#Preface: My experience in learning English
I have been teaching English for more than 20 years and have come into contact with many students. Students often ask me which university I graduated from abroad. I was often very surprised to hear my answer that I had never studied abroad, so I asked me how I learned English. As long as you learn English in the right direction, you don’t have to go abroad to learn well. Readers are interested in reading this grammar book, and they should want to learn English well. I would like to provide my personal experience for readers’ reference here, which may help readers save some time and avoid some detours.
I started to get involved in English when I entered junior high school. The first-grade teacher in junior high school was an English teacher. He asked us to check the dictionary frequently. I obediently looked up the dictionary for three years, memorized some words, and memorized some grammar rules alive. At that age, I have a good memory and poor comprehension, and I don’t want to understand the grammar, just let it be!
Enlightenment Teachers and Grammar Books
I went to Hsinchu Middle School in high school, and the first-year high school teacher was also an English teacher. He asked us to start using the English-English dictionary, so I checked the English-English dictionary for three years.I think this is a good training in high school. It can avoid hard-hitting words between two completely different language departments. At the same time, it can also train reading and cultivate the habit of thinking in English.
The grammar book we used at that time was compiled by Teacher Tang Tingchi, which helped me a lot. Teacher Tang is a senior at Hsinchu Middle School and has also taught in Zhuzhong. He had left when I entered Zhuzhong, but I always considered myself a student of Teacher Tang because his grammar book can be said to be the enlightenment of my English concept.The whole set of grammar books is written in English, with a strict system and easy-to-understand understanding, which solved many of my doubts about grammar and established a complete set of grammar concepts.How helpful is a good grammar book to those who learn English?Teacher Tang’s grammar book is such a good book.It’s just that it’s completely written in English, so it’s not easy to study by yourself.I have never read a good enough grammar book since then. Although there are hundreds of copies in the bookstore, they are copied over and over again, and the person who writes them probably doesn’t understand the principles of the “rules”.This grammar is really not very helpful to a learner who has a mature mind and needs to understand.That’s why I want to write a grammar book that focuses on understanding and can study by myself.
I studied in the English Department of Normal University in college, and of course the English teacher of the freshman class is also an English teacher.He asked us to throw away the dictionary, read a lot, and have the ability to read a novel in one night.When I heard this, I was right.After checking the dictionary for six years, I still regard checking the dictionary as a chore, but I don’t feel at ease if I don’t check it.Now some teachers say that you can not check the dictionary, which really won my heart.In addition, the main reason why I chose to read English is that I love reading novels.Reading English and reading novels is my homework. How beautiful it is, and there is no need to look up the dictionary!
University Education
In my four years in college, I read a lot of books.The English and American literary history we use are the same version as those used in the English department of American universities. The two books have thousands of pages in total.Including medieval English, it has the essence of various literary works from ancient times to the present.The teacher only skimmed the light when he was in class, and some parts were not mentioned at all, and some could only give some background introductions, at most, excerpts some paragraphs to talk about.I had a strong chauvinist prejudice at that time and disagreed with the prevailing style of study abroad, believing that why Chinese people had to study abroad?So I made up my mind to study in the research institute in China.The main subjects for the institute’s examination are English and American history, so no matter how the teacher jumps in class, I will definitely finish reading the book word by word at night.Of course, there are words that you can’t understand, and there are also words you don’t recognize.But I aim to “read it”, so I don’t understand it.In addition to textbooks, there are other important classics and works, such as the Bible, Greek and Roman mythology and classic novels, etc. I went to the library to borrow them and read them.Fortunately, these things are famous works that have been tried by time, so you don’t have to force yourself, and you will naturally be unable to stop watching them.Although the sensory stimulation is not as good as watching movies when watching these things, it has more imagination than movies, and its charm is endless, which is beyond the reach of movies.In this way, I finished college easily and happily.
Institute I studied at the National Taiwan University Foreign Languages Institute.Before I took the college entrance examination, I taught for a year of high school - it was a voluntary internship for public-funded students from Normal University. Only after teaching was the qualification to take the college entrance examination.During this year, I had almost no time to prepare for the exam, but I would enter the exam room with a pen at that time.The full score of the written test of the National Taiwan University Foreign Languages Institute was 600 points. I was admitted as the first place, with a score of more than 500 points, and the second place was more than 300 points - the difference between my score was nearly 200 points, and I was shocked myself.I think this is my “not asking for much understanding” reading method.
Read a novel one night
When studying in the institute, we must mention the degree exam (Comprehensive).The two books I chose at that time were 19th century British literature and 20th century British literature.The book list is divided into five categories: novels, dramas, poetry, prose, and literary criticism.In just talking about novels, the two pictures are combined with forty-five books, each with an average of three or four hundred pages.I remember that I spent two months reading all of these forty-five novels - deducting the days when I went out to play, I had to read one in one night.This period of intensive reading has been “very great” to my English skills.Novels are the most beautiful and rich words, dramas are spoken (but spoken language in the 19th century is quite different from that in the present), poetry is the most concentrated language, prose is more approachable, and literary criticism is a very academic style.After reading these things, you can probably handle them in all kinds of English.
