After I came back from the “21st century-Ericsson cup”7th national English Speaking competition with the award of the “Most promising Speaker”, people kept asking me the same question over and over again. “How did you learn English, especially as a Non-English major?” Actually I believe that a hundred people would have a hundred of ways to learn English well. However, I would like to share my personal experience of English learning with those who have the enthusiasm for improve their English. Since I have set up three mirrors in my prepared speech in hoping that they would guide our young generation on the way to globalization, I would like to maintain three mirrors here to reflect how I learned English.
The first mirror, I assume, should reflect a steady foundation. This involves my first few years of English learning, which I consider as the key factor of all my achievements in the years to follow. At that time I entered the middle school attached to Xi’an Jiaoton University, I could only say my ABCs while others in my class could at least communicate in simple English. All the tales about the frightfulness of learning English then popped up in my mind and made me feel scared. Fortunately my first English teacher was very experienced in enlightening her students on English learning. She was a kind woman with a charming smile. But her homework assignments were not easy task: They required us to read after the tape for 20 times and recite the whole text. So it was quite natural that most of my classmates only recited the short essay within a short time and then went to play. But my fear of not being able to say a single word, made me sit down and immerse myself in what the teacher had asked me to do.
Before every English class we would have an on duty report to let the students say something according to what they had learned .My first presentation in class was to recite a dialogue. But to my great surprise, my teacher praised me for my pronunciation. I tittered because I had imitated the readers in the tape for at least 20 times until finally I couldn’t find any differences between our pronunciations. And I did not realize that this little prize given by my teacher began to influence my English learning magically.
I believe the first three years of English learning guaranteed the possibility of my further achievements because by means of imitation I built a foundation of good pronunciation and by means of reciting I restored the basic element of English language. On the whole, I would like to show my sincere thanks to my first English teachers. Yu Zhiling, who is now still caring for my growth.
The second mirror I would like to mention here reflects an effective way of English learning. I still stick to my point of view that different people have different techniques to learn English well. But there are some methods that seem to be obviously ineffective.
Let’s first have a look at the four important skills for students to master: reading, writing, listening and speaking. I have placed them in order of difficulty.
Reading is the easiest skill. It is also the most widely found English language skill amongst Chinese student, Writing is a more active skill than reading. However it is still a little easier than speaking, as there is plenty of time to choose the right words look in the dictionary for help, and make corrections. Listening is the third most important language skill to learn. It is far more difficult to listen and understand spoken English than to read English in a book or in a letter. Speaking English may be the most difficult of the four language skills. It is an active skill, and requires the student to put words together into sentences without much time to prepare, and with no time for correction, yet it is the most exciting skill to have, as it opens up wonderful channels of communication with people of others cultures and countries. But this is just what we lack.
More often than not I found some of the students who get high marks in their exams showed an inability to communicate with people in English. And this enabled me to understand deeper what my first English teacher has always emphasized: listening and speaking keeping ahead; reading and writing following up. I believe this is the rule of learning a language because we learn a certain language to communicate. As we conquered the most difficult parts: listening and speaking, we would easily master the writing and reading skills.
Then how can we make it? I have seen lots of diligent students in the early morning reading aloud their English texts without paying any attention to their nearly unacceptable pronunciation. I feel sorry for those students because their hard work deserves a much better English level if they improve their method of learning.
I found that my way of learning English that I formed from middle school still works today. By listening to tapes and imitating the speakers one can improve his pronunciation within a short time. By reciting classic essays one can enrich their language as well as enlarge their vocabulary. As a non-English major, I like to set aside a certain period of time for English learning everyday, usually an hour or at least half an hour. I utilize this precious time by listening to tapes and imitating their content and then reciting the short passages I like. To be frank, “Crazy English” has always been my favorite. This is definitely not intended to flatter. Instead of dividing my attention between too many materials, I’d rather concentrate on one particular resource at a time such as CE, not only because of its abundant content and native English, but also because of the benefits it has brought to me through intensive reading, listening and reciting, I believe that studying English by using these intensive methods will help you to get twice the result with half the effort.
Last but not least, the third mirror reflects the interest in English learning. Confucius once said, “Knowing it is not as delighting in it.” Nowhere is this more true than on the matter of English learning. My experience in English learning initiated quite passively, but before long my interest in it began to inspire me to continue the process. To testify my English skills and to stir up even greater enthusiasm, I used to participate in various kinds of competitions. When I was preparing for a nation-wide English competition in high school, I got to know the “21st Century Cup” English speaking competition for the first time as I used their scripts as my preparing materials. I envied those contestants in the “21st Century Cup” very much. Their English skills and their quick response made me feel swooning. Although I did not get a good rank in the nation wide competition for high school students, I had begun my wildest dream of participating in the 21st Century Cup. Even after I became an engineering student I still held onto my dream, that it would come true some day. Because I can always find something new to challenge me, and set up those challenges as my goals to achieve, I never find English learning a dull job. I believe I will forever cherish the glorious moment when I was on the stage of the “21st Century-Ericsson Cup” 7th national English speaking competition, and my wonderful memories there without any doubt will add passion to my English learning in the days to come.
Since the theme of this year’s competition was “globalization”, we have enjoyed various visions from contestants on thinking of what we young people should do to meet the challenges and the opportunities posed by globalization. But there’s one thing for sure: good English and communication skills are the gateway to the world arena. I hope some of man and woman in China who have conquered English to hold hands together to build up the bridge between China and the rest of the world with the world’s most widely used language!