An event that has shaped my life

Life is not always a bed of roses. Although there have been ups and downs in my life, I have never encountered any major setbacks that made me feel depressed, not before October 2010.

Watching your loved one suffer in pain is one of the most awful experience you could ever have. However, accidents are always happening in every corner of the world, making millions of innocent people suffer. In October 2010, my parents and I were involved in a car accident. The accident took away my mother’s leg, and at the same time it took away her freedom to do everything a normal person can do. It was a misery for my entire family, yet my mother’s attitude surprised everyone of us. Despite the pain and loss that she had undergone, she remained strong and cheerful, reluctant to succumb to the harsh fate.

From that moment onwards, I was strongly motivated by my mother to hold to that fighting spirit in life. Be it in my studies or in my everyday life, I never gave up easily as I would always think to myself that “if my mother could overcome the sadness and pain in that heartbreaking event, why can’t I do the same?”. Such spirit has truly helped me in my life journey as whenever I put up a strong fight to a tough obstacle, I gain in many different ways and also feel a sense of accomplishment.

I am proud of my mother and I really thank her for being such a role model for me to learn from. Although I would never forget the sadness that I went through during that accident, what really changed me is actually the spirit of never giving up no matter how harsh the circumstances are.

My English Language Learning Journey

English was the first language that I learnt when I was young. As a child, I enjoyed reading English storybooks under the influence of my parents. A large portion of my current English vocabulary and grammar was built up through those readings. As a result, English was always the easiest subject for me when I was in primary school.

However, after I was enrolled in a Chinese primary school and got used to the environment, I started to fear speaking in English. I rarely approached my father during my primary school and even high school days because he wanted my siblings and I to speak to him in English. Whenever I uttered out a sentence that was grammatically incorrect, he would point out my mistake immediately. I was afraid of making such mistakes at that time, but eventually I came to realize that these conversations played an important role in shaping my grammar foundation in English.

I continued my studies in a Chinese independent high school. During my high school days, we spent most of the time learning verb tenses and doing “fill in the blanks” exercises in our English classes. Essays were written almost on a monthly basis. In addition to that, I stopped reading English books and emphasized more on Science and Mathematics subjects. My English proficiency level has actually dropped due to my lack of exposure to English. I always take a long time to finish my English essays. I find it difficult to recall certain words in English as well. Even though I knew that communicating and writing in English is important, I never took the effort to polish up my English.

Therefore, I actually feel happy to take up this module. I hope to improve in both writing and speaking skills after taking this module, as it will definitely help in my university studies as well. At the same time, I also feel a little stressful to be in a class where I am the only non-Singaporean. I hope that my peers will not mind my poor English language skills and do point out when I make mistakes! May this new journey of English language learning be a fruitful and enjoyable one!

Edited on 28 August.