Evaluation of My English 49 Class

My frustrations run high after receiving a "C," in the first essay leading me to quit the class. This triggered my mind to the extent of wanting to return back to my homeland, Korea. At niche of time, my friends, classmates and tutors came to my rescue calming down my nervous. In particular, one of my American classmates in Chinese class challenged me saying, "Minju, why with such a grade would you want to quit the class? In my case, am scoring poorly in Chinese getting a "D," with my assistance, you will get a way out!" Although I knew his efforts were only meant to lift high my spirits, I found comfort in his words. In this regard, I took the initiative to give English 49 another try. In doing this, I realized my strengths and weaknesses in my preparations for this class through my essays having remarkable improvement.

As far as my writing strengths are concerned, I have full confidence in augmentative essays. At first, I faced hardship in understanding the Critical Thinking, Reading and Writing textbook's articles and essays which improved with time after reading the book frequently. Bit by bit, it took less time to analyze the material. I also am more confident in my expository writing because of my experience with a definition essay about happiness. I received positive feedback about that essay, and it was feedback which I had not expected. That was amongst my unforgettable moments due to the fact that not only had I studied English intensively within a short time, but as well grew more in confidence in return.

Alternatively, my shortcoming in essays lay on repetition of similar expressions and vocabulary. In looking at my essays I wrote this semester, I noticed more repetition of coordinating conjunctions like "and," "but," and "or" in place of "furthermore," "however," and "in addition." The difference now is that I am more aware of the parts of my writing that I need to improve, and I am able to write with better English when I revise my work and apply what I have learned.

In comparison with my previous English 43 class of last semester, improvements were evident in my studying of second language, English, in terms of writing, reading as well as speaking. My writing skills improved and extended to writing essays of different types like augmentative and narrative. Additionally, I got the opportunity to expand my reading beyond text books which broadened my comprehension reading. The most impressive book I read was the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass an American Slave that talks about an American slave. By not being acquainted with the subject, reading the book was difficult and required high knowledge of vocabulary and grammar. Furthermore, continuous encouragement by my instructor for classmates to engage with communication with each other provided a nice platform for public speaking without crowd fright.

Finally, I have to perfect my writing skills despite the milestones I have achieved in this class. This is because I continue making similar mistakes in matching verb tenses regardless of the great time I have devoted on them. To add on, I have realized the need of having diverse knowledge and information from varied fields like political science and economics. These fields add value to English classes by enhancing composition of argumentative essays. This was particularly demonstrated in my argument essays I was writing with a topic from Peter Singer's book "Famine, Affluence, and Morality" which was demanding as it needed knowledge of both economy and history together with elaborate reading ability of comprehensions to understand it.

To sum up, my full commitment to improve in English 49 class irrespective of the challenges makes me to have pride in myself. Through my improvement in essay writing my strengths overcame the weaknesses. Overall, my attitude towards my work improved regardless of the results. In addition, I have appreciated the need to expand my knowledge in diverse fields to advance my English. Despite the challenges I am facing in studying English, I have no regrets in studying overseas at San Diego Mesa College to become self-confident in myself.