Dear Tom:
I am sorry to hear that you failed to pass CET6. Don’t be frustrated by it. It is not so important whether to pass CET6 or not, but you will lose a lot if you are always troubled by that exam, for you might lose interest and confidence to learn English well. Cheer up, dear Tom, get down to everything in your life as
usual and I am sure you will make great progress in English, after all CET6 is
not the only way to evaluate your English level.
Before I tell something about English learning including listening, I’d like
to make my idea clear. I don’t encourage people to improve listening just by dictation, though it is really a nice way. The reason is that dictation is just a
tool that leads to success, and that correct dictation does not mean correct understanding. Another reason is that all English skills are relative. It is not good to develop one of them separately. You have to figure out your unique way by
yourself, for there is no universal way applicable to every English learner.
I passed CET4 about thirteen years ago. My vocabulary did not exceed 3500 words and I could not understand the listening comprehension at all. In spite of these negative factors, I got a score of 78. It was not high, but it meant I had a
‘solid’ foundation. I stopped learning English and attended CET6 test in the
next term. I failed with a score of 53. I didn’t learn English or attend any test from then on in campus life.
In the spring of 1999, I worked at a construction site, which is near a remove
village in Ningbo, Zhejiang province. There was not much thing to do and I was
idle. I lived alone in a village and the only amusement was to watch TV. I decided to learn something useful and an idea came to me at once: Why not learn English again. I found a textbook which is about ‘College English’ level and a dictionary containing all 6500 CET6 words. I found the textbook was too difficult for me. For one thing, I forgot many of my 3500 words, for another thing, those words in a sentence were still separate in my mind although I read it several times. However, I could follow it fluently before, where did the feeling of perceiving an article go? I got in trouble and had no idea. I did not know I should have
selected some easy materials to resume studying. I decided to memorize words one by one. It took me about a year to filter all new words in the 6500-word dictionary. The total number was about 4000 and I believed I kept them all in my mind
. As a matter of fact, it was not true.
In early 2001 I picked up a domestic English newspaper, “21st Century” and
I was sure I could read it fluently. To my astonishment, those individual “nude
” words were still strange to me when they were in article. I could not understand the article at all. I realized I should improve all my English skills especially reading and listening. But how to make it? I bought a series of “Family Album USA”. I watched 10 of 13 discs for more than 6 times. I was convinced that
I could communicate with foreigners and listen to others in most cases. Again I
was far wrong. I was just familiar with American spoken English. Easy listening
material was beyond my understanding, let alone Standard English.
I kept on reading 21st Century and writing on Canuck’s Comments. In spare time I used to chat with others online, of course we chatted in text. I found my English was not so poor as I imagined. In fact I made great process before I knew
it. But my English level was far beyond my goal.
I went to Belgium for a short trip in the spring of 2002. I learned a lot during the 10-day trip. French is the official language in Belgium but most of them
could speak English. Almost all foreign engineers we contacted spoke fluent English, but we couldn’t. Later I discovered that I could express my idea in English correctly in most cases but I failed to understand what they were talking, so
I couldn’t communicate with them directly. After I returned from abroad I made
up my mind to level up my listening to a practical level.
I didn’t realize the decision revealed a new page of my English learning. I got to know I was just a beginner before the English palace. I had a long way to
cover. I learned of a method to improve listening and other skills by dictation,
so I followed. I remember the historic date forever. It was October 15th 2003.
I took VOA Special English news as beginning material. The procedure is very
simple. I listened to the whole news for several times to catch its main idea. Then I wrote down sentence by sentence following the tape. After finishing it I listened to the whole news again to correct some mistakes. At last my script was
compared with standard script and the last work is to read the news aloud following the tape and to memorize new words. I listened to news for more than 2 hours
a day and I kept it a habit of everyday. By the end of last I could fully understand VOA Special news by listening only once. It means that I could catch each
word or phrase clearly and understand any sentence in the news at once. But I could not understand report or feature of VOA SE even now.
