The journey of my learning and teaching English

I have learned English for almost 20 years, since the very first day I entered  junior school. At that time, the learning condition was beyond imagination.  No tape recorder, no walkman, no English channel, no qualified English teachers in my hometown. I did not remember clearly why I was infatuated with   English. Back when I was a middle school student, my favorite subject was  Chinese, I was proud of my compositions, which were often read to the whole class as "model essays" It is a pity that I didn't turn out to be a famous writer, my talent at writing was submerged before it surfaced.     When I told my students that my first English teacher was a man who has acted as an interpreter for the Japanese army when they invaded China, they burst out laughing, they did not take what I said seriously, but actually I was telling the truth! His major is Japanese. It is my senior high school teacher who encouraged to take up English as my major.(You know, at that time, it was a hard decision to make, I was dreaming of being a writer and winning Nobel Literature Prize for China!) To tell the truth, I am personally grateful for him, he has been so generous to me as to offer to share his apartment with me to save me much inconvenience. Moreover, he let me choose my own way of learning, which was very rare at that time. And the sad fact is that I often cut him short and made him embarrassed by asking him tricky or silly questions, with which he was always tolerant. Since my primary school day, I had developed the habit of airing my views whenever it occurred to me.      I entered a just so-so college majoring English, two years of learning English offered a good beginning. As time went by, my memory of college years blurred, but some scenes do stand out, I was nicknamed by my head teacher as" living dictionary", whenever I went ,  I carried a pocket-sized dictionary with me. I spent most of evenings in school library reading China Daily, Beijing Review, copying those unfamiliar words on a piece of paper and later consulted them in dictionary. When my roommates were playing cards or courting girls, I buried myself in English or Chinese periodicals.(so you see, my college life was dull rather than colorful!) My speaking skill didn't develop as my reading skills. I still remembered the first time I was asked to read a short passage to the whole class, I was so nervous! Shame, once properly handled, can sometimes turn out to be a disguised blessing, I decided to improve my pronunciation and intonation, which was the hard part of the battle, I bought many tapes, listened to VOA, BBC every evening and read New Concept English in the morning. My efforts, at last, paid off more or less. When it was time to say goodbye to my college, my dean, who is almost as obscure as my small college, said to me, “learning is a lifelong process, college is not the final destination. If anyone keeps on reading English magazines or newspapers for 20 years, he is sure to become a master or an expert in this field!’ Looking at the old professor with gray hair and thick glasses,  I thought these were words from the bottom of his hearts, I set up my mind to speak good English. This has been my college life. I have found it worth living, and would gladly live it again if the chances were offered to me. Looking back, I don't complain that life was not fair to me, instead, I thank all those people who have stepped into my life and gave me a hand when I needed. I appreciate all their timely help and unselfish aid.   Now I have stepped into the real world, I got a job far away from my hometown, teaching kids English. Although working pressure was heavy, I enjoyed my job anyway. During my spare time, I locked myself in the study. It happened that Li Yang Crazy English began to spread throughout China; I couldn't wait to lay my hands on books and materials of Crazy English. After reading Li Ying's story, I was deeply touched.         At that time, I had no girl friend to flatter, no family to support, it is easy for me to focus on something which interested me. My dean words still lingered in my mind "Learning is a lifelong process; college is not the final destination” Since I was fairly started in English learning, there was no excuse to give up or turn back. I began to read English novels, altogether, I have read about 20 English novels, Jane Eyre, Gone with  the wind, the thorn bird, the Wuthering heights, Godfather, the White whale, The adventure of Tom Sawyer, to name just a few. To be frank, I could not understand everything in the novels, but I just kept on. Step by step, I began to better appreciate the beauty of the language while enjoying those stories. I also read some easy readings such as 21st century, English saloon or some simplified novels. You know, One can easily get upset or bored when you reach a kind of "plateau", so you have to encourage yourself by all possible means to ensure that you have a sense of achievement.      It took me almost 2 years to finish reading those 20 novels, some of which I only covered half or less. At the same time, I took the self- study courses in English and graduated with excellence. To my amazement, I was able to think in English, if I wanted to express myself in English, I didn't have to think of any Chinese first. This, I think, was a great step forward and it was also the result of years of enthusiastic, continuous and hard work, which anyone who has no determination can ever achieve. Someone said,” The most important thing in life is to have a great aim and the determination to attain it.” I am a strong believer of it. One interesting fact I like to cite here is I was always dreaming in English during that crazy period and my roommate often played jokes on me the following day. Once I read an article by a famous professor from Nanjing University who said that students of English department in Nanjing University speak English in their dreams. Until then did I realize that he was telling truth?        Did I stop here or move on? Fortunately I got a chance to receive a two-month intensive training in England in the year 2002. It is a dream came true. I had a fabulous time there, I met so many interesting people, visited so many wonderful places, experienced so many strange adventures, but the most important thing is that I finally got a chance to speak English to real Englishmen, I made full use of the time by watching British TV, read daily mirror, Evening standard, Guardian, talk to all kinds of Englishmen with a large variety of accents. I was praised on many occasions for my English, which I suppose is just a polite way of showing their kindness, but anyway I was tickled to death by other's remarks. Being happy was one thing, and feeling motivated was     another. I resolved to speak better English to meet that praisal.Each time I was praised by others, I asked myself "Am I that good?" That is why I keep on learning English after graduation from college so many years. Teaching English is joy, learning English is fun. My work is my pleasure, It seems that I belong to those whose work and pleasure are one. I would like to say that I am never ever afraid of making mistakes and showing my weak points to others inmy English skills. I know that my English is far from perfect,. but who cares? As long as I enjoy the process of learning, I have found out the true meaning of life: Be a happy learner, be a happy man, and share happiness with others