Learning the English Language at the University - Essay Example

Entry 1: This was my first week in the university. In the first week I was introduced to English language. This was my first time to attend an English class and I was excited to learn something new. We started by learning the Structure of English as a language. We started by learning the English alphabets from A-Z and moved to construction of words, classes of words, meaning of words, how words are organized to form a sentence, sounds of words and pronunciation of those words. I also learnt how to describe actions using subject nouns, verb and object noun. I was able to create simple sentences after this lesson using simple verbs and nouns. In the beginning, I had difficulties in differentiating between subject verbs and object verbs. But with the help of the teacher and practicing using revision kits, I was able to understand the difference. We also learnt about plural and singular of various nouns. It is also in the first week that I was introduced to my other courses including micro-economic, financial accounting and introduction to management. I had a lot of difficulties understanding this subjects considering it was my first week and I had not mastered English very well. However, the lecturers understood and they were taking us slowly and they understood that we had not yet learnt a lot of English yet. I also had a lot of difficulties pronouncing the English words we had learnt correctly and many times I had to refer to English Dictionary to get the correct pronunciation. At the end of the first week, I can say it was a successful one and interesting considering I was still adjusting to the new learning environment while learning new things that I had not done before. Entry 2 In the second week, we learnt more on verb tenses. I learnt that there are several types of verb tenses. I learnt that verb tenses tell us what time the action took place whether it is in the past, present or in the future. In the first lesson, we learned about the first group of verb tenses: simple present, simple past and simple future. I learnt that we use simple present tenses for the actions we do regularly. For example, ‘I eat breakfast in the morning’ means that it is something I do regularly. Simple past tenses are use for actions that happened in the past for example, ‘My mother drove me to school’. Simple future tenses on the other hand are used to describe those actions that have not taken place yet but will take place at a later time. For example ‘I will eat supper in the evening.’ The other group of tenses that I learned about were the perfect tenses which use helping verbs (have, has, had, will and shall) and the past participle of the verb. I had some difficulties understanding the perfect tenses especially knowing where to use the helping verbs. I specifically had problems with knowing where to use have and has in different tenses. I found that very confusing. I had to take time to go through the lecture notes so that I could understand them. The last group of tenses that we learnt about was the continuous tenses. I learnt that continuo tenses are used to describe actions that are continuing. In this case, to form the verb, I learnt that you add the verb ‘be’ together with the present participle of the verb (ending with -ing) This week was a tough one but I did achieve a lot as I was learning more written English which made it easier for me to learn the other subjects. Entry 3: In week three, we start to work on writing skills. This was very important lesson considering I wanted to improve my English skills. Our teacher started by telling us that strong English writing skills need one to be determined and practice a lot. And that becoming a good writer will require a lot of time and practice to get it right. I was determined to be a good writer and for this reason, I was ready to put my all in this week’s lessons. As part of the lesson, the teacher asked us to write on several topics so that we would practice writing. Keeping the reflective journal was one of the tasks which would help us look back and see how much we have improved. During this week, I wrote many essays including an essay about myself, my home country, global warming and financial crisis. With daily writing, I created a new habit which soon became something I was looking forward to as I was determined to see myself improve. During my free time, I would write about anything that was in my mind. What I saw, what I heard, the news on the Television and sometimes I would make up stories. I would then revise my work to see if my message was clear. In order to know if my grammar was correct, I subscribed to an online grammar checker known as Grammarly where I would submit my essay for grammar and spelling check. I would say that this week was also a successful one. However, there are areas of improvement in my writing as some of my spellings were still wrong. I needed to do more practice to ensure that I was perfecting my skills in writing. However, with more practice in English writing, I can say that it has improved my experience in the other subjects. Entry 4: In the fourth week, we focused on improving our reading skills. Reading is a very important part of learning any language and the teacher encouraged us improve our reading by applying the same skills that we used to know our own language. I learnt that the best way to improve my reading is by thinking about how I read in my own language. i started by thinking how I read different documents in my language. How I read the newspapers, how I read novels, how I read the bible and even the train schedules. This week was particularly important for me as improving my reading skills would reduce the time I was using in reading and enable me to read in a selective and focused manner. By the end of this session, I was able to increase my level of concentration and understanding in the other subjects that I was doing. I learned that improving my reading would be a process and I had to do certain things to achieve this. Of most importance, I had to set