Whenever the advantages of earning an advanced degree in an English-speaking country are mentioned, "improving my English skills" and "practicing my English" always rank high among them. But, as the experience of many a foreign student has shown, practicing - let alone improving - your English is, as the English saying goes, "easier said than done."
Understandably, many students studying abroad gravitate toward students from their own country or region, both for greater ease of conversation as well as to be with others who understand their cultural perspective. Valuable as such friendships are, they often get in the way of using English and refining the skills, speaking and listening in particular.
Furthermore, a lack of confidence inhibits many foreign students from putting themselves forward in English. Even when they have the confidence and willingness, students from other countries often do not know how - and where - to create situations outside the classroom in which they're likely to learn English by using it. All of them agree that making as many native English-speaking friends as possible is the most helpful thing of all. That doesn't necessarily mean living with native speakers, but if you can - in a dormitory or shared house, apartment or flat situation - you're sure to get your English up to comfortable speaking, listening and general comprehension standards at the fastest rate, having the most fun in the process.
English-speaking students are as interested in making friends with people from other countries as you are in getting to know them. A good thing to avoid in making native-speaker friends is not to propose spending time together so that you can practice your English. It sounds like there is work or effort involved on the part of the native speaker.
In fact, the people you approach with the idea of "practicing your English" are less like to decline your invitation because they are unwilling to be helpful than they are to feel that they are not "qualified" to teach and might have a negative rather than a positive influence on your English. The reality is that no matter how they speak English, they have something to teach you, since, as native speakers, they are examples of the kinds of English speakers you can expect to encounter in your later, professional or personal life.
Beyond making English-speaking friends and living with native speakers, here are some ways to consider expanding your English speaking and comprehension skills that take you into more formal, adult parts of the English-speaking world. In some of them, you may even learn vocabulary that will be useful for your academic discipline:
1. Go to the bank with a mission that involves fact-finding in English. As one example, it would be good for you to learn how have money wired from a foreign country - yours - into a bank account you establish in your host country. If the branch of the bank near your university is a small one, you may just want to walk in and talk to an officer. If it is a larger bank, you may want to call ahead for an appointment to speak with someone. You could even say that you are gathering the information for an article you are writing for your school's foreign-student bulletin. Then you could actually write up what you learn and present the information to your fellow foreign students - even if there is no official foreign-student bulletin.
2. Go to the post office to find out how best to ship an item home. This will probably be a walk-in task, but you are likely to find postal clerks helpful if you look earnest about your need to know.
3. Go to a fitness center or other facility that offers nonacademic activities you enjoy and ask about membership and privileges. Universities often have many of the facilities you need on campus. Still, you could also go off campus to investigate other kinds of activity centers - which could range from a stable that gives horse-riding lessons to an art studio. Even if you do not actually join - and do not feel pressured to; you are just investing possibilities (and expanding your English without saying so) - you are sure to enlarge your vocabulary and increase your sense of ease talking with strangers in English.
4. Go to a travel agent and plan a trip. The trip could be anything from an excursion in your host country - of which there are sure to be many - to a more adventurous trip to a neighboring country. Travel agents are, for obvious reasons, accustomed to dealing with people who do not speak English as a first language. Again, try to sustain the conversation as long as possible within reason. Ask about the full range of transportation and accommodation options, and see how many different recommendations the agent can make that fit with you time availability and budget. It is normal for customers to leave a travel agent's office with a variety of options to consider.
5. Apply for a part-time job. Even if you do not need to work part-time or cannot under the terms of your acceptance at your host university, check out nearby jobs. Interviewing is a highly valuable skill in countless situations, including academic ones, and getting all the experience you can with it will be invaluable. If you are so successful that you are actually offered the job, give yourself credit for a job already well done (fact-finding; interviewing) - and then accept the job if it actually appeals to you or politely decline it if you do not want or need it. If you were skillful enough to get one job offer, it is plausible that you got others, too. Thank the employer for the opportunity and reply that, regrettably, you have accepted another offer elsewhere.
The suggestions above are offered to give you ideas about how to use your imagination to create situations for you to expand and practice your English - without ever having to say, "Could you please help me practice my English?"
Nine Reasons Why I Love to Teach English as a Second Language - and Why That Should Matter to You
Why do I love to teach English as a Second Language?
One: I love to teach.
Two: I love English.
Three: I love language in general; discovering the connections between English and other languages is a bonus.
Four: I love to hear other people speak their native languages fluently, easily, and beautifully.
Five: I love to travel—no, that’s wrong. I don’t travel. But spending time with people from other cultures enables me to imagine that I travel.
Six: I love to feel like an ambassador to…whatever country my student is from.
Seven: I love learning about history, and most other countries on the planet have more history than mine.
