Shengliver’s Note: This is a revised entry. The first version was done in February, 2008. A new school year has begun. Most of the times mentioned below will still be followed in the new terms. Some changes have been made, though: Podcasts now are downloaded automatically through subscription, and student journals are collected and read every other week. Looking back to the past decade, I keenly feel the significance of setting a goal and pursuing it. If the system tries to get you raped, why should you take it lying down? Fight!!!

 

“Beep, beep, beep…”

 

My alarm beeper went off at 5.45 this morning. My summer vacation over, everything has come back to normal. I have had a quiet restful holiday. I avoided banquets and took the time to sort out my thoughts, reflecting on the past year and looking ahead to the future.

 

This entry is a reminder to Shengliver of some daily and weekly times.

 

5.45

 

I get up at 5.45 am in winter and 5.30 am in summer. This habit dates back to the 1990s, when I was green in the field. A senior colleague of mine, Mr Yang, whom I respect very much, was an early bird. Living an active and productive life, he set an example.

 

After washing, I head for my office. It is quiet at such an early hour. By the time I am in the building, the teenagers are already queuing up for their morning run in the square. I put water in the dispenser and turn it on before opening the windows to ventilate the room.

 

Time before breakfast is reserved for intensive listening. There are chosen audio files on my PC. My plan is to listen to them and to be immersed in the spoken word first thing in the morning. Cassette tapes played a big role before I had my own computer. I had already amassed a collection of language tapes long before I gained access to digital technology. Since I went digital, Shengliver’s English learning and language practice have been incredibly more efficient.

 

My intensive listening is focused on those choice clips. I listen to a clip a lot of times. Of course I have heard all of them in my evening washing hour before I process them thoroughly in the morning. In the evening I try to get the gist of the clips without bothering about the few new words and phrases that crop up occasionally. In the morning I try and hear each and every word in the chosen clip. And I transcribe the speech on Microsoft Office Word. This learning task is time-consuming but rewarding. Simple words on paper can be hard to make out when casually uttered by a native or a world English speaker. Having done hundreds of clips of natural speech over the years, I find I can detect more subtleties and nuances of real English. That counts as progress.

 

11.20

 

Time to go back home for the lunch break if I do not have to teach in the last morning period. My wife works part-time as an accountant at a small firm in town. I will prepare the ingredients for lunch cooking and put rice in the cooker. If she is too late, I will do the lunch. My daughter normally gets home for lunch around 12.15. Lunchtime is a good chance to chat with family and compare notes on work and school. We share anecdotes about people and things around us at table.

 

13.00

 

Time to grab an hour’s sleep if lunch is early and on schedule. This hour of snooze is precious, for I work and feel the best in the afternoon after a short sleep. However, if lunch is too late, I will probably have to do without this luxury.

 

18.00

 

It is time to knock off. It normally takes me 10 minutes or so to walk home from my office. Upon arrival, I turn on the PC before I go and refresh myself by having a cold-water wash of my face. Then, I log onto the chat app and enter the English language chatroom for my daily volunteer speaking, which lasts an hour from 6.30 to 7.30. I have done volunteer speaking in an English chatroom for a couple of years. I will stick to this practice in the years to come whatever might occur.

 

This volunteering experience has been an immense help to me and to my learning buddies. Learning the language in China could be boring, frustrating, and painfully slow for lack of a language environment. The virtual community has created a wonderland where learners of the language can put their knowledge and skills to use. It exists on the Web but the communication platform is in every respect concrete. It is the first time that a lot of friends there have found their English voices heard.

 

The Web is just like the real world. Good guys and bad guys are side by side but still there is good order there. And good guys are in the majority. I have found almost everyone is positive and courteous. Occasionally some negative guys may turn up. Listening to them babbling on helps me to form a balanced picture of Shengliver.

 

Stay modest, confident, and passionate, I have told myself. This talking experience is valuable to me and to my pals as well. My progress is the best evidence of it. I have to give credit to the moderators of the community. Learners of English in China appreciate your service.

 

19.30

 

Exit the community and get offline. Time for supper. It is tempting to stay online, checking out news and emails or lingering on some page. Shengliver, be firm. Turn off the PC and go to the dinner table. A whole evening of work and learning is waiting for you. I will put on my mobile headset and turn on the BBC podcasts. The podcasts will see me through my dinner and an hour of dishwashing and cleaning in the kitchen.

 

If my daughter has finished her meal after I do my speaking online, I will sit down and chat with her about her work. Or we may listen to the speech recordings that go with her English course book.

 

23.00

 

I should be in bed by 23.00. Should any desire to stay up arise, I will remind myself of the next day. When will you get up tomorrow morning, Shengliver?

 

Monday Morning

 

I download all the choice BBC podcasts for a week’s listening before breakfast on Monday morning. Connection in the office in the early hour is fast and stable. All the downloads can be done in a matter of 20 minutes.

 

After the downloading, I update my English blog. I prepare an entry in the spare time for a week, creating, proofreading, revising and polishing, before it is published via the Windows Live Writer. With the click of a mouse, a new entry is on the Web, reaching my audience.

 

Friday Afternoon

 

On Friday afternoon, my two classes will hand in their journals. This journal programme was quite a success last term. I will keep it up this term. All the journals will be read and commented on over the weekend. This task takes priority over any other job on Saturday and Sunday. The journals will be returned to the students before they leave for a short break.

 

Reading their journal entry and commenting is a good way to learn about the teenagers. I have found out a lot this way about their hobby, family and even some privacy. I was once honoured by their sharing of a puppy love story.

 

Their entries also paint a kaleidoscopic picture of Chinese society from different angles. I once told the teens that I study Chinese society through their journals, and some of them jeered. As time goes by, they have come to see that their teacher Shengliver is right. Not only do I get a good knowledge of the school affairs but also everything about our society. In fact, a number of blog entries on Shengliver’s Garden have been inspired by the teens’ English writing.

 

Their attempt at expressing an idea in written English helps me to figure out a proper way to formulate it. I do not correct all their errors. When reading, I am trying to answer a question on my mind, “What is the writer trying to get across?” I try to decipher what the teens are saying. In one entry, I highlight one or two conspicuous, habitual or recurring blunders the writer has made. Because the focus is on meaning, I never feel reading the entries dragging, and thus I go fast.

 

My comments in English are candid and spontaneous. Last term they were well received by the journal keepers. In fact, every weekend the pupils could hardly wait to get back their journals and to read what I had scribbled in their books.

 

To bring this entry to a close, I have put one of my pictures in the profile. I hope my epals have a better look at Shengliver. Shengliver is just like any other mortal—with two eyes, two ears, and a big nose and mouth.