Write, Converse and Comprehend Effectively in English Language

Written By: S.Sulianah (B.A Psych & Mktg Mgmt, DHMS,DSB,DBM,DHA)

All Rights Reserved S.Sulianah

My purpose of composing this article is to dedicate these tips to my dear youngest cousins. My uncle called me a few days ago requesting me to encourage his kids and provide recommendations on how to enhance their English language subject. This is to prepare them for their upcoming final exams. They are ace students for their Maths, Science and Humanities subjects. However, since English is a first language that is compulsory to pass here, students have to strive a good grade to qualify for the next grade or graduate. Since I ended up starting a conversation about food with my cousin instead, definitely that did not go well. Therefore, I decided to write this article. On the other hand, I can share these tips to others who might need some ideas. This write-up is based on my personal experiences. There could be loads of ideas and suggestions from others out there. You just need to explore. To strive in any languages and for this case, English, one might want to look into developing these areas: Write, Converse and Comprehend.

Writing In English
This is one of the vital areas in communication. Misunderstandings in emails and letters normally occur due to a mere error, which is the inappropriate use of a word or a grammar mistake. To improve in writing, you have to read more. Yes, I know everyone reads. However, what I meant here is read more. Plan on what materials to read and how many books to read in weekly basis. Read fiction books, e-books, motivation books, newspapers and many other types of writings. If you had the chance to watch the movie 'The Book Thief', you will understand the importance of reading and its impact to the development of a person's mindset. During my high school, our school sessions normally starts with reading. Since English is our first language, we are allowed to only read English books or non-entertainment magazines. I love this session as that was when we had the chance to read non-school materials. The purpose of this session in our school was to develop students' interest in reading, explore new ideas and knowledge.

Spent your idle time, reading. Instead of playing, read. I used to spent my recess time and after school with my two close friends, Noraini and Reena, reading and borrowing books in our school library. I read at least three books or more a week, fiction and selfmotivation/inspiration genre. I will focus reading English and my mother tongue language,

Malay books. Do not stop yourself from reading at least one comic book, for entertainment. Tick your mind with humour. It needs it. Once you start reading, you will be addicted to it. Your interest will develop naturally.

Revise what you had learnt in school daily. Target at least 2-3 hours daily. I know it is tiring. You can reward yourself to play video games/sports games after that. Put in effort and have fun too!

Do not neglect any homework assigned. Motivate yourself mentally to do it and do not copy from your classmates. If you are determined, you will see encouraging results. My English teacher, Mr Tan used to tell us to write summaries of what we read as assignments. I used to take the opportunities to practice my writing. Due to that, my composition results kept improving, from fails to passes, and then to highest marks. Keep moving on!

Observe and learn on the ways sentences are formed, and vocabulary are used from those pieces of writings you read. Try it when you write your compositions and essays.

Discipline yourself. Create a time-table that is manageable to do after school. Train yourself like how Hiccup trained his dragon. Do not expect your parents to do that for you. They are only motivators. Other than that, everything depends on you. It is less stressful if you control your own schedule instead of your parents doing it for you. My dad used to persistently trained my brother and I to read newspapers and write summaries of what we read when I was in primary school. It was exhausting to do those exercises. At one point of time, I stopped doing it. I ended up failing my English exams during those days. Fortunately, I managed to realised that I had to do something before my Primary School Leaving Exam (PSLE). The difference if you plan it yourself, you will create an interest within you. You will not feel the pain. Realised soon, and you will not regret it!

Extract at least 10-15 new words from the dictionary or books you had read. If you could manage more, do it. Look into the dictionary, select accordingly and memorise those words. Understand the meaning of the words. Simply use these new words and apply it in your exams' comprehension, essays and thesis writings. Use sentences in your essays/thesis that can utilise those new words you learnt. I did this during my high school, polytechnic and university and had applied this for my German Language tests and exams in my polytechnic. It was an Ace. Nothing will go off beam if you know the formula to it. Try it!

The friends you are with is one of the contributors to how your mind is set to strive for success. My two friends were one of those in my high school. I experienced another level of challenge in managing English language when I was in University. Writing my psychology thesis and reports were a nightmare. Psychology writing is not as easy as writing a composition in my high school or business reports in polytechnic. I had not been writing for quite a long time since I graduated from polytechnic. Psychology thesis is writing professionally with research and citations. It took me about one trimester to then realise that I have to initiate myself to read again. This time, reading research articles and reference books instead of novels. My other strategy was to mark a classmate of mine, Nazima as a target. She is fluent in her English conversation and writing. So, I had indirectly used her (without her knowledge) to consistently communicate in English. Whenever she speaks in our mother tongue language, I will reply in English. And yes, I was keen to that extent. I always thanked her till now. Your right choice of friends will create optimistic impact to your journey in life. If someone else said you can't or you are just wasting your time in education, ask yourself..who do you belong to? Yourself or them? The points I had shared are based on my real life experiences. It needs patience, effort, focus and determination. With these commitments, my English language grades improved from C5/C6 to B3 and A2 for my 'N' and 'O' levels. As for mother tongue 'O' level exam, in our batch we were the only ones who need not re-take it at the end of the year. Noraini and I had the highest grades for Malay, while Reena for Hindi. My psychology and marketing's thesis results improved from grade C/Ds to B/As and at times Distinctions. Confidence will be there if it comes with knowledge and positive thinking. As of to date, I had written and published in the internet numerous articles on psychology and graphology, personal stories, travel blogs, poems and even motivational quotes in English since I graduated from my degree. There were a few of my write-ups in magazines too. The trainings to write psychology thesis, marketing reports and those past experiences seems to work well. I do not mind if people or friends read it. There could be flaws in those writings. Improve it from time to time. It is hard sometimes to tell people what you think or feel, but in writings, it is easier. Be confident when you write but not exaggerate confidence. Relax. Ideas will flow when you relax. You will not believe how your mind will wander and you will naturally write as it is.

