Write a descriptive reflection on one of those themes mentioned in the e-portfolio(150-200 words)
-The most important "steps" on your English language learning journey thus far:
When did you first "learn" English?
How has the experience been since last time?
How much have you accomplished?
What challenges have you faced?
Why were this steps important?
When I learnt my first English word, I was in kindergarten(pre school) when I was about 6 years old. As a kid who was brought up by a Chinese-speaking family,I found that the English language is very foreign to me.
I vaguely remembered that I was highly motivated for my first lesson, learning about vocabularies and simple sentence structure. There were pictures related to the words that guided us to connect them together to help us learn better visually. As a visual learner, I have learned tremendously in building up the basics of my vocabulary bank.
However, my fondness for English diminished as I explored more in-depth with the language. There are rules in the language to follow such as grammar and sentence structure so without the constant practice of speaking with my peers and family, I found that it was very challenging to convey my ideas to another person. It was like speaking with my tongue tied.
I believe that learning a language is building pyramid; its foundation might be challenging to build, but it is of utmost importance and things will get simpler as it grows progressively stronger. Keeping our foundation strong is only possible with consistency in our efforts. English language is a important skill that needs to be perpetually revisit so we do not lose our edge. To improve, we must always write and read to raise the standard.
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ReplyDeleteLearning English is a life long process. Hope you are able to keep up your good work in trying to converse in English despite coming from a Mandarin speaking background.
ReplyDeleteIt would be better to explain to the reader on whether you have overcome your dislike for English and if so, how did you do it.
It was a great article otherwise and hope that your English will improve over the years!
I agree absolutely with your last paragraph on how learning a language is like building a pyramid. The first step is the hardest but once your foundation is strong, as you go along it gets easier. The foundation for all languages are important and serves to provide proper grammar and sentence structure as we write or converse.
ReplyDeleteIn fact, the basics are important for almost everything. Just like how we are all in our first year now and learning the foundations for engineering such as Engineering Mathematics, Mechanics of Engineering Materials. Practice is key. We are strengthening our knowledge each time we practise. And the best way, in my opinion, to improve a language is to use it daily. In writing, in conversations, even when you form your thoughts.
Cheers.
Hi Hong Yi,
ReplyDeleteI could understand how your fondness for English diminished as you explored more in-depth with the language. Coming from a mandarin speaking family, it was challenging for me to picked up learning a new language as well.
Here are some of my comments:
I thought it would be better if you could further explain how did you gain back your passion in the process of learning English language. Also, what did you do to keep up the standards of English.
Cheers!
Thank you, Hong Yi, for this detailed and insightful reflection. I appreciate the various images you use to illustrate for the reader your impression of English: a pyramid, exploration, a perishable skill. At the same time, keeping the focus would have been easier if you had adopted one metaphor for this description and kept with it. (I can't imagine polishing a pyramid, but a perishable fruit, or a diamond, yes.)
ReplyDeleteStill, what's most impressive for me in your post is that you seem to truly embrace the need for a concerted effort in learning. To that end, please allow me to give you some advice on the language of your reflection:
1) As a kid who was brought up by a Chinese-speaking family,the English language is very foreign to me. >>> (odd sentence structure---sounds like the English language was the kid...)
Try: As a kid who was brought up by a Chinese-speaking family, I found the English language to be very foreign.
2) As a visual learner, this has helped me tremendously in building up the basics of my vocabulary bank. >>>> same problem as the above sentence
Other than that, this is well done. I look forward to working with you this term.