Few would disagree that the best way to learn English is to live in Britain. But this prompts a question in my mind: what makes it so effective to learn a foreign language abroad? In Hong Kong, despite having all the necessary learning resources -- native teachers and well-equipped libraries etc, only a small proportion of students could acquire fluent, grammar-proof English. In order to communicate more effectively in the trip, I have tried to watch English news online and written several blog entries and Facebook notes in English. I have even memorized a number of vocabularies which are commonly used in the UK. After the trip, I found that living abroad will indeed give people the incentive or encouragement to prefect their communication skills. For example, in my interview with students from the University of Nottingham, I tried to use a wide variety of vocabularies in presenting the project questions. I tried to use various synonyms for different questions, such as phrases like “price evaluation” and “cost estimation”; “preference ranking” and “choice priority”. I found that those words I memorized before abroad are somehow useful for daily communication in the study tour.
This trip also provided me a chance to take initiative in talking to foreigners. Since I did not have a good sense of finding roads, I often come across some occasions that I needed to ask for directions. Once my groupmate and I were completely lost in the Borough Market. We kindly asked a black woman the way back to the underground and she brought us all the way long. It was my first time to conduct such a long conversation with a passer-by. Apart from it, the food ordering process is another chance for me to practice English oral and listening. Sometimes it was difficult to listen to what the cashiers said because assents varied everywhere. Eventually I am able to overcome my shyness and talk to expatriates fluently without much hesitation.
Furthermore, after the trip, I can conduct a more fruitful conversation with foreigners in relation to more sophisticated issues in the trip. In the last day of Oxford, some of the students and I followed Mr. Mundi to the pub crawl. After having a little bit alcohol, I was extra active in talking to Mr. Mundi and other PhD students. I shared my feelings with Mr. Mundi and other students on life, career, dream, future, etc. I felt comfortable enough to present myself in a more organized way. It was such a smooth talk that it wiped away my stress when using English to communicate. Following the night of pub crawl, we had another chance to use English in the University of Nottingham. I tried to ask as many questions as possible to obtain knowledge to assist my English learning. For example, I asked Dr. Sarah Grandage that whether Shakespeare was a sexist as he emphasized so much on “brotherhood”. Asking questions can help foster my courage in expressing myself. After having two lectures, we were given a break to rethink what we have learnt. I grasped this opportunity to talk with Professor Julie Sanders. We discussed the historical background in the Shakespeare’s time and the previous plays I have read. She answered a question that I have longed to ask - why is the Moor in Othello a black? Professor Julie told me that it is because the blacks from Africa were brought to Turkey as slaves or soldiers. Most likely that Shakespeare had not seen a black in his entire life, so he used his imagination to create such a character. These conversations injected a dose of confidence in my oral presentation. This experience deliberately encouraged me to conduct conversations with foreigners with deeper meanings rather than merely daily interactions.
This trip also provided me a chance to take initiative in talking to foreigners. Since I did not have a good sense of finding roads, I often come across some occasions that I needed to ask for directions. Once my groupmate and I were completely lost in the Borough Market. We kindly asked a black woman the way back to the underground and she brought us all the way long. It was my first time to conduct such a long conversation with a passer-by. Apart from it, the food ordering process is another chance for me to practice English oral and listening. Sometimes it was difficult to listen to what the cashiers said because assents varied everywhere. Eventually I am able to overcome my shyness and talk to expatriates fluently without much hesitation.
Furthermore, after the trip, I can conduct a more fruitful conversation with foreigners in relation to more sophisticated issues in the trip. In the last day of Oxford, some of the students and I followed Mr. Mundi to the pub crawl. After having a little bit alcohol, I was extra active in talking to Mr. Mundi and other PhD students. I shared my feelings with Mr. Mundi and other students on life, career, dream, future, etc. I felt comfortable enough to present myself in a more organized way. It was such a smooth talk that it wiped away my stress when using English to communicate. Following the night of pub crawl, we had another chance to use English in the University of Nottingham. I tried to ask as many questions as possible to obtain knowledge to assist my English learning. For example, I asked Dr. Sarah Grandage that whether Shakespeare was a sexist as he emphasized so much on “brotherhood”. Asking questions can help foster my courage in expressing myself. After having two lectures, we were given a break to rethink what we have learnt. I grasped this opportunity to talk with Professor Julie Sanders. We discussed the historical background in the Shakespeare’s time and the previous plays I have read. She answered a question that I have longed to ask - why is the Moor in Othello a black? Professor Julie told me that it is because the blacks from Africa were brought to Turkey as slaves or soldiers. Most likely that Shakespeare had not seen a black in his entire life, so he used his imagination to create such a character. These conversations injected a dose of confidence in my oral presentation. This experience deliberately encouraged me to conduct conversations with foreigners with deeper meanings rather than merely daily interactions.
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