I want to write about a student who is now in my B3 class.
When she first came to our English school, she had a basic foundation in English but could not hold a conversation in English for more than a few minutes without using Chinese or stopping to think about what to say.
Now after being with the school for two and half months she is able to hold a conversation in English 98% of the time for three and a half hours!
This is how it started: When she was first starting her B1 class, after the class we would chat together while walking back to the MRT. After a little while, this became a routine for us, and after each class she would wait for me and we would chat together or discuss about a paper she was writing for her degree, while walking back to the station. She would use this opportunity to ask me for advice on the topic she was writing about, and share with me more about the content of the paper. At that time, she wasn’t able to hold even a three-minute conversation in English.
Our routine continued that way for the first three weeks but then one evening she asked for my opinion on how she might more quickly improve her English. I thought for a moment and then I suggested that she write short diary entries to me every day about her day-to-day life.
She liked this idea and after that night she started writing me a short text message every day, telling me about the highlights of her day, and I would respond to her and offer some encouragement and tips on improving her grammar and so on. This continued for about a month until she got too busy with her work and so wasn’t able to continue.
She graduated from the B1 class and soon started B2, and she continued practicing on her own and sometimes she would leave me voice messages to tell me about her day.
One of the things she told me at that time was that she did a British listening test in B1 in which she scored 61%, then she took the same test again about a month later during B2 and she had scored 79%!
In the middle of B2 she asked me one day to help her to check a submission she was writing to her professor applying for a research internship to New Zealand. There were five students applying for the internship but only three positions were available.
She was very nervous about her application, even though her writing was actually quite good, and I helped her by advising her on some changes.
Then a couple of weeks later, at the end of B2 she and I went out for dinner with another one of her LITE English school classmates and during that dinner she mentioned that she had been accepted to travel with her professor to New Zealand, which of course she was very happy about.
But not only was she chosen to be one of the students travelling to New Zealand, she was also chosen to be the leader of the group, because of her proficiency in English!
During that evening we talked non-stop from 5:15pm to 8:45pm without speaking almost any Chinese! We were talking about daily life, work and future plans – just everyday conversation – but these were the very sentence patterns and vocabulary we had been learning and practicing in our classes!
While we were walking back to the station after dinner, I pointed out to her that she had just had a three-hour conversation with me in English and asked if she had noticed.
We were both laughing together and were so ecstatic with the recognition of how much her English had improved!
Because of her practice, inside and outside of the class, her command of everyday English had become very casual and automatic. We both realized how much she had changed over this short time period of time, and we were both amazed at how quickly she had improved.
She also told me that at her work there was a colleague from overseas and they would frequently converse together in English, and he too had commented on how much her English had improved in such a short time.
All this had taken place in only a three-month period!
Now her life has completely changed for the better – new opportunities have opened up and new horizons are in view.
I cannot believe how happy it makes me feel to see these changes taking place – and she is not the only one.
There are other students who are experiencing similar miracles occurring in their lives as they progress through the LITE English curriculum.
But those are stories for another day.
Written by Karen
(中文譯文)
三個月內英文口說大躍進
我想分享B3班一位學生的故事。
她初次來到我們的英語學校時，英文基礎還可以，但無法用英文進行長時間的對話，幾分鐘後就會使用中文或停下來思考該說什麼。
現在在學校待了兩個半月後，她能夠在三個半小時的時間裡，有98%的時間用英文進行對話！
這是她起步的方式：當她開始修讀B1班時，下課後我們會一起散步回捷運站，邊走邊聊天。不久後，這成為了我們的日常，每堂課結束後她都會等我，我們一起聊天或討論她正在寫的論文，一邊走回車站。她會利用這個機會向我請教論文主題，並向我分享更多論文內容。當時，她甚至無法進行三分鐘的英文對話。
我們持續保持這樣的練習約三個星期，但後來一個晚上，她問我如何更快地提升英文能力。我思考片刻，然後建議她每天給我寫一段簡短的日記，記錄她日常生活中特別的時刻。
她喜歡這個建議，從那天晚上開始，她每天傳簡訊給我，告訴我她那一天的發生的有趣或特別的事情，我會回覆她，並提供一些鼓勵和改進語法等方面的建議。這持續了大約一個月，然後她因工作繁忙而無法繼續。
她從B1班畢業後，很快進入了B2班，她繼續自己練習，有時會給我留下語音訊息，告訴我她一天過的怎麼樣。
當時，她告訴我一件事情，就是她在B1班時參加了一個英文聽力測試，得分為61%，然後在B2班約一個月後再次參加了同樣的測試，得分提升到了79%！
在B2班中間的某一天，她請我幫忙檢查她寫給教授的一篇申請書，申請去紐西蘭進行研究實習。有五位學生申請，但只有三個名額。
她非常緊張，儘管她寫作相當不錯，我還是提出了一些建議。
幾個星期後，在B2班結束時，她和我與她在LITE英語學校的另一位同學一起出去吃晚餐，在那次晚餐中，她提到她被接受與教授一起去紐西蘭旅行，她當然非常高興。
不僅如此，她不僅被選為前往紐西蘭的學生之一，還被選為該團的領隊，因為她的英文能力出眾！
在那個晚上，我們從下午5:15一直聊到晚上8:45，幾乎沒說過中文！我們談論日常生活、工作和未來計劃，只是日常對話，但這些正是我們在課堂上學習和練習的句型和詞彙！
在晚餐結束後，我指出她剛剛用英文和我進行了三個小時的對話，問她是否注意到了。
我們一起大笑，意識到她的英文進步了，我們感到非常興奮！
因為她在課堂內外的練習，她對於日常英文的運用已變得非常自然。我們都意識到她在這短暫的時間內發生了很大的變化，我們對她進步的速度感到驚訝。
她還告訴我，在她的工作中有一位來自海外的同事，他們經常用英文交談，他也曾說她在如此短的時間內英文進步了很多。
發生在短短的三個月內！
現在，她的生活變得更好了 – 有新的機會，有更廣更新的視野。
我無法相信這讓我感到多麼開心，看到這些變化正在發生 – 而她並不是唯一一個。還有其他學生在LITE英語課程中，在生活中經歷了類似的奇蹟。
但這是另外的故事了。
由 Karen 撰寫