英語口說能力的從零到壹,一步之隔;但這一步,充滿了耕耘和堅持
僅因一次偶然的相遇,這位在咖啡廳發呆的上班族鼓起了勇氣,向我們的英文老師詢問了家教課上課方式,展開了她家教課學習英語的路程,本來用英文一句話都不會說也寫不出來,每週一次2小時的英文家教課;二年半的時間,她成為了睿騏初級程度學員們最羨慕的人,也有學員表示要把她當偶像,她同時也成為了睿騏英文黃老師口中不斷誇讚為“最驕傲的一位學生”
她沒背英文單字、也沒背文法規則,上課第18個月(上課時數150小時),毫無準備通過了全民英檢初級 (聽說讀寫四項),上課第24個月(上課時數200小時),同樣毫無準備,通過了全民英檢中級 (聽說讀三項)
「我會去考試,只是想驗證老師說的話,她聲稱 “不必特別準備英語考試 (註1),只要用平常心認真上課和複習,等到有心情有時間,去考試就會過了”,本來我還無法體會這樣的異語,但現在我懂了。"毫不準備就能通過英語檢定" 對我而言曾是遙不可及的夢想,但現在的我,是位夢想實現者。再幾個月,我即將背上背包,踏上嚮往的歐洲國家自助旅行,先賣個關子不說我要去哪,但我答應老師回國後,我會用全英文紀錄我的足跡。」通過考試後,這位電子業許小姐淡定地說道
註1 :
黃老師無應考準備;已考過之相關英語證照/考試 : 全民英檢 GEPT、多益 TOEIC、劍橋商用英文檢定 BULATS、雅思 IELTS、外貿協會對外人才甄試、英語系研究所
許小姐歷年給我們的教學意見回饋、學習心得感想、及考照心得感想之相關文章連結:
我的英文家教學習體驗
English Learning Experience with a Tutor
中英對照
(Chinese-English Bilingual Version)
First meeting
I first met Huang about three years ago. She was teaching English at Starbucks and I was sitting next to them. The student was a very pretty girl, who made me curious about their conversation. They were talking in English and I was a bit shocked. I didn't see two Taiwanese talking in English very often. I couldn't stop my curiosity.
Surprisingly I asked her some questions about her English lessons after she finished the lesson. To tell the truth, it was really different of me. Because I hardly ever talk to a stranger. We still feel very amazed when we talk about how we met every time.
第一次碰面
大約三年前,我第一次遇到黃老師時,她正在星巴克咖啡內教課,我就坐在她們旁邊,因為她學生非常漂亮,使得我很好奇她們的談話內容,我有點震驚,因為我很少看到二個台灣人用英文對談,我無法停住好奇心不去注意她們談話的內容。
等到眼前的這位老師結束課程時,我沒想到自己竟然開口找她說了話 (當然是用中文XD),問問她怎麼上她的英語課。老實說,這根本不是平常的我,因為我根本不會主動找陌生人談話。上黃老師英文課多年後,當我們每次剛好聊到我們當初如何認識的,還是會覺得很不可思議。
黃老師回答了我一些關於英語課的資訊,並給了我聯繫方式。我很快便決定了要跟她上英語課,我心想如果我想投資自己的話,這是一個能改變我對英語學習的想法的機會,儘管目前我在工作或生活中根本不太需要到英語。
也許有人可能會說:「既然你在求學時期就學了英文,為何還要找家教?可以自己學到書店買一些書看一看不就得了。找家教真是在浪費錢。」
其實我很清楚地知道這一點好不好~ 我之前不就試了很多次,最後都失敗了,而且那些買來的書或雜誌我從來沒有讀完任何一本過。
與家教學英文對我來說,是一個新的開始。
She answered me some questions about her English lessons and gave me her contact information. I decided to have English lessons with her very quickly. I thought it was a good chance to change my thoughts if I wanted to invest in myself although it wasn't very important to use English in my job or life. Someone might ask me “You've learned English since you were a student, why would you want to have a tutor? You could learn it by yourself and just get some English learning books from a bookstore. You are wasting your money!” I clearly knew that. I tried it several times and I failed. I never finished reading those English learning books or magazines.
So learning English with a tutor was a new beginning for me.
