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| Brendan John Worrell |
專題推薦：詞解十七大
Saturday October the 20th, a large expo begins in Beijing showcasing the various options available for Chinese students interested in studying abroad. The event is expected to attract more than 30,000 visitors before it moves off to Qingdao, Shanghai, Wuhan, Shenzhen and Xi'an.
The expo, now in its eighth year, will see representatives from 600 overseas colleges and universities from 41 countries and regions. It is a growing sign that China is rapidly becoming the worlds most lucrative education market - offering opportunities and threats to both the consumer and provider.
Well having worked with international students myself, in particular Chinese students, such events grab my interest in the same way a car show captivates a "rev' head". In Australia I started working alongside Chinese students seven years ago and it changed my life.
Back then I was completing my Masters and editing our university newspaper, at the same working with international students teaching IELTS preparation. Most of my work was with Asian students, particularly Chinese. These people taught me many things about life, sharing, hard work and humility and it was completely different to the image I had had of China, which unfortunately had been shaped from watching Hong Kong 'big brother' movies.
From memory my first student was Su Ping, a mother who spoke excellent English, being an English teacher herself back in Shanxi. She quickly passed the IELTS test and then completed two Masters degrees in two years, the first in Linguistics and the next in Education.
At the same time I met Andrea, who's English wasn't so wonderful though her manner was certainly. She was from Beijing and took almost a year to get her band 6 IELTS score and then begin a Masters in Tourism and Hospitality.
We would often eat together and they would cook me dumplings and delicacies like chicken claw, something in the west that we never, ever ate. Through them I met, Henry from Shanghai who was studying law and Yubo from Shenyang, who was doing an MBA. Yubo would study every night and always have a good attitude to life. Then later I also met Pao, from Beijing, who was studying IT and I fondly remember watching the World Cup with him in the students TV lounge cheering as Turkey beat Japan 1- 0.
Then one weekend when I was busy working on the newspaper another Chinese lady came into my office, Jane, and asked if I would help her study English. She had tried to pass the IELTS test three times and kept failing. She then broke down in tears and revealed she was completely unhappy in this small city in northern Australia.
And so it began – the weekly tutorials, using my Essential English Grammar in Use - Intermediate Level, written by Raymond Murphy and published by Cambridge University Press. This book brought us victory, at the back was a test which once completed clearly showed what the student needed to do in order to get their English to a higher standard.
But it was pain, it was suffering, it was consistent regular practice of the testing system and endless discussion and reading of passages and more importantly it was the rebuilding of a person's confidence and zest for life. This student didn't mix much with the rest of the Chinese students and as a result often lacked the support and strength such friendships bring.
We were living in a city of 100, 000 people. Remember most of these students had come from cities of several million. Here in Darwin, Australia, not only was it hotter and more humid than Hainan, but it was as empty and lonely as say Turfan in Xinjiang.
And that's what brought me to China. I started seeing the strength of character in these people. I started admiring their willingness to achieve. I remember Yubo telling me that it took him at least 8 years saving his salary to come and study in Australia, in addition to having to borrow money. But these students made the most of their experience and they contributed to the general well-being of the campus.
“Every year we had an international evening at the college and this night Henry from Shanghai got up and sang the Chinese national anthem. My God he sang it with so much pride and longing that the several hundred of us watching never looked at him the same way again. And when the Chinese ladies were wearing their traditional qipao, wowzers, they looked electrifying.”
And when my best friend Jane eventually passed her IELTS, and later her Masters in Accounting with little trouble, her husband found me a job in Xi'an and I left the next week.
Actually just before she left we rang the China Daily trying to get me a job but they weren't interested at the time, funny though three and a half years later I find myself here writing of times as if it were yesterday.
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From left to right, Su Ping, Nana, Andrea, Michelle, Henry, Yubo, myself and in front, Pao
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Getting back to the issue of study abroad, there were a lot of success stories with Chinese students in my country. For many, their rigorous study habit when placed alongside westerners makes them far superior. However, life abroad is more than books and exams, it's a wholeconundrum of challenges and constraints that can make even the toughest of characters break down and stumble.
In this column in the coming weeks, I will try and offer some of the dangers potential study abroad students need to be aware of. In addition I will offer some of my insight into IELTS and some practical advice for Chinese who may be interested in life abroad though perhaps may not necessarily have the funds to buy an overseas degree. Till then, have a good weekend.
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Lucrative -, e.g. profitable, well- paid, rewarding, money – making
Captivate - get someone's attention
Rev' head - someone who loves cars, (taken from the acronym RPM which relates to car engine performance)
Delicacies - very special tasty dishes
To break down in tears/ break down into tears - to cry unstoppably all of a sudden
Zest - enthusiasm, passion
Wowzers - (slang), goodness, oh my God, gee - taken from wow
Conundrum -, puzzle, mystery, challenge
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