我的英文學習之路

 陳一豪  2008.10.20

在九年前，當時的我只有三歲，即將進入幼稚園就讀，爸爸和媽媽深深感覺英文的重要性，因此將我送到台中市康乃爾幼稚園就讀，那是一所純美語教學的幼稚園，它擁有良好的英文學習環境，所有的老師都是來自美國、加拿大和南非的合格教師，教材也來自美國，因此我現在能夠很快的適應美國的學校生活。
剛進入幼稚園小班時，我完全聽不懂外國老師所說的，但是老師規定在學校只能說英文，不能說中文，長久下來我漸漸的習慣這樣的生活環境，並且學會用英文和老師溝通，老師們透過有趣的活動和各種的遊戲教學，讓我慢慢進入英文的世界。幼稚園畢業後，我進入台灣的公立小學─國光國小就讀，開始了中文的學習課程，但是放學後我仍然到康乃爾去上英文課程，在每天兩小時的課程中，老師教我們閱讀、寫故事、戲劇表演、英文寫作，他們讓我在快樂的環境中學習英文，以遊戲的方式引導我，讓我越來越喜歡英文。從ABC到簡單的字彙，從句子練習到英文寫作，我的英文一天比一天進步，雖然課程內容越來越難， 而能夠上英文的時間越來越少，我仍然堅持在學習中文課程後閒暇之餘，好好的把握時間繼續學習英文。
在台灣學了九年英文之後，很高興今年我有機會和爸爸、媽媽一起到美國念書，在開學之前，我就高分通過美國的ESL測試，不需要額外上ESL課程，完全和美國當地學生上一樣的課程，不但很快的適應環境，而且在校能夠獲得優異的成績，我很感謝所有在康乃爾教過我的老師們，他們讓我在快樂中學習，在歡笑中成長，老師們各有專長，也各有不同的教學方式，每個人都有自己獨特的教學特色，其中讓我印象最深刻的是在幼稚園大班教我的Teacher Alisha，她的教學方式生動活潑又有趣，常常以精采的活動引導我們，讓我們對英文產生更大的興趣。我想用e-mail向她表達我的感謝之意，並告訴她我現在正在美國求學，也想要知道她現在過得好不好？
今年難得有機會在美國學習道地的英文，我要更認真的學習，也希望明年六月回台灣後，能夠持續的學習英文，因為英文是國際語言，擁有良好的英文溝通能力，相信能夠吸取更多世界新知，開拓更寬廣的國際視野。

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How I Learn English in Taiwan

David Chen   2008/10/8

As my parents think English is an important tool to communicate with the people around the world, they had paid for me to learn English at the Cornel English School since I was three years old. The Cornel English School is located in Taichung , Taiwan and is well known for its English education. At the Cornel English School , students are only allowed to speak English, which makes good environment to learn English. All the teachers are qualified teachers from the United States of America , Canada , or South Africa . The teaching materials used at the Cornel English School are same as the materials used in elementary school of United States of America . Learning English at the Cornel English School makes me easier to study in Clague Middle School .

When I first step into the class of the Cornel English School , I could not even understand a word the teachers said. Even though, we were not allowed to speak Chinese. After following this rule for few months, we could gradually understand and communicate with the teachers using easy vocabularies. The activities and games the teacher uses made me slowly into the world of English. After I graduated from Cornel English School ?s kindergarten, I started learning Chinese from a public school elementary school, Kuo-Kuang Elementary School , which is also located in Taichung , Taiwan . Even though it is very difficult to learn Chinese and English at the same period of time, my parents still decided to let me learn English at the Cornel English School after school, although we only have three lessons a week. During the two hour class every lesson, we read stories, write stories, play act, and write essays. The teacher uses fun activities and games to teach, which made me enjoy learning English. I learned from the first alphabet letters to easy vocabularies, from short sentences to a complete essay, my English improved everyday. Although the lessons become harder and harder, the time for English learning becomes shorter and shorter, I kept on learning English at the Cornel English School after my Chinese school.

After learning English in Taiwan for nine years, I am very delighted to have a chance to learn at the Clague middle School and are able to adapt the schooling here in a few weeks even though this is the first time to study at the United States of America. I would like to thank all the teachers who have taught me. Every teacher has their own special skills, ways to teach, and different characteristic. One of the best teachers who have ever taught me, Teacher Alisha has a unique way of teaching. She uses fascinating activities to help me learn English without pressure and made me enjoy learning English. I hope I can contact her with her E-mail to say how thankful I am, and tell her I am in United States of America now. I would also like to ask her how she is doing now.

I will learn very hard to improve my English this year in the United States . I hope I can keep learning English when I go back to Taiwan in June next year. English is a very important language to me because it is an international language. Using English, I am able to travel around the world, and learn different knowledge from different countries.