Good Example Of A Roller Coaster Ride Of English Essay

Listening and speaking are the best means of learning any language. Reading and writing only complicate the process of learning. I am talking about my experience with English language, which I believe is the most complex language I have ever come across. Coming from Kwait, Arabic is my first language. English, being a global language, has had a huge impact on my country. Consequently, the children there are supposed to learn English since grade one.
English had always been a trouble for me. It was difficult because I didn’t have the favourable atmosphere at home. As I told earlier, there was hardly any listening of English conversation at home and speaking it at that age was beyond my imagination. So, a tutor was hired to reduce the difficulty level. It really worked and provided me with the much needed initial help. Till grade fifth, I had a smooth run with the help of my tutor. In fact, I began to love this language. But this pleasant journey for a short period came to an end, when I reached the grade six. The promotion of one level came with a shock of not having the same tutor in the time to come.
My journey with English can be divided into two phases- The first phase from the grade one to grade five and the second phase from grade six onwards. The first phase was new, but not difficult. There were lot of aids available to facilitate the learning. The teachers in the school were sensitive and responsive. Plus, there was an additional support available at home in the form of tutor. There was less memorising and more natural learning. So, the initial phase was filled with pleasure. No wonder, I started loving this foreign language. The second phase was really formidable due to two reasons. First, the life support available to me ceased to exist. The home tutor was no longer available. Second, there was change in the teaching methodology at school. Now, the stress was more on advanced language and literature. I was expected to get familiar with the newly introduced tools in bare minimum time. The teachers at school also had different teaching style. They assumed that, since I had finished five years with English, I should cope with the increased study load. The outcome was that .whatever I had gained in the first part of learning, started weakening. The confidence, too, went down. Naturally, the love for English vanished in a short period.
Now it’s time to share all my observations of the last several years pertaining to English. This part is devoted to the two aspects of learning any language-reading and writing. To begin with, reading was not difficult as long as the nursery rhymes were concerned. The real difficulty was encountered when I came across the words where letters had different sounds at different places. Sometimes, the sound of the same alphabet changes at different places within the same word. Further, the silent alphabets in the words did their best to confuse me. And these words are not few. Therefore, to pronounce a word correctly, the listening of the correct pronunciation was a must .Unfortunately, the books I had couldn’t speak the word .So, the correct pronunciation of the unusual words always remained a mystery. Expectedly, as a child, I did bare minimum reading because of the fear of being mocked due to mispronunciation of any word. Nevertheless, the condition of my reading part of English was still ok in the initial years of interaction with English. If the reading part was difficult, the writing part was completely scary. I can say this due to multiple reasons. Firstly, writing requires more efforts than reading. Secondly, the role of the grammar becomes dominant in a written piece. And grammar doesn’t come alone. It comes loaded with several rules and regulations and, of course, plenty of exceptions. The more I tried to learn grammar, the more I got confused and puzzled. My condition was aggravated by the absence of any help and the change in system of education. Thirdly, the spelling was another big hurdle. I would be totally confused when the words having silent alphabets had to be written. I struggled with the words like ‘knife’, ‘hour’ etc. If failed to understand, why there was a need to use any alphabet if it didn’t have any role in the sound. Another grey area was the use of repeat alphabets in a word. I can't recollect the number of mistakes I made while writing the word ‘committee’. It has three alphabets that repeat themselves. Same was the case with many other words. Every time, I encountered a difficult word, my confidence was shaken and it made me believe that I am not made for this language. On top of these reasons, my hand writing was far from satisfactory. Whether I like it or not, English has its own importance and status across the world. In my home country, it was prevalent. Now, as an international student, it is chasing me. So, I have come to terms with the harsh reality that, besides any professional skill, the linguistic skill in English is unavoidable. As light dispels darkness, I want fresh approach towards English to drive out the hatred for this language. Things are changing for the better. With growing maturity and increased understanding, English now appears less frightening.
I would say, in fact, that English itself was not difficult. It was the lack of support that made it beyond my reach. It was natural for me to stay away from English like any unknown object. If the support I enjoyed for initial five years had continued, things would have been different and much better. Anyway, let the bygone be bygone. I want to start afresh with all the learning of the past pushing me ahead. Sooner or later, I expect myself to have a different perception about English.