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In at least one respect, I'm not a typical expatriate teacher of English. Many-perhaps most-of us make our careers teaching overseas. I came out here after many years of teaching and teacher training in England only three years ago, so I'm still relatively a newcomer. And of course I make comparisons. Of course former colleagues ask me what it is like to teach Chinese students? In what ways do they differ from native speakers of English? How do they compare with the students in English schools who are of Asian parentage, but who hardly remember a home elsewhere than in an English city? To these questioners my answer is that Chinese students differ from one another just as do those of any other nationality. The longer I stay, the less I am willing to generalize.
至少,就某方面而言,我還不能算是最典型的外籍英語教師.我們當中許多人,也可以說大多數的人都是以海外教書為終身職業。我經歷多年的教書生涯，而於三年前到英國接受教師訓練之後，才來此地任教，因此算是相當資淺的教員。不過，我倒作過不少教學的比較研究。當然，以前的同事總會問我教導中國學生的一些心得；比如，在教法上，中國學生和以英語為母語的學生有何不同？ 或者，和就讀英語學校，從小又一直生活於講英語的城市之亞裔學生，又有何不同？針對這類問題，我總是回答，中國學生和其它任何國家的學生一樣，也因個性和程度的差異，各有不同。我教書時間愈久，愈不願以偏概全，一概而論。
When students ask me similar sounding questions, I find that I want to give a rather different answer. There is, I think, more to their questions than friendly curiosity. They want to know (even if they do not put it like this) where they stand, and how they rate, as users of English as an international language. They know, as I do, that for all the hard work that has gone into their learning of the language, their attainments still fall short of their hopes. They want to know if that English is good enough, and indeed what 「 good enough」 means. They would like to know if there are ways in which their bilingualism, and their biliteracy, gives them and appreciable advantage, and whether, especially, their limitations and weaknesses in English are identifiable and can be remedied.
要是學生問我類似的熱門問題，我就很想以不同的方式來答覆。我認為在回答時， 不應是滿足善意的好奇心理，而就針對他們的問題，多作闡釋與發揮。他們很想知道（即使不明講），自己目前的程度，以及在使用國際語言的能力方面，如何給予自己確切的評估。他們也和我一樣明白，儘管為了學好英語，下過功夫苦讀，但成效依然不能令人滿意。他們也想知道，自己的英語是否夠好，而「夠好」的真正定義又是什麼？他們更想了解，是否可利用某些捷徑，得以有效提升自己的雙語溝通與讀寫的能力；此外，尤其想知道，是否可以找到自己學習英語的先天限制與種種缺失，以及補救之道。
These are some of the answers I think are true, and that I hope are useful. Learning any foreign language takes a long time and a great deal of effort, but learning one that belongs to a different language family from your mother tongue is especially hard. I knew in England experienced teachers of English to speakers of Asian languages belonging (as do the languages of Europe) to the Indo-European language family. When these teachers met primary students from Hong Kong they perceived them as diligent but slow. Those teachers simply failed to recognize that if Cantonese is your mother tongue you simply have more to do than (say) a Punjabi speaker, so of course you need longer to do it. It is easy to get discouraged and, in effect, to give up. Some people do―even if among those who go on attending classes conscientiously! Many more fail to recognize how much they have actually learnt and to respect their own achievements.
我想下面這些答案是千真萬確的，也盼望對大家有所幫助。學習任何語言都需要很長的時間和巨大的努力，而學習一門跟你的母語不屬於同一語系的語言，尤其艱辛不易。我在英國認識一些經驗豐富的英語教師，他們專教（十分接近歐洲語系的）印歐語系的亞裔學生。他們一旦碰到班上有來自香港的小學生，立刻會察覺這些學生雖然用功勤勉，但卻成效不佳。這些教師都未能認清一個事實：要是本身的母語是廣東話，學起英文來比講印度加語的人士，就得多花一些功夫，自然學習時間要拉長了。這樣他們很容易氣餒從而放棄學習。其中還不乏不曾缺課的認真學生！更有不少人對自己所學的實際進展，茫然不知，不曉得珍惜自己的學習成效。
Realistic Targets
It is important to set yourself realistic targets. For all but a small, exceptionally gifted minority, native proficiency is not a realistic target. A Chinese user of English should not feel that because he sounds and seems Chinese when he uses English that he has been less than successful in acquiring it. To have learned English well is to be fully intelligible to another user of standard English and to understand him, in ordinary circumstances.」 Of course 「ordinary circumstances」 differ between users. Highly technical vocabulary is entirely ordinary in the context of air traffic control or information technology or any one of the many scientific and technical contexts for which English is the language of international communication. Advanced students of English need to consider what are the range of purposes for which they are likely to use their international language, and to select courses where those purposes are recognized and understood by their teachers.