First lesson
Huang asked me to bring my own English learning books to our first English lesson. I brought two of Chinese version of Cambridge Grammar books to show her. She showed me a simple exam form and a question form, and wanted me to finish them at first. When I finished them, she explained why she wanted me to do these. She could understand which level I was in and know more about my attitude towards English learning. I thought "Oh! Her preparation looked so professional, she might be a good tutor".
Then she said my own English learning books were good, but they shouldn’t be in Chinese version. If I wanted to learn English well, she suggested using English version. She said it was a good way to use English to understand English. The result showed that I was a beginner, I wasn't surprised about it. I really forgot so many things about English. But I didn't worry about it, I thought it was a new start to refresh my English. She recommended some English version of English learning books and dictionaries to me and I could choose what to use in our English lessons. I remembered that I chose six books. She looked a bit surprised, I guessed that nobody chose six books like me, just a beginner, and the books were not cheap.
第一堂家教課
黃老師叫我把自己有的英語學習書籍帶來課堂給她看。我帶了兩本,英國劍橋出版的文法書 (Grammar in Use, Cambridge),中英雙解版。老師接著讓我先做了一份簡單的考卷和問卷。我做完時,她解釋她會要我做這些測試,是因為要更了解我的英語程度和我個人對英文學習的想法。
「喔!我感覺她的準備好專業,應該會是一個很棒的家教。」 我心想
然後她說我這二本英語學習書很棒,只是不應該是中文版本。她認為如果我要學好英語,應該使用全英文版本,用英語來了解英語。
測驗結果顯示我是初學者的程度,我並不感到驚訝,因為我真的忘了很多以前學生時期學的英文了!
但我並不擔心,當下我心想,這是一個新的開始,開始整頓我的英語。她推薦了一些原文英語學習書和全英字典,我可以自己選擇在課堂上要用哪幾本。我記得,我選了六本書,老師看起來有點吃驚,我猜是因為沒有初學者會像我一樣選擇了六本原文書,而且這些書的價格不便宜。
First grammar
She taught me countable nouns and uncountable nouns in our first lesson. It sounded so easy, didn't it? Some people would say it wasn’t necessary to learn it from a tutor, you could learn it by yourself! But I was just a beginner, I wouldn't think if something was simple or difficult, even I knew it before. The only thing I did was to practice them. She said that everyone should learn grammar step by step if you wanted to be fluent in English. Grammar was perfectly essential for a good command of English. She always told me learning grammar was like building a skyscraper and grammar was the foundation. If the foundations weren't strong enough, the building would be skew. I knew some people didn't like or didn't want to learn grammar, but I accepted it naturally. Because I believed her profession and teaching experience. And her statement about learning grammar was proved to be true several times in our lessons.
Some people might think they don’t need to learn grammar. They just think that they can understand everything in English as long as they know more and more vocabulary. I think that is an unrealistic thought. When I started my English lessons, I realized that I couldn’t learn English well without grammar. Of course, if I understand a lot of vocabulary, I could say more different or difficult words to make people think that I’m good at English. But some people who are really good at English will understand about my real English ability. I just put words in sentences, but the words might be used incorrectly. Sometimes it might make me a joke. That’s why grammar is so important for me. Using right grammar could help me to make myself well understood.
第一堂文法課
我們的第一堂課,老師教我“英語的可數名詞與不可數名詞”。
這聽起來很容易,不是嗎?有些人會說這沒有必要跟家教學吧?! 不是自己就可以搞定的概念嗎?
