Improving Oral English

When I first studied English, I made a lot of effort. Every morning and night, much time was spent on reading, listening and reciting. This made me have good pronunciation and be liked by the English teacher. I was really satisfied with myself until one day  a foreigner came to our village.

That day I was idling in my uncle's workshop, when surprisingly a tall, white  man with big blue eyes came in, and looked around at the machines. I was so excited to see a foreigner in my hometown! I stepped forward and then greeted him, "How are you do? " an awkward sentence which made me blush immediately and I would never forget such a shame. Still I encouraged myself to try to help him and explain things to him. But when I spoke of something, I just couldn't find the correct words! My face turned to a deep red and I was so angry with myself at  that moment. Also, I then realized my problem in learning English.

For the past six years, I studied English only for the exams and praise, but not communication; what I read and listened to was limited to the textbooks and a few other materials. What I was good at was being the teacher's good student! In the practical use of the language, I was only a beginner and had much knowledge and skill to acquire!

Thanks to this realization, I've found my way in studying English. In the later years, I spent energy on my oral English, went to the English corner, listened to VOA, the BBC, studied American accents, read a lot, attended lectures, etc. I truly know there will not be an end to my studying English.

 - Courtney -

Using English as Much as Possible 

I'm not a diligent girl and don't like to review what I've learned. That causes a big problem when every semester begins.

After a long vacation, it will take me a period of time to get familiar with my study. It is a terrible period and I don't even remember how to speak English. But one summer vacation, things changed.

I stayed at home the whole vacation and my mother was suspicious about me, especially when I was answering telephone calls. I didn't know why she was suspicious and I hated this. To avoid this, I thought of a nice idea that when my friends called me, we would talk with each other in English. Then my mother was confused but I felt exultant. The whole vacation, I practiced English frequently.
Of course, when the next semester began, I didn't have as much trouble.

After that vacation, I always practice English with my friends not only through phone but also in daily life. I also think that English corner is a good place for us to practice English. We should use English as much as possible.

 - Lavender -

Just Speak!

During the summer vacation of 2001, I tutored a pair of twins for about one month, from which I learned one thing---unless you speak out, you will not improve your oral English.

When I was invited to teach the two boys English and mathematics, I had no confidence in my seemingly fluent spoken English with so many grammatical mistakes. I learned that the twin boys had just come back from the U.S.A. where they had mastered standard English, even better than I! At any rate, I took the job and wanted to show my potential.

The twins, Eric and Shawn, spoke English fast and naturally. My job was to let them read their texts twice and ask them several comprehension questions. Meanwhile, I should explain to them the method of doing mathematic problems. All the conversation was carried out in English. I talked a lot in order to make myself understood. Moreover, I tried to speak English as well as possible.

As time passed by, each aspect including my pronunciation, grammar, word choices and intonation improved along with my tutoring skills. At the same time, I had made good friends with the ten-year-old twins. Soon, I found myself no longer shy and my oral mistakes also diminished. In addition, I grasped some mathematical terms that were unknown to me before. By the end of my tutoring days, I could almost speak English without hesitation.

To get progress in spoken English, practice is the crucial factor. Just speak out, and then you can express yourself to your heart's content.

 - Chris (Sun Qin)  -

Never Leave Your Mouth Idle

Before I entered Grade 3 in the Senior Middle School, it seemed that I could never learn English well because I could hardly open my mouth to speak. Everyday I worked hard to memorize the new words, terms, phrases and grammar structures in my “Kingdom of Dummy English”© only to find that later I forgot many of them. I couldn’t understand the tapes that the teachers played for us. I told myself that maybe I had a hearing problem. I was entirely confused.

At last I met Miss Zhu, the beautiful, young lady who taught us English when I was in Grade 3. She noticed that my English study was getting worse and worse and I was always in low spirits or sleeping in her class. One day she asked me to stay for a while after the class was over, as she wanted to have a talk with me. I seized the opportunity to tell her what I was puzzled about. After a short silence, she ordered me to speak English. I did so and noticed that she was trying hard not to laugh  because of my funny, shabby pronunciation. 

