Chapter 23: 22. Compared to Shame, What I Care About More Is… (Extra Update—Asking for Monthly Passes and Follow-up Reads)
Zhang Luo and Li Miaomiao came to Chu Xing’s office together.
Chu Xing had called them over because she wanted to discuss with them how to raise the class’s enthusiasm for English lessons.
“Right now, hardly anyone really listens in English class,” Chu Xing said very frankly to her two class representatives. “Especially during class—many students just sleep.”
“Because they don’t understand it,” Zhang Luo said bluntly as well. “Including me. Our foundations are too poor. Teacher Chu, you keep talking about attributives and adverbials and all that, but a lot of people don’t even know what an attributive is, what an adverbial is, or what a complement is, let alone recognize a lot of the vocabulary.”
Chu Xing froze.
“Huh?”
Li Miaomiao complained, “Isn’t that just because they didn’t even learn Chinese properly?”
“Yes, you’re right, but that’s the reality,” Zhang Luo said. “So if you want everyone to be willing to listen in English class, you first have to make sure they can understand what they’re hearing.”
“Then you’d have to start teaching from elementary-school English,” Li Miaomiao said.
Chu Xing looked troubled.
Zhang Luo said, “Everyone’s levels really are all over the place. There’s no way to take care of everyone at once. Anyway, taking myself as an example, I already count as someone who subjectively really wants to learn English well, but because I didn’t learn it properly in middle school, even listening in class now is difficult. Every day I memorize words and phrases. I learn some, I know some, but once they’re placed into a complete textual context, I’m lost.”
This was Zhang Luo’s greatest pain when it came to studying English.
If only English really could be learned by rote memorization.
At worst, he could just go all out and memorize every single word.
The problem was, English didn’t work that way.
It was just like Chinese. Even if you recognized every character, did that mean you could score well on a Chinese exam?
Chu Xing asked, “Then what should we do?”
That was her catchphrase.
The moment the words left her mouth, she regretted it.
She was a proper English teacher. How could she ask two class representatives what to do?
Just then, however, Li Miaomiao said, “Actually, Teacher Chu, if there really isn’t any other way, then for now, don’t focus on breaking down grammatical structures for everyone. Start with common, frequently used, and frequently tested words, word groups, and phrase structures. Assign a few memorization tasks every day, give everyone five minutes to memorize them, and then have them write them down from memory right there in class. Generally, this can greatly stimulate memory in a short period of time. After that, repeat the same dictation every so often to reinforce memory. Once everyone’s vocabulary bank grows, things will naturally become a bit easier.
“At that point, have everyone use these words to write some short sentences. It doesn’t matter if they can’t write the whole thing in English. If there’s something they don’t know, they can substitute it with Chinese. That can reduce the pressure of getting started while also making it clear whether the word is being used correctly in terms of grammar. If you explain an English word’s part of speech, usage, and meaning in connection with a Chinese context, it’ll leave a much deeper impression on everyone.”
Li Miaomiao’s words made Zhang Luo see her in a new light.
At first, when Zhang Luo heard the things Li Miaomiao said, he had thought she was proud and looked down on the students in class who weren’t good at English, and that she had no intention at all of helping Teacher Chu motivate everyone to study English.
But what Li Miaomiao had just said truly gave Zhang Luo a great deal of inspiration.
Zhang Luo’s biggest problem was that when he memorized vocabulary, he simply followed the word list at the back of the textbook, memorizing it over and over by himself. After memorizing too much, things started to get mixed up, and there was no focus to it.
When learning any language, if you couldn’t apply what you learned flexibly, then what you learned was something dead. A dead thing might be memorized by rote for a week, but over time, it would definitely be forgotten, because it had never entered the logic of your thinking.
Chu Xing’s eyes lit up too.
“That’s a good idea!”
Zhang Luo said, “It sounds workable to me too. This solves a major problem for me.”
Li Miaomiao proudly lifted the corners of her mouth.
“Of course. This was my little trick for learning English when I was young,” she said. “Also, since there are so many people in our class, this kind of practice can connect frequently tested points with the knowledge points everyone generally has a poor grasp of. That way, Teacher Chu, when you lead everyone in review, you’ll know which areas to focus on.”
Chu Xing said in surprise and delight, “Miaomiao, that idea of yours is fantastic!”
She looked at Zhang Luo again.
“Being able to find the two of you as my class representatives is truly my good fortune.”
Zhang Luo said, “The idea mainly came from her. I’m the one benefiting from it instead. I’ve never been able to find a method for learning English. What she just said inspired me a lot.”
After being praised several rounds in a row, Li Miaomiao’s mouth was practically about to curl up to her cheekbones.
She reined it in and said with feigned modesty, “It’s just a bit of my personal experience, that’s all. I started learning English earlier than everyone else, so it’s only natural that I’d have a little insight.”
Chu Xing nodded. “All right. I’ll think about how to make this plan, and then I’ll discuss it with you two again afterward.”
Zhang Luo and Li Miaomiao nodded.
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Zhang Luo actually admired capable people quite a bit.
After discovering that Li Miaomiao truly had some practical and useful learning insights when it came to English, and that she was willing to share them selflessly, he really did see her in a new light.
“Did you start learning English when you were little?” Zhang Luo asked after they left Chu Xing’s office.
Li Miaomiao nodded.
“More or less. I was exposed to English-speaking environments from a young age,” she said. “Basically every year, my parents would take me abroad to live for a while. I naturally picked up some of it, and then I started reading some English children’s storybooks on my own. Later, after I started school, learning it wasn’t hard either.”
Zhang Luo shook his head. “That really can’t be compared. Your starting point is much higher than a lot of ours.”
When he was little, how could he possibly have had that kind of environment?
Li Miaomiao did not deny it.
She merely looked at Zhang Luo in puzzlement.
“What is it?” Zhang Luo asked.
“Did you really become the English class representative because your English is poor and you want to learn it well?”
“Yeah.” Zhang Luo nodded. “I asked Teacher Chu if there was any way to learn English well, and she said, ‘Be the class representative.’”
Li Miaomiao said, “Teacher Chu is way too casual about things.”
Zhang Luo laughed.
“But no one ever said only people with good grades can be class representatives. Someone like me, who’s trying hard to learn this subject well—why can’t I be one?”
Li Miaomiao looked thoughtfully at Zhang Luo.
“Why are you looking at me so strangely again?”
“I just think you’re very strange. You’re not quite the same as the other students,” Li Miaomiao said. “I’ve met a lot of students with poor grades, and I’ve also met a lot of students who wanted to do well but couldn’t. But someone like you, who frankly admits that your grades are poor but still wants to improve—I think this is the first time I’ve seen it. Don’t you have any sense of shame?”
Only after she finished speaking did she realize that the last sentence could be taken the wrong way.
“Uh, I’m not mocking you. What I mean is—”
“It’s fine. I understand.” Zhang Luo smiled. “How should I put it? Compared to my sense of shame, what I care about more right now are tangible things. For example, how to make my grades a little better.”
Extra update—asking for monthly passes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!