但我只是一個初學者,即使是我之前學過的東西,我也不想假定什麼是簡單,什麼是困難的。我當時唯一做的事情就是好好練習。
老師說如果任何人想說一口流利英語,就應該一步一步好好地建構語法。我後來也體悟到要說一口好英文,語法真的是完全必要的。老師總是告訴我就像建造一棟摩天大樓,語法是地基,如果地基不夠穩,建築物就會歪斜。我當然知道有些人不喜歡或者不想學文法,但我並沒有對文法產生任何抗拒,因為我相信老師的專業判斷和教學經驗。而她這樣的說法之後在課堂上也被我驗證了好幾次。
有些人可能會認為學文法不重要。他們覺得只要知道更多的英文單字/詞彙,就可理解英語的一切。我認為這是一種不切實際的想法。當我開始上英語課後,我意識到,我要不是語法有認真學,我英語就不會進步;當然如果我認識了很多單字,我可以說更多不同或困難的單字讓人覺得我的英文說得很好。但我想要是遇到英語非常好的人,應該一聽就會知道我真正的英語能力到底如何,知道我也許只是把英文單字放入句子裡,但其實說得不自然,錯誤地使用了某些自認為很特別或了不起的單字。這應該會使我成了別人的笑柄。
這就是為什麼文法對我來說非常重要,說英文時,使用像樣的文法可以幫助我讓別人充分了解我要表達的意思。
First homework
Huang's teaching was very different from other English teachers that I've ever seen. First, she never asked me to remember any vocabulary, but she hoped that I could comprehend it. She said that I could remember more vocabulary naturally when I used more. Second, she asked me not to preview the lessons, but she asked me to revise the units after our lessons. Third, there was one more thing that was very different, she wanted me to do homework. At first, she gave me some simple words and wanted me to make some sentences. It wasn't too difficult at the beginning. And then she gave me a small article and wanted me to write my opinions down in English. I never did homework like that!
She taught me how to use grammar and vocabulary, and how to think in English. I have to say it was hard at first. It always took me a lot of time to do it. But the hardest time was when she circled my mistakes on my homework and asked me to correct them. She never told me the right answers directly. She might give me some tips if I really couldn't do it. But most of the time she asked me to do it myself. It really made my brain cells lose. But I accepted her method, I knew it was good for my learning.
Now everything has become usual for me. I still spend a lot of time doing my homework and correcting it. I’m getting to know why she insists that I have to do it in this way. I learned how to think in different viewpoints like in positive or negative ways to finish it. It is a good training to do homework in English thoughts. And when I finish more and more homework, I find my English is progressing. I could talk with her on a small article deeper, not just say “yes”, “no” or “really” to answer her questions.
第一份英文作業
黃老師的教學跟我見過的其他英文老師的教學很不一樣。
第一,她從不曾要我記任何英文單字,但她希望我能理解單字。她說,只要我多去使用單字,我就能自然記得那些單字。第二,她要我不要"預習"(Preview),而是要"複習" (Revise)。第三件非常不同的事就是,她要我寫作業。
一開始,她會給我一些簡單的英文單字,要我造句子,起初這其實不難。之後,她會給我一段小文章,要我用英文寫下我的觀點.......我從來沒有做過這樣的作業!
老師會教我如何使用文法和詞彙,以及如何用英文思考。我不得不說,當時這實在很難很難~ 而且這樣寫作業總是會花上我大把時間。但最困難的時刻,其實是當我的英文作業有錯誤時,老師只圈出錯誤,要我自己改出來,她從不曾直接告訴我正確的答案!
有時候如果我真的想不出來的話,她可能會給我一些提示,但大部分時間她都是叫我自己想出來。這真的讓我覺得腦細胞死很多。但是,我接受了她的方法,因為我知道這對我的學習效果有助益。
而現在這一切對我而言,變得稀鬆平常。
即使適應了,我還是必須花很多時間"寫功課"和"改功課"。我也越來越知道為什麼老師會堅持我必須自己想出來,在這種方式的訓練下,我學會了如何用不同的觀點思考,用不同角度思考來完成功課。我覺得對於培養寫作業的英語語感,這是一個很好的訓練。還有我發現當我做越來越多的功課後,自己的英語進步了。我可以針對一段小文章更深入的跟老師用英文聊天,而不單單只是給 “是”,"不是"的簡單回答。
First listening
Our first listening lesson was after one or two months. That was also a simple unit, just like "how are you? ". But I knew that wasn't simple if it was Huang teaching me.
She played the MP3 one time then asked me to hear it and repeat it without looking at the book. At the beginning it wasn't hard, because the sentences were really simple. But after a few seconds I couldn't catch any more sentences when the MP3 was playing. I was only able to remember the first sentence which was played at the beginning. I couldn't repeat the whole unit. My ears were locked! Even those were very simple sentences if I looked at the book. I really felt a bit embarrassed. Fortunately, Huang was a patient teacher. She said that I shouldn’t stop by a strange word when I did the listening practice. I should try to understand the sentences and copy the speech when I didn't know the word.
