When I look back the day I left my country to start this new career, this day seems so far away but at the same time, so close that I can remember it almost entirely.
I remember the day I came after many years that I had my last English lessons, thinking about how difficult could be for me to speak and listen. I remember the first time I had an English teacher while I was studying English at Peru and how difficult was to understand him because it was the first time we were listening to a native speaker.
From that time I remember I used to be very confident about my writing skills and because of the previous I mentioned, a bit worried about being clear while speaking and also listening.
But everything changed as soon as I met my flatmates, we were able to speak about different and mostly non-academic topics. Several weeks of coexistence with them, after listening to different styles, pronunciation and ideas, helped me a lot to feel relaxed to explain the ones I wanted to share in my still now quite basic English.
But then the days passed, and writing assignment started, There I thought it was not perfect but acceptable, but after receiving the feedback all my worries from the past about speaking turned into writing. Everything began when I received my first feedback after submitting my first piece of work. It was not only about the style but the assignment by itself where from words of my examiner, I went so muddy there.
I would like to say that my English had a significant improvement, but I can only add that I’m still trying to be more clear on my writing. Sometimes I’m perfectly aware that after writing, there’s something missing or unclear; that certain words can be misunderstood if I don’t explain what I was talking about or what was the subject. Then, I couldn’t say that it has been a significant improvement when writing, but now I prefer to be a bit redundant than thinking that my reader will be able to assume what I was thinking when I was writing such incomplete sentence or paragraph.
Besides the English language, another challenge was to learn a new Programming Language, in this case, R, in a different language by using only tutorials and virtual academies. The most challenging part was about the time it takes me to do tasks I used to do quickly after learning how to code with my Peruvian teachers. Sometimes it can be frustrating to see just a little progress after several hours or days to understand an assignment or to find an error just because I wasn’t able to understand the question.
So, finally, I have to talk about reading. It was supposed that my best score in IELTS was obtained thanks to my advanced reading comprehension. Unfortunately for me, academic reading can be exhausting sometimes and summarising or finding the gap in the literature, coincidences and then criticising what the author said, must be an almost impossible task for a newcomer. At this respect, something I invest some time to learn and understand is that developing an essential communication with your supervisor (if you are doing research) and tutors for each course is critical, not only when an exam or a coursework deadline is near, but every time you have a question, and you cannot solve it on your own.
If you come from Peru or your country has a similar education system as Peru with different length of terms, exams, assignments and deadlines, it is essential to learn how every course is assessed by the end. Self-discipline to organise your learning progress and proper time management will be necessary to avoid stress and last minute rush and stress by the end of each term. Also, you’ll find that some coursework is individual. Nevertheless, you can share and reinforce your knowledge by working together with your classmates; of course, you’ll not develop a unique version with them, but you’ll find out that sometimes what you believe about the task is not the same that others understood about it, including your tutor.
I remember the day I came after many years that I had my last English lessons, thinking about how difficult could be for me to speak and listen. I remember the first time I had an English teacher while I was studying English at Peru and how difficult was to understand him because it was the first time we were listening to a native speaker.
From that time I remember I used to be very confident about my writing skills and because of the previous I mentioned, a bit worried about being clear while speaking and also listening.
But everything changed as soon as I met my flatmates, we were able to speak about different and mostly non-academic topics. Several weeks of coexistence with them, after listening to different styles, pronunciation and ideas, helped me a lot to feel relaxed to explain the ones I wanted to share in my still now quite basic English.
But then the days passed, and writing assignment started, There I thought it was not perfect but acceptable, but after receiving the feedback all my worries from the past about speaking turned into writing. Everything began when I received my first feedback after submitting my first piece of work. It was not only about the style but the assignment by itself where from words of my examiner, I went so muddy there.
I would like to say that my English had a significant improvement, but I can only add that I’m still trying to be more clear on my writing. Sometimes I’m perfectly aware that after writing, there’s something missing or unclear; that certain words can be misunderstood if I don’t explain what I was talking about or what was the subject. Then, I couldn’t say that it has been a significant improvement when writing, but now I prefer to be a bit redundant than thinking that my reader will be able to assume what I was thinking when I was writing such incomplete sentence or paragraph.
Besides the English language, another challenge was to learn a new Programming Language, in this case, R, in a different language by using only tutorials and virtual academies. The most challenging part was about the time it takes me to do tasks I used to do quickly after learning how to code with my Peruvian teachers. Sometimes it can be frustrating to see just a little progress after several hours or days to understand an assignment or to find an error just because I wasn’t able to understand the question.
So, finally, I have to talk about reading. It was supposed that my best score in IELTS was obtained thanks to my advanced reading comprehension. Unfortunately for me, academic reading can be exhausting sometimes and summarising or finding the gap in the literature, coincidences and then criticising what the author said, must be an almost impossible task for a newcomer. At this respect, something I invest some time to learn and understand is that developing an essential communication with your supervisor (if you are doing research) and tutors for each course is critical, not only when an exam or a coursework deadline is near, but every time you have a question, and you cannot solve it on your own.
If you come from Peru or your country has a similar education system as Peru with different length of terms, exams, assignments and deadlines, it is essential to learn how every course is assessed by the end. Self-discipline to organise your learning progress and proper time management will be necessary to avoid stress and last minute rush and stress by the end of each term. Also, you’ll find that some coursework is individual. Nevertheless, you can share and reinforce your knowledge by working together with your classmates; of course, you’ll not develop a unique version with them, but you’ll find out that sometimes what you believe about the task is not the same that others understood about it, including your tutor.
