Monday 19 August 2013

My English Language Learning Journey

I grew up in Singapore and I was exposed to English since young. Hence that is where my English language learning journey started. Since young, my exposure to English language is rather limited as I usually converse in Mandarin with my friends and family.

English is a global language and Singapore, being a multi-racial society, requires one to be able to converse well in English. This is because it will allow better communication across different cultures. Therefore, I started exposing myself by speaking more English as I understand that having the ability to write and communicate in proper English will certainly be an added advantage to my studies and work.

My latest English language learning experience was 3 months ago, which I took the module ES2002 “Business Communications” in my previous semester. In this module, I was taught on interpersonal skills and how to speak confidently and persuasively during presentations. I also learnt how to write a proper report which is an essential skill needed in the workplace. My lecturer gave me useful feedback which allows me to work on my areas of improvement. I am also positive that upon completing ES1102, I will certainly gain valuable knowledge in English writing.


Word limit: 200
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11 comments:

  1. Jasmine (:23 August 2013 at 08:09

    Hi Claire,

    With only 200 words, your structure is clear, stating the origins of the problem, the degree of the problem, the discovery of the problem, ways to rectify the problem and linking the problem back to the current module.

    a) I grew up in Singapore and I was exposed to English since young. >>>> (I feel that the second I is redundant)

    b) In this module, I was taught on interpersonal skills and how to speak confidently and persuasively during presentations. >>>> (the “on” can be left out and perhaps the sentence can be phrased: In this module, I was taught interpersonal skills and presentation skills, which focused on speech confidence and persuasiveness.)

    Cheers to gaining valuable knowledge in English writing!

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    Replies
    1. Unknown27 August 2013 at 01:13

      Hi Jasmine,

      I agree that 'on' should be left out.

      Also, by changing the sentence to: 'I was taught interpersonal skills and presentation skills, which focused on speech confidence and persuasiveness.' can help to solve the issue on parallelism.

      Thank you Jasmine for the helpful advice! :)

      Delete
  2. Gio25 August 2013 at 08:11

    Hello!

    Your writing was concise which allowed easy understanding. You managed to bring in global trends and the demands of the workplace today despite the word limit which I thought was impressive. Also, your reflection on how your module gave a personal touch to the writing and made it unique.

    Ways you can improve:

    1. "... 3 months ago, which I took... " - Instead of which I took, you can when I took.
    2. You can improve on your fluency of the essay. This can be done by introducing what you will be talking about in the next paragraph at the end of a paragraph. For eg, at the end of para 1, you can end of like this:
    "... friends and family. This is disadvantageous due to the wide usage of English in the world including Singapore today."

    Overall, commendable effort and hopefully we will improve together. (:

    -Gio

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    Replies
    1. Unknown27 August 2013 at 01:18

      Hi Gio,

      Thank you for your comment.

      I agree with you that it should be "when" instead of "which", as it is referring to "3 months ago". Also, adding another sentence at the end of the paragraph will certainly make the essay flow better.

      Thank you for your valuable advice! :)

      Delete
  3. ong su min25 August 2013 at 08:24

    Hi Claire!

    I can definitely relate my English learning experience to your blogpost because like you, I am also raised in a Chinese speaking family. I share the same problem too.

    You started off by addressing the difficulties you faced in learning English and how the importance of English in the globalised world spurred you on to improve. Transitions between each paragraph is smooth and your essay is coherent.

    However, I think you could make a slight change to the sentence below.

    - "I started exposing myself by speaking more English..." Perhaps, you could just write "I started speaking more English..."

    Let's do our best for ES1102!





    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Unknown27 August 2013 at 01:22

      Hi Sumin,

      It's nice to know that we have similar English learning experience.

      I agree that changing the sentence to: "I started speaking more English..." does make my sentence more concise.

      Thank you for your helpful advice! :)

      Delete
  4. Unknown25 August 2013 at 16:57

    Hi Claire. Overall I enjoy reading your post and it is indeed a good reflection. You tried to speak English although your exposure to English is rather limited. I can feel that you paid a lot of effort. Here are some opinions for you.
    1) certain be an added advantage>>certain be an additional edge
    2) I am also positive that>>I also have positive thinking that
    This is just my personal opinion. Actually you did quite well with your essay so I dun have so much to comment. Keep it up and enjoy our class.=)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Unknown27 August 2013 at 01:27

      Hi Foo Eng,

      Thank you for reading my post. I enjoy reading your post too :)

      I will take your helpful comments into account. Let's work hard together! :)

      Delete
  5. Benjamin Hu26 August 2013 at 07:58

    Hi Claire!

    I have to agree with you on the point that English is an global language and one needs to have a good grasp of the language especially in a multiracial and multilingual country like Singapore. This allows us to share ideas and views with ease across different races.

    Some areas of improvement:

    1) "I was taught on interpersonal skills and how to speak confidently and persuasively during presentations."

    The "on" can be removed and there is an issue on parallelism where the ideas in your sentence are not uniform ("interpersonal skills" versus "how to speak...") --> "I was taught interpersonal skills and communication skills during presentations."

    2) I also learnt how to write a proper report which is an essential skill needed in the workplace.

    There is a minor issue on punctuation, where adding a comma would make the sentence complete. --> "I also learnt how to write a proper report, which is an essential skill needed in the workplace."

    3) "My lecturer gave me useful feedback which allows me to work on my areas of improvement."

    --> "My lecturer gave me useful feedback which allows..." could be changed to "My lecturer gave me useful feedback which allowed...".

    Overall, a concise and well structured reflection!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Unknown27 August 2013 at 01:33

      Hi Benjamin,

      I agree with you that "on" can be removed.
      Also, by changing the sentence to: "I was taught interpersonal skills and communication skills during presentations", can solve the issue on parallelism.

      A comma can be added when there is an additional information.

      Thank you for the valuable advice! :)

      Delete
  6. Brad Blackstone30 August 2013 at 20:26

    Dear Claire,

    We've talked about this reflection in class, and now I review the post again and am delighted to discover all the feedback you've gotten from your peers. I'm also impressed by your willingness to interact with your readers. This is what communication, and learning, are all about.

    Thank you for your effort!

    ReplyDelete

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