On the 31st March 2012 we were given this assignment which is for us to write an essay about our experience

in attending this course, English Language Proficiency 1 by Professor Norhazian . We were also given the task to prepare a mind map for the essay. The English language is not my strong suit and I didnt use it much during work or daily interactions so this is a challenging task for me. But there is a saying that goes like this when theres a will then theres a way so I will do my best with what I have newly learned. As a teacher I must have a better grasp of this important language as a lot of reference books are in this language and I might have to interact with parents that are more comfortable with using the English language. I struggled while in the process of learning since my english is not proficient enough but the course was fully in english so I took notes and discuss with friends after the recent class so that I would have more in depth understanding of the topics. We started by learning what we have learned before in high school which is about nouns, pronouns and adjectives so that we could use appropriate structures in

writing and speaking. The exercises and the follow up discussion of the topic in the class with my friends and professor helped me a lot. By the end of topic 1, I can say that I have finally grasp a better understanding of the correct use of verbs and adverbs in different type of writing and more confident when speaking in English while still not very fluently. The second topic we learned was about past, present and future tenses which was very important while writing an essay. These tenses have three forms, Simple, Progresive and Perfect. I learned to identify the different tenses in text thus helping me to remember the correct tenses when I write my own essay. The past tense expresses an action or situation that happened in the past and usually includded ed at the end of the verb. Present tense means an action or situation that is happening at the time and Future tense expresses an action or situation that will happen in the future, the verbs doesnt need an added ed but it was formed with adding will or shall in front of the verb.

I found that adding the ed behind the verbs as easy as a pie but I have trouble with using the correct tense when I have to write a longer text but that was also easily helped by the exercises and discusion with the class. Sometimes I still mix past and present tense in my essay as I am sure I did a lot of time in this essay. In the third topic, I learned about the three types of sentences in English which are compound sentence, simple sentence and complex sentence. A simple sentence has one complete thought and only one subject verb connection. Next we study compound sentence which means that when two or more simple sentences were joined by a coordinating conjunction they become a compound sentence. A few examples of coordination conjuction is for,and,nor,not,or,yet,so. A complex sentence consist of an independent clause and a dependent clause, joining them together. A dependent clause has a subject and predicate but do not express a complete thought. An independent clause consists of a subject and a predicate and has a complete thought. So far we covered three topics, nouns, tense and sentences. I can read and understand a variety of english texts. I can also speak a lot more fluently and confidently with other people because I know how to use the correct and appropriate language structures. I still make mistakes but with more practical practice and exercises I am sure I can only increase my speech and writings. I found that group discusion can really boost up my confidence because I has to speak up with my class mates and I am not the kind of person who talks much. I love brushing up my rusty english because I know I have a lot more to learn.