2 Ways to Learn English

News Letter, No. 52

September 2019

English and Communication Studies,

English Language and Culture,

Reitaku University.

2-1-1 Hikarigaoka, Kashiwa-shi, Chiba-ken, 277-8686, Japan. Phone: 04-7173-3074

Steps to Learning English: Where Should You Start?

Growing up in Malaysia, English has never been my favorite language and subject. Compared to my other languages' scores such as Chinese and Malay, I was often the bottom three in my class when it comes to English. Neither did I know how to construct a sentence, nor did I understand how the grammar works. I hated English back then, and I had never thought that I would become an English teacher when I grew up.

Life would be a miracle if you made it one. My miracle happened when I bumped into an English Literature class when I was a third-year student at Fukushima University. I will always remember that class. Mr. Shimotori showed us that besides man and woman, there is also a third gender/sex (neither man nor woman, or both) in some ancient literature and asked us to draw a picture of it. Fascinated by this gender theory, I decided that I wanted to study English literature.

Getting into the field of English Literature with such low- level English skills was no fun at all. I was struggling to understand the hidden messages lie within the novel, not to mention theories like feminism, gender, and sexuality. However, I knew that the only way to overcome this struggle is to face it; there is no short cut when it comes to language learning.

My way to learn English is through "reading and re- reading." When I first read a novel or paper, I always use a pencil to underline the sentences which I think are important or interesting. When I see an unknown word, I will first try to guess what it means by reading the whole paragraph. If I still cannot get its meaning, I will check the dictionary on my phone (both English and Japanese/Chinese) and write down the definition on top of the word. I usually don't force myself to memorize those words. Instead, I put those words into my long-term memory through the process of re-reading. For me, repetition is an essential way for vocabulary building. Moreover, I find that whenever you re-read a novel, there is always something new that you will discover. Hence, re-reading is an excellent process for not only English vocabulary building and grammar studies but also literature analysis.

Another way for me to expert English is through the process of writing and re-writing. My encounter with "writing" started when I was studying American Literature at the graduate school of Osaka University. Steve, one of my English language professors, asked the class to begin writing journals in English. Every week he will check our journals only for grammar and vocabulary mistakes. As for content, we can write whatever we wanted to. It is through journal writing that I discovered my interest in writing stories in English. Very soon, I created a blog and started sharing my thoughts/ideas in English and received some interesting feedback from people from all over the world. Today, writing and sharing have become my daily habit, and I will continue to do that for the rest of my life.

In the class, Steve also told me that "the best writing is re- writing." Believing in Steve, I took this word seriously and started re-writing all my assignments and papers. By doing this, I became better at organizing my ideas and sentences in a logical form, providing a more effective presentation on my work. I find the process of re-writing both suffering and exciting, as sitting in front of the computer kills my shoulder, and yet I cannot wait to receive meaningful feedback from my readers.

At last, I wish every one of you can discover the field which you are genuinely interested in and study that field in English. Even though English is only a tool, a bridge, for us to get to the other path of what we want to achieve, the benefit of studying your beloved field in English is far more rewarding, as you can share your knowledge and ideas to people all over the world. To do that, you must (re)read and (re)write as much as you can during your time at Reitaku University. Remember: we, Reitaku teachers, are always here to help you. So please don't hesitate to ask for any help: “use” us as much as you could!