(VI)                 To Convince - English Oral Presentation in 1 Semester  說服式演講 - 3個月讓成都學生說流利英文

I have a Swedish friend, speaking Swedish as his first language, and he is fluent in 6-7

other languages including English, German, Spanish, French, Arabic and Mandarin

Chinese. He always told me it’s too safe(i.e. boring) to be in Sweden, so he had high school

in Argentina and college in Syria(before 2012).

He came to China without speaking the language and traveled alone for a month from

Beijing to Chengdu before he met me. Once we were singing karaoke in a bar, I surprisingly

realized that he was singing a pop song in Spanish! That was the time I found this history.

我有一個瑞典朋友,母語瑞典話，會講一些德文，英文超級棒！他很喜歡旅行，總是抱怨

自己國家太安全、太無聊；所以大學到敘利亞念，學了阿拉伯文；後來又來到中國旅行、學

習中文。有次我發現他竟然會唱西班牙文歌！他才和我說這段因緣：他高中在阿根廷寄宿家

庭。

I told the story to all my students in China, most of them could hardly understand: "Of

course, they are foreigners. It’s easier for them to learn!"

I explained to them that it’s not all the foreigners are from English-speaking countries, and

English might also be quite different from their mother language. On the contrary, Chinese

kids who were sent to English-speaking school in their early age and learned English for

almost two decades should have been better than merely asking “May I go to bathroom?” It

is the students themselves that are responsible to actively look for chances to speak and

think about what steps they missed while they were learning English.

Let’s look into how the Swedish guy did with his fluent English: travel, hanging out with

friends from different nations, and telling them about his adventures!

我在大陸講這故事時，很多學生難以理解：“當然啊！外國人學本來就比較快嘛！”

我和他們解釋不是所有外國人都來自英語系國家（也不是每個外國人都有美金！有一次一個

出租車司機跟我們說他收美金也可以），英文也可能截然不同於他們的母語。反倒是從小就

被送進英語學校的中國小孩，學了將近二十年卻說不出半句。我認為多半是因為他們沒有為

自己著想、找機會練習。我們可以想想其中我們漏做了什麼。

剛剛說的這位瑞典人英文流利的原因：旅行、和各國人接觸、到處講自己的故事！

Yes, "telling stories" is very important. It is a skill of narrating some real-life objects

completely, making people comprehend better. Telling your own stories guide you to the

right way to learn English. With these practices, you will definitely make it soon!

“講故事”很重要，這是對一件事情的完整敘述，讓別人聽懂，特別是自己的故事。這代表

你已經朝著正確的歷程而去，只要多練習，很快就會成功的！

My last writing was about "informative speech" which is to exactly introduce a concept from

a couple different aspects, just like telling a lot of stories. Yet when your conception is

different from others, you will have to discuss with them, or even to convince them into

yours. In this situation, you will need some further oral English training, persuasive speech!

Persuasive speech requires being witty and having fluent English, which are reachable with

the following training.

It was my routine to offer some different activities for my students to stimulate their

creativity. As I mentioned in part 2 of my writing "The way to learn English." in China, "the

creativity" is just as important as the "the speaking skilld" in this course.

上一回的課程是“傳達式演講”，為讓人從不同方面徹頭徹尾介紹一個理念，其實就是講很

多故事的集合。然而，當你介紹的理念和別人的有出入的時候，你們就得討論、互相說服以

求真理。這時又需要更進一步的英文技巧了！

說服式的演講需要機智、需要流利的英文，這都是可以訓練而得的。我固定會做一些不同的

活動來激發同學的創造力。如同第二篇“如何學好英文？”所提的，在中國，“說的能力”

和“創造力”在這門課需要被同時激發。

For instance, on an island in the ocean, there are five people survived. Their jobs by

occupation are respectively, model, doctor, lawyer, military captain and the child of the

model. Unfortunately, the Noah's ark can only carry four people. I wanted five students to

play the roles these five men, to prove themselves useful onboard and kick a guy out of

them.

This process was usually hilarious. My students could always find some funny but

persuasive ideas. In this way, they all had made progress combining “speaking" and "the

creativity"!

例如說，在一個大洋中的海島上只剩下五個人，他們的職業分別是：模特、醫生、律師、船

長和這位模特的小孩。但是能帶他們離開的諾亞方舟只載的下四人。我要五位學生上台分別

代表這五人，互相辯論，證明自己是需要上船的並且踢掉一人。

這過程非常有趣，同學們常常能找到一些很好笑卻極具說服力的點子。這麼一來“說的能

力”和“創造力”便同時進步了！

I spent more time on this exercise. There were also hundreds of similar situations for

my students to challenge. Usually, the more we did on this exercise, the better these

students would perform in the course thereafter.

In the end of the one semester course, we had the most important event, the final exam--a

debate. This debate requires each and every student along with all the skills they had

learned in the whole semester. With these skills, they could powerfully convince the

opponents at the podium!

We spent about two weeks on the preparation for the debate--started from the selecting of

the topic, formal outlines writing and eventually to the evidence collecting which was useful

to question the opponent group's statements. My students applied what they had just

learned in the semester.

我通常會花比較多的時間在這方面的練習，還有其他數種場合讓同學們挑戰。通常這部分

做得越紮實，後面的課程同學們表現的水準越好。

最後課程邁入尾聲，我們有一場最重要的期末考--辯論。這個辯論需要同學們整個課程下來

所學的各項能力，在演講台上強而有力的說服對手！

我會花接近兩週的時間，教大家從準備辯論題材、正式書面報告、辯論所需的證據以及攻擊

對手組的論點。讓同學發揮所長，運用整學期所學。

The debate was super intensive and unforgettable. My students were surprised with their

own performance and the great feelings of accomplishment. The visiting professors

in SWJTU sitting in the back of my classroom were speechless. And the parents were

proud and pleasant. One mother told the lady sitting next to her, "Hahaha, the one

speaking now is my son! So wicked and smart! Even though I don’t understand anything

they were talking about, I could see his improvement on oral English this year! "

As to myself, satisfied!

這場辯論將會非常非常精彩、畢生難忘。同學們驚訝自己的好表現、很有成就感，旁聽的本

校教授啞口無言，家長們得意並且欣慰。一位媽媽用四川話告訴鄰座的女士：“哈哈哈，現

在講話這個是我兒子！古靈精怪的。我是聽不太懂，不過我看得出來他今年進步很多！”

至於我自己，很爽