我這樣學英語 How I Learned English

The film below is in English.

以下影片是我以英文分享，從前如何加強英文並得以留美的學習經驗，附上中英文內文，讓比較聽不懂的人可以對照並訓練聽力喔！以後若有人問我是如何學好英文的，就請他直接看這篇文章及影片吧！影片說話內容如下:

 Hi, I’m Angelia. A lot of my students often ask me how I learned English well to become an English teacher, then I have to tell the same story to different students over and over again, so I thought I could share my learning experience in this film for those curious about my learning history. Hopefully, they can figure out a way to achieve their learning goals.

嗨！我是Angelia，很多學生常問我是如何學好英文而成了英文老師，然後我得一再對不同的學生說著同樣的故事，所以我想可以在影片中分享自己的學習經驗，以滿足好奇者，希望他們可以推敲出達成學習目標的方法。

　　　　　　　　　　　　

I first had English classes in junior high. Then all the way to high school, I just learned whatever my English teachers taught, did homework, and took tests, just like everybody else. At that time, all our school English education focused too much on grammar, reading and translation. So, although I always got good grades on English tests, I could only speak some simple English, and I couldn’t even write an essay. That was really frustrating because I wanted to be excellent in English, so I made a plan to improve my English to reach advanced levels. Here’s the plan.

我第一次上英文課是在國中時，然後一路到高中，英文老師教什麼我就學什麼，就和大家一樣做英文功課和考試。當時，所有學校英文教育都太著重文法、閱讀及翻譯，所以雖然我英文成績很好，卻只能說一些簡單英語，連作文都不會，那很令人沮喪，因為我希望具備優秀的英文能力，所以我擬定了提升英文能力的計畫，以達到高級程度，計畫如下。

　　　　　　　　　　　　

For listening, I watched an American soap opera weekly, watched an American movie monthly, listened to an English radio program every day, and I took notes while listening to them.

聽力方面，每週我會看一齣美國連續劇、每月看一部美國電影、每天聽一個英語廣播節目，邊聽會邊作筆記。

　　　　　　　　　　　　

For speaking, whenever I learned a new word, I made sentences with the word orally. When I watched an American movie, I tried to mimic what the characters said, and when I had chances to talk to English speakers, I was very active to talk to them as much as possible. I also bought some conversation books with tapes to practice speaking at home. Before going to bed, I would talk to my tape recorder to keep track of what I had done every day. After I finished the tape recording, I would listen to it to see if I made mistakes, then I corrected the mistakes and took my voice again until I thought it’s correct. However, if I didn’t know how to say something in English, I would look up the dictionary to get the answer.

說的方面，每當我學了生字，我就練習口頭造句；當我看美國電影，我就試著模仿演員說話；當我有機會和說英語的人士談話，我會很積極地多和他們交談；我也會買附錄音帶的會話書在家練習；睡前，我會用錄音機把當天所做的事用錄音記錄，錄完我會聽聽看是否說錯什麼，然後糾正錯誤再錄一次，直到我覺得都說對了。然而，若我不知道某些話該怎麼用英文說，我就會查字典找答案。

　　　　　　　　　　　　

For vocabulary, I had never made a list of new words to memorize them because I wanted to make sure the usage of each word, so I learned vocabulary from reading different kinds of articles, books, magazines, newspaper, and so on. In this way, I could understand its usage in a sentence or context. However, for anything in my house I didn’t know how to say in English, I made word cards and attached them to the real objects to remember them

字彙方面，我從來就不死背單字表，因為我要確認每個單字的應用，所以我是從閱讀文章、書籍、雜誌、報紙…等等來學生字。這樣我才能了解每個字在句字或內文中的使用方法。不過，對於家中任何我不會用英文說的物品，我就做字卡貼在物品上幫助記憶。

　　　　　　　　　　　　

For grammar, reading and writing, I attended a language program at a local university. The program was for outsiders interested in English Literature. It offered English classes lectured by the professors at the English Literature Department. The classes were very challenging and I learned quite a lot there.

文法、閱讀、和寫作方面，我是在國內某一大學的英語部門上課，該課程是專為校外人士對英國文學有興趣的人而開設，它的英文課皆由英國文學教授授課，這些課相當有挑戰性，而我學了很多。

　　　　　　　　　　　　

Two years later, I decided to study in the USA, so I I took TOEFL preparation courses in a private language center, where I learned the test taking techniques and took many practice tests to be ready for the TOEFL exam. Three months later, I took the TOEFL exam, then fortunately I passed it and had an opportunity to apply for the universities in the USA.

