Helping yourself.

 
   By now, many of you readers are probably saying, “Hey! It’s all very well and good to talk about “cells”, and “helping others”, and “peace, love and brotherhood”—but what about me?” Well, there is a place for you, too. Read on, and help yourself.

1. Use your own system of learning English. This can involve making your own system, or following or adapting someone else’s system. No matter which way you go, make it your own, suitable to your personal tastes and preferences. If you go into the bookstore, you will see many, many systems of learning to study English. Look carefully, take what works best for you, and adapt it as you see fit. Don’t let yourself be overwhelmed by all the choices in the bookstore: take your time.
2. Build your system around the four language arts skills – that is, around reading, writing, listening, speaking. You will be better in one area than another, perhaps. (For example, my spoken Chinese is fair, but my listening comprehension is terrible). Although some educators like to put all four areas together and teach them as a whole (i.e., “Integrated English”), you will find the overall task of learning English less daunting if you break up your objectives into as many smaller, composite parts as possible – especially reading, writing, listening, speaking (and maybe “translation” as the 5th part).
3. Make your “theoretical plan” and your “action plan”, and follow it. First: you need to write down, in some detail, what it is you want to do from a theoretical point of view. It might look something like this: Reading--To understand 80% of the material from the “Shu Chong” (Bookworm) books. To understand 50% of the material from a typical China Daily newspaper article. Writing--To write grammatically accurate, clearly phrased letters to my friend in (some city). To write a two-paragraph journal entry, once every week. Listening—To understand the main idea and one important detail of any given CCTV-9 “World-Wide Watch” news article. To understand the plot and sequence of events of some film I watch on VCD.  Speaking—To call up an old classmate and express the main idea and important details of what I have been doing this past month.  To share an opinion on some social issues with a stranger at each of the “English corners” I go to every month.  Note: these are only examples!  (They are also not lesson plans.)  You need to know, roughly, what it is you want to be doing, and where you will be going.  My own, Chinese-language “theoretical plan” was very simple…raw survival.  Reading—Restaurant menus, shop signs, road signs, ticket/timetable information.  Writing—Very little!  (My students write for me).  Listening—Common, travel-related dialogs, answers to people’s questions of me.  The main idea of CCTV-1 news articles.  Speaking—Simple requests, mostly related to travel during my holidays (hotels, tickets, restaurants), or survival during the school semester (local restaurants, buying books somewhere in Xi Dan or Wang Fu Jing).  As you can see, my goals are very simple, and rather low—but then, this was all I wanted out of life.  You are unique and different, so make what is best for you!  Second: you also need to write down, again in some detail, what it is you want to do in terms of a daily, “action plan”.  It might look something like this, in terms of “monthly”, “weekly”, and “daily”.  MONTHLY:  (May, 2003):  Reading—“Shu Chong” book on Oliver Twist, by Charles Dickens, the whole book (or, 30 pages/day).  Writing—4 letters out to my friend (or, 1 letter/week).  Listening—BBC News daily.  Listen To This, Book One, page 1-100, (or, 3 pages/day).  Speaking—Telephone old classmate in Tacheng in Xin Jiang, discuss our current jobs (2 times/week).  WEEKLY: (May 19th to 25th, 2003):  Reading—Oliver Twist, page 10-27.  Writing—Letter to Zhang Hong Mei on my school work.  Listening—Listen To This, page 1-21.  Speaking—Call Li Wen Ge on Monday and Zhang Hong Mei on Thursday—free talk!  DAILY: (May 19th, 2003):  Reading—Oliver Twist, page 10-14.  Writing—Plan, and 1st draft of letter to Zhang Hong Mei.  Listening—7:00a.m.—VOA.  Listen To This, page 1-4.  1:00p.m.—BBC.  9:00p.m.—CCTV-9 “World Wide Watch”.  Speaking—7:00p.m.—call Li Wen Ge.  Third: Perhaps all this planning is too much for you, but it will help you to better organize your thoughts, execute your plans, and evaluate your progress.  Remember, many of you (or, all of you?) are “on your own”, and you must be student, teacher and examiner all at once.  A well thought-out “theoretical plan” helps to clarify what it is you want, and a consistently-executed “action plan” at monthly/weekly/daily levels will help you to put your dreams into practice (“with open eyes”), and to evaluate how you are doing.  Do what works best for you…but do have some plan.  Remember: “Failing to plan is planning to fail.”  Also, don’t forget to kill your cell phone and hide yourself when you are intentionally studying English! 
4. Go it alone.  In America we say, “If you want to get it done right, do it by yourself.”  This may or may not be true for you, but it has been essential for me.  Almost all my travel, and almost everything I did in China (which I value), I did alone, with nobody to help me, or hinder me.  I realize that this is a very “ethno-centric” statement, (and an ego-centric one, too), but this is how I have existed.  You can take it, modify it to your condition, or reject it.  Anyhow…study English alone, on your own terms, without any “outside influence”; this is English “on your own”.
5. “Be nice to yourself.”  Don’t you like to treat yourself to something nice every so often, to make you feel more comfortable and happy?  As you struggle to study English on the go, on your own, with no foreign friend to help you, you will face many hardships; so, why not enjoy the journey a little?  You can buy books, VCD’s, tapes and other materials you like for yourself.  When you visit your provincial capital, or even Beijing or Shanghai, or Guangzhou, you can visit those fabulous bookstores and come home with heavy suitcases.  Where can you get the money?  I realize that money for many is a problem.  Try to economize in other areas of your life, if possible; don’t eat out in expensive restaurants so much, don’t entertain yourself and your friends in expensive karaoke bars so much.  Perhaps, if you can, take a part-time job to raise a little money.  Please know this!  You do not have to be spending lots and lots of money to be “nice to yourself”.  I say that a schoolteacher in some remote village in Xi Zang who only has one copy of Beowulf, and who uses it lovingly and well, is better off than someone in Beijing who has access to everything, buys much, and uses nothing!  You yourself know what is best for you, and what you want.  In terms of machines, a good short-wave/FM/AM radio would certainly be helpful, as would a tape recorder.  For many of you, forget about the VCD player!  Most of the films coming from the West which are available in your local VCD shop are trash videos—poor quality speech (hard to learn English from), and often, they are violent or pornographic (do those things in a language you can understand, if you want/must).  So, in summary, be nice to yourself, and however you do it, enjoy your studies! 
6. Be discreet.  Remember, the world is full of obnoxious turkeys, hungry wolves, and black dogs.  So, don’t tell everyone what you are doing!  Better still, don’t tell anyone what you are doing, except your four cell partners—and even here, make sure that you isolate them from each other.  In short, avoid problems, opposition, and distractions.