How I Learned English // 阿滴的英文學習歷程

Hello, I'm Ray! Today I'll be sharing the story of how I learned English~ This is Ray’s English Corner, for those of you who don’t know this is like my vlog-style videos where I talk about things in my life in English Today I’m going to walk you through the stories of how I learned English Right now my whole career is built around English My YouTube channel, my social media websites my speeches all around Taiwan, it’s basically all about English Of course I still have room for improvement I do not think that I have perfected English sometimes even I still make mistakes in my videos, sorry about that But I’d say I’m in pretty good shape I've passed the advanced level in GEPT and I’ve aced the TOEIC examinations in all fields but more importantly I’m passionate about sharing the language and I’m constantly learning new things about the language So, the big question is, how did I learn English? How did Ray Du English learn English? The short answer: just like the rest of you I studied hard, I memorized my vocab, I prepared for my exams But let’s get into the details When I was in second grade I was sent to Singapore with my sister to move in with my aunt’s family and to learn English When I first got there my English level is exactly what you’d expect from an eight-year-old Practically zero I can spell the word apple I guess, but maybe with like just one p I explicitly remember that I failed my primary school entrance examination and there was this one question where it asked me to pick out the piano from four musical instruments There was of course, the piano, a violin, a drum, and a trumpet Yeah, I picked the trumpet So I had to cram for it I was nowhere as capable as needed be in order to enter a school where every single subject is taught in English First I went to a language school that was all the way across the other side of the island, it was really far away And, that didn’t work out, so after that my aunt got me a private tutor and that didn’t work out And then I got another tutor, which didn’t work out and I got another one and so on and so forth At this point, I was honestly just sick of everything I mean, why did I have to leave all my friends in Taiwan and come to this place to learn this impossible language? It just wasn’t working out for me But then, I got assigned this new tutor What she did with me was a little different Uh, no, she didn’t *** me Before throwing me heaps of assignment she first asked me a very interesting question “What’s something that you want to do but can’t do because of English?" I thought about this question for a bit, like really really deeply And then, I came up with my answer: “I can’t buy Yu-Gi-Oh cards.” Serious answer But she didn’t laugh at me what she did next was she taught me the phrase “I want to buy a pack of Yu-Gi-Oh cards” and after I’ve gotten it, she gave me 2 Singaporean dollars and told me to go buy a pack of Yu-Gi-Oh cards Guess what, I used fluent English and bought a pack of Yu-Gi-Oh cards from a Malaysian shop keeper that day So that was really the eye-opening experience for me to see that English is not just a subject that I had to cram for but a language that I can use to communicate with people And more importantly buy Yu-Gi-Oh cards Now after this “enlightenment” I was more willing to put my effort into learning Now, don’t get me wrong English was still hard I still had tons of homework and tests But, I had a feeling that I was getting somewhere I had a purpose Of course, I could tell you how many words were on my weekly vocab list I could tell you all about the essays that I memorized the newspaper articles that I recited, the grammar textbooks that I used But that’s not really the point The point is, instead of asking how you should learn English it’s better to start off with asking why you’re learning English in the first place Starting with why gives you a sense of purpose Are you learning just to pass an exam? Are you learning to meet your parents’ expectations? Or are you really learning for yourself? It’s a pity how English is just seen by most people as a subject that you have to study It’s more of a language that allows you to see a bigger world and connect with more people I love this quote by Natalie Portman, an actress, she said “I hate studying but I like learning. Learning is beautiful.” So are you studying English? Or are you learning English? There’s actually a difference So that’s basically how I learned English so well I started at a young age and I had the advantage of being in an English environment, but above all it’s because I like learning English and I put a lot of effort into it I didn’t stop learning and I don’t plan on stopping So at the end of the day what should you do if you wanna learn English? My advice to you: subscribe to my YouTube channel and learn English every week with me Yup, I’m shameless If you like this video, please give it a thumbs up! If you wanna see more videos, click to subscribe! Our YouTube channel! We have new videos up every Monday and Thursday at 9! Announcement here, there won’t be a video this Thursday Normally Crown would host the Thursday vid, but she’s feeling very sick She has gastroenteritis, sore throat, bronchitis, running nose...etc. So, this Thursday, she can’t really talk, so... Did anyone notice, that although Ray is really funny in today’s video but, you weren’t able to hear Crown laughing, yep, that’s cuz she’s sick So, no new vid on Thursday, giving you a head’s up Our Facebook page and Instagram will give you our latest updates So if you wanna see them first... Well, cuz there’s only 2 YouTube videos per week, you know So, you can follow our FB and IG for more immediate updates on us You’ll be able to find us by using Ray Du English or 阿滴英文 And that’s a wrap, thank you guys for watching as always and I’ll catch you guys next time! See ya! Hello sir, I want to buy a pack of Yu-Gi-Oh cards.