學習目標不宜太高
重要的是，你應當為自己訂立實際可達的目標。要是目標訂得太高， 想學到和英語母語人士一般的流利自然，除了極少數資賦特優的天才外，對一般人而言是不切實際的。中國的英語學習者不應該因為自己在應用英語時有些中國味，就感到自己沒有學通而耿耿於懷。所謂學通英語，就是指在一般的情況下，你的英語能讓講標準英語的對方完全了解，同時，你也能了解他所說的。當然，所謂的「一般情況」也是依講英語的對象的不同而有差異。若是在國際間以英語來溝通，所涉及的內容是航空管制或是資訊科技，或是任何一門科學技術，那麼：有關高級技術的專門詞語全都成了「一般的普通用語範圍」。程度高的學生必須先考慮自己所學的英語，可能要無用在那些目標範圍，去作國際溝通；在選定課程時也應讓教師認清並了解這些目標範圍，互相配合。
Appreciate Your Strengths
I have said it is important to recognize your achievements. It is also important to appreciate your strengths. Failure to do so leads to misplaced anxiety and misdirected effort. In my experience Chinese students usually have (relative to the stage they have reached) a large vocabulary. In addition, they are good at spelling. (Many intelligent native speakers fail to come to terms with the writing system of English, which is not irrational, but is complex, and spell badly.) Chinese students have some characteristic weaknesses too. Even when they can distinguish unfamiliar English sounds quite well, they often fail to do so because they speak much too fast. Then they wonder why native speakers have trouble understanding someone whose English is so fluent! They need someone to say C just slow down! Take it easy! Stop trying to prove how fluent you are, and your spoken English will improve.
重視學習的成果 重視學習的成果
我曾提過，認清自己學習的進展成效十分重要，而體認並珍視自己的長處，更是重要。如果說不重視自己的進展和長處，在學習過程中，就會因步驟零亂而焦躁不安，目標錯誤而徒勞無功。我發現，中國學生（以他們所達到的學習階段而言）通常都擁有相當豐富的辭彙。而且，他們也擅長於拼字。（許多受過教育的英美人士對於那套還算合理，但頗為複雜的英語書寫體系，不見得能得心應手，反而拙於拼字。）中國學生也有一些獨特的缺點，他們講英語時，常因為速度太急促，往往把原本可十分簡易辨識的一些不熟悉的英語語音，發得模糊不清。於是，他們覺得奇怪，怎麼有些人講這麼流利的英語，英美人士竟然不易聽懂。他們需要有人來提醒他們：只要把速度放慢就行！放輕鬆一點，不要再試圖表現自己講得多麼流利，那麼，你的英語口語能力，必定會大為提高。
Compositions Not Too Soon
Some-not all of the weaknesses students display in writing English are, I believe, aggravated by the educational system, and the pressures it exerts on teachers and students alike. In particular, I believe that students are often required to write English compositions too soon. Writing so as to express your own thoughts, opinions and observations is difficult even in your mother tongue. There are pitfalls and opportunities to error at every turn when you are using your second language! The stage of guided writing, the exercises where you are given the ideas or where you are expected to complete or change or adapt sentences, rather than to invent them, is a very important stage, and should be an extended one. I think it is too often cut short in case students get bored. If the exercises are suitable though, they are difficult enough to be interesting, but not so difficult that most students have no real expectation of success.
英語作文不嫌遲
我相信，學生在英文書寫方面軍的某些缺點，當然不是指所有的缺點，之所以會每況愈下，應歸咎於教育制度以及教師與同學所加諸的壓力。尤其是教師常常太早要求學生寫英文作文，我認為這並不恰當。因為 即使是使用母語來表達自己的想法、意見和觀感都不是件容易的事， 而使用第二種語言來寫，更免不了隨時都有陷阱和犯錯的機會！引導寫作的這一重要階段應該拉長，這個階段的練習，在於提示你一個中心思想，在於要你完成句子，變換句型或修飾句子，而不要你急著自行獨創句子。我認為，這個階段，往往一遇到學生感到厭倦就予於縮短，實在不該。只要練習合乎需要，就該難度適當，足以引起學生的樂趣，而不應太過艱難，使得大多數的學生缺乏成就感。
Reading a Bilingual Magazine
Students often say to me that they would like to improve the level of their English―what can they do on their own? Reading a bilingual magazine is obviously one answer! Some of these suggestions are helpful to some students. Read the English language newspapers and concentrate on the pages that really interest you―sports or fashion or the stock market if you like. If your family doesn』t want to watch English language TV, see if you can have a small set in your bedroom.
中英對照雜誌有助益
學生也常常向我表達他們有心增進英文程度的願望，但自己卻不知從何著手？顯然，我最現成的答覆是，定期閱讀中英對照的雜誌！另有一些建議對某些人也很有幫助，象看英文報紙，專選自己真正有興趣的部分精讀：運動、時裝或者是股市，只要你喜歡的就看。 假如你的家人不要看英語電視節目，看看你能否自行買一台小型的擺在自己的卧房。
Use English
You do need to use English with speakers who are not teachers of English. This isn't easy, since everyone feels constrained speaking English with friends with whom it would be natural to use a shared mother tongue. Joining an English Club is a good idea and joining a club with an international membership (where English is in use at least some of the time) is, for many people, even better. If nothing like this is accessible, you might consider what would be involved in getting something going.
活用英文樂趣多
你需要常常和英語教師以外的人士用英語交談。這當然很不容易，因為與母語相同的人自由交談時，彼此若用英語交談總會覺得很不自在。亦可參加英語俱樂部或國際會員的俱樂部（至少有時使用英語溝通），這樣對很多人而言更有益。如果沒有合適的社團可加入，也不妨考慮任何足以提高英語能力的機會。
What I say in answer to questions, is, as you see, what I have learned and I am still learning. This is natural enough, given that the study of a language is a collaborative effort between teachers and students. Success in it, it seems to me, is conditional on avoiding not boredom but discouragement, of setting goals that matter to you and targets that are attainable, of realistic assessment of what has been achieved and of what has still to be done, and of finding opportunities of putting what you have learned to enjoyable use.
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