Eight: I’m a writer; writing is my primary source of income, and I love to write. But writing is a solitary activity; teaching allows me to interact with people and adds another layer of richness to my life.
Nine: It gives me something wonderful to dream about. Please continue reading….
Why should you care that I love to teach ESL?
Here, in ten brief paragraphs, is my answer.
I tell my students, rather apologetically, that Americans generally don’t respect people who don’t speak English. True, the world is quickly becoming a global society, and English is becoming “the” international language. And perhaps someday soon every educated person in the world will have a working knowledge of English.
Even if your ancestors came here on the Mayflower—as mine did—or even if they are Native Americans, your people originally spoke some other language. Modern English has been around only a few hundred years.
And what a tragedy it would be if those other languages disappeared, or became ancient relics of lost civilizations, to be studied only by academicians and never used in everyday life. Think of living in a world where everyone had the same favorite color, or the same hobby…where every radio station played the same music…or every restaurant served the same food. How boring! Here’s an easy (and fun) way for each of us to do our small part for international relations: be patient with someone who is learning English, and while we’re at it, show an interest in their native language. We’re guaranteed to learn something fascinating.
Wherever we live, wherever our ancestors came from, our language is intimately intertwined with our history, our culture, our sociology…even our biology. Consider that whatever sounds are absent from our native language, unless we somehow learn them as young children, will be lost to us forever. We lose a big piece of our cultural identity if we pretend that Modern English is the only language that counts.
Now, my dream…for many years, I’ve wanted to travel to England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales—the lands of my ancestors. A few years ago, I began to study Italian, and became enamored of not only the language, but the food, the art, the architecture, and of course the history. More recently, as I worked with a student from Switzerland, I was soon awed by what I learned of the rich cultural history, the variety of natural scenery…the castles and cathedrals and trains…the large number of language groups for so small a country…and now I want to go to Switzerland. I hope all my fellow Americans will find it in themselves to appreciate the languages of the world and the people who speak them. If you do travel, please make an effort to say a few words in your host country’s language. You probably won’t have to say much, for the people you meet will probably want to take the opportunity to practice English. If you don’t travel, just look at the people around you and notice the diversity of backgrounds.
The Old Testament story of the Tower of Babel describes God’s punishment of mankind for their pride in thinking they could reach heaven by building and climbing upon this great tower. Suddenly speaking many different languages, they could no longer communicate and were unable to finish the project. Go out of your way to spend some time with someone who doesn’t speak fluent English. The joy of communication that transcends language barriers will be yours.
Understandably, many students studying abroad gravitate toward students from their own country or region, both for greater ease of conversation as well as to be with others who understand their cultural perspective. Valuable as such friendships are, they often get in the way of using English and refining the skills, speaking and listening in particular.
Furthermore, a lack of confidence inhibits many foreign students from putting themselves forward in English. Even when they have the confidence and willingness, students from other countries often do not know how - and where - to create situations outside the classroom in which they're likely to learn English by using it. All of them agree that making as many native English-speaking friends as possible is the most helpful thing of all. That doesn't necessarily mean living with native speakers, but if you can - in a dormitory or shared house, apartment or flat situation - you're sure to get your English up to comfortable speaking, listening and general comprehension standards at the fastest rate, having the most fun in the process.
English-speaking students are as interested in making friends with people from other countries as you are in getting to know them. A good thing to avoid in making native-speaker friends is not to propose spending time together so that you can practice your English. It sounds like there is work or effort involved on the part of the native speaker.
In fact, the people you approach with the idea of "practicing your English" are less like to decline your invitation because they are unwilling to be helpful than they are to feel that they are not "qualified" to teach and might have a negative rather than a positive influence on your English. The reality is that no matter how they speak English, they have something to teach you, since, as native speakers, they are examples of the kinds of English speakers you can expect to encounter in your later, professional or personal life.
Beyond making English-speaking friends and living with native speakers, here are some ways to consider expanding your English speaking and comprehension skills that take you into more formal, adult parts of the English-speaking world. In some of them, you may even learn vocabulary that will be useful for your academic discipline:
1. Go to the bank with a mission that involves fact-finding in English. As one example, it would be good for you to learn how have money wired from a foreign country - yours - into a bank account you establish in your host country. If the branch of the bank near your university is a small one, you may just want to walk in and talk to an officer. If it is a larger bank, you may want to call ahead for an appointment to speak with someone. You could even say that you are gathering the information for an article you are writing for your school's foreign-student bulletin. Then you could actually write up what you learn and present the information to your fellow foreign students - even if there is no official foreign-student bulletin.
2. Go to the post office to find out how best to ship an item home. This will probably be a walk-in task, but you are likely to find postal clerks helpful if you look earnest about your need to know.
