My English Language Learning Journey (2nd draft)



I had my first English lesson when I was nine in Shanghai. At that time, I thought English was not so difficult because we just learned some fundamental knowledge such as 26 alphabets and some simple vocabulary. Thus, my English grades looked nice. My perception of English changed tremendously when I came to Singapore in 2005. I still remember the first English lesson that I had; it was horrible. I could only stare at the teacher's face. Her lips kept opening and closing, and some bizarre words came out from her mouth which I did not understand at all. I managed to hear one or two words from each sentence and all I could do was that guessed what the teacher said from these few words.


In China, our comprehension passage was just half page and the essay was about 50-80 words. However, when I saw a two-page comprehension passage and 250 words essay, I really wanted to cry. Therefore, I struggled throughout my first two years in Singapore. Thankfully, I had a great teacher and I really wanted to thank her. She taught me many things and helped me to build up my English foundation so that in the next two years, I was able to get a B grade for my English.


After 4 years secondary education, I entered the Junior College. English became the nightmare for a few students again and I was one of them. In JC, English module had another cool name, General Paper (GP) and the standard was much higher compared to the secondary English. Essay was no longer narrative or descriptive type, but argumentative writing which required more deep thoughts and logical thinking. The comprehension passage was more profound and I had to answer the question using my own words.


Now I am in NUS and I did not have an English lesson for about two years. I failed the QET test, but I do not feel upset. I know my English is not so good yet and I do hope that I can master it. After the first tutorial we had with Brad, I feel so lucky that I am in this course. He is really a great teacher and I think I can learn many things with him, not only the English writing skills but also the globalized mindset, life experience and the attitude of learning from him. I will definitely seize this precious opportunity to work with him. I believe that we will have a lot of fun in the class.

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