteI appreciate the honesty and detail of your reflection. If your family's main form of communication at home was Malay, it is easy for me to imagine that English seemed foreign and "just another subject." Still, even by your own admission, the subject was vital as you had to be tested in it. I wonder about the need to communicate with your friends in school. Were you speaking mainly Malay?
As far as your language use in this post, it seems quite good. There are a few instances when you should probably use past tense verbs since you are communicating about past events. Also, there is one sentence that confuses me:
"Due to the commonly used slang, it has affected my proper command of English by using the wrong grammar and poor sentence structures." (Do you need "due to" here?)
In any case, I appreciate your effort and look forward to reading more of your writing this term
Hi Siti, great reflection as i can relate to it as well. I like how you pointed out all the difficulties you had during secondary school with the English subject. I find your writing in this reflection pretty fluent! Glad you managed to improve your English during O Levels. Maybe you can mention how else you would want to expand your vocabulary besides from reading school assignments. I myself would love to expand on my vocabulary. Let's work together to achieving that.
ReplyDeleteHello Siti! It is sweet to know that your parents read bedtime stories to you when you're young! I was deprived of that! There is no such thing as bedtime stories in my family! (A very sad truth.) On another note, you were always forced to borrow a minimum of 4 books in the library. Was it that your parents wish to install this new habit in you? And did this 'habit' continued on to your primary school?
ReplyDeleteAnyways, i find that we share a lot in common regarding the problems that we faced in our English Language Journey. English comprehension and composition were probably the worst nightmare for the both of us. However, i am glad that you managed to pull through and got a decent grade for your O Levels English. As i moved on to the third part of your reflection, you mentioned about slang. You started the sentence with "Due to the commonly used slang", which in my opinion, i think that you can remove the 'commonly used'. as 'slang' actually means informal words or phrases that are more commonly used in speech. From there, you can perhaps edit and rephrase the sentence a little to make it sound better.
To sum up, i really enjoyed reading your reflection as you managed to bring me through your learning journey using brief, simple sentences. And i do have to agree with you that our learning journey does not stop at tertiary level and we are constantly broadening our vocabulary. I hope to that we will be able to enjoy learning and broadening each aspect of English together!~ Good Job Siti! :)
Hi Siti
ReplyDeleteI could relate the points in your reflections to myself. I had struggles coping the subject too especially in primary and secondary school. Comprehension was also never my forte in examinations.
Perhaps, you may want to include a brief introduction on your thoughts of the language at this point in your journey.
Overall, your reflection was systematic as you brought us through your journey through stages (when you were young, primary and secondary school then to tertiary level).
In short, I enjoyed reading your reflection as it was clear and concise. Let's work together to improve in our command of English. :)
Hey Mardhiy,
ReplyDeleteI like how you systematically bring us through your life exposure of the English language in this post. There is a great flow and i like the authentic feelings being put into place into your post. I too have noticed that you had made effort to update and making your post even better!
A definite good job and hope to read more of your future post. May we survive in this module, learn and help one another!
Sharinah
PS: Link me up at http://sharinahxsie2016.blogspot.sg/ ya :)