My English Language Learning Journey

My English language learning journey began when I was born. As I emerged from my mother’s womb, I screamed a loud “ahhhh”. For about one year, that was the only expression I could utter. My mother told me that my first word was “mummy”.

Growing up in an English speaking family despite having a Chinese mother and an Indian father was a real blessing. Since then, my primary language of communication has been English. From primary till secondary school, attending English lessons and taking tests were a breeze. This was a subject which I did not have to study for, yet could do decently without any revision or practice. The pinnacle of my English language achievements would be my O level English grade, where I scored a respectable B3. 

 However, this trend did not continue. By the time I entered junior college, the lack of reading English materials had taken a toll on my English language capability. I initially struggled hard to get a passing grade in school, but this did not bother me as almost everybody in class was struggling as well.

Given the numerous content heavy subjects in school, I made the active decision to focus on my main subjects. This was so that I could reap better results for my core subjects, rather than focusing on my English grades which may not improve.

Eventually, having not studied English a single day in junior college, I got an E grade for my A levels. Because of this, I had to take the QET as my grade did not meet the minimum requirement.

As I flipped open the QET paper, I was pleasantly surprised as the essay topic was about robots, which I was interested in and had extensive knowledge about. I hastily planned my essay and started writing about all the arguments I could think of without any reference to the passages provided, despite it being an exam requirement. On hindsight, I should have read the exam requirements before proceeding with the essay. I believe I would have scored well should I have taken that approach instead.