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Do you guys remember writing your first essay back in primary school?
The one you wrote when your teacher said, "Write about yourself" or your family or something along the lines of an introduction in words.
I loved writing those essays for my teachers. I'm not sure why either but I was very keen in letting my presence be known to Ms.so-and-so or Mr so-and-so.
Perhaps it is so that I can validate myself with the knowledge that an adult is interested in my life- albeit it being a lot shorter in duration than his/her life.
This whole flashback on writing came when I was discussing about early childhood education with my mum earlier on.
I asked her if I was a natural with words or was it somehow programmed and installed into me when I was a kid. And she said that it was because she enforced really strict discipline on me ever since I was little.
I don't remember anything specific but I do know that I grew up listening to bedtime stories by my mum and went to the library almost every week with her. She would carry this huge bag and my siblings and I would lumber after her excitedly to the children's corner in the library. There, I will get lost in the world of fairytales and then somehow sneak my way to the aisle of craft books, plop myself on the floor and read about "how-to make jam cookies" or "how-to make paper mache", stuff like that.
The habit carried on through the years, although she eventually let me explore outside of the children's corner and I have been out here ever since.
Thinking back now, I believe my love for words really bloomed due to my mum's successful parenting, if I may say so.
If I remember accurately, she used to make us (my sibs and I) read for half an hour everyday before we could switch the television on to watch the 5pm programme on Kids Central. And when we finish a book, we could go over to her and exchange for a sticker that we'll stick on to our books.
Ah, those were the days.
If you guys don't know already, I have been giving voluntary tuition every Sunday at my youth group. And it has always been a puzzle to me as to why most of them didn't like reading or english. To me, the answer to better grades in the english paper was to simply read more, and to read more, one simply has to learn to like reading.
And then comes the hard part, how does one get another to like reading?
I guess that's why I'm here- because to find the answer to that question I had to ask myself the very same thing. Why do I like reading? Why do I like words? How did I come to like words?
I think I've found the answer while rambling aloud over here, and I hope you figured it too.
The key to falling in love with the English language, I realised,
is to surround yourself with books, find something that you actually like to read, and then discipline yourself to read every single day.
It doesn't have to be a novel, it can be a cookbook, a comic strip, a blog post, anything.
But make sure that you expose yourself to words and perhaps you too will realise how amazing these set of alphabets can be when they are pieced together and somehow be attached with meanings on them for you to express yourself.
Anyway, I thought it would be fun to re-write an introductory essay for myself, 13 years after what could have been my first essay
Hello.
My name is Han Jing.
I used to want an english name, because Han Jing is apparently two very difficult syllabuses to pronounce correctly, to most people. Somehow, my primary school years were filled with the desire to be more "ang-moh" and less chinese- because being western seemed more... classy.
Oh how wrong was I.
When I went to Junior College, I stopped wanting an english name. I realised that an english name was common, and I didn't want to be just another ____. But I was still bugged by the sight of a three syllabus name. So I stuck Han and Jing together- Hanjing.
It sounded Korean, so that made me feel quite special, as if having some korean ethnicity in my blood made me special. In a way, I guess I sought to be different. Ironically, I was doing everything to avoid being different right from the beginning.
I'm 20 this year. I realised how special my name is. All 3 syllabus of it. Yes it sounds remarkably chinese, and I'm quite glad of it. In fact, I realised how amazing chinese characters can be and that my name wasnt just some random letters thrown together or something that Google came up with.
Han- 涵养， Jing- 文静。
The first character Han, came from Han-yang which translates to being cultured, or a person with values and virtues.
Jing, comes from Wen-jing which roughly translates to being composed/quiet/gentle/temperate.
Besides that, i'm also not that capable in translation if you haven't realised.
But I would say that i'm quite fluent in both English and Chinese.
I've a really profound love for desserts, and baking/making them. The only thing I don't quite fancy about the process is scrubbing butter off the pans while trying to get rid of the greasy film on my fingers after.
But oh well, you gotta give some to get some.
I also have a quirky habit of borrowing as many cookbooks as I can from the library, read through them and then return them a week too late and get fined while doing so.
The thing is, having a pile of cook books on my table beside me as I study somehow deludes me into thinking that I will become a baker one day when all I really am is spend heaps of money on a university degree.
Don't get me wrong, it's not that I dislike Sociology. I chose it because I have a genuine interest in learning about how the world works.
And I figured that helping others/making the world a better place is something that answers to my purpose of life- or something like that.
I love my cakes, but at this moment, my altruistic side thinks that helping others will be more fulfilling to me in future than baking sweet treats.
I feel horrible saying that.
:(
Cakes do help people, they save tired souls all the time.
Meh. I'll figure a way to piece baking and helping people together and hopefully not go broke/starve.
But until then, know that I am not a night person, and I really should be heading to bed soon.
Oh and one last thing, use sunscreen. I strongly advocate the use of sunscreen and SPF, UV rays today are not a joke.