A couple of thoughts about breaking through the language barrier

秀山之月 · 发表于 2010-8-6 23:29

I have been so much impressed by the determination and dedication of the people active in this column on improving their English. The postings and the discussions sometimes are so courageous to me that I for quite a few times really want to spend some time to help these people by whatever means.

Thinking of the way I have been learning English for so many years, the following two things come up in my head:

1) Learning Oscar winner movies
   - A group of 4-5 people chooses a best Oscar winner movie.
   - Watch and memorize, repeat until you can freely speak as in the movie
   - The group does short plays just like in the movie

2) Learning speeches
   - Find a best speech, read the speech loudly and memorize it, repeat until you can speak as the speaker
   - each of the 4-5 people group do the speech in front of the others

These may not be the best ways of learning a foreign language, but they will help you break through the foreign language barrier and meanwhile give you good English.

秀山之月 · 发表于 2010-8-7 06:45

本帖最后由秀山之月于 2010-8-7 08:43 编辑

I apologize for posting the above rough draft. Please allow me to make a revision as below:

Sometimes I am so much impressed and moved by the determination and dedication of the people active at this column on improving their English. The postings and the discussions sometimes are so courageous to me that, for quite a few times,  I really did think to take actions within my capacity to help these people. Thinking of the way I have been learning English for many years, the following two things came up to my mind:

1) Study Oscar winner movies
   - Organize participants to groups of 4-5 people
   - Select one of the best Oscar winner movies for each group.
   - Watch and study the movie thoroughly
   - Pick up a few sections and memorize all the conversations
   - Practice the conversations as in the movie
   - Each group does the short plays just like in the movie
   - Practice, practice and practice, until you can do the play in front of friends, families and public
   - Enjoy the plays being performed by the other groups

2) Study speeches
   - Find one of the famous speeches that you like the most
   - Read the speech loudly and memorize it
   - Practice, practice and practice, until you can speak as the speaker
   - Perform the speech in front of friends, families and public
   - Enjoy the speeches by others

These may not be the best ways of learning a foreign language, but they will help you break through the foreign language barrier and of course they will give you good language.

suvescape · 发表于 2010-8-7 08:03

我鸡蛋里头挑挑骨头哈，请批评指正：
I really did think to take actions within my capacity to help these people. 里头，capacity是不是用的不好？我整篇文章看下来，这里最不舒服。

另：热烈邀请楼主参加我们的读书会活动，如果愿意的话，请短信我你的名字和email。
谢谢

珠圆玉润 · 发表于 2010-8-7 08:12

thanks ,Hill.you are so nice to give us these points for improving English. I really appricate you.actually , we really need a place to practise and speak English. I am at school , we have chances to speak and write. I always talk with my son in English. I hope your methods will help me doing better than before.thank you again. have a good time everyday.

秀山之月 · 发表于 2010-8-7 08:30

3# suvescape
Thanks for your comments. Definitely there would be other better wordings.

秀山之月 · 发表于 2010-8-7 10:01

4# 珠圆玉润

Glad to see that you have the wonderful courage to spell out the English. This is so critical for new immigrants to overpass the communication barrier.

Use it, use it and use it!!!

By the way, it is such a surprise to me that you made so much improvement on your English. Proud of being your friend.

岸上踏歌 · 发表于 2010-8-7 10:29

2# 秀山之月

I like these ideas. In addition, learning some communication skills would also be helpful for language learners. We can adopt those strategies employed by the toastmaster clubs when we practicsing public speaking skills.

秀山之月 · 发表于 2010-8-7 11:04

I only heard the toastmaster club but not really know what activities the club is currently holding. Thanks for your comments.

Go-to-airport · 发表于 2010-8-7 14:36

good ideas.

billzhao · 发表于 2010-8-9 09:05

very good ideas.

Crisis · 发表于 2010-8-9 10:06

VERY VERY good ideas.

SUV and Yuntun might take these ideas for E-reading club

雲吞 · 发表于 2010-8-9 12:20

This is a vely vely good idea. But an Oscar movie might be too long, like two and half hours. Maybe we can choose some TV series like Seinfeld; each episode is only 20 minutes long.

suvescape · 发表于 2010-8-9 18:19

这个问题我考虑过。但是总有一个顾虑：
电影中好的对白是比较艺术的，就是很多时候对话写的很漂亮，且有艺术含义。这不符合目前plain language的要求。
现在我看中文电影，也需要借助字幕，否则有些地方，我也看不懂。有些地方，我听了，但是不知道含义。

所以，在美丽的艺术和朴实的生活之间，很难选择。

难。当然这种学习方法是一种趣向，大家可以深入讨论。

秀山之月 · 发表于 2010-8-9 21:24

本帖最后由秀山之月于 2010-8-9 22:27 编辑

1) Movie studying is a learning method that New Oriental has been using for many years. The movies they used in early 90's were:

- Forrest Gump
- Four Weddings and One Funeral
- Ghost
- When Harry Met Sally
- The Graduates; and so on

The language of these movies are decent mid-class language and New Oriental has all the books. Unfortunately I do not have any here.

2) Speech studying
Among the books I studied, "Great Speeches, Words That Shaped The World" is the one I like the most. It should not be difficult to find from libraries.

秀山之月 · 发表于 2010-8-9 21:29

本帖最后由秀山之月于 2010-8-9 22:46 编辑

Thanks for all the above encouraging comments.

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