The Power of Language that Changes My Life
It was a Saturday morning back in the autumn of the year 2000. I was in my final year at primary school. I got up early while my parents were still sleeping. It always the body clock woke me up on weekend mornings when I was a kid.
I had nothing to do and I was not hungry, so I opened an English book called “Cambridge English: Young Learners” and started to read, loudly. I read those words and phrases about animals, sports, or colors that I learned every Friday night ( I joined an English class with a small group of students and we had class every Friday night), and even listen to the tape and sang some English songs. Then my loud voice woke up my mum. She was happy to see I was studying, on a Saturday morning.
Fun Time with English
I really appreciate Cambridge designed this course for kids from non-English speaking countries. It was an engaging and interesting book to learn and read. Most importantly, it sparked my interest in learning English.
I was born in Wuhan, a second-tier city in China. Compared to tier 1 cities like Beijing, Shanghai, when I grew up, the kids in my suburb had limited access to learning English. The school officially start to teach English until Year 1 of middle school, when we were around 12–13 years old. Obviously, it was too late to start learning a new language, so back to that time, some parents sent their kids to extra curriculum English classes when the kids were younger.
The Cambridge English class was organized by a school friend’s parents in my community. The teacher was a Uni graduate who had a business English degree. I really enjoyed that class, unlike the tedious math or Chinese class in school, this one was really fun. We basically learn English by playing the game, singing songs and a lot of talking.
After primary school, I suddenly realized why my classmate’s parents spent so much time organizing this class. They did lots of work: they recruited teachers, found classrooms, organized schedules etc. They did all these voluntarily because they were preparing to migrate to Canada. The parents wanted their son to learn more English before they landed in the western country, so they took the initiative to organize this class.
There was an “English fever” in China when I was in high school. Everyone has a fantasy about the western world, where people live a better life than in China. A number of English training institutions developed so quickly in China, such as New Orientation, it was publicly listed in NYSE in 2006.
I have been to New Orientation’s English class for preparing college entrance exam and IELTS exam. Those teachers are always passionate and they try to inspire students that English will change your life. Looking back from today, yes, it definitely does.
Life-Changing English Exams
Thanks to that Cambridge English class, I learned English earlier and progressed ahead of my peers before went to middle school. I remembered I was always the top 3 in the English test in middle school. And the teacher has appointed me as the English class representative. However, all my confidence in English was destroyed on the first day of high school.
I did really well in the high school entrance exam and received an offer from a top high school. On the first day of high school, the girl sat next to me talked like a native English speaker with our English teacher, I was embarrassed, nervous and felt bad to practice a simple dialogue with her. Then the girl told me she used to live in the U.S with her family for two years when his father worked in a university there. At that moment, I realized those Cambridge classes were nothing compared to those kids who have the privilege and can easily study and live overseas and developed great language skills.
After high school, I got an offer from an international college in China. I was quite scared when I heard it will be full English teaching and learning in that college. Just think about learn accounting in your second language?
I remembered in my first year, it was pretty tough as we have to get used to the dialect of teachers from different countries such as UK, India, Hong Kong, Malaysia. We have to learn all the terminologies for different subjects. And the scariest thing is that the English teacher didn’t allow us to speak any Chinese in the class, if she found us chatting in Chinese, we would pay 1 Chinese Yuan as a punishment.
But I really appreciate the 4 years I spent in the international college. When I passed the IELTS exam easily and did post-graduate study in Australia, my classmates from China were surprised my speaking was so fluently.
English proficiency plays a vital role in Australia’s skill immigration. I was working so hard to get the higher English test mark, which is worth higher points for immigration. I worked during the day, study at night, do the mock tests on weekends and I even listen to podcasts while I drive to work, luckily all the efforts paid off, I made it. I got 90 out of 90 in the Pearson Test of English. I almost cried when I received the transcript.
Unlike the subject like math or science, which may require logic or high IQ, learning language is not that difficult but requires persistence and patience. The more time you spend on using, learning and memorizing this language, the more proficient your language skill will be.
More Possibilities for Future
Recently I randomly read an article on Chinese social media, which talked about since the economy developed fast in China, the younger generation does not envy western countries anymore. They believe there will be more opportunities in China so they think it is not necessary to learn English, and English wouldn’t change their lives.
I couldn’t agree with some opinions in this article. I leave a comment and said China does offer a lot of opportunities to young people, but why does the western world always have stereotypes on China? One reason is that we do not have good English media to communicate with them and talk our stories. If we would like to connect to the world and win the respect of others, we have to learn this common language.
In terms of the debate does English change your life? I was thinking if I couldn’t speak this language very well, what the life supposed to be? I won’t be able to finish my bachelor's degree in the International College in China. I won’t be able to study and immigrate in Australia. I won’t be attending the group interview with local graduates and got a graduate program offer from one of the biggest retailers in Australia. I won’t be able to write my stories in Medium.
Language is a medium, to connect with so many things. As the most widely spoken language in the world, English opens a door for me to so many songs, news, movies, TV shows, podcast, books, etc. Especially for the people like me, who are from a non-English speaking country that lack freedom of speech, learning English makes me capable of discovering the truth, seeing the real world and thinking from different perspectives.
Although my English is still not perfect until today as you may tell I have some grammar mistakes in my writing, what I want to say is that I really appreciate that I had the opportunity to learn English since I was a kid, since that Cambridge English class. Thanks to all the English teachers, classes, exams.. English definitely had a significant impact on my life.
I want to tell those young people who do not believe in English anymore:
It is not just a language, it’s a key to a new world
It is not just a language, it’s a new way of thinking and communicating
It is not just a language, it’s the persistence and self-discipline in the lifelong learning
It is not just a language, it’s an open mind to all the possibilities
It is a power to change my life.
