The challenge of academic writing for Chinese students within ...

Figure 8.6: Mia‘s perception of her learning experience in the UK between September 2007 and April 2009
My name is Mia. I was born and brought up in South China. My hometown is located by the
Zhujiang River. When I was a child, it was only a small coastal village, with a small
population. Fishery, shipping, shipbuilding and trade were the main industries at that time.
Life was not as easy as today. I remember my parents telling me that people often left here to
seek a better life in Shenzhen, one of China's five large Special Economic Zones. Some people
might even stow away to Hong Kong, which was still under the British government at that
moment, and they believed they could earn more money in Hong Kong. Nevertheless, China‘s
policy of reform and opening-up brought about great development for my hometown. Tertiary
industry, especially the cloth industry and manufacturing, leapt on to a large scale.
Nowadays, it turns out to be a modern city, with a big population and semi-developed tertiary
industry.
There are four people in my family: my father, my mother, me and my younger sister. My
parents used to run a grocery store. According to the best recollection of my memory of my
childhood, my sister and I spent most of our time in my grandparents‘ house, because father
and mother were always busy working in order to make a better living for us. However, my
father perceived that there was going to be a rapid growth in real estate market. In a few
years, with enough self-funding, my parents started a Real Estate Company. The business has
run so well that it did change our life. We moved into a large house and even bought cars.
My sister and I were able to study at university because the company provided sufficient
money.
I was fortunate enough to receive the best basic education in my hometown. From Grade 1 to
Grade 4 in my primary school, I learned Chinese, maths, P.E., art, moral course and natural
science. English was introduced in Grade 5. I suppose my motivation of learning English was
not as great as the school motto – to modernize China; I learned it only because it was a
course in my school but later I found interest in it. The English lessons started with learning
the letters ―abc‖, English songs and some simple dialogues, such as ―A: Hello! How are
you B: I‘m fine, thank you. And you‖ These actually made English easier for us. Me and
my classmates used these English words in our daily conversation. I was often impressed by
the stories, origins and customs about English.
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