To command English in reading, writing, listening, and speaking has been becoming one of my dreams since 2001 when China has become a member of the WTO.

There are two facets for China to join the WTO. In one hand, Chinese companies can expand its market. In other hand, the overseas market also might impact our economics. For me, I realized that English would be more popular in the future. Nevertheless, I knew that I have almost lost the capacity of using English because I graduated for nearly 10 years during which I never use English. This situation made me think whether I could command the English.

A hard task had triggered me to learn English at a Finery Plant in 2002 when I was appointed to the plant to participate a bidding meeting in order to order some goods from a western country. Before the meeting, I had prepared a technical specification by English for the goods. Actually, the Specification was copied from other project and was modified proportionally to suit the project, so I had just known the specification briefly. During the meeting, one of the clients, who was a chief engineer of the plant said that he was older and did not know English, and asked me to provide a specification in Chinese. What a simple requirement! And what difficult task to me! Though I had promised him that the specification was running well because it was used in other projects, and admitted that it was difficult to me to translate such amounts of papers into Chinese within short times, he persisted on. One whole day having elapsed, one paper had not been translated. Finally, it was other people who persuaded the chief engineer to abandon his requirement, and they asked me to interpret the items for them during the meeting. This was acceptable for me as I had gone through the specification, and in addition, any of my mistakes would not be recorded. After the torment, I thought that English was a necessary skill rather than a dream.

How to learn English was complex. First, the work-mates would be perplexed: why did you study English? Want to change work? Want to be abroad? Could you success like you age? Could you be conscientious about your work when you studied English? Second, when did you learn English? Actually, the work load was heavy at that time; and you have to work overtime. The third question is how to learn English. Should I find an English school or study by myself? I had ever failed to find a school which tough English in the weekend or night because few people liked to learn English in my hometown. The final question was which tutorial I should use.

A thereafter event let me make a resolution to start to learn English at the refinery plant on June, 2003 when I worked at the site to instruct the construction of the project after the design was finished. It was an ideal place to learn English because not only that a few workmates were there, but also that the work load was not heavy.  I bought a record player in order to practice my listening and imitate the pronunciation, and a tutorial named the New Conception English II and its types. Since then, I get up at 6 am to learn the new words and the lessons by my heart, and stay late at night to do the assignment. Through four months, my English was improved fast.

The effort was continued in the next years in 2004, 2005, 2006, however, the progress seemed slow.

During these years, I had learned the New Conception English II /III /IV, and had been trained by a foreign teacher, and had participated an English lecture called Li Yang Crazy English, and had token part in a series of English lectures hold by my company. Though, I could not almost say a fluent, whole English sentence and was still poor in the writing and the reading.

What’s wrong with me? The time from 2003 through 2006 was enough, the quantities of English material I had gone through were not little, and the effort I made was conspicuous, but the outcome sounded unsatisfactory. I started to suspect my ability of Language learning very low, and to be dubious about whether I should continue to make more effort at this.

There must be something wrong with this. For example, I just touched the English when I was studying it while I had never used it during my work or living times. The situations I was in were not suitable to improve my English because that all of us used Chinese to work and communicate, and because that hard working engaged my most time and energy. 

At the end of 2006, an opportunity, which a company background of overseas gave me an offer in which the income was more over than that I was getting, made me face a dilemma. The last company is a state-owned one in which I benefited not only the stability but also the well incomes. By the contrast, the next company could provide me a good circumstance to improve my English and offered me not bad salary; however, the disadvantage was that I had to accommodate a new situation and might suffer the risk of being fired; in addition, I would also bear the renting house in big city with higher house price in stead of living in a existing house in the third level-city with a lower once.

After thinking twice, I made up my mind to take adventure: to quit the company and came to Beijing.

The failure in communication with foreigners has proved that my English was very awful and the challenge to the new job was with me. However, the success of the first project having been achieved reminded me that my skills acquired from the last company are eligible to my current position. What I have to do was to improve my English.

I would find a qualified English school for the incentive training in listening and speaking regardless costing and distance for I thought these two sections were the most useful to my job. Reported that the New Oriental English School is one of the best schools, I spent almost one year, at night or weekends, on studying English, and had to travel half an hour to the center after the work. In my view, in the school, my English has been improved faster and more, especially in pronunciation and listening. However, something suggested that my English did not definitely meet the requirement in the work, and if I wanted to rise in position, the current English had to be improved obviously. The next questions were that whether their services could meet my further requirement; and that whether the higher tuition was worth and could be burdened.

I tried again to find a new English training school for higher level English. Some one told me that there is Online-university intending to provide training for the working people and not expensive. I tried it in the internet by typing in ‘北京 网校 英语’ . The BFSU Online caught my eyes finely. First, BFSU, Beijing Foreign Study University is outstanding university in China. I am sure her quality of teaching English. Second, I could reach there in the weekends to take the face-to-face tutorial which I value very much. Third, assignments on the Online are useful and convenient through which you are always supervised to touch English and your comprehensions of tutorial material could be checked. Forth, the tutorials provided are systematical. Fifth, it is not more expensive than social training school. Finally, last one but not least. I can apply bachelor degree if I can pass all curriculum, it is also important for me without any degree.

After having learned tutorials for three terms, I felt that my selection of BFSU Online is right. One example is that my writing skill has been enhanced through the English for Study(高级英语写作) in the third term. The next example, by the curriculum跨文化交际. I have known how to respect the diversity of cultures in communication with people across the globe villages and avoid stereotyping any people. The course also provides me communication theory by which I have known how to deal with the culture shock using the three-step approach given by teacher. I am sure to be more improved in the other areas in the future.

Beyond my dream are qualified resources, such as teachers, classmates, tutorials in handy, materials in Online which are leading for my commanding English in accurate listening, articulate speaking, comprehensive reading and coherent writing, which sound within my reach in the future surely.