The More I Participate, The Better I Am
Having studied in UCSB for 3 months, I gradually get used to the American’s learning style — a lot of free time to do what you want, learning and thinking by yourself, and trying to manage your own schedule. At the beginning of the first quarter, I made up my mind to balance the time among study, social contact, and sleep. According to what I did in the whole quarter, I think I have got it. For the new coming quarter, it is very necessary to set a goal to inspire me study hard and my goal is to try my best to talk with native people and participate in various classroom activities, especially in Ling 3C.
As what professor Corona told me, “ you guys spend 20k dollars studying in UCSB, not for a new mandarin environment, but for a native American environment.” After spending a large amount of money and taking a 15 hours flight to a totally unfamiliar country, what we look forward to is getting the best education with outstanding professors and native classmates. Besides, the fluent oral English is the other target for us to study in US. However, most of us, the Chinese students, tend to form groups with other Chinese students. We talk in mandarin and no communication with the professors who stand in the stage far away from students. I think it is not what I want. I need to exercise my English ability, not just finish the homework and read the textbook to prepare for the next class.
Aiming to achieve this goal, I would like to get connected with native American students. In my chemistry and ECE5 lab, I can easily find the native people. Before, I feared to talk with them for my poor oral English and listening ability. But after talking with them in some parts of the lab, I found they were actually very nice. If I didn’t hear what they said, they would say it more times to let me know. When I said some words with wrong pronounce, they didn’t mind it and helped me correct it. So this quarter, I think it is the time to open my mouth to speak English confidently. Only more exercise can improve my oral English and promoting my listening ability.
Besides, I also plan to take an active part in the classroom activities. In the ling 3b last quarter, I just played a role of participant in every discussion. There were not a lot of opportunities for a participant to show his opinions. But I want to be a leader, not just a participant. Therefore, this quarter, my target is to seize every chance in the classroom activities to lead the discussion with classmates. By this way, I push myself to be the leader and have to show more opinion to maintain the discussion, which is an ideal platform for me the exercise my oral English and gain the leadership.
