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March is Women’s History Month in U.S.

CNN Student’s News introduces four famous women everyday. There are artists, presidents, basketball players, and Nobel Prize owners.

iTunes provides movies specially for women during this period. I watched A Good Women, a story about a mysterious woman surrounded by scandals happened in New York and Italy in 1930s.  I like this movie because it reminds me that every woman is actually and supposed to be, a mother.

UD invited us for Women’s Month, I know I might not have child, but I know I will finally become one of those who devote their lives to charity, to help others. It sounds weird but I really want to become a mother without children. When I see my values and feel there are things in this world I can help, I am happy.

New York Times Healthy Living style reports that sweet food make people happier. I bought myself a piece of chocolate cake for lunch today, as if it is my birthday.  I remember each of past birthdays was a rainy day.  Air was fresh today, thanks to the rain. Life offers me everything that I need, I am happy.

I called her today. No reply was the best reply, because I have no idea of what to say to her. She might feel the same.

Embedding English into study and life

Since we are communicate in a world that English is the dominant language of business and internet and the ability to use English is the basic requirement for students who are dreaming of studying abroad, most students in China spend lot of time in studying English. Not until I went to the university in Macau, a multicultural city in China, where keeping me away from the exam-oriented English study methods, I realized that English meant much more than a language for me.  Since most of the knowledge I want to learn is found beautifully expressed in English, I need to read and write English to understand more of my major, which is Electronic Engineering Technology. I am becoming more enthusiastic in my major when I study knowledge in English. As I was reading and writing in English, I was practicing thinking in the way of that language. There are two teachers who helped me in gaining this ability.  Professor Gilbert Strang leads me into my major and let me think my major in English through the Massachusetts Institute of Technology online courseware. Professor Dongxu Qi, from Macau University of Science and Technology, helped me form a habit to write and think more besides my major.  As I was practicing English in my major online, in college and in daily life,  I have been building up the foundation for  my second college study in University of Dayton, a pure English environment in United States.

During the three years’ college education in Macau, I could not benefit more from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology online courseware, which provides sufficient resources for engineering students.  My ability in reading and writing English was accidentally improved from this online campus. My mind was experiencing revolution when I was listening to the professor Strang in Linear Algebra video lectures. I thought I would be totally confused by what he said, since I was also taking Linear Algebra in that semester and struggling at its abstract concepts and complicated calculations. By taking Professor Gilbert Strang’s class, I was forced to understand the information in English. Dr. Strang’s lectures are easy to follow. He uses examples in simplest case to explain difficult concepts and relates them to simple and interesting applications. He made me feel that I was not only doing math problems, but also let me use and create with what I learned.  I also realized that I so enjoyed learning this information, in English. After I completed the 26 lectures in Linear Algebra, I could naturally think and express the ideas in Linear Algebra in English. With the help of MIT courseware, I have understood more about my major. I started to think of studying my major in pure English, not only listening the online lectures and reading online notes.

With my increasing enthusiasm in my major, I want to be more accurate, specific and professional in my study.  A huge amount of technologies relating to my major comes from United States. It is best to study these technologies in their first language to avoid the biases that might occur in the translation process. I began to read the English textbooks of my classes in Macau and tried to understand the knowledge expressed in their perfect way in English, which was much more difficult than to listen video lectures and to read the online notes. I also tried to write my reports and papers in a standard way in English. My hard work was paid off since I was the only student in our major in Macau University of Science and Technology who turned in all the assignments, reports and papers in English.  Furthermore, when I was reading the English textbook and taking the online lectures, I began to realize the difference between teachers and textbooks. I began to pay more attention to my class in Macau, not only the knowledge itself, but also the teachers, how they were teaching and they were thinking.

Professor Dongxu Qi taught me Linear Algebra at Macau University of Science and Technology. He once told me that it is better that I could keep my writing in a notebook.  I did not have the habit of taking notes on class since I thought what the teacher put on the blackboard and power points are just replications of the textbook. After he told me the same thing three times, I prepared a notebook and took notes in his class for several weeks and showed him my notes. I let him see how carefully I had taken and summarized his points in class. I will never forget his response of my notes:” What I suppose is that you might also take down what a teacher said that interested you and make you think and research more.” It is the first time I began to realize the difference between textbooks and teachers. When I formed this new habit, I realized how much he told me.  The notes should not only reflect the knowledge itself, but also teachers’ understanding of this knowledge and their interests. Furthermore, I not only found something interested me and made me research more on class, but also in my daily life. When I am taking notes, I am choosing what is important in my life and collecting anything that might be lost as time goes by.  When I came up with my experience of English studying in my major, I also think I can use it to relate it to my life.  This notebook habit also provides me a chance to write in English not for my major.  I began to extend my use of English in every part of my life by using the English mode in my cell phone and the English operating system on my computer, reading English manuals and instructions of the products, and reading English newspapers. I was embedding English to my life.

Studying English for me is not a single work. I found my best way to enjoy my major study in English through the online courseware and English textbooks. When I had got used to thinking in English in my major, I started to embed it into my daily life. When others asked me how much time I spent on English for the abroad study, could I say “None,” or” Every minute”?