"The exploration into English is like walking through a gorgeous garden with countless flowers,-- novels, sounds, poems… Once you open the gate to the garden, you can enjoy the beauty of that world." Although my mother always insisted philosophy about learning English, I bore a different concept. For me, it is just a subject taught in school and the acquisition was merely memorizing exotic words and sentences in textbooks; it was at best an undesirable dessert. However, a conversation with Michael, my English teacher, dispelled my misunderstanding and unfolded the veil once covering this garden.
The first encounter with Michael was awkward for I can hardly speak anything except those sentences I memorized in the textbooks. Every time Michael saw me, he said hello and asked how I doing am with a big smile. But the only words I could utter were 'Fine, thank you, and you?' It seemed like those were the only possible conversations between us. Before his smile vanished, I retreated immediately until I was out of his sight.
Luckily, Michael did not give up a shy student. I had a really bad argument with my best friend and I felt like I was losing her friendship. When I kept worrying about how to deal with that, Michael suddenly showed up. Clearly, he saw my sorrow. My face turned red and my eyes opened wide like a naughty child caught by his parents. 'What can I say if Michael asks me if I am OK? How can I know how to explain to him that I am sad in English? Hope he didn't see me...' But obviously God didn't hear my prayer because Michael came up to me and asked what's wrong. I hesitated for a while, and then responded as usual, ' F...Fine, thank you.'I felt like a loser, unable to use my knowledge and dare not to try.
I have to make a change. So on the next day, when I saw Michael again, I decided to compensate. I tried to explain to him what happened to me yesterday through my poor English: 'I, sad, yesterday...my friend...argue...' It wasn't a complete sentence, but it was the first time I initiated a conversation with a native speaker. Michael taught me so much that day. He was happy that I finally had the courage to speak English, and he helped me to complete the sentence I wanted to say. Our conversation was short, no more than ten minutes, but it was enchanting. The talk made me feel like I was able to speak the language on my own instead of mimicking what is in the textbook. After that, I started to try speaking English as much as I could with Michael. Asking questions after classes, saying hello when we met, chatting about the newest movie at office hour…I tried every ways to speak English with Michael. Months later, when I was on a school trip to zoo, I began to introduce panda and its habit to Michael: "They eat bamboo, what they do every day is sitting there eating bamboo. They are cute but, how lazy they are." With this, I came to find out that I can express my meaning in English without too much hesitation and rehearsal in my mind. The heavy linguistic barrier started to move away and the light shed on me. A sound echoed in my mind: Welcome to the garden of English.
I never would have thought I will be studying in U.S. one day, living a life in English. But I am an international student now in U.S, taking classes and enlarging friendship in English. When I talk to people around me in English, the embarrassment I experienced before sometimes comes up to my mind and witnesses my progress. I really appreciate the courage that conversation brought to me. Without it, I would not dare to make the first step in speaking English.
The courage to make the first step in speaking a second language is crucial. It is the first time language learner starts to make up a sentence in foreign language themselves, and it is the time for them to build confidence in speaking it. My first real conversation with Michael helped me make the first step and give me the courage to practice it in later time. And the English speaking practice I had with Michael is so effective since there is no other way for us to communicate except for speaking English. Now I can fully appreciate my mother's words: the first step I took in English opened the door of a garden of a language, and it enables me to enjoy the flowers of foreign words and poems.
The first encounter with Michael was awkward for I can hardly speak anything except those sentences I memorized in the textbooks. Every time Michael saw me, he said hello and asked how I doing am with a big smile. But the only words I could utter were 'Fine, thank you, and you?' It seemed like those were the only possible conversations between us. Before his smile vanished, I retreated immediately until I was out of his sight.
Luckily, Michael did not give up a shy student. I had a really bad argument with my best friend and I felt like I was losing her friendship. When I kept worrying about how to deal with that, Michael suddenly showed up. Clearly, he saw my sorrow. My face turned red and my eyes opened wide like a naughty child caught by his parents. 'What can I say if Michael asks me if I am OK? How can I know how to explain to him that I am sad in English? Hope he didn't see me...' But obviously God didn't hear my prayer because Michael came up to me and asked what's wrong. I hesitated for a while, and then responded as usual, ' F...Fine, thank you.'I felt like a loser, unable to use my knowledge and dare not to try.
I have to make a change. So on the next day, when I saw Michael again, I decided to compensate. I tried to explain to him what happened to me yesterday through my poor English: 'I, sad, yesterday...my friend...argue...' It wasn't a complete sentence, but it was the first time I initiated a conversation with a native speaker. Michael taught me so much that day. He was happy that I finally had the courage to speak English, and he helped me to complete the sentence I wanted to say. Our conversation was short, no more than ten minutes, but it was enchanting. The talk made me feel like I was able to speak the language on my own instead of mimicking what is in the textbook. After that, I started to try speaking English as much as I could with Michael. Asking questions after classes, saying hello when we met, chatting about the newest movie at office hour…I tried every ways to speak English with Michael. Months later, when I was on a school trip to zoo, I began to introduce panda and its habit to Michael: "They eat bamboo, what they do every day is sitting there eating bamboo. They are cute but, how lazy they are." With this, I came to find out that I can express my meaning in English without too much hesitation and rehearsal in my mind. The heavy linguistic barrier started to move away and the light shed on me. A sound echoed in my mind: Welcome to the garden of English.
I never would have thought I will be studying in U.S. one day, living a life in English. But I am an international student now in U.S, taking classes and enlarging friendship in English. When I talk to people around me in English, the embarrassment I experienced before sometimes comes up to my mind and witnesses my progress. I really appreciate the courage that conversation brought to me. Without it, I would not dare to make the first step in speaking English.
The courage to make the first step in speaking a second language is crucial. It is the first time language learner starts to make up a sentence in foreign language themselves, and it is the time for them to build confidence in speaking it. My first real conversation with Michael helped me make the first step and give me the courage to practice it in later time. And the English speaking practice I had with Michael is so effective since there is no other way for us to communicate except for speaking English. Now I can fully appreciate my mother's words: the first step I took in English opened the door of a garden of a language, and it enables me to enjoy the flowers of foreign words and poems.