"Oxford Girl"
Saixi wrote
Duke Culture | Jiangsu Phoenix Literature and Art Publishing House Published in August 2022
The author's path to becoming a top student is not smooth. From a poor student who failed to pass the exam to double the admission line to an admission line, an admission to , and then to a first-class honor graduation from Oxford University; from an excluded transfer student, a discriminated Asian girl to the first Chinese female debater at Oxford University, from only knowing how to jump rope to cross-country running, boxing , a basketball all-round player... Her growth path is a process of constantly adapting to the rules and breaking through shackles in various environments.
This book reviews the key moments of the author's growth and summarizes the methods of developing goals, self-discipline and self-confidence, providing some replicable experiences and methods for the current student group and newcomers in the workplace.
breaks through the dilemma of learning English: Learning is the fairest thing in the world
When I first arrived in the UK, language barrier was the biggest obstacle I encountered. Since language is the first element of survival, I cannot be as "willful" as I was in China before, and I can only learn English with a tough bullet. Due to my poor English speaking, it is difficult for me to make friends at school. So I paid great attention to whom I could talk to during breaks, but I didn’t expect that in the end I found that the person who was most suitable for "abstract chatting" was my on-duty teacher.
After many conversations, I found that there was a classic "trilogy" when chatting in the British.
First, use the weather to open up the topic.
Secondly, I would like to greet you politely how he is doing recently.
Finally, politely ask the other party about the arrangements for this weekend. The fixed chat mode of
may seem a bit polite and boring to some people, but for me who was not able to speak at the time, it was simply a dew from the sky. After repeated training, this "free" dialogue scene allowed me, who was unable to speak, to meet many new friends.
In addition, I also found that guidance is a very important thing: when turning the other party into the protagonist of the conversation, they are willing to continue sharing with you. After school, I would shamelessly visit kind neighbors one by one. My attentive parents have prepared a lot of small gifts for me with Chinese characteristics , which allows me to find different neighbors to practice conversation every week.
Many of my neighbors are retired kind elders. They are humorous, patient, very tolerant to children, and have plenty of time. The communication with them allowed me to slowly understand the social culture of the UK, and I could also use English to have a smooth conversation with my classmates.
This experience made me realize the importance of being bold in making friends and connecting with others, and made me realize that people who take the initiative to strive for and are willing to speak for themselves will often be noticed quickly.
When I was in the fifth grade of primary school, I became a frequent visitor to of the principal's office of , and actively chatted with the principal and grade director at a fixed time every month. For a long time later, I was always attracted by the school and received support from resources, which made me feel very honored and thankful for my initiative. The most important thing is that in the process of learning English, I realized one thing: learning is the fairest thing in the world, and all efforts and efforts will be rewarded positively.
For me, this is simply opening the door to a new world. You know, I always thought that my learning ability was "destined by heaven", but by learning English, I broke such cognitive barriers and began to truly face myself. There is actually no shortcut to learning
, but because some people master the method in advance, they will make rapid progress. Therefore, there are no people in this world who "is not learning this material", but everyone needs to find the "material" that suits them best. Although it took me a year and a half to truly “beat” English speaking, I happily chose to accept the challenge as I took the first step in my comfort zone.
Backward education in northern Britain: Resources are limited, how to achieve a "counterattack"
Many people think that I have studied in the UK since I was a child, and it naturally became easier to get into a prestigious school.
But that's not the case.Factors such as cultural differences brought about by foreigners, school admission rate, and city where they are located will bring different advantages and disadvantages. To have the initiative, I need to put in more effort. The first step in
's efforts is to change the disadvantages brought by information gaps and break the information barriers.
In order to achieve this goal, I need to do two things: in reality, improve the ability to communicate actively; have a network device that can retrieve information.
There is an imbalance in the development of the south and north regions of the UK. After experiencing the glorious years of industrial development, the overall economy of the northern region is gradually declining, and talents, resources and opportunities are concentrated around London in the south.
At first, I chose to study in the north because I didn’t want to study in an environment full of “temptation”. Northern schools could also help me save nearly five times the tuition fees compared to southern schools. But when I searched the school rankings and related information on the Internet, I realized that the middle school I attended had a huge disadvantage in going further. If everyone is playing cards at a card table after passing Oxford, then what I got can be said to be a bad hand.
United Kingdom Oxford
If I can’t get better platform and teacher resources, what else can I do? There is a British proverb "big fish in a little pond or a small fish in a big pond", which is translated into Chinese, similar to "I would rather be a chicken's head than a phoenix's tail." This sentence gave me a clear direction: instead of being buried in a highly competitive top school, it is better to absorb all the resources that current schools can give me.
Just like that, I started the Nth "negotiation" with school teachers in my life, that is, through an important conversation, I obtained a pass to the resources I needed. Before "negotiating" with the high school director, I first used online information to analyze the key scoring points for applying for Oxford and Cambridge, and analyzed my personal abilities and the help I needed from the school.
talk time was one night on Thursday. I walked into the high school student building nervously and gently knocked on the door of the director's office.
In order to avoid being aggressive, I first chose to use the excuse that my mother must let me transfer to school and expressed my concerns about the school from her perspective. As the key training target of the school, after comforting me, the grade director volunteered to give me unlimited mock interviews and let the teacher give me free lessons in private. This time, I took the initiative to help me solve important resource problems. At the same time, it also reminds me to develop the ability of "upward management", but in fact, it is more of the ability to seek help. Doing things cannot be solved by one person, but should think of ways from multiple dimensions. This is something I realized since I was a child, and this kind of thinking has helped me again.
I do not recommend that everyone obtain new teaching resources in the same way, but rationally analyzing the problem itself, self-advantages and defects, learning to manage upward, breaking resource limitations, these can more effectively allow us to see through the essence of the problem and find solutions.
Author: Saiqi
Editor: Yuan Yulu
