My Most Memorable Teacher

From kindergarten to high school, there are a large number of distinctive teachers who are knowledgeable or humorous; however, I still have strong favorable impression of my head-teacher who was good at uniting the whole class, arranging strategy for studying, and making friends with us. To begin with, the brilliant class meeting would be held every week and he had strong spirit to unite us. I still remember the scene that he sat at his chair with friendly smile. As we all know, the final exam’s point will decide what university you will get admission from. For this reason, he encouraged us to be optimistic with the situation and happy to study. Second, for the study plan, he had his own strategy and knew exactly what lesson we should do and when we should do it. For instance, to make it easy to find our weakest part to preview and improve for us, he recommended us to write down the content that we learned in the whole day as much as we could on the blank paper. Furthermore, when we reviewed the textbook, he told us to practice more at first but think more about the mistakes in our exercises, and then make a conclusion about what we learned in one week. He is also a kind friend who cared for your daily life not only your studies. He tried to solve our homesickness and boredom by telling the funny but significant experiences in his life. Also, every morning he made us speak our class oath loudly in order to encourage us to keep studying. I was lucky to have such an excellent teacher in my school life, and he influenced me deeply. With his encouragement I’m sure that I can keep studying and never give up.

My Driving Coach Mr. Liu

My driving coach Mr. Liu, a responsible Taiwanese, has three memorable character traits. Firstly, he was recommended by my friend who praised him a lot, and he was a kind and patient coach. When I sat in the driver’s seat for the first time, I felt so excited. He explained the details over and over to make sure that I got it completely. I followed what he said: I put my seatbelt on; started the car; pressed the brake; loosened the parking brake; and shifted gears. But when I stepped on the gas, the car moved suddenly. I was scared and let off the gas at once. “Relax! Try to step on the gas lightly! Don't be scared! It happens the first time,” Mr. Liu said kindly. I improved a lot after that. Moreover, he was also a humorous person. For example, once when I was driving on the busy road, I felt really nervous to see so many cars close to me. I was really tense and clutched the steering wheel tightly. Mr. Liu asked me to change lane. I was going to turn on the signal lamp, but by mistake I turned on the window wiper. I was stupefied at once. He looked at me and said, “Don't you want to turn it off? Or you have to turn on the headlight, too.”(CA traffic law: when you turn on the window wiper, you must turn on the headlight) In addition, he had been a coach for more than 10 years and had a lot of experience. In order to turn smoothly, I drove on a twisting mountain road. When I was driving down the road and making a right turn. I suddenly found a trash in front of me! I had no idea what to do at that time, so I screamed. Mr. Liu calmly pressed the brake under the co-driver seat and controlled the steering wheel immediately. We avoided the trash easily! “Be calm when you have an emergency!” said Mr. Liu solemnly. I felt highly grateful to Mr. Liu who helped me become an eligible driver. He is a really good and famous coach now, and I will never forget him.

Experiential Learning

Most students in my country don’t think experiential learning is more beneficial than rote learning in school, but I disagree with them for three reasons. First, students can concentrate easily and learn well and happily during the experiential activities or games. For example, students are put in several groups and have a competition with brainstorming. In order to win the game, students always try hard and enjoy thinking. In another hand, forcing students to memorize vocabulary or other knowledge in a tented atmosphere might make them hate learning and easily forget what they have learned. Second, I think impressive events always can emphasize the information which is important. For instance, a meaningful event like a chemistry camp for students might become a special experience for them. You may find a lot of students who have passion in chemistry and like to share their learning experience in the camp. By communicating with them, students can receive useful study tips, increase their interest in chemistry, and, even make friends with others. Third, most people like to have company, and students are easily influenced by peer pressure; therefore, students can do well in learning, studying, or discussing if they are put in a study group. For example, when I was in elementary school, my history teacher liked to put us in several groups during the class. We played games, helped each other with homework, and taught other groups several chapters. In order to be outstanding among our classmates, we studied very hard to get victory in the final games; eventually, we found out that we enjoyed it and had fun during the meeting with the entire class. Consequently, in the end of the semester, our class had the highest average history score of all the classes. In conclusion, learning through activities can help engage students and make them interested in studying, so it is much better than learning by boring memorization.

My Most Memorable English teacher

When I was in middle school, there was an English teacher who made a deep impression on me. When I knew her, I didn’t like her very much. But I changed my mind about her after a period of time of contact. I appreciated her gradually because she was person really worthy of appreciation and it took me a while to realize this. First, she was an excellent teacher. She had taught English more than fifteen years so she was experienced. She could tell you all of different parts of the different textbook editions which had used over the years. Because she could always give others an excellent answer, some younger teachers liked to ask her questions. Almost all of the staff knew her and respected her so much. As I knew, she was the best teacher in our district, and she was named outstanding teacher many times. Second, she was famous for being strict. She looked very serious and rarely smiled. We often did some kidding with other teachers but never with her. We thought she had a bad temper, and we came to this conclusion from many of her actions. For instance, when someone was asked to her office to talk, that person would be very fearful because nobody could predict what would happen. I couldn’t understand her in the past, but I can now. She modeled her actions for us and showed us a right way to study. She worked extremely hard and focused on every detail in her lesson plans. For example, she would fix correct our assignment tirelessly until we did it all completely right. Because of all these things, she was an effective teacher to all of my classmates. I can recall her oath clearly now, “Learning does not allow for the sloppy and false even a little bit.” I benefited from this sentence a lot. Third, she gave me much help when I was troubled about English. I was not good at English grammars at that time and always felt nervous about her questions. One day, she spoke to me in a different way. She said, “From watching you, I find you have some troubles in your studying. If you have some questions, just let me know. I can teach you anytime in our breaks. Don’t worry about other things and don’t fear me, ok? I believe you have enough capability to do it well.” From then on, I won’t be afraid of her anymore and trusted her very much. My teacher’s word encouraged me and gave me more confidence. As a result of our conversation and her great teaching, I can see my progress clearly. Sometimes, I felt embarrassed because I thought I had too many questions. However, she was never angry with me and paid much attention to me. She was also extremely patient with me. I am very grateful to her. I believe those opinions which she told to me will benefit for me during my all life, and she will in my mind forever.

