Before I took the class ENG 101, I struggled so much with writing. From sending simple emails to people, to sending texts to my children, I had always had a hard time collecting my thoughts and writing them down. I did not think I learned very much from this class, yet I was expecting it to be very difficult for me. Because of my origin, my native language is not English. When I speak, my thoughts usually come to me in Amharic, my native language. It used to be so challenging for me to speak English because I would mix up the two languages, but because of all the writing exercises and assignments, we’d had to do this semester, I don’t struggle with that anymore. ENG 101 completely changed the way I see the English language and writing.
The first class I took at Shelton State was Basic English. Taking that class significantly improved the way I spoke English, but it did not do a lot to help my writing skills. This semester I signed up for ENG 101 hoping to improve my reading and writing skills. When I started the class, my expectations were pretty high. I wanted all A’s and to be a great writer, but most of …show more content…
I had to juggle taking care of my family, taking three classes, and having an internship this semester. However, I made it work somehow. Looking back, I think the biggest change I see in my writing today is in the way I write essays. Before ENG 101, I did not know how to write a proper Thesis sentence. I never really separated my essay into the intro, body, and conclusion paragraphs and I mixed it all up. I learned very important assets for a good research essay such as quotes and a lot of different sources. The Smarthinking program really helped me understand what I had to fix in my essays, and I truly appreciate all the encouragement and support I got from the program. This class has given me the confidence and inspiration to write on my own without necessarily needing the help of