Waking up to voices rambling or shouting in Mandarin or Hokkien is how I have lived for the past 20 years. My parents were not educated during their childhood years. Thus, they only know limited amount of English. Therefore, the habit of using Mandarin or Hokkien to communicate with people has already been ingrained in me since young. Even with my friends, proper English is rarely heard in our conversations. We frequently lapse into our habit of conversing in a mixture of different languages, or what we Singaporeans know fondly as Singlish. As a result, I did not practice speaking or writing proper English, unless I am forced to.

Fortunately, or unfortunately, in school, English lessons for Singaporeans are unavoidable. I remembered dreading each English lesson during my primary and secondary school years. Faced with endless grammar exercises, complicated comprehension passages, and horrifying essays questions, it was a torture for me every lesson. Gradually, I grew to dislike learning English. Though I do realize that I have to change that negative mindset, if not my English command will never improve. However to be honest, I was relieved when I knew that English was not part of my Polytechnic curriculum.

Unfortunately, to enter NUS, I realized that I had to take an English placement test. After three years of not writing academic essays, the horrifying reality finally crashed into me when I stared at the test paper. It was frustrating when I was not able to string my thoughts and ideas together fluently in the essay. Thus, it was not surprising when I knew I had to take this module.

Thus, in the lessons of ES1102, I will try to change my negative mindset regarding learning English. Hopefully, I am able to get rid of my fear of English at the end of this upcoming journey (which I am sure will not only be filled with hardships, but laughter and joy as well) with my teachers and my peers.

<328 words>

-- edited on 6 September 2014 --

Waking up to voices rambling or shouting in Mandarin or Hokkien, is how I have lived for the past 20 years. My parents were not educated during their childhood years, thus they only know limited amount of English. Therefore, the habit of using Mandarin or Hokkien to communicate with people has already been ingrained in me since young. Even with my friends, proper English is rarely heard in our conversations. We frequently lapse into our habit of conversing in a mixture of different languages, or what we Singaporeans know fondly as Singlish. As a result, I have never really practice speaking or writing proper English, unless I am forced to.

Fortunately, or unfortunately, in school, English lessons for Singaporeans are unavoidable. I remembered dreading each English lesson during my primary and secondary school years. Faced with endless grammar exercises, complicated comprehension passages, and horrifying essays questions, it was a torture for me every lesson. Gradually, I grew to dislike learning English. Though, I do realize that I have to change that negative mindset if not my English command will never improve, however to be honest, I was relieved when I knew that English was not part of my Polytechnic curriculum.

Unfortunately, to enter NUS, I realized that I had to take an English placement test. After three years of not writing academic essays, the horrifying reality finally crashed into me when I stared at the test paper. It was frustrating when I was not able to string my thoughts and ideas together fluently in the essay. Thus, it was not surprising when I knew I had to take this module.

Thus, in the lessons of ES1102, I will try to change my negative mindset regarding learning English. Hopefully, I am able to get rid of my fear of English at the end of this upcoming journey (which I am sure will not only be filled with hardships, but laughter and joy as well) with my teachers and my peers.

<329 words>

Hi! Thank you for reading my blog.

As you can see, this blog will be solely dedicated to ES1102.

To my peers, who will be embarking on this changing journey filled with bravery and laughter with me, let's enjoy this period together! :3


がんばりましょう！
以上です。O(^m^)O