WRITING

Since I was little, I have touched English. My mother taught English to children, so there were many foreign friends of hers and they talked to baby me in English. I started to study English when I was elementary school student, which was earlier than my friends. For these reasons, I did not have any resistance to study Engｌish deeply, and I really wanted to know about it much more. I had good opportunities to study English in both junior high school and high school. Especially, in my high school, English education is encouraged. I was taught native English and I could feel that my English skil was improved. I had a little pride of my English.

However, when I took classes in Sophia University, I noticed that my English level is very low. When I took writing class of Professor Leyda for the first time, I felt much uneasiness because I could not understand what she said. "Why am I in this class? Can I get along this class for a year?" I was about to cry. And I also suffered homework. In fact, I had no experience of writing long works such as an essay. I had written only something like a diary about my summer vacation. Writing a 600 words blog was hard work for me at first. All my friends attending this writing class have very good skills of writing, so I felt inferior to them. Even now, the posts on my blog are like diaries about my summer vacations. But I feel less pain to write 600 words than before. When I write about my favorite things, for example, dance, my friends, my family, and so on, I had many things I wanted to write, so I even felt 600 words were little for me! I came to enjoy writing posts. I think by writing casually about my favorite topics, my writing are improved a little. At least, I came to like to write in English.

The biggest problem of mine in English was writing an essay. I did not know and hear MLA style and I had no knowledge on writing it. I did not know what should I do firstly in writing an essay. What is the most difficult for me is a word "academic." I can feel free when I write a blog post, but I have to follow academic style of writing when I write an essay. Maybe my first essay in this class was terrible. When it was returned by Professor Leyda, many comments by her on it. In this class, I could learn about how to write little by little. The lectures were understandable for students who have no knowledge about writing like me. I had an opportunity to write a term paper in 1000 words at other class. It was very very hard work, but if I had not attended this writing class, it would have been much harder. I already know academic form because I learned in this writing class. To my joy, score of the term paper was not bad! I was grad! I'm not good at writing an essay and a paper even now, I wonder if my skills became a little better.

Now, I have a thing that I want to get in writing. This is a sense of putting a title. On the term paper, I got a comment on the title. I always have difficulty in putting a title on my work. A title should convey the contents of the paper, but it should not be long, so I have to make a title which expresses exactly and briefly. It is difficult for me. Being able to put a good title is one of my aims next semester.

My writing skill is still bad, but maybe it became better than before. Thank you, Professor Leyda!