After graduating from the institute, he taught at Yuanpei Medical College and Hsinchu Science Park Experimental Middle School for a while, and returned to Taipei, entered the Tamkang English Department to teach, and went to study for the doctoral class of the American Institute in Tamkang nearest.What I studied at the American Research Institute is not so helpful to English, but more of a better understanding of the social, political and cultural background of the United States.Having said that, it is impossible to truly understand a language without understanding that country and people. This aspect is what I gained from studying in the American Research Institute.
The schools I have taught so far include junior high school, high school, junior college, and universities, and the cram school includes YMCA, study abroad cram school, etc.Now I volunteer in the country primary school where my daughter is still studying. I use morning self-study time to teach children English three days a week - this is the most challenging job I have ever done!
The first step to enjoy reading - don’t seek much understanding
The teaching experience has also helped me a lot.When I was teaching TOEFL, GRE, and GMAT in the past, I began to get involved in word source analysis, learned about the composition of English words, and realized that word source analysis is the word source analysis in the “Information Broadcaster” unit of the “TIME Chinese Interpretation Edition” and the “Great Movement of the Font Source” in TIME Studies’ “Learning Era” are the products of this teaching experience.This book “Grammar Club” compiles my observations and summary from a lot of readings, as well as my personal grammatical sentence pattern system.It focuses on understanding, pre-examination of the doubts that learners may have, and also explains the most common mistakes. These are the accumulation of my experience in teaching English for more than 20 years.
At the same time, for teaching needs, I based my teaching methods at the teacher university and read the new ESL/EFL teaching theory. I found that the “not-seeking” reading style I accidentally hit was the “reading Approach” that is most suitable for the needs of domestic learners among the five teaching methods.This method does not require an external English environment. It only needs to find English articles that suit your level. Read them from shallow to deep. Common English words and commonly used grammatical sentence patterns will naturally appear in large quantities. You can learn new words and usage from the context without the help of dictionaries.Of course, tools with font source analysis will be better.It is useless to look up obscene words - because you can’t see them often, and you can’t memorize them even after searching them.More importantly, if you get rid of the burden of dictionary, you will find the joy of reading, allowing the articles you love to read to attract you. There is no need to force you, and it will naturally continue and make progress every day.My TOEFL scored 677 points, and the GRE Chinese part got 720 points (ranked in the top 3% of the world’s candidates mainly American college graduates), which proves that the “reading method” is very effective.
When you read to a level and accumulate enough input, the output will come out - you can pick up the pen and write.However, the requirements for writing are much higher than those for reading. Without good grammatical and sentence patterns, you cannot write a good article.Grammar Music Club and Miaosi composition class are your good friends at this time.
TIME’s Challenge
My experience in learning English has another challenge to raise - TIME.Once upon a time I just took a look at TIME occasionally, and in the 1980s I started teaching TIME in cram schools.At this time, it’s not just to look at it, but to understand it completely before you can teach it.After a closer look, I found that my English still has blind spots. I was educated by the orthodox English department and read a lot of academic English and old English. I really don’t have enough contact with English today. TIME likes innovation and plays with text patterns. At the same time, the English in news style emphasizes conciseness and highly streamlined text, which is very different from the slow 19th century English.In addition, Time’s content is all-encompassing, and is widely used in allusions, allusions, puns, etc.Classical allusions are still difficult for me. Some people today, especially those who are familiar with Americans and cannot be touched by outsiders, will not be able to understand them when used in allusions and allusions.
In July 1995, I began to participate in the preparations for “TIME Chinese Interpretation Edition”. For nearly three years now, I have carefully read, translated, and commented on a large number of TIME articles, and reviewed a large number of translations. During this period, I have to search for information, make phone calls, and search for answers. The company also hired American consultants to help. The biggest gain during this period should be to have a deeper understanding of the social and cultural and international situation in the United States, and to enrich the knowledge background in all aspects. At the same time, TIME’s style has also had an impact on my English writing style, making me more streamlined, use words more accurately, and have more changes in the sentence pattern.
Lazy English learning method
English is just a tool, but the learning of this tool can be said to be endless.The General Approach in modern English teaching methods advocates that learners should recognize their learning style. How to learn varies from person to person, and choose the method that best suits their learning style.My experience in learning English may not be suitable for everyone, but I think that being lazy and disgusting is a common problem for most people.If you have ever made up your mind to learn English well but give up halfway and can’t persevere, then my lazy method may be suitable for you.Just find the books you like to read, don’t look up the dictionary, don’t seek any understanding, know what you are talking about, and just maintain your interest in reading.Or look for something simple, or look for in-depth and beautiful words like “TIME Chinese Interpretation Edition”. It is enough to use translation, annotations, etc. to understand what the article is saying.In this way, you can naturally continue to read and absorb meaningful input without realizing it.Just read idle books after dinner, without any slightest effort. If you make progress in your English in the future.
Font source analysis is your best tool to conquer words, and “Grammar Music Club” is your best help in understanding sentence patterns.I wish you a happy reading.
Chief Editor of TIME Chinese Interpretation Edition Xuan Yuanyou