clear reading goals. Every day, I determined exactly what I wanted to read. Each day I selected different topic in the subjects that I was studying and read it. I started with microeconomic textbook where I would read each topic a day to enhance my reading. I leant that reading can take several types: skimming, scanning, detailed reading and note taking. At the end of the week, I feel I had achieved my study goal which was to learn how to read. However, I still had problems raeding certain words and I needed a lot of practice to get it right. in order to do this, me and my colleagues formed study groups where after class, we would take textbooks or newspaper extract and read them aloud to our colleagues. It was easier learning as a group than learning as an individual. Entry 5: In week five, we learnt on how we can improve our listening skills. I must admit that I am not a very good listener and am glad that we have this lesson to teach us how to be better listeners especially if we are to improve our English language. our teacher gave us simple stragegies to improve our listening skills. first, he also told us to accept the fact that we were not going to know everything in English-Rome was not build in one day, he also told us to always stay relaxed even when you do not understand. Keep listening, he strongly advised us not to translate what we did not understand in our native language as this was highly distractive and finally he said we should listen to the general idea of the conversation and not concentrate on the details until we understand the main idea. Initially I had problems understanding spoken English because when I did not understand a word, I would insist on translating it in my mind to my native language. I now understand that this approach was not the best as it always left me more confused. Translating created a barrier between me and the speaker. But my remaining relaxed as the teacher advised, I notice that even though I could not understand all the words, I could understand what the speaker was saying. The most important lesson for the week was to stop translating as it will create a block between me and the speaker and to instead remain relaxed and concentrate. I also learnt that to improve my listening skills, I need to concentrate on the subject of study and avoid any internal and external distractions. Like other topics, I need to improve my listening skills and the only way I can do that is by practicing. Listening to news, watching movies that are in English language will be helpful Entry 6: During this week, I made an action plan that was going to help me learn English language. Knowing any foreign language is a challenge and a lot of practice is needed to master it. I have done several quizzes so far and tried speaking English with my friends all of which have been of great help. However, there was need for me to create a routine that would make my studying English a habit. I was going to have a listen session which would take 10 minutes early in the morning every day. I would listen to Audiobooks, news and English tutorials to help me enhance my listening skills. I allocate 10 minutes in between the lessons where I and my group mates would go practice on reading. We selected subjects that we were all interested in and we would practice reading them aloud. In order to improve on my vocabulary, I dedicate 10 minutes of my time to improve my vocabulary. During this time, I write all new words that I learnt while listening to my lecturers or in my listening session or during my reading session. I keep a small notebook where I write all those new words and translate them to my native language. In an effort to improve my grammar, I put aside 10 minute in a day to think about what I was learning in my English class in my grammar book. I take a quick look at the grammar and then I think about my reading and listening practices. I then think if I heard or read those forms ad how they were used. So as to improve my speaking skills, I took five minutes to lead aloud to try and summarize what I had read and listened to. I do this with the help of my colleagues who we practice with. Entry 7 In week 7, we took time to reflect on how the skills we had learnt in class were helping us in our other areas of study and of our life. The skills that I had learnt in my English class helped me in so many ways. To begin with, I had serious problems understanding my other units (introduction to financial management, microeconomics and accounting) without a background in English. However, as weeks passed by and I learnt more English, I was able to understand many topics that I previously viewed to be very difficult. For example, in Economics, I had difficulties understand the difference between demand and supply considering those were difficult terminologies to understand without some background in English. But with more lessons in English, I was able to clearly understand those terms and better enjoy my Economics classes. My first tests, I did not perform well in my units because I did not understand the subjects well, but with time and having adjusted to the environment, I was able to improve my class performance. The English skills I learnt also helped me a lot outside class. For example, I could now listen to news on television, read newspaper and know what was happening around me. I could read the train schedules with no difficulties which mean that I relied less on people to assist me. I could walk to a hotel or a pizza stand and comfortably ask for my favorite food without worrying if I was getting the words correctly. I improved my communication skills and I could communicate and express myself with ease. I could listen to my favorite TV shows which I could not listen to before because they were aired in English. Adapting to the new culture was not easy and even more with a foreign language that I did not understand. However, with the English skills that I had learnt in class, my adjustment to the new culture was made a little bit easier. I have had a wonderful experience learning a new language. Read More