My English Learning Journey

I love learning languages. As for now, English is a language I'm confident I could use professionally. As a Malaysian, English is my second language. I went to an English/Malay school growing up. All the subjects were taught in English or Malay. However, English wasn't my best subject.

When I was in primary school, I had a friend from the other class. Let's call him D. He's one of those typical boys you find in schools. Every morning when he saw me, he'd come to me and say something to rile me up. Then, I'll chase him around the school and beat him up. Sometimes, it's not whether he riled me up or not. We had turned all the running into a routine.

During that time, I'd say that Math and Moral Studies were my best subjects. I went to tuition. We were taught at the round dining table in my teacher's house. Primary school students of different grades sat at the table, studying different subjects. The teacher would walk around the table and guide us in our studies. My math was advanced to the point where my teacher asked me to try to solve a question both she and the grade six student couldn't when I was in grade four.

That said, my favorite subject was Math. I hated Science. No comment for Malay and English. However, I hated it when I had to write English essays.

My tuition teacher would give me homework to complete at home. I would rant to my friend, D. His English was excellent but Math.. not so much. His family sent him to Math tuition. He felt as tortured as I did. We came to an agreement to exchange homework.

I would help him solve all the Math questions and he'd write my essays. We were both happy as those were our best subjects. However, I didn't copy everything he wrote for me. I changed them a little to fit my writing style and concepts. Slowly, my writing improved.

Fast forward to middle school. I started writing a blog. The blog was in Malay since my Malay is better than my English. I spoke Malay on a daily basis and was surrounded by Malay friends. I was so "Malay", my Malay teacher really thought I was one!

During my first year in high school, I was scrolling Facebook one night when I saw an advertisement. It was a home tuition ad, teaching Cambridge FCE (First Certificate in English). I stopped going to tuition in middle school. I thought they were a waste of time. This ad, however, caught my attention. "Wow! Sounds high class. *Cambridge FCE* (imagine me saying it Diva style)"

I messaged the teacher and that was a life changing decision. I started going to tuition for at least half a year. I found out that all the students were in middle school. I was the oldest student in the class. My English was slightly better, too. Thus, the teacher always referred to my answers when everyone wasn't sure. She put really high hopes on me because I was older. I felt pressured and pushed harder.

My English improved tremendously. I started going to a Cambridge center for CAE (Certificate in Advanced English) classes. After many years, I came to Taiwan. Later, I double majored in the Department of Applied English in university. After graduation, I taught in a tuition center for a year before leaving my job. Now, I plan to use this advantage to proceed with future life plans. Those plans, they're still cooking. I'll talk about them once they're ready to serve.

Till then!