Gary Love Share (Gary 愛分享)

I used to be Mark's tutor when he was still a senior high school student. Even though he's a college student in Taichung, every time when he comes back home, he always brings me some specialties or snacks and hangs out with me either at a restaurant or at a motive theater. There is no exception to the 4-day Dragon Boat Festival holiday this time. Yesterday (5/30) I had lunch with Mark and went to see a movie called "Angels and Demons" togehter. As usual, we not only shared a lot of thoughts about the movie but also exchanged some ideas about how to improve English more effectively.

When he was still a senior high school student, he was stressed out by the heavy schoolwork. Passing exams with flying colors became his primary goal. His parents also had a high expection to him on this. As a result, I couldn't show him how to integrate English studies with every day life and how to study English in an more practical and fun way in a real life setting. Instead, the only thing I could do back then was to cram as many test-taking skills as possible into his head. Maybe he's not the smartest cookie in the jar, but he was bright enough and could absorb well. But deep down, I knew he was not that into English.

However, things became very different after he went to college. He asked for his parents' approval for going to some paid conversation programs in a chain cram school in Taichung. He also tried to seize every opportunity to speak to his foreign teachers either in school or in cram school. Besides that, movies and American TV series all became his learning materials. I could see his transformation during his journey of studying English. Two years ago, he was a student who couldn't comprehend a listening passage at the elementary level of the GEPT test. He also had a hard time conveying his opinions in English. But after his hard work and his exploration of how to study English effectively over the past two years, yesterday he spoke English fluently with me at a cafe and we talked about various topics for more than 30 minutes. What a big difference!

He told me even though he had been studying hard, he still didn't have a lot of opportunities to speak English for more than 20 minutes in a row. The conversation with me yesterday made his day and boosted his confidence. To improve his listening comprehension, he even planned on studying abroad in the U.K. during the upcoming summer vacation by immersing himself in the British accent(s), which always gave him a headache. I'm so thrilled to know that his parents are both supportive and encourage him to broaden his vision and horizon.

As we all know, a lot of people in Taiwan study English for passing the GEPT test or for getting a high score in the TOEIC exam. I'm not saying that's wrong. However, from my perspective, those English proficiency tests should be the tools for evaluating or measuring our English abilities, not the ultimate goals. If we have a solid foundation and we can effectively communicate with others in Engligh , those tests will be just a breeze. Don't you think? All we have to do is to familiarize ourselves with those test-taking skills beforehand. However, a lot of people seems to put the cart before the horse. They only focus on the test-taking skills and look for some shortcuts. They tend to forget the real purpose of an English proficiency test. After all, what's the point of passing those exams if they can't communicate effectively? This is going nowhere. As a teacher, I have witnessed some students who could get high marks on those exams but couldn't speak properly. In this case, I don't see the point of bragging about the certicates or the report cards at all.

I'm happy for Mark for getting the hang of English day after day. Although there is still a long way to go before he can express himself freely on various topics, his performance yesterday can be seen as a good start. As an English teacher, there is nothing better than this: witnessing my students on the right track and foreseeing their success down the road.

If you have any thoughts about studying English, you are always welcome to drop a line. All of your opinions will be highly appreciated.