I always wanted to learn English as a child, and luckily my father got transferred to India from Korea and I got chance to be enrolled in a school where I had to take ESL-English as Second Language Classes. This was the turning point in my life. It seemed like new world opened before me. I was very lucky to have a teacher who encouraged us to interact and communicate in class with flashcards to make us memorize the keywords and phrases. She also had wonderful reading material which could be accessed by students. She also allowed us to take the materials home so that we could practice the language in the ease of our home.
I got introduced to many English stories and writers during this time. This was high school and I had so much pressure of work in other subjects still I managed in my free time to find time to practice English. In the summer after I graduated from high school, my mother seeing my keen interest in English gifted me with the book called Word Power Made Easy by Norman Louis and gave me journal book to maintain my vocabulary. This gift changed my life. I practiced the words everyday and recorded them in my journal, and gradually after I finished the book, I started recording my thoughts and experiences in another journal. This was beginning of real personal writing for me.
It is interesting with time and effort I improved in my spoken English as well as written English. I did very well in my high school and got admitted in a college in America and had made up my mind to take few selected courses in introductory college English. It was very difficult to choose the right course. I decided to take course in writing as I wanted to improve my writing and I also wanted that someone should correct my work and advise me so that I may improve. This was a great opportunity.
Interestingly, by now I had three years of exposure to English language and I could read simple novels. I discovered that I could absorb a lot of material if I watched English movies or TV shows. I experimented with something which has become passion for me. I select a novel which has been made into a movie and first sees the movie then read the novel and watch the movie once again. This has been a great discovery for me as I feel while doing this I have improved my listening, speaking and writing. It has especially influenced my writing greatly.
I have started maintaining the log of the movies I have seen and the novels I have read and recorded my personal comments in a journal. I can write in different styles depending on my mood on the novel a review, an evaluation, a critical analysis, compare and contrast or just my reflection and experience. I enjoy this silent and growing process very much. I find this very stimulating and enriching.
It is great I am in a writing class and my experience with writing for self has reflected well in my performance in the class as well. This is the first time that I got an “A” grade in my English class. The teacher gave me a very encouraging comment which has made me feel very happy. I can say that language has become a thing of inspiration for me and I am exploring it like a traveler on journey. I find this journey of learning and improving very nurturing and satisfying.