English speaking (from http://chake.chinatefl.com/99/speaking.html)
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- USE IT or lose it -
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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 -
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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 -
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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) -
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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 -
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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 -
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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 -
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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!