Serial 1: From 0-1
- My Sweet English Beginning
Finished this week’s radio show, and I felt so inspired and connected to my guest. Initially, she studied science and law, but she changed her major to music a year later. She felt so much happier throughout her whole degree and she said that’s the best decision she made in her life.
To interview different songwriters for my radio show is definitely one of the highlights in my daily life. However, a few years ago, I couldn’t even imagine this would have happened to me.
Because at that time, I was like many Chinese English learners, a typical ‘Mute English’ speaker (a term used in China, that refers to a person who can read and understand English as a second language but cannot speak it well). So how did I make this transformation to a radio interviewer happen?
In this series, I am going to share with you my English learning journey: the lessons and techniques I learned over the years. I also want to thank all the people that helped my English along the way.
Interest is the Best Teacher
- The Journey Starts
Learning English at school began when I was 11 years old. As an auditory learner, I fell in love with this foreign sound upon first hearing, like I did with singing and Chinese.
As a child, whenever I read something beautiful, I would be so excited to share it with my Mum: “Mum, I want to read this out loud for you.” My mum was always very welcoming to accept my request with her beautiful smile and commented afterwards: “Oh, it is very nice.” Thanks Mum for the lovely friendship you developed between us.
People say, interest is the best teacher. I totally agree. I used to read aloud after listening to the English language tape over and over again and listen back to it just to get my English pronunciation right, so I could sound like the speaker on the tape.
In addition, teachers’ encouragement also helped a lot. My first English teacher was always generous to give his praise in class, “Excellent! Great pronunciation!” Hearing that meant so much to me and motivated me to spend more time on my English pronunciation.
Therefore, as parents or educators, it’s important to acknowledge children’s individual strengths and be their best cheerleader. How?
Being fully there for them instead of multitasking. Every time when I was reading out loud to my Mum, she would always stop what she was doing and started to listen to me. Children can tell whether you are truly listening. That helped me to develop a habit too: I cannot multitask or don’t want to if I am having a conversation with someone.
Focus on the process, not an outcome.
Praise specific actions/efforts instead of general compliment. For example, my Mum liked to make some specific comments: “Great improvement. You are very close to the announcer now. You only need to focus on a few words this time. Just give one more try and have your favourite yogurt? Deal?”
Use a warm and genuine tone and make eye contact.
Then take a seat, relax and wait to be impressed :)
English in a Big Pond
- Spoken English Sets Off
Entering my university to study for my bachelor’s degree in China, in spite of my good pronunciation, I couldn’t speak it well. There wasn’t any native English speaker in my hometown, so my opportunity to practise my oral English was limited. Also, spoken English was not a part of our English tests either.
Things started to change in my second year at university. One day, my English teacher came to me and said,
“Hey. There’s an English public speaking competition. I think you should attend.”
“Me? I’ve never focused on my oral English before. Plus, English is not my major. How can I compete with English-majored students?” Actually I had already heard of this contest, but I was hesitant and afraid of failure. I didn’t have any confidence to put myself forward for this.
“Just give it a try. It will be a good experience anyway.”
My teacher persuaded me, in a very genuine way.
After a few days of thinking, I decided to go for it, because my curiosity won (it always wins). But the pressing problem was:
“I have 6 months before the contest, so how can I improve my oral English efficiently?”
We didn’t have any international students on campus. For non-English-majored students, English Corner (which was common in Chinese universities) on every Wednesdays and Fridays seemed to be the only place for me to practise English.
But, another question came along, I’ve never been there before. As human beings, we tend to feel insecure to attend a session/activity alone. So I asked a friend of mine whether she could join me. Luckily, she agreed :)
I still remember that Wednesday, that awkward and embarrassing experience. I couldn’t even remember how to say some super simple words in English, let alone speak a complete sentence to others. My friend was similar.
So when Friday arrived, my friend decided not to go anymore. Decision time. Thinking of my goal, I didn’t want to embarrass myself at the competition (sometimes ego is a good thing 😊), so I still went, courageously alone. I told myself:
“I commit to this corner every week before the contest, because I just wonder how my progress will be by then.”
I am very proud to tell you now, I kept my promise! What about the result? I won in the end!
What I learned from this experience:
To believe in the magical power of consistency and practice.
Always have the courage to attend something that interests me, even if no one accompanies me.
In serial 2 Sense Becomes Sense, I shared about my IELTS experience and the lessons I've learnt.
