Aamir S
2010-07-16 21:49:58 UTC
My name is Aamir and English is my second language. Through out this semester I was challenged to learn new vocabulary words and amend my reading and writing ability. Before the beginning of class I was confused about my course, what we were going to study in class and how the professor would be. When I set my foot into class, I pretty much thought it would be smooth but my thought has changed as the semester progressed, class work and home work increased slightly.
On the first day of my class, I was really nervous because I had no idea how much work my teacher was going to give me. I thought it would improve my English by reading many books of fiction’s stories, comic books such as Superman and Me, scary stories and many more but never thought of reading a play. The teacher asked me to bring Pygmalion by Gorge Bernard Shaw. It’s a play written in British English which I was not familiar with. It was so difficult to understand some of its vocabulary. Coincidentally, it is one of my drafts that I am submitting in my portfolio I hope I am doing well. I bought a paper Dictionary, American Heritage. This Dictionary helped me a lot to gain the meaning of new words not only from that book but from other books such as 50 essays and computer lab’s books.
I had learned new words by submitting all of my context journals and home works. The context journals were that required me to first guess a new word then look it up in dictionary, and explain the meaning of certain words. I attended and participated in the entire class learning group activities that also contributed to accomplish my goals to enrich my English. I have noticed that this class has changed my habits on reading; I usually felt board when I read a book but now I enjoy reading books and news paper daily. I had also learned some basic features of Microsoft Office Word 2003 and 2007, for example how to edit header and margin the pages to desired lay out. During this course, I had learned how to type fast by practicing in my computer lab. I had visited tutors at 4:00 pm after my 4 hours class ended at 12:30 just to improve my ability in reading and writing. In this class I had not only learned how read and write but I also learned importance of time because it is essential for my college career and general life.
As a reader, I also felt more confident not only because I enriched my vocabulary, but also because I enjoyed reading as a source of information. I found it pleasant to sit calmly and enjoy reading a book. It is not as much as assignment as it is a curiosity of reading to find out what is next. I feel I learned to identify the main idea, phrase a thesis and understand the literary symbols in context.
I see myself as an active learner. I complete homework assignments as soon as I can and sometimes professor give us in class to get started on my homework. I ask answers of questions in class, and I take good notes that help me study later at home. I even used my electronic device to record lectures in my class and review it at home. When I was in high school, I often put off homework until the day before it was due and barely finished it. When I accepted to college, I decided to terminate that bad habit. I changed a lot after I got into college and now, completing the assignments is my priority.
Writing essays in this class was arduous or difficult than I expected. I thought the way I wrote was pretty decent based on the fact that my previous English teachers never critiqued me like Professor Ms. Jennifer. I should have known I was going to be more strictly critiqued. In this class have realized that how some of my sentences did not come together properly to express my complete thoughts as I have read the story of Superman and Me by Sherman Alexie, he is a native American, who compared his reservation as a small paragraph within the United States. His school and family member were like small paragraphs that connect to each other when he was child and living in reservation. I will like to say that I have learned how to write more efficiently while being in this class. I have also had the opportunity to receive help from my fellow peers, professor, and tutors which was very beneficial.
As a KCC student, I feel proud of my self that I was able to keep up with all my school work. At the end of this class I’ve learned quite a few things from my teacher and also my other classmates. I’ve learned how to effectively conclude my essays better than I had before. Now that I pay more attention to all of the mechanics in my essays, I've noticed an improvement in my reading and writing skills. With the skills I have attained from this course I am sure that my reading and writing will gradually improve over my college career. I hope to better succeed in my writing when I enter next level. My plan is to be able to write an essay that, when reviewed, has little to no errors. Once I've reached this goal, I can honest