Coming from Malaysia, I was exposed to many languages from a small age; Chinese, Malay, Cantonese and lastly, English. One may have the stereotypical thinking that every Malaysian Chinese is excellent in Chinese, but in fact I’m the complete opposite. I only had Chinese as my teaching medium for only 1 year, then I switched to an English school. You could say I’ve been exposed to the English language for many years. My friends jokingly call me a banana, yellow (Chinese) on the outside, white (Angmo) on the inside.
Growing up in an English school, I was exposed to much English; both from my teachers and peers. English class was always fun and the teacher was a nice lady. Generally throughout primary school, my English was considerably good.
Coming to Singapore, it was like a whole new world with much to see and do. There were many friends to be made, and things to learn in school. At this period of time in Secondary school, I was more focused on other things such as CCAs and other subjects, like Mathematics and Science. Somehow, English didn’t catch my attention as it did previously. Unknown to me, my progression in English in 4years of secondary school had stalled. I thought I was good enough in it as I obtained a decent grade in my O’s.
In JC, General Paper was one of my hated subjects. I didn’t do well in it for the 2years. I was famous for having “EE”- Expression Error- all over my essays. Eventually I didn’t do as well as hoped, for both A’s and the QET.
Having to do ES1102, I was bummed about it at first, but now I’m just seeing what happens and where it takes me.
cheeehoues1102 
Thanks, Chee Hou, for this brief and honest overview of your experience to date with English. We get a sense from what you have written that you’ve been quite active in English for a long time. I can also see that you re very fluent. What doesn’t come through are concrete details that give real resonance to a reflective essay, even one as short as this one. For that reason I have lots of questions: What language did you speak at home with your parents? What motivated you to learn English when you were young? What motivated you when you were in secondary school?
I’m sure we’ll get to know more abut you this term.
Here are a few minor language and organizational issues to take note of:
1) …I was exposed to much English; both from my teachers and peers. > (punctuation)
2) Growing up in an English school, …. > (I’m not sure if this is the best verb.)
3) The second paragraph gives the impression that you had one teacher throughout school. That can’t be the case, right?
4) …other subjects, like Mathematics and Science. / in Secondary school > (capitalization)
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Thanks Mr Blackstone for the comments, i’ll take it into account!
To answer your questions, I speak Cantonese to my parents, and English to my friends! And both to my brother HAHA.
As to what motivated me to study English, my parents and teachers said that English was a global language, and it was important to learn it well for your future. So the thought of English being important was my motivation!
And lastly my motivation in secondary school was that i couldn’t waste my parent’s time and effort to send me to Singapore, so that kept me going during secondary school and possibly till now.
Hope I’ve answered some of your questions!
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Please eliminate the need for moderation.
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Thanks, CheeHou.
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