梁曉

姓名：梁曉

出生年份:1975年

星座：天蠍座

英文名：Stefanie

學校：湖南省望城縣一中（高中）湖南大學（本科、研究生）加拿大卡爾加里大學（University of Calgary, Ph.D.博士)

湖南農業大學（國際學院副院長）（英語、高等教育學教師）

我的個性宣言: Work hard and work smart. Enjoy life.

我眼中的英語: One of the tools to bridge China with the rest of the world.

我最喜歡的一句話: Love to live and live to love.

我是什麼時候開始學英語的: Junior high school.

我最喜歡的英語讀物: China Daily.

我最喜歡的書: A lot.

梁曉，1975年生，湖南望城人，博士。湖南商學院外國語學院副教授，加拿大研究中心主任。2011年被聘為湖南農業大學人文社會科學學院碩士研究生導師。1997年從湖南大學外語系本科畢業后保送攻讀碩士研究生。1999年赴加拿大留學。留學期間梁曉博士曾獲美國國際女研究生世界獎學金、卡爾加里大學傑出研究生研究獎。2003年12月從加拿大卡爾加里大學獲教育學博士學位后回國工作，曾任湖 南農業大學國際學院副院長。

在2005年CCTV“希望之星”英語風采大賽中獲湖南賽區特等獎，全國總決賽第二名。梁曉博士同時從事有關英語語言及比較教育方面的科研活動，承擔本科生及研究生的課程教學，她執教的課程包括《比較教育學》、《法律英語》、《雅思考試培訓》、《英語語法》、《國際商務英語》、《英語交際與禮儀》、《綜合英語》、《大學英語》、《英語演講與口才》、《新托福進階》等。還擔任國內知名培訓機構口語主講教師，教學考評常年優秀。

梁曉博士擅長公眾演講，曾多次應邀進行關於英語學習、留學深造和人生奮鬥方面的省內外宣講。她擔任多項英語賽事的評審專家，參與相關書籍的編寫與錄音。中央電視台、中國教育電視台、湖南衛視、湖南教育電視台、長沙電視台、瀟湘晨報、湖南廣播電視報等新聞媒體都以梁曉博士的教育理念為題作過專門報道。梁曉於2007年應中央電視台邀請當任“迎奧運”希望之星英語風采大賽全國總決賽現場評審。2008年獲得加拿大政府外交部全額資助赴加進行學術交流。2009年任“希望之星”英語風采大賽湖南賽區總評委，全國總決賽選手現場指導，並應邀為中央電視台《希望英語》欄目拍攝專題宣傳片在全國展播。連年擔任CCTV杯全國大學生演講比賽湖南省賽區指導老師。

Learning English is a long and accumulating process. Don’t trust that you could ever grasp this foreign language within one day or a short period of time. I started learning English in junior high school. At that time I lived in rural area of Changsha, where English was regarded as a rare thing. Fortunately, I had a wonderful beginning teacher, Ms. Ma. She has a nice voice and an excellent grasp of the foreign language. Also, my mother, who was an “intellectual youth” from the Cultural Revolution time, taught me to memorize and use the language. I believe these two factors contributed a lot to my great interest in English. Later on I became a representative for the course and exchanged ways of learning the language with fellow students on different occasions. Sometimes to present the ideas of how to learn and learn from others would increase your understanding of the whole process of learning.

I became an English major at Hunan University. Carefully following the instructions of my Chinese and foreign teachers, I wrote down my thoughts everyday in English – diaries. Although the usage of the language at that time was far from perfect, I am still proud of myself being brave enough to make a try.

My graduate area was linguistics and applied linguistics. Linguistics is quite boring. But from the two to three years of Master’s studies I realized that every language has certain rules and regulations. Knowing this could enhance our way of approaching and gaining the language.

In 1999, I went to Canada through a joint academic program. I first studied for about one year as a visiting scholar. Then I successfully applied for a PhD program. This time I chose education as my major. In the four years when I was in Canada, my English was improved very quickly. The most important reason is that I was using the language every day: in class, at home, in shopping centers, on buses, in social activities. Therefore I believe an English environment that requires us to use the language is very crucial. In addition, one person’s personality counts. Being open and courageous, I attended many social events, met plenty of English-speaking people of different background, and of course, made some Canadian friends whom I could talk with in any time. Communication makes great sense here. I communicated with friends, fellow students and foreign teachers, just to exchange ideas in the target language. Making mistakes was quite common. This does not matter much. What matters is that you are brave enough to try and to learn from what you experienced. In China, we should try to create an English-learning environment instead of only focusing on “book English.”

When I started learning the language I tried to memorize the vocabulary and imagine every sentence as a live picture. English for me has never been dull and I even regarded English, the subject, as a kind of entertainment out of the heavy workload when I was approaching College Entrance Examination.

Today as a university administrator and teacher, I still keep learning and using the language every moment I can. Among my job responsibilities, I hire foreign teachers form abroad and am in charge of the foreign teachers affairs in my college. This brings a lot of opportunities for communication --- communication of language, culture and studies. I like my students and would always share with them my thoughts about learning.

I first came to know Stephanie Xiao Liang as a fellow student in my home country; Canada. We were both enrolled in a University Teaching Certificate course at the University of Calgary, along with 25 other students, some of whom, like herself were also foreign students.

As in any class, there are always those few who seem to stand out. Those who participant rather than observe, those who are not afraid to speak their mind and offer their point of view, those who contribute, Stephanie was one of those students.

Generally speaking most of the foreign students were very shy and soft spoken, not so with Stephanie. She was an example, always encouraging the other Asian students to speak out regardless of their language barriers.

