Last week I went to Peking University and Tsinghua University where I was invited to deliver lectures on “learning English with passion”. I found out that all those students have something in common; they all have determinations to learn English well . That"s thevery reason why I gave lectures at more than ten most prestigious universities with an attempt to help students who want to conquer English within the shortest time.
That’s true, having a good command of English is vitally significant and profound. Here I would like to give all my friends and students some advice for the future learning in terms of the experience I got from being a teacher for many language training schools and being interpreter for government as well as embassies. Being an interpreter is by no means easy, which needs to have a good command of listening, understanding or decoding and speaking. As soon as I hear the original voice from the speaker, meanwhile, I will decode or understand it by dividing the content of the voice into different segments, and use my short-term memory and if possible ,note-taking, to deliver the interpretation in the process of consecutive or simultaneous cases. Now , I would like to tell you how to speak good English.

3-D methods (Dialogue, Discussion and Debate) to improve your eloquence

Dialogue

Having authentic and polished oral English is every learner’s dream, however, many of my students who spent a lot of years, money and efforts to speak this language well but failed to be able to communicate and speak out, the reason to which might be mainly confidence and methods. I notice that many students do well in speaking when conducting a prepared speech or presentation in class. But speaking English fluently is not just about making presentations and giving speeches. It is about expressing your ideas and insight on the most mundane of things around you. I still remember when I first landed on the soil of Beijing5years ago; I could not communicate with my friends and even felt uneasy when going out with them because I did not have the confidence to start a conversation with my Mandarin. It’s the same to the English learners who have no courage to start a topic and face an awkward silence after the initial greeting was given because they don"t know what to talk about and are not confident of putting something across correctly, thus the conversation comes to end.

The ability to make dialogues is very important in social communication. Topics for casual conversation could include the weather, education, music, current affairs; hobbies, travel, etc. Do not always ask foreigner “what is your name and how is your job” when you want to find one to practice your English with. Before going to English Corner, please read up on your area of interest and try framing sentences expressing your opinions. Talk about it with someone close to you or someone’s English level is higher than yours, so you can check for your language accuracy and ’d better to grasp regularly used ways of small talk, and you will be able to initiate speaking more confidently. If you can break this barrier and speak out with passion and confidence, you can take your first step into the realm of English speaking and become a public speaker in the future.

Discussion and Debate

I always enlighten my students that your language ability and academic achievements are very imperative and important, but the most important of all, it’s your eloquence to communicate in the personal relationships. Elite may not have eloquence, but an eloquent person must be an elite. So the best way to drill your speaking abilities is to discuss and debate. When I was a junior, I always raised discussions with my classmate in my dorm, questions like “environmental protection, cohabitation,2008Olympics, postgraduate exams and so on. After everyone aired his opinions, then we conducted debate to argue, to express ideas to convince the other. And I gradually build up on my own repertoire of conversational topics and start using them whenever I get a chance; subsequently I have good command of English, and won a lot of awards in English speech contest and debate. Hence, it’s also effective for you, my beloved friends or students, to have a try to use your language to discuss and debate.

Other methods

Many students do want to improve their English by all means. It’s self-evident that all of us like taking down notes when we are listening to the lectures given by teachers at school. But it’s not a correct way to speak good language. Can you learn swimming by standing at the edge of the pool and taking down the words spoken by the coach? You have to take the plunge, right? I seldom took notes when I was given lessons, but I would memorize them with my mouth, my mind and my ears. There is just one case I will take notes when I am doing my job as an interpreter for the Beijing municipal government and embassy. I still remember when I was interpreting for the ambassador from the Philippines, at which moment she was delivering the speech about10 minutes at the Great Wall international conference. Hadn’t I taken the notice from the speaker, I don’t think I would have interpreted for her and won the applause from the officials. It is the same with language. Unless you use the language everyday, you will never know how good you are at it. Ask your friends who are good at English to help. Try to speak it as much as possible, and let them interrupt you whenever you make mistakes and ask them to correct you. Do not feel embarrassed to make mistakes, for that is the only way you will learn. Enjoy losing face and enjoy making mistakes because that is the way how the process of acquiring fluency a language occurs. Everyone may have made a lot of mistakes before getting a good grasp of mother tongue. The only difference now is that you are conscious of the mistakes. So ,do not be afraid of making mistakes.

Attitude that counts the most

If you do want to learn something well, you are supposed to have confidence and passion. I love playing piano , basketball and learning as well as being a teacher, to which I devote my whole interest , confidence and passion no matter how many mistakes I will encounter, how helpless , how hopeless and how far away for me to reach my final goal. I will never stop fighting for the betterment and improvement of myself and to be an all-grounded person equipped with knowledge and clear mindset. And that is why I hope all of you can be confident and passionate for what you have done and what you will be doing.

Finally, I want to say to my students and English lovers. Try to be confident and passionate in the journey of study and life, all you need is a will to learn and the initiative to begin. That done, it is simply a matter of time and effort!

I will always back you up and be with you!