兩年後，我決定留美，所以就到補習班補托福課程，學習考試技巧及做模擬測驗練習，三個月後我就去考托福，然後我幸運地通過了門檻，得以有機會申請美國的大學。

　　　　　　　　　　　　

When I studied in the USA, I learned even more because I was totally immersed in the real English environment, where I had to use English all the time. Even though I had studied there for years and got my bachelor and master degrees, now I still keep polishing my English because I know if I didn’t, my English would get worse. After all, English is not my mother tongue, and I don’t live in America anymore.

當我在美國讀書時，英文學更多了，因為完全沉浸於真正的英語環境，總是要使用英語，即使我曾待在美國多年，拿到了學士及碩士學位，現在我還是得時刻維持英語實力，如果沒有，我的英文必會退步，畢竟英語非我母語，而我也不住美國了。

　　　　　　　　　　　　

So, you can tell from my learning history. There weren’t any tips or short cuts to my learning goals, but I had a plan with strong ambition, carried it out with all my heart, and never stopped. I believe many successful learners do the same thing. By the way, I read the stories of some perfect TOEFL score holders. They shared their learning experience. I found out they have some things in common, and I thought you might want to know. First of all, they all love English and they make plans to advance their English abilities. Secondly, they all work very hard on vocabulary learning, so they know lots of words, and they read a lot. Thirdly, they all think it’s better to start learning English from childhood. Finally, they are very active to create English environment by themselves.

你可以從我學英文的經歷得知，我達成目標不是靠絕竅或捷徑，而是有野心的計畫、全力執行、絕不放棄，我相信許多成功的學習者也是如此，我也曾讀過一些托福滿分記錄保持人分享的學習經驗，發現他們都有一些共同點，你也許想知道：首先，他們都很愛英語、有計畫地精進英語能力。第二，他們都對學字彙下了很大的功夫，認識很多字、也閱讀很多英文書。第三，他們都認為學英文要從小時候就開始。最後，他們非常積極地創造英語環境。

　　　　　　　　　　　　

On the whole, I just want to say, a language is just a communicative tool. It’s not a subject. The more you use it, the more you master it, so there are so many different ways to learn English successfully. You just have to figure out the most suitable way for yourself to use English frequently. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes. We all learn from mistakes. Above all, be patient and never stop learning it. That’s it.

總之，我只想說，語言只不過是溝通工具，不是一門學科，使用越多就越精通，所以有許多不同的學習方式可學好英語，你只要想出最適合自己頻繁使用英語的方式，不要怕犯錯，我們都是從錯誤中學習，最重要的是，要有耐心且絕不中斷學習，報告完畢。

　　　　　　　　　　　　

補充說明：

以上學習歷程聽起來好像很順，其實不然。過程中我不知吃了多少苦、花了多少時間，當時經濟能力有限，我得要盡量用最低的成本學最多的東西，所以真的是很辛苦，除了吃飯、睡覺、上學、幫忙家裡的小生意，我把大部分時間都拿來學英語，只能說就是「苦讀」吧！

 而且那個年代沒有電腦和網路，自習資源有限，比現在的人還要辛苦多了，譬如當時沒有第四台，電視播出的美國電影不多，只要有機會和朋友去電影院，我一定看西洋片，帶著筆和筆記本，在電影院裡摸黑作筆記，再回家作整理，那時候也沒有電子字典，不會說的英文也只能查漢英紙本字典，萬一查不到，就要再另翻其他書籍查看，常常要跑圖書館找各種字典、參考資料等。

　　　　　　　　　　　　

練習口語方面，我常常要自言自語，硬擠出很多話講，沒有人糾正，也沒有練習夥伴，簡直就是一個人的英語世界，卻還是要忍受孤獨、不斷說下去。如果不是強烈的企圖心及毅力，你真的會想放棄。

　　　　　　　　　　　　

 一路走來我真的覺得，自己的努力占了80％的成功關鍵，我接受的英語教育多來自正規學校，再加上自習計畫，沒有上過補習班 (除了補三個月的托福考試技巧)，托福滿分者也多半是這樣。所以，自習比上課更加重要，課堂教你的是基本，沒有用它也是會忘，學了就要盡量在生活中應用，只有在課外的真實世界，才能學到用到更多更廣的英語，課內外雙管齊下才能戰勝英語。