Summary of the bridging course

       According to the schedule, this is the last blog of the bridging course; meanwhile essay, supplementary material, oral report and everything are going to end which all remind me of the finish of the bridging course. Thus, in this last blog I intend to write about my feelings and experience in this unforgettable English learning journey.

       Every time I chat with my parents and friends, they always ask whether my English has been improved; and my reply is always just so-so. However, when I consider about this question carefully, I think my English level really has big progress in listening, speaking reading and writing; moreover I also benefit a lot from bridging course.

       I want to elaborate according to the order, so first I am going to talk about the listening part. At first, I had a little difficulty in understanding every sentence that tutors said, sometimes because of the accent, sometimes because of the speed and sometimes because of the limited vocabulary. If I did not listen carefully and concentrate on tutors, I could not catch up with them. After the six-months study, I find I have no problem in understanding them, unless there are some new words. Even if when I play my ipad, I can also make clear what they are talking about. Moreover, I always translate English into Chinese before, but I force myself to think in English way without translating. As for now, I have not change my way of thinking completely, but I have changed a lot and I am on the way.

       Next, it comes to the speaking. To be frank I think this is the worst part of my English, and I improve a little on it. Still, there is a little progress made on it. Initially, I am self-abased to speak English, and do not speak a lot in class. I always envy the beautiful accent of others and hate my own voice. Before every oral report, I will write down my speech and recite it; but now, I just prepared an outline of my report. Maybe, I cannot express myself clearly and fluently, but I have the confidence to speak out, which I think is the first and fundamental step.

       As for reading, I really ashamed that I have not finished just one book during the bridging course, but I read a lot of news and magazines, which has become the routine of my daily life. I remembered when I had the interview of SM3 program, one of the interviewers asked me if I have the habit of reading news. At that time, I was so frustrated since I never read news before that. After the interview, I began to buy China Daily to read; and I remembered how difficult it is to read just one paragraph, with numerous new words and complicated structure. For now, I downloaded the China Daily app that enable me to read newspaper from my ipad, and I find it is easy to understand and less new words in it. At the same time, I fell in love with reading news, and I am challenging myself to read some more difficult passages, such as time magazine and national geography.

       Finally, I will talk about the writing ability, which I think is my fastest progressive part. In senior high school, I only need to write about one hundred words, and we are often required to do practical writing, such as writing a letter or notice. I have never written English composition, in which I can express my own opinion before coming here, so it is really a challenge for me to write essays. In the beginning I cannot write many words and the statements are not strong. As the more I write, I eventually love writing and enjoy the process of writing. I remembered the time I posted a statement saying that I enjoy writing essay and blog more and more, and I remembered the blog about Science Centre is the first blog that I devoted my passion. Also, my writing skills have been improved a lot; at the beginning, I always think in Chinese then translate into English, and now I try my best to avoid it.

       I should have written so much without realization! All in all, after the bridging course, I really benefit a lot and make big progress in English. Thank our tutors and my classmates!