When I choked, she pointed out that I should read and speak more. In her opinion, English was just a language, which was only a tool for communicating with others, just like Chinese. We understood and used Chinese so freely only because we started to use it from infancy. When we touched Chinese for the first time, we heard the voice from others instead of the spelling. So, it was the same with English. We shouldn’t only memorize it; we should also try to use it. She told me to speak more, and if I had nothing meaningful to say, I should simply read the textbooks, never leaving my mouth idle.

I was persuaded, and followed her suggestions. I read textbooks every morning instead of writing new words from memory. It worked. Later, I was glad to find that I memorized the terms and words well and spoke English smoothly, because I had used the new words  many times. What’s more, listening courses were getting easier and easier, as well as the writing courses. Later, I gained the chance to enter the university.

 - Simon -

 Improving English While Helping Others

Once, I was in Beijing, having dinner with friends in a small restaurant. I saw two foreign travelers strapping backpacks coming in. They looked tired and hungry. When they read the menu, which was in Chinese, they frowned showing their helplessness. They looked around the tables beside them, trying to find some delicious-looking dishes to order. 

At that moment, I really wanted to help them. But I shrunk back  because I was afraid my English was far from enough to help them and would only make the situation worse. At last, my friend encouraged me to go help them. So I went to their table and translated some of the dishes on the menu for them. With my incomplete sentences, disgusting pronunciation, and unbearable grammar mistakes, they finished their order at last. My task was also finished. 

I was so glad to give them a helping hand and had a great sense of satisfaction when I saw they understood my translation and explanation.

It  happened in my junior middle school, which made me interested in learning English from then on. It was also the main reason I chose English as my major today. I really want to see those two foreigners again. I am sure I can communicate with them far more fluently than 8 years ago.

 - 罗嘉慧(Luo Jiahui) Karen -

Our Walky-Talky

Our walky-talky is not the phone one carries to communicate with others. It's our way of learning Japanese - walking and talking.

On chilly winter evenings, it was terrible to go to Japanese classes in Yuquan Campus by bicycle. So Tess, Ally and I made a big decision: we went there by school bus and then walked back to Xixi Campus. On our way back, we always visited Xinfeng Refreshments Restaurant and bought ourselves some nighttime snacks.

We walked quickly to keep ourselves warm and talked loudly to keep ourselves high-spirited. We tried to talk in Japanese .「これは何ですか」「これは木です」

Everything around us could be our topic. We memorized lots of words and sentences in this way. What's more, it was really a great idea to walk in winter evening. I will always think that these days will be the most memorable days we spent together.

 - April  -

Louder, please!

English, as a foreign language to me, is really difficult to learn at first. Till now, I still think, if Miss Zhang was not my English teacher in the middle school, maybe I could not study in the Zhejiang university anyway.

I was excellent at math and science while quite poor at English. I was not the only exception. Indeed, at my school, there are many other good students poor in English. So at the beginning, I paid much attention to English. Though I was a little afraid of having English classes, I still welcomed Miss Zhang, for she is a really good, young teacher. She is humorous, warm-hearted and most important, very charming.

One day, we had a quiz. However, there was still lots of time left. Miss Zhang decided to have an oral test which frightened me a lot. I was not shy enough, so when it was my turn, I stood up and then...... kept silent. I was trying my best to murmur something.

"Oh, louder please. My ears are not working well recently," Miss Zhang smiled to me. The class could not help laughing, including myself. Then I raised my voice.

"Louder. Louder, please!" she said.

I continued to raise my voice until Miss Zhang said "OK!" to me. "Wow, you are perfect! Come on, speak louder and you will  get better and better."

From then on, I spent half an hour speaking English as loudly as impossible. I find it is a great way to improve my spoken English and,  as well, I am more interested in learning English.

So please remember: while learning English, speak it out - and louder, please!

 - Bridget 陆俊珍 -