It was an unusual way for me and it took me some time to get used to listening without looking at the book. It was also another hard process in the lessons, especially when the articles became longer and longer. But it was helpful when I took my first English exam, GEPT elementary. Huang told me that she didn't have any preparation for all her English certificates at all. She got them just by her daily learning. It sounded a dream for me. I used to cram for exams before testing days when I was a student. When I heard that, I thought it was a perfect way to test my English and I could know how well I learned by my daily learning and which parts I needed to progress more.
I decided to take a test after one year. I knew which grade I was and I didn’t hurry. So I applied for the GEPT elementary test, an easy start, without telling her. I hope I could pass it without any preparation, just like her. I didn't feel any pressure on the test at all. But there was a small thing that was a bit wired for me,..... there were all children in the testing class, except me, an adult. I didn't get nervous when I was taking the exam, even that was my first English exam. Because the testing methods were so similar to Huang's teaching and I've got used to it.
第一堂聽力練習
我們的第一次聽力課是上課一兩個月之後吧。是一個簡單的單元,內容就像 “你好嗎?” 那樣簡單。但我知道,如果是黃老師教,就並不會簡單。
她播放了CD一次,要我聆聽和覆誦,沒有字幕可以看。一開始的時候,其實沒有太難,因為句子是真的很簡單。但幾秒鐘後,我就跟不上CD的更多的句子,我只記得一開始播放的第一句話,後面的內容我立刻全忘了。我的耳朵好像被鎖住了!即使我後來看了字幕後,發覺那些句子都很簡單!我真的覺得有點尷尬!
還好,黃老師是一位很有耐心的老師。她跟我說,做聽力練習時,我不應該因為一個陌生的單字就停住理解,我應該試著去了解句子的大意並且試著唸出來。
這樣不看字幕的聽力練習方式對我來說,是個很不尋常的方式,也花了我蠻多時間來適應。特別是當聽力內容變得越來越長時,這也是我上她英文課另一段艱辛的過程。
但這樣的艱苦卻讓我第一次參加英語考試就通過了全民英檢初級。還記得黃老師曾告訴我,她所有的英語證書,都沒有特別準備,她只是藉由對英語的日常學習就通過了考試。當時對我來說,這聽起來像是個遙不可及的夢,想起自己過去在學校讀書要考試時,都是臨時抱佛腳。但我也思考.....這樣不做任何準備的應考方式,也許正可以用來測試我英文家教課上得如何,也順便看看我的英文有哪些部分須要改進。
於是我決定在上英文家教課的一年後參加考試。
我知道我自己學習上有幾兩重,所以我並沒有著急。我並沒有告訴老師我報名了全民英檢初級,那是個簡單的初試:聽力和閱讀測驗。我希望自己可以就像黃老師,沒有任何準備就可以通過。
考試的時候,我一點都沒有感到有壓力。但是有件讓我不太自在的事就是,考場裡的應考者都是小孩子,只有我是成年人。測驗時我沒有感到緊張,即使那是我人生的第一次英語考試.因為測驗內容跟老師的教學是如此的相似,我早就已經習慣了。
Now
Now I've got my GEPT certificates of elementary and intermediate first stage without any preparation. I just passed the exams by my daily learning.
Generally, I neither have too many problems learning English with Huang nor get language stress in my life or job. I think it is a key point for my success. I don’t want to learn English just for tests. That is too stressful for me and I believe that I will forget everything I learn very soon. I expect I can focus on learning naturally and understand what I learn.
I think Huang's teaching fits me nicely, although there is some struggling process. She never tells me answers directly. She asks me to answer her questions more than three sentences in English and do homework, etc. It sounds so easy, but it is really not easy at all when you do it. I did it very hard, I tried to do it as I could and I tried to finish homework that she gave me and practiced every unit that I learnt. When I reviewed my notebook one time, I found my homework looked so different from it used to be at first. It has worked!
Believe it or not, all my notebooks are all in English! And there is one more thing that changed! I can answer Huang’s questions easier and quicker now. You might think that is not a big deal. But that was actually really difficult for a beginner like me. I remembered that I was too nervous to respond to any questions in English at first. I tried to answer her questions well, but I couldn’t. It was really hard to respond quickly in English. Now I can answer her questions and maybe tell her some funny answers quicker in English after her teaching and training.
