Having
learnt English for more than 19 years, I always thought that it is a subject
that only people who have a natural flare in it will do well. However, I was
wrong. Just like any other subjects, practice is the key to master them well.
Since
I come from a Chinese-speaking family, I rarely converse in English with the
people around me except in school. My results for English were not particularly
bad nor were it good, therefore, it was never a concern to me until I reach
secondary school. I realised that my foundation for English was not good. It is
reflected by the lack of variety in vocabulary and the numerous grammatical
mistakes committed in the essays I wrote.
Subsequently, I tried to do plenty of vocabulary and grammar exercises
and indeed, it helped to improve my writing skills. However, I still have
difficulties framing my sentences well, which makes it a problem for readers to
understand what kind of ideas I am trying to illustrate.
In
the module ES1102, we are expected to write a few essays and to give feedback
to the essays that our peers have wrote. I find that the feedback I have gotten from my
peers helped me tremendously in the problem I faced. Their comments usually
point out some of the grammatical errors I have made and also identify the
sentences I wrote that are not well explained. Most importantly, what I love
about this module is that, it gives me opportunities to improve my writing that
my other modules do not have. Practice is important in improving writing skills
because I am actually applying what I have learnt from the module to my essay.
During this module, we also learnt research skills that were not taught back in
junior colleges, which is crucial for university education. Thus, I am glad
that I have taken this module, not just because it is compulsory but it is
because I have truly benefited from what I learnt here.
After
this module, I would continue my writing journey by posting more responses to
articles or subjects that I am interested in on my own personal blog. Quoting
from Gandhi, “Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live
forever.” This journey does not simply end just because the module concluded.
Learning should always be an essential part of humans even until we grow old.
Practice is such a simple answer but just so difficult to accomplish. Its good that you have a personal blog as it reflects a motivation for writing. Nice content and structure, with an ending quote to reflect on.
ReplyDeleteFor the first sentence, 'I had always thought that it was a subject...' would be better to show a change from past to present.
For Para 2, 2nd sentence, 'until i reached secondary school.' past tense
The 4th sentence should use past tense as well. 'It was reflected by the'
For Para 3, 2nd sentence, 'problems' would fit since it meant the grammar and expression.
The 4th sentence, i think you can leave out the 2nd comma for better flow.
The last sentence, maybe use 'but also because' instead of 'but it is because'.
On a side note, i'm not sure if using 'wrote' or 'have written' is better.