3. Go to a fitness center or other facility that offers nonacademic activities you enjoy and ask about membership and privileges. Universities often have many of the facilities you need on campus. Still, you could also go off campus to investigate other kinds of activity centers - which could range from a stable that gives horse-riding lessons to an art studio. Even if you do not actually join - and do not feel pressured to; you are just investing possibilities (and expanding your English without saying so) - you are sure to enlarge your vocabulary and increase your sense of ease talking with strangers in English.
4. Go to a travel agent and plan a trip. The trip could be anything from an excursion in your host country - of which there are sure to be many - to a more adventurous trip to a neighboring country. Travel agents are, for obvious reasons, accustomed to dealing with people who do not speak English as a first language. Again, try to sustain the conversation as long as possible within reason. Ask about the full range of transportation and accommodation options, and see how many different recommendations the agent can make that fit with you time availability and budget. It is normal for customers to leave a travel agent's office with a variety of options to consider.
5. Apply for a part-time job. Even if you do not need to work part-time or cannot under the terms of your acceptance at your host university, check out nearby jobs. Interviewing is a highly valuable skill in countless situations, including academic ones, and getting all the experience you can with it will be invaluable. If you are so successful that you are actually offered the job, give yourself credit for a job already well done (fact-finding; interviewing) - and then accept the job if it actually appeals to you or politely decline it if you do not want or need it. If you were skillful enough to get one job offer, it is plausible that you got others, too. Thank the employer for the opportunity and reply that, regrettably, you have accepted another offer elsewhere.
The suggestions above are offered to give you ideas about how to use your imagination to create situations for you to expand and practice your English - without ever having to say, "Could you please help me practice my English?"
Nine Reasons Why I Love to Teach English as a Second Language - and Why That Should Matter to You
Why do I love to teach English as a Second Language?
One: I love to teach.
Two: I love English.
Three: I love language in general; discovering the connections between English and other languages is a bonus.
Four: I love to hear other people speak their native languages fluently, easily, and beautifully.
Five: I love to travel—no, that’s wrong. I don’t travel. But spending time with people from other cultures enables me to imagine that I travel.
Six: I love to feel like an ambassador to…whatever country my student is from.
Seven: I love learning about history, and most other countries on the planet have more history than mine.
Eight: I’m a writer; writing is my primary source of income, and I love to write. But writing is a solitary activity; teaching allows me to interact with people and adds another layer of richness to my life.
Nine: It gives me something wonderful to dream about. Please continue reading….
Why should you care that I love to teach ESL?
Here, in ten brief paragraphs, is my answer.
I tell my students, rather apologetically, that Americans generally don’t respect people who don’t speak English. True, the world is quickly becoming a global society, and English is becoming “the” international language. And perhaps someday soon every educated person in the world will have a working knowledge of English.
Even if your ancestors came here on the Mayflower—as mine did—or even if they are Native Americans, your people originally spoke some other language. Modern English has been around only a few hundred years.
And what a tragedy it would be if those other languages disappeared, or became ancient relics of lost civilizations, to be studied only by academicians and never used in everyday life. Think of living in a world where everyone had the same favorite color, or the same hobby…where every radio station played the same music…or every restaurant served the same food. How boring! Here’s an easy (and fun) way for each of us to do our small part for international relations: be patient with someone who is learning English, and while we’re at it, show an interest in their native language. We’re guaranteed to learn something fascinating.
Wherever we live, wherever our ancestors came from, our language is intimately intertwined with our history, our culture, our sociology…even our biology. Consider that whatever sounds are absent from our native language, unless we somehow learn them as young children, will be lost to us forever. We lose a big piece of our cultural identity if we pretend that Modern English is the only language that counts.
Now, my dream…for many years, I’ve wanted to travel to England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales—the lands of my ancestors. A few years ago, I began to study Italian, and became enamored of not only the language, but the food, the art, the architecture, and of course the history. More recently, as I worked with a student from Switzerland, I was soon awed by what I learned of the rich cultural history, the variety of natural scenery…the castles and cathedrals and trains…the large number of language groups for so small a country…and now I want to go to Switzerland. I hope all my fellow Americans will find it in themselves to appreciate the languages of the world and the people who speak them. If you do travel, please make an effort to say a few words in your host country’s language. You probably won’t have to say much, for the people you meet will probably want to take the opportunity to practice English. If you don’t travel, just look at the people around you and notice the diversity of backgrounds.
The Old Testament story of the Tower of Babel describes God’s punishment of mankind for their pride in thinking they could reach heaven by building and climbing upon this great tower. Suddenly speaking many different languages, they could no longer communicate and were unable to finish the project. Go out of your way to spend some time with someone who doesn’t speak fluent English. The joy of communication that transcends language barriers will be yours.
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