現在的我
從沒有做過任何英語考試的準備,我現在已經通過了全民英檢,初級的初試(聽讀)和複試(說寫)和中級初試(聽讀)和複試口說。我只是藉著日常的學習就通過了這些考試。
大致而言,我跟黃老師學英文的過程中,沒有太多問題,我的生活或工作中也未存有任何要使用第二語言的壓力。我覺得這對我來說是 "學好英文" 的關鍵點。
我不想只是為了考試而學英語,那對我而言壓力太大了,而且我相信我也會忘得很快。我希望我能自然而然地學習,並能理解自己所學的內容。
我認為黃老師的教學挺適合我,儘管學習過程有些掙扎,因為她從來不直接告訴我答案,而且她總要我用三句話以上來回答她的問題和做功課等,這聽起來很容易,但實際上超級難做到這一點的。我很辛苦盡最大努力照做,也試著完成她給的功課,練習了我學過的每一課......。有次當我回頭翻翻自己的筆記本,我發現我的筆記本看起來如此不同,整本都是英文,沒有中文,老師真的讓我做到了!
信不信由你,我所有的筆記本全部都是英文的!還有一件事改變了!我現在上課時,可以更快速且更容易地回答黃老師的問題,更容易和更快了。
你可能會認為這不是什麼大不了的事,但是實際上這對我這樣的初學者來說,真的很難。我都還記得我剛開始上課時,超緊張,要我用英文說話回答任何一個問題我都沒辦法,我當然有嘗試想用英文好好回答老師的問題,但我當時就是做不到,真的很難用英語迅速作出反應。但現在經過了她的教學和訓練,我可以更快回答她課堂上的問題,也許還可以用英文來給她一些有趣的答案。
Of course sometimes I felt so tired of English and I didn't want to do homework or review the units. At the time, I would read some English magazines or simple novels to relax. Fortunately, Huang wouldn't give me any pressure. She knew that I just needed some break time and I would come back soon when I went throught it. Trying to relax is helpful for me. But it doesn’t mean that I could learn English well without any effort. I mean trying to relax helps me to slow down to think what I learned and I can revise my studies. I used to be a traditional student who learned everything just for exams or my parents’ expectation. That was a terrible memory. I couldn’t remember anything that I learned then. I hate it honestly! So this time I want to be different.
Keeping positive and open is my attitude in English learning. I just need to work step by step and learn it clearly. I think it makes me succeed. Some people might be impatient in learning English. But just like an old saying "No pain, no gain". There is no success if you don’t do it properly. Thinking about how many things you’ve done for learning English? Do you revise units that you learned? How do you revise them? Do you just read the books? How many times do you revise them? Do you do any homework for them? And you will know why you succeed or fail.
對學英語感到累時.....我也會不想寫功課、不想做課後複習......我嘗試......放鬆
當然,有時我也會對英語感到倦怠,不想寫功課、也不想作課後複習。這時,我會讀一些英文雜誌或簡單的小說來放鬆。
幸運的是,黃老師不會給我任何壓力。她知道我只是需要一些時間休息,就會很快回到軌道上。多多放鬆對我來說是很有幫助的。不過,這並不意味著我不做任何努力就能學好英語。我的意思是多放鬆心情有助於我放慢腳步去思考我所學的內容,然後複習和修改我的作業。我曾經是位傳統的學生,學什麼都只是為了考試和父母的期望,那是個可怕的回憶。而且當時學的,我現在一點也不記得,我真的很討厭那時候的一切!所以這次我想成為不同的自己。
保持積極和開放,是我學英文的態度。我只須要按部就班,慢工細活清楚地了解所學,我覺得這是讓我成功的原因。有些人可能會在學習英語的過程中感到不耐煩。但就像那句 “一分耕耘,一分收穫”。如果你不耐下心好好學英文,那你怎麼會學成功呢? 想想你為學習英語做了多少事?你有再複習你學過的東西嗎?還有你用什麼方式複習呢?你是不是只是死讀書?你會複習多少次呢?你會再針對複習的內容另外寫點東西嗎?
想想這些問題,你就會知道你學英文為什麼成功或失敗。
{ 我的英語家教課學習經驗 全文完 }
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