I have been studying english ever since I had nursery education. Even though I started learning english since young, I was never good at it. I never really liked reading, and I come from a chinese speaking family, I only write essays when absolutely necessary. I feel that what I'm lacking is in fact practice.
However, I do enjoy english media such as "How I Met Your Mother" and"South Park". I actually understand most of the script without the help of subtitles, I think that my comprehension skills are actually okay, what I'm not so good at are probably writing and speaking.
This es1102 module that I'm taking this semester will most likely help me with that. I've seen the lesson plans and I find that there are a lot of writing and summarizing involved. My tutor Mr.Brad also make it a point during his lesson for everybody to speak and present, which I think is very beneficial for me. So far I have had 2 lessons of es1102 and I already had a few mini presentations and text annotation practice.
I personally think that the standard requirement for english in National University of Singapore (NUS) is quite high. I have friends from Nanyang Technological University (NTU) who score badly for their general paper and are still allowed to skip the english module. Their grades range from D to S, all of which are exempted from the module. Having said all these, I have high hopes that by the end I finish this es1102 module I would be able to write and speak much better than before.
(267 words)
Good Job zhen Liang! I understand how you feel about English being mandatory for our education level, but at least you have a positive attitude towards this module and your personal improvement. I also envy NTU for having lower expectation in English than NUS. This however show that NUS is better than NTU right? I feel that your grammar skills are already alright. At few places for improvement could be your sentence fluency and maybe your vocabulary skills. Instead of "by the end", it should be "by the time".
ReplyDeleteThis short essay has some good concrete details, Zhen Liang, even while it is concise. You mention clear examples of your past and your current English proficiency. Where the discussion seems a bit weak is that the focus moves away from a true reflection on your English learning journey to an informal 'talk' about your current skills and needs. That may seem okay for this first assignment, but technically speaking, it's off topic. In fact, your organizational pattern here is rather like 'stream of consciousness' rather than a descriptive reflection. Do you understand the difference?
ReplyDeleteThere are also some language problems:
1) studying english / a chinese speaking family / english media / es1102 > (capitalization)
2) I started learning english since young > (wrong word)
3) "How I Met Your Mother" and"South Park" > These are TV programs, right? The word 'media' is too general.
4) I never really liked reading, and I come from a chinese speaking family, I only write essays when absolutely necessary. / I actually understand most of the script without the help of subtitles, I think that my comprehension skills are actually okay, what I'm not so good at are probably writing and speaking. > (run on sentences)
5) (subject verb disagreement)
-- there are a lot of writing and summarizing involved
-- My tutor Mr.Brad also make....
6) who score > (verb tense)
7) I have high hopes that by the end I finish this es1102 module I would be able....
> (wrong collocation / verb tense error)
Thank you for the effort, man. Let me suggest that in your future assignments you be less sloppy though.
Hello Zhen liang. I too am envy towards those whom were fortunate to escape the "Bad English" detector. And understand how you must had felt. Your optimism and hopeful expectation will rub off on others. Keep up the good attitudes .
ReplyDelete