倩学英语系列：从哑巴英语到电台主播的蜕变
第一集：从0到1的跨越
- 我的甜蜜英语初体验
刚结束本周广播访谈的我觉得特别兴奋，因为很喜欢本期嘉宾身上洋溢的满满的正能量，充满着对音乐的执着与热爱。难以想象，最初的她选择的专业却是科学和法律双学位，好在一年之后，她毅然转到了音乐。对此，她由衷感慨：“在那之后的每一天我都过得特别开心，这也是目前为止我做过的最好的决定。”能做自己喜欢的事，真好。
在广播节目中采访各种不同的词曲创作者，听每个人诉说他们的人生经历是我绝对的幸运。但几年前的我是完全不敢预料这种好事竟然会发生在自己身上。
那时的我和你们中的大多数人一样，是典型的哑巴英语学习者。那么，我究竟是如何实现改变自己的呢？天赋？并不是。我也经历过很多次的失落，挣扎与无助。接下来，我就将和大家分享一下我的英语学习历程，获得的点滴感悟以及一些相见恨晚的小妙招，希望对你们有所帮助或启发。同时，我也很想感谢这一路上所有帮助过我英语的美好的人儿。
兴趣是最好的老师
- 旅程的开始
11岁，小学五年级的我第一次接触到英语。作为听觉学习者，我对英语，这种来自异域的语言那是一听钟情，就像我对音乐和中文的热爱一样。
小时候，每当读到一些优美的诗句，我总会忍不住和我妈分享：“妈，这个好美，我来读给你听哈。”妈妈也总是会来者不拒，微笑聆听，而且在我每次读完后她都会真诚点赞：“真的很有意境美，我也很喜欢。”妈妈，谢谢你一直以来像好朋友般的陪伴。
人们说，兴趣是最好的老师。我完全赞成。因为我曾经就一遍遍地反复跟读英语课本的配套磁带，只为让我的发音听起来更接近原声。
此外，英语老师的鼓励也给了我莫大的动力。我的第一位老师总是很慷慨地在课堂上夸赞我：“嗯，读的非常好！尤其是发音。” 因此，年幼的我也更愿意在英语发音上花费更多的时间。
所以，作为父母或教育工作者，去发现孩子的兴趣或天赋至关重要，然后就要努力成为他们成长路上的最好的啦啦队队长。那么，如何才能做到呢？
专心致志而不是一心多用。 那时，每当我读佳句给我妈听时，她总会停下手头的活儿，用心开始听我朗读。孩子其实是能辨别出你是否有在认真听的。这也让我养成了一个好习惯：每当与他人交谈时，我不能也不想做其他的事。
关注过程，而非结果。
赞扬特定的举动或努力，而不是很笼统去赞美。 例如，我的妈妈虽然不太懂英语，但她总会尽量给出一些相对具体的点评，比如：“嗯，进步很大。你现在已经非常接近磁带原音了。你可能只需再注意下这几个单词的发音。我们再试几次？然后就给你喝你最爱的酸奶怎么样？”
多用温暖而真诚的语气，并注意眼神交流。
做到这些你就可以安心的坐下，放松，然后等待接收惊喜吧。
大池塘里学英语
- 英语口语正式起航
时间一晃，来到大学。我尽管发音很好，但说的仍是哑巴英语。我把原因归结为，
没有人练习。我的家乡里一个英语是母语的歪果仁都没有。
考试不考口语。
可这种情况在我念大学的第二年却悄然发生了改变。
一天，我的英语老师对我说，
“有一个英语演讲比赛你知道吗？去参加吧。”
“我？我从来都没练过口语。而且，英语也不是我的专业啊。我怎么和英语专业的学生竞争呢？”其实我是知道比赛的，但是我对自己没有任何信心，害怕失败，很犹豫。
“就试一试吧。你又不会损失什么。无论如何，它都将会是一次很好的经历啊。”老师非常真诚的劝说我道。
经过几天的思考后，我决定还是去试下吧。没办法，好奇心，你赢啦（你总是赢 ）。于是一个紧迫的问题来了：
“比赛还有六个月的时间，我该如何有效提高口语呢？”
校园里没有任何国际生。对于非英语专业的学生来说，每周三和周五晚的英语角似乎是我唯一可以练口语的地方了。
但，我从没去过那儿啊。对于很多人而言，独自去参加聚会或活动心里总会有不安或抵触。我也不例外。于是我问了一个室友兼朋友是否愿意和我一块儿去。很幸运的是，她同意啦。
仍然记得那个星期三，我们尴尬的经历。我甚至连一些超级简单的单词都忘了怎么说，更不用说一个完整的句子了。我的朋友呢？情况也没有好到哪儿去。
到了周五，我朋友决定不去了。做决定的时刻到了（我最不喜欢的事）。考虑到自己最终的目标，真的不想在最后比赛中太过窘迫（有时自尊心也是一件好事哈）。因此，我决定继续光临英语角，同时也对自己默默地作出承诺：
“英语角，从现在到比赛之前，我会一直粘着你的。我就想知道，当我坚持做一件事时，结果究竟会如何。因为我总被我爸说我做什么事都是三分钟热度，不甘心呐。”
现在，我可以很自豪地告诉你们，我信守了我的诺言！结果呢？我也赢得了比赛！
这次的经历让我学到：
要相信坚持和练习的神奇力量。
即使没人陪伴，也依旧要有勇气去参加自己感兴趣的事儿。
在第2集《终于明白》中，我将分享我的雅思考试经历（特别是写作部分）和获得的领悟。