I began to learn Standard English at the end of last year. Standard English listening demands a high level of listening and reading skill. Now I get used to its speed but I can only understand 60% or so by listening several times. In order to acquire background information, I listen to VOA Special English news every
morning and I browse international news on yahoo.com every day. I don’t think it is a good way to accumulate background knowledge by listening to Chinese programs. I will explain the reason later.
I settled to learn New Conception English at the same time. I meant to improve
the accent feeling of oral English and to improve reading accuracy and reading
speed. The learning procedure is almost the same. I dictated the text at first and to read it aloud following the tape. Sometimes I translated them into Chinese
and dictated main idea according to my translation or by my own words. Don’t look down upon those simple texts, maybe there are no new words in the text but they are really well written including structure and single sentence. The author
often used different words or phrases to express the same meaning in a short passage.
Now I am still in the stage to form a solid foundation. I think it may suit your case. All the articles about English I posted are central to fundamental foundation of English. I seldom emphasize a practical method or textbook, but I shed light on the idea that we should learn step by step. Rome wasn’t built in one
day. Dear Tom, I think you fully understand now. I suggested you try to dictate
one piece of Standard English news half a year ago on the sidelines. I meant to
tell you to know your genuine listening level. Standard English was too difficult for you and you’d better have some easy materials instead. That is my conclusion. Even if you practice listening in this way for another 4 years, you will achieve less. All your knowledge about listening is from those you get form VOA Chinese program. For example, in a piece of latest news, America and other countries are urging Syria to withdraw completely from Lebanon. Syrian President Bashar Assad has proposed a plan that Syria will redeploy its troops in Lebanon to parliament. It is easily understood in Chinese. As you have learned its content in
Chinese, you take it for granted that you understand it in English even if you
catch several terms such as “America”, “Syria”, “withdraw its troops”. Actually your known Chinese background knowledge cheats you. You might not understand it at all. As your know broadcast is continuous and much international news are about political changes, elections, riots, conflicts and disasters. There is
almost no delighting news in VOA English broadcast. The same news is broadcast many times in a period of time. Sometime it lasts for more than 3 months. You can
obtain background knowledge by listening to it everyday.
Talking about basic foundation of English, I have another example. One friend
who is an English beginner asked me to teach her English. As she knows a few words and has no basic knowledge of English. I advised her to learn form the beginning. She told me she had bought a series of New Conception English. She had finished book I but she could not understand book II. I asked her how. She said she
read through the book I. I told her reading once is not enough and suggested her
recite one by one. She thought I exaggerated the difficulty of English learning
. Later she gave up my suggestion. She follows her way by reading and writing on
forum. I really feel pitiful for her. Actually the way is clear before her but
she is still finding her way.
I don’t mean to frustrate you. I have been frustrated for many times and I won’
t lose confidence even if great obstacle is in the way of English study. I don’
t know your goal of learning English. It is important to you, for it concerns about your practical method. Forum masters and Mary had told us to write formally
and to avoid spell mistakes. I am sorry to find there are still many mistakes in
your articles. You can use word to check before you post it. I don’t think it
is difficult to correct spell mistakes. You might have passed CET6 if you had less spell mistakes in your composition. Friends on forum are always tolerant to these mistakes and take them as minor mistakes. Actually it is a sort of attitude
or responsibility. Suppose a beautiful girl with spotted mud on her face stands
before you, what do you think? Do you think mud should always be on her face?
We need encouragement when we begin to learn English, but we should not repeat our mistakes for more than three times. Often, we could make progress when we realize mistakes and correct them. Dear Tom, you are not a beginner and you’d better find out your problem in English learning. Don’t be fascinated by those advance English or popular materials, get down to your English study step by step. I
am sure you will achieve your goal.
Please forgive my frankness. I apologize to you if some of my words are aggressive and not
acceptable.
Good luck!
Sincerely
Azure
