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Rushing all the way to learn English in England
By Wu Zheng |
June 12, 2012, Tuesday
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KOJI Shikama, a 29-year-old engineer whose company designs and manufactures railway safety systems, needs to improve his English, since his company plans to export overseas and more of his duties will require English proficiency.
When I met him in late April at the campus of Oxford Intensive School of English (OISE), he was halfway through his six-month course. In that week at OISE Cambridge, 18 people from 13 countries, mostly mid-career professionals, were making efforts to improve their English. Some were still struggling to make themselves understood while some were working on expressing themselves in English with elegance and accuracy.
The students that week also included Sandra Januario, a Portuguese marketing manager who can already express herself in clear, well-structured and appropriate English. She was tempted to become a full-time English teacher, so she applied. Her Italian husband is an alumnus of OISE Cambridge.
The different levels and targets of English are not a problem for OISE, as most of its courses are tailor-made for individuals and instructors tutor one-to-one or in small groups of four-to-one.
This is not a cheap option, and if you consider the six month's work and family time these professionals gave up for English, the price is even higher.
In my one week at Cambridge, I could not help but marvel at the time and money people spend on learning a foreign language. Known as a center of outstanding academic achievement, the small city of Cambridge has well over 20 language schools with students swarming in from around the world.
Back in China, my fellow countrymen are so keen on improving their English that there's a new gold rush to offer English classes. In a report published by the Financial Times, one research organization estimates the global English language learning market at US$100 billion a year and says China accounts for about 40 percent of that.
It's mind-boggling to think about that figure with all those zeros, but I believe it. Mothers I know in Shanghai don't bat an eye when they cough up roughly a month's or several months' salary to enroll their young children in language courses. These are offered by companies such as Disney English, a chain of English schools for children, and New Oriental, the New York Stock Exchange-listed company that teaches English to three-year-olds as well as adults.
But the sad truth is that at least for my generation, although we started learning a second language at a very young age and spent years at it, struggling through the dense jungle of vocabulary and memorizing complicated grammar, many still ended up in an embarrassing state when trying to strike up conversation with native speakers.
"The level of English has changed dramatically over the past 20 years. About 85 percent of the people using the English are non-natives," Susan Roberts, principal of OISE Cambridge, told me. "To be a good language learner, what you need is not only intelligence, but also motivation and confidence."
An important strategy of OISE is to teach a language in countries where it is widely spoken. That's why in spite of the allure of the Chinese market, the school is not tempted to set up campuses here, but instead tries to lure students overseas, to campuses such as in Cambridge, Oxford and London.The overseas approach certainly works better, as it combines both natural and tutored learning.
At OISE Cambridge, I had the company of a good team of knowledgeable teachers and a group of like-minded professionals. And I was particularly lucky as OISE found me Martin and Angela Donnelly as my host family. Mrs Donnelly had worked for the national UK newspaper, The Guardian, and was a deputy editor before she retired from a major newspaper in Cambridge. So both profession and language-wise, she offered a great deal of help.
I can be content with the level of English I have achieved as a foreigner. But the one-week spent at OISE Cambridge gave me many moments of panic, as I found the language mistakes I've been making all these years. But then, I was also rewarded with so much enjoyment.
Yes, language learning is tough. No matter how much you've learned, there's something more to learn.
When I met him in late April at the campus of Oxford Intensive School of English (OISE), he was halfway through his six-month course. In that week at OISE Cambridge, 18 people from 13 countries, mostly mid-career professionals, were making efforts to improve their English. Some were still struggling to make themselves understood while some were working on expressing themselves in English with elegance and accuracy.
The students that week also included Sandra Januario, a Portuguese marketing manager who can already express herself in clear, well-structured and appropriate English. She was tempted to become a full-time English teacher, so she applied. Her Italian husband is an alumnus of OISE Cambridge.
The different levels and targets of English are not a problem for OISE, as most of its courses are tailor-made for individuals and instructors tutor one-to-one or in small groups of four-to-one.
This is not a cheap option, and if you consider the six month's work and family time these professionals gave up for English, the price is even higher.
In my one week at Cambridge, I could not help but marvel at the time and money people spend on learning a foreign language. Known as a center of outstanding academic achievement, the small city of Cambridge has well over 20 language schools with students swarming in from around the world.
Back in China, my fellow countrymen are so keen on improving their English that there's a new gold rush to offer English classes. In a report published by the Financial Times, one research organization estimates the global English language learning market at US$100 billion a year and says China accounts for about 40 percent of that.
It's mind-boggling to think about that figure with all those zeros, but I believe it. Mothers I know in Shanghai don't bat an eye when they cough up roughly a month's or several months' salary to enroll their young children in language courses. These are offered by companies such as Disney English, a chain of English schools for children, and New Oriental, the New York Stock Exchange-listed company that teaches English to three-year-olds as well as adults.
But the sad truth is that at least for my generation, although we started learning a second language at a very young age and spent years at it, struggling through the dense jungle of vocabulary and memorizing complicated grammar, many still ended up in an embarrassing state when trying to strike up conversation with native speakers.
"The level of English has changed dramatically over the past 20 years. About 85 percent of the people using the English are non-natives," Susan Roberts, principal of OISE Cambridge, told me. "To be a good language learner, what you need is not only intelligence, but also motivation and confidence."
An important strategy of OISE is to teach a language in countries where it is widely spoken. That's why in spite of the allure of the Chinese market, the school is not tempted to set up campuses here, but instead tries to lure students overseas, to campuses such as in Cambridge, Oxford and London.The overseas approach certainly works better, as it combines both natural and tutored learning.
At OISE Cambridge, I had the company of a good team of knowledgeable teachers and a group of like-minded professionals. And I was particularly lucky as OISE found me Martin and Angela Donnelly as my host family. Mrs Donnelly had worked for the national UK newspaper, The Guardian, and was a deputy editor before she retired from a major newspaper in Cambridge. So both profession and language-wise, she offered a great deal of help.
I can be content with the level of English I have achieved as a foreigner. But the one-week spent at OISE Cambridge gave me many moments of panic, as I found the language mistakes I've been making all these years. But then, I was also rewarded with so much enjoyment.
Yes, language learning is tough. No matter how much you've learned, there's something more to learn.
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