Brushing Up on English

Good day! Been busy updating blog, as you can see. The reason? I’m posting as much as I can while I’m still free to think and go online.

Well, my extremely, unbelievably low marks in my English essay has finally triggered the red alert: MUST IMPROVE ENGLISH! Since God has allowed my sponsor to generously offer me a study opportunity in UK, I should be up and about brushing up on my English. Here’s a picture I “saved” from the internet, my future twinning destination---University of Nottingham, UK. Totally heavenly. Thank you, God.^^

So, we are embarking on a whole new journey. By the way, our English lessons have morphed from fun to serious. That’s because we will be taking IELTS this year, no play-play. Today, we did our speaking practice. Speaking is actually my weakness, which by God’s grace, I hope to overcome. Speaking tests require candidates to be calm, confident, fluent in the language as well as  having the ability to express mature views on issues discussed.

To begin with, our lecturer decided to split us into 2 groups for an activity which she called “speed dating”. Don’t worry, we were allowed to date those of the same gender today. Haha. The main point was to make us comfortable conversing with our friends in English. So a group of individuals will be “the dates” and the other was “the interviewers”. I was one of the dates and I got to pick any interviewer I like. We changed partners every 5 minutes. Now that IS speed dating! Hehe!

I tried my best to eliminate Manglish elements in the conversations with my “dates”. Unfortunately, I only managed up to self introduction, then all the “lah”s and loh”s and “where got”s came spilling out like an overflowing river. Arghh. Irritating bad habit. Meanwhile, some of my “dates” encounter the same problem too. =) Sample conversation:

Me: Oh, so you’re from Penang…it’s famous for food, is it?

Date: Yes, there’s Penang char kuey teow for example.

Me: So, how much ah, the food prices at hawker stalls?

Date: Erm, normally ranging from RM3 to RM3.50 loh.

Me: Ohh…quite cheap also hoh, compared to places like KL.

So, we spoke in minimum amounts when the lecturer came by, embarrassed by our typical Manglish conversation in an English class. But speaking that way somehow proves that I am a Malaysian. Should we carry on preserving our proud Manglish heritage in UK? I wonder…

But where got people speak like that in UK? Everyone will be speaking good and real English mah.

To be on the safe side, I’d better practice and brush up my English.