 Conversing in English
Conversing in English might be stress-free if you are brought up in a family or environment where everyone speaks that language. However, if you are in a household and friends that speaks your mother tongue language only, it might be a challenge. Conversing fluently in English was a challenge since I was in kindergarten. I am not the type who likes to talk. Most of the time, I had difficulties understanding what they are trying to say. In primary and high school, I remembered speaking English with plenty grammar flaws and had ended up stuttering. The specific best moment in high school was when I could strive my English and mother tongue language oral exams calmly. It is still clear in my mind depicting the day of that exam. The moments I managed to describe the picture and discussed my perspective on the topic with ease. I was one of those with the highest marks in that batch. To achieve that, I had prepared myself for 2-3 years with reading, writing and communicating. Be patient, determine and focus on your aim. If you ever have the opportunities to present your projects or ideas in class, do it. We had those opportunities in our Moral education and Science classes in high school and business presentations in polytechnic. Those periods will test your confidence and you will learn from your strengths and limitations in presentation skills. You will be amazed on what you can do. You will remember it forever.

Watch and listen to English programmes. I had explored this and it works to my amazement. Since my university days, I had started to watch English programmes; entertainment talk shows, interviews, dramas, listening to English songs and comprehend the lyrics. You will sub-consciously learnt the way the professionals and the talk show hosts communicate their thoughts. Observe the way they managed their voice, the use of sentences and expressions. Even though you might not learned it consciously, the frequent exposure will embed the experience at the back of your mind. Observe yourself. You will notice the difference in the way you speak gradually. The way I speak nowadays is so much better than years back. In fact, it had build my confidence to speak to individuals and large audience. Due to that, I had the confidence to accept invitations to speak in seminars/workshops and events. In the past, the prominent barrier to try this was my doubt that I could speak English fluently. Though I am still learning, it is not as bad as previously. The difference will be extreme if you have interest in what you are doing and your enthusiasm to achieve your goals in your life. P/S: Matter of fact, there were individuals whom I met recently had mistaken me to be from London or Europe.

Comprehension

To comprehend a conversation or a piece of writing, it needs a tad of your effort to understand the pieces which you had read or listened. Listen when someone is talking to you. Do not interrupt. This is part of communication and interpersonal skill which you need to train yourself. If you listen, you will understand better.

When you read something, engage your mind to imagine the situation, the story plot, the possibilities in the storyline and the characters involved in it. Since I realised its importance, whenever I read a piece, I trained my mind to understand the underlying situation and visualize it. Then, I will communicate it based on my understanding of the settings. You will learn this while you are watching those English programmes or whenever you speak to people. It will be subliminal. I still put into practice to communicate pieces of what I read. I am trying the technique to entice people to believe in what I understand from those pieces of facts. That requires understanding the timeline of the situation complement with other evidences, selfconfidence and voice management. This needs extra effort. However for basic use in school, apply it in a simple way. In conclusion, do remember that the basics which we discovered in our initial stage of learning in schools and home are the most important phase. That was when our brain accepts fresh information and it will ingrained in our mind till we age. It will be the root and a foundation to what we will build in the future. Therefore understand and remember the basic knowledge on grammars, punctuations, vocabulary and others. These are the main elements that will help us to write, converse and comprehend effectively in the future. Before you prepare for an exam -- Target, Prepare, Breathe and Strive. In addition, whatever your religion or belief is, remember to pray and ask for support and comfort from The One you Believe in, before you embark every journey in your life.

I would like to wish my awesome smarty-pants cousins and everyone who will be preparing for your studies and exams, all the very best wishes!! Believe that You Can Do It!!

About the Author:

S.Sulianah had graduated from her studies in Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and Marketing Management from Murdoch University. She holds a Diploma in Business Management, specialised in E-Commerce from Nanyang Polytechnic,Singapore. Applying her studies in psychology with experience in handwriting analysis had appealed her presence in practicing this remarkable science. She was awarded a Diploma in Handwriting Analysis from International Correspondence Schools-USA. She had attended a lecture on Personnel and Children's Handwriting with The London College of Graphology. She is also a member of International GraphoAnalysis Society,Inc (IGAS). Its application has been an interesting and helpful tool to understand her clients better. The Science of Handwriting Analysis, on the other hand, had assisted her in human resource management practice to communicate with people more effectively and selecting employees for organizations. Apart from that, she had undertaken studies in Schussler Biochemistry and a Homeopathic Practitioner, certified with Diploma in Homeopathic Medical Science by The Homeopathic Academy Council of Malaysia, and Diploma in Schussler Biochemistry by Institute of Homeopathy America. S.Sulianah had been exposed to various experiences with a favorable number of clients during the course of study and for the past few years. She had conducted detailed researches and from the vast assistance from her helpful and knowledgeable professors, experienced homeopaths and even dedicated course mates, she managed her first fibroid case with success. It took a number of months to achieve the positive results. Positive changes occurred, and that had motivated her to keep learning about it. She had published articles mainly on handwriting analysis/graphology, psychology, Biochemistry and Homeopathy. You can view some of her works here: Articles Archives At times, motivational quotes and poems are one of the ways she expressed her ideas and thoughts: Poems and Quotes For magazines and online articles published by HRMAsia, CLEO, HerWorld, 938live, mypaper and JobsCentral Community; Publications Archives For enquiries, email to author at ctsulianah@yahoo.com
All Rights Reserved S.Sulianah