I thought I forgot how I learned my English in my primary years. They seemed such a long time ago. After reading some of my schoolmates' passage, memories, like river, flooded my mind.
I learned my English, like most of my schoolmates, in a traditional way. That is, memorizing a short passage of English each week to prepare for dictation, doing a lot of grammar exercise and so on. The traditional way of learning English has its positive side. For example, we do have better spelling and grammar compared to some English speaking countries (As I've stayed in New Zealand, I'll explain later~), but frankly, I hated English then. I hated it to such an extent that I thought if I touched an English book, I'd have to read it, and that's the last thing I wanted to do. It was that bad.
After P.4, my family and I moved to New Zealand. I couldn't speak a single sentence because I was so nervous and afraid. But New Zealanders are all very very kind. My English teacher helped me, one-on-one, to write a short diary. I remembered I felt so encouraged! Then I moved from Napier to Auckland. In Auckland, a special English class was set up for me and a few other Asians. We had to read a loud a story book every day,have role plays and parties. In the normal English class, my teacher held a speech day every semester, every student must write a short passage in any topic to present to the class. He never corrected our grammar or pronunciation, so everyone was eager to present themselves. A few of the classmate shone out because they were so funny when they deliver it, and became a 'star of speech day'!
I learned to love English because I love the world presented by English story books and movies. Of course, this method neglected a little bit of spelling and grammar accuracy, but we gained confidence in communicating ourselves.
I understand it's hard for Hong Kong to change the teaching methods at once, but I believe our attitude in class can change. May God help us!
I learned my English, like most of my schoolmates, in a traditional way. That is, memorizing a short passage of English each week to prepare for dictation, doing a lot of grammar exercise and so on. The traditional way of learning English has its positive side. For example, we do have better spelling and grammar compared to some English speaking countries (As I've stayed in New Zealand, I'll explain later~), but frankly, I hated English then. I hated it to such an extent that I thought if I touched an English book, I'd have to read it, and that's the last thing I wanted to do. It was that bad.
After P.4, my family and I moved to New Zealand. I couldn't speak a single sentence because I was so nervous and afraid. But New Zealanders are all very very kind. My English teacher helped me, one-on-one, to write a short diary. I remembered I felt so encouraged! Then I moved from Napier to Auckland. In Auckland, a special English class was set up for me and a few other Asians. We had to read a loud a story book every day,have role plays and parties. In the normal English class, my teacher held a speech day every semester, every student must write a short passage in any topic to present to the class. He never corrected our grammar or pronunciation, so everyone was eager to present themselves. A few of the classmate shone out because they were so funny when they deliver it, and became a 'star of speech day'!
I learned to love English because I love the world presented by English story books and movies. Of course, this method neglected a little bit of spelling and grammar accuracy, but we gained confidence in communicating ourselves.
I understand it's hard for Hong Kong to change the teaching methods at once, but I believe our attitude in class can change. May God help us!
2 則留言:
Hi June
You are so lucky to have met a number of good English teachers!! I reckon your childhood must be very enjoyable and happy. A good start ~ a solid foundation. Good on you =) !!
Cheers
Winnie
I like the way you say 'Ilearned to love English because I love the world presented by English story books and movies.' Since everytime I ask myself if I teach English because of I love it. The answer would absolutely be 'NO'. I don't hate it. But to me, the meaning of teaching English is to bring students to a broader world through knowing an official language.
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