Stephanie was an involved foreign student, volunteering her time to other students and fellow Chinese in Canada; that’s why I’m here today. Her dream to come back to China to make a change in the education system encouraged me to come here to meet the people she loved and wanted to help.

Now I find myself in her shoes so to speak, a foreigner in her home country; China. As colleagues at the International College, in Changsha， Hunan, I see the way she encourages our students in their English language studies. Working to help them seek and fulfill their dream of going abroad and in turn, return to China bringing back new ideas to make changes like herself. As well she challenges herself by working towards a better future for the Chinese students and those who work with her by choosing not to speak Chinese when it would be so much easier for everyone if she did. She makes herself an example.

In a society of people where losing face is often considered a weakness, Stephanie is living proof that hard work, doing your best, facing your fears and never turning back, will bring you your biggest rewards. Even losing face, should not be considered your greatest failure but your greatest lesson in life.

Facing an English competition is no easy fate, even for a native speaker and when I see Stephanie rise to the challenge to face her fears, I am in awe of the strength she carries to show her students that anything is possible, as long as you try.

There is a saying that goes: “If you are at ease with yourself in the world, the world will be at ease with you”. I can say for certain, that Stephanie is a person at ease with herself and for those of us who know and work with her, her ease helps us as foreign teachers feel at ease and believe that we too can make a change.

Certainly in our conversations Stephanie expresses her doubts and fears of failure and the, “what ifs’” in life but who doesn’t. The only barriers that hold us back are the barriers we build for ourselves.

As a friend and colleague Stephanie has supported, taught and encouraged not only myself but many of us here at the University. She is not only an example to students, and young teachers, she is an example to us so called Foreign Experts of English who if faced with the same challenge of learning a new language and making it our own , might not be as brave as she. In my books Stephanie; “ROCKS” !

(Foreign teacher from Canada: Ms. Lily E. Visser)

我最鍾情的職業：Education.

The Foreign Teachers’ Experience in China

Honorable judges, ladies and gentlemen, here goes my topic “The Foreign Teachers’ Experience in China.”

Today in China, with more and more attention being paid to learning English, schools and universities are hiring more foreign teachers from all nationalities. These teachers come from afar to spend a part of their life in China. Usually they earn less than they did in their home countries. They are far away from home, families and friends. They often live in conditions much different than ever experienced before. Then, what are they coming for?

“For the experience.” This is the answer of most foreign teachers. To experience the people, the culture, and education in China. Unlike traveling for pleasure, foreign teachers have more time to delve deeply into Chinese society and culture. They meet the real people of China like their students and colleagues. They enjoy more than just the visual sight. They experience the heartbeat of China.

Instead of being a stranger, foreign teachers participate as a family member in many social activities both formal and informal. This way soon they see that “there is no right or wrong, we are only different culturally.”

Most importantly, they experience education in China. Through teaching, foreign teachers realize that there are quite a few differences between Chinese education and foreign education systems. This combining of the two systems then becomes both a learning and teaching experience and a win-win situation for all concerned.

Foreign teachers generally spend one, two, or more years experiencing China, a diverse country. When you look around, it is surprisingly pleasant to see more and more foreign teachers enjoying their life in China, while making contributions to our society.

As John Keats so eloquently put it, “Nothing ever becomes real till it is experienced.” So ladies and gentlemen, please join me in welcoming foreign teachers to experience China, the great country!

Thank you!

日子一天一天過去，離第六屆中央電視台“希望之星”英語風采大賽似乎越來越遠了，但這次比賽又彷彿發生在昨天，因為它是我的驕傲。

2005 年 3 月 25 日晚，到達北京首都機場已經十點多，輾轉來到全國總決賽預選賽的賽場“優龍會議中心”已經是凌晨一點。當時心是疲憊的，因為放下才兩個多月正嗷嗷待哺的女兒，獨自來京追求自己的夢想。通過兩天的比賽，在 3 月 27 日下午得知進入了決賽時，立即電話通知家人並讓母親帶我的小女兒來京。於是這天晚上又到了首都機場。到達賽場又是凌晨一點左右。對母親和女兒是心中無限感激和感動的。

接下來的培訓、會議、觀摩，直到 4 月 2 日大學組的正式比賽，內容豐富，感受很深。最後“全國第二名”的結果讓我真正證實了自己的實力，同時未得到“第一”也印證了我的“名言”——“生活中有點遺憾是好事，這讓你從中獲得更多的啟發。”整個參賽過程對於每一位參賽選手來說都是“塑造”和“展現”的過程。我想每個人都從中學到了不少。

大賽組委會的工作人員是非常盡職盡責的，大到在中央電視台演播廳綵排和比賽，小到電話打到賓館房間通知用餐時間，無微不至，熱心誠懇。這讓我更意識到整個大賽從籌備到執行，從地方各賽區比賽到全國總決賽，從個人到團體，凝聚了無數人的汗水和智慧。我們湖南賽區組委會的辛勤工作就是很好的例子。

英語風采大賽比的不僅是英語能力，更是考察一個人的綜合素質。因為比賽的諸多環節，沒有十足的生活閱歷和對世事的明鑒，以及豐富的想象力和縝密的思維是難以取得好成績的。這樣的賽事一定能在全國掀起學英語和用英語的高潮，起到很好的號召作用。

最後，我要感謝養育我的母親和我養育的女兒，我們三代人共同參與了這次全國大賽，我們會永遠以此為驕傲，當女兒米米長大后，我也會讓她來參加“第 N 屆”中央電視台希望之星英語風采大賽。