To
be completely honest, I find it odd how I have landed myself in this class and be made to think about what the English language means to me. I would not dare to
proclaim about my level of proficiency in the language, but coming from an
English-speaking family (albeit mixed with Singlish like most Singaporean
families) and a generation that detests the Chinese language, I feel that I do
not have a valid excuse not to excel. In fact, I used to love writing when I
was much younger. I remember there was once in secondary school when I
scored a 26/30 for one of my essay examinations, which was a huge confidence
boost in my writing abilities, because such an occurrence was rare - even for the
generally good writers. However, my love for writing started to dwindle off when new types of essay writing were introduced in our syllabus.
I came to realise that the way English is taught in schools was very restrictive, and had always to follow a certain format. I believe the school was forcing us to adopt the approach they wanted, and we were penalised whenever we did not do so. Not that that was bad or wrong, but language in itself is something very dynamic and expressive and I think some of the essence of it is lost when the school forces us to conform in a certain way. This had left me to conclude that my forte lies only in narrative-writing and one-worded essays where I could freely express my ideas the way I wanted it to. I had managed to get away with that pass the O’levels because we still had that option of doing so; however this was no longer the case in GP. Despite struggling to adapt to the essay styles I have always avoided, I had managed to pick it up quickly although my grades usually fluctuated like crazy. Admittedly, I was caught off-guard in the A’levels when I knew I did not have sufficient knowledge for any of the questions posed.
Although I still feel slightly indignant for having my academic ability judged based just on a one-time examination, I guess I would just take it as a blessing in disguise to brush up on my skills (particularly so since I’m in FASS) and make the most out of this course!
(Edited 28/8/14)
I came to realise that the way English is taught in schools was very restrictive, and had always to follow a certain format. I believe the school was forcing us to adopt the approach they wanted, and we were penalised whenever we did not do so. Not that that was bad or wrong, but language in itself is something very dynamic and expressive and I think some of the essence of it is lost when the school forces us to conform in a certain way. This had left me to conclude that my forte lies only in narrative-writing and one-worded essays where I could freely express my ideas the way I wanted it to. I had managed to get away with that pass the O’levels because we still had that option of doing so; however this was no longer the case in GP. Despite struggling to adapt to the essay styles I have always avoided, I had managed to pick it up quickly although my grades usually fluctuated like crazy. Admittedly, I was caught off-guard in the A’levels when I knew I did not have sufficient knowledge for any of the questions posed.
Although I still feel slightly indignant for having my academic ability judged based just on a one-time examination, I guess I would just take it as a blessing in disguise to brush up on my skills (particularly so since I’m in FASS) and make the most out of this course!
(Edited 28/8/14)