Leaving Home for Studying

Last year after I graduated from the university, I made a decision which changed the direction for my life. Studying aboard is a big issue to my family; therefore, my whole family and I had many discussions at the beginning of summer vacation. We found that there were two things I had to think twice about. First, was I studying for a master degree or only language? At that time, I still hadn’t had a strong desire for getting master’s degree, but I really wanted to finish my school in a short time, so it made me struggle emotionally. Second, how long would I stay which depended on my parent’s financial support for me; obviously, it depended on the first point which I chose. ”I think you’d better make a decision as soon as possible,” my mother said worriedly. ”Or just get a job. But I suggest you go out and see something new. Always staying in the same place might be not a good way to learn.” my father said absent-mindedly. “Actually,” then I tried to explain,” I’m thinking that I should study English in the United States before I decide to attend graduate school. But, I must come back in one year if I haven’t prepared for school application.” ”Well, since you already said so,” my mother seemed to agree with me. “Let’s try.” My father said cheerfully. Finally, all the problems were fixed before I began looking for job. Now, I’ve been studying in the United States for four months. During this time, I built my grammar foundation well, improved my conversation skill, increased my vocabulary, and made a lot of great friends who are from several backgrounds this has extended my horizon. Because of the changing environment and many cultures touching, I now understand the importance of thinking in many ways and respecting different opinions. Having been trained as a university student in the United States, I can now give a speech in English, write a paragraph, and have global vision which is the main characteristic of a well prepared international student. For these reasons, I believe it was a correct decision which definitely changed the direction of my life.

Entrance To Private School - Bobby

When I was in middle school, I decided to go to private school, and this decision changed the direction of my life. I had lived in the suburbs for 15 years, so I had a dream about living in an urban area and studying with competitive students. I talked to my parents about my decision. My father said, “I agree with your decision, but you know it is tough to pass the entrance exam and if you go to an urban area you have to live by yourself.” My mother said, “I’m afraid that you are too young to live without family” I said, “I also know that will be not easy, but I have confidence to pass the test and live by myself.” Although it was so hard to be ready for the exam, I did not give up. Finally I passed the entrance exam and received an admission to BUKIL high school which is well-known private school in Chenan city. In the spring of 1998, I became a freshman of BUKIL. This decision I made had two wonderful effects on me. First of all, I got a lot of more patience from living by myself in an urban area. There were a variety of challenges with living alone in the urban area. For instance, I did everything on my own such as dealing with a lonely life, making meals and paying money. When I faced these difficulties, I sometimes wanted to quit and go back to my family, but I overcame the troubles I experienced and gained confidence in myself. This experience has been being helpful for me to solve many troubles. Second, I developed my academic knowledge by competing with a lot of competitive students who are better than me. For example, after graduating high school I earned a full scholarship for three years and won the championship in “National hybrid car competition” in my college. Sometimes my parents said, “We worried about your decision because we knew it is difficult, but believing in you made us be proud of your achievement.” In conclusion I was able to obtain a strong patient and high academic knowledge from this experience. I also realized that ‘No pain, no gain’, so I never give up my responsibilities although I was exhausted by many challenges in my life. Therefore I want to take my decision that I made so that I can get into private school as the most overwhelming decision.

Trip to Brighton

An important decision I made is about going to a summer English camp in Brighton, England. In 2007, In order to practice my English skill, I took part in the camp for 3 weeks rather than go travelling to the Hainan Island. It was my first time to a foreign country beside China which made me really excited and nervous. After more than a 13-hours flight, I arrived at the London Heathrow Airport. The trip obliged me to stay with British people for nearly one month. I did everything with native people such as eating, running, taking the bus and so on. During that period, the course taught me not only just English itself but also western life style. I am sure that I tried a completely different way of living there. The sightseeing was awesome. In that small town, I found people looked peaceful as the breeze in Brighton. My home stay was nice and she always asked me: “Would you like the lovely dishes I prepared for you?” and I always gave her the positive answers. Instead of having conventional Chinese dishes, I had French fries, fried fish, sandwich, pasta, salad and some other western foods. Without doubt, I missed my Chinese food very much yet trying something new is not a bad thing. Chinese always try to do something cautiously while the Brighton people do their job in a causal style. Hence after that short trip to Brighton, I decided to change my life by studying abroad. It limits my creative ideas if I remain in China all the time. There will be no improvement to me except becoming lazier and more unable to work. Having education in a completely different world changes people’s characteristics entirely. To immerse in a totally distinct culture has absolutely expand my way of viewing the world. In my opinion, the American teaching style is not the same as the style of British. My father told me: “America is an active country while Britain seems gentler. You should not be an introvert but an extrovert.” The destination you decide to go influences your development deeply. I finally chose my goal to the US for better communicating environment and educating quality since the American style is more diverse and modern while the British one inclines to a single traditional method. The Brighton Summer camp contributed to my decision to go to the U.S. and made me aware that bordering my viewpoint from a strange place is necessary. Therefore, after applying university of my bachelor degree, I entered CPELI for my ESL study. The trip to Brighton made me like a big boy to make another important decision to the US. I am confidenct that my decision to here brings me another breakthough point after the Brighton decision.