許多學生和他們的家長經常想知道，“我怎樣才能利用暑假來增加我進入精英大學的機會？答案在於將 2 到 3 個月的時間花在以英語為母語的國家，與當地家庭一起生活，避免與自己國家的同齡人交往。
雖然科學營、研究、大學課程或實驗室參與等考慮因素在特定情況下具有價值，但它們往往無法帶來實質性的好處。 相比之下，有一項活動總是被認為是無價的：提高你的英語水平。
這個看似簡單的解決方案經常被忽視（我甚至會說，超過80%的中國學生擁有驚人的智力潛力，但因為他們陷入了這種困境，所以他們浪費了它）。 在參加任何其他活動之前，必須了解熟練掌握英語是絕對必要的。 但是為什麼？
1.真正有益的夏令營和活動具有競爭性和國際性。 這需要進入乙個獨家專案，該項目的錄取率通常低於 20。 此外，國際認可是必不可少的;即使乙個優秀的夏令營缺乏國際元素，國外的大學也未必能認可它。
獲得英語水平證明，通常以高雅思或托福成績的形式，對於參加此類課程至關重要。 如果沒有這些資格，獲得信譽良好的課程或夏令營可能是乙個挑戰。 基本上，在沒有足夠英語水平的情況下從事任何專案通常是浪費時間和資源。
2.令人驚訝的是，90%的哈佛學生在國外生活了至少3個月。 要真正了解自己的國家，首先要在另乙個國家生活。 這種經驗將帶來無價的比較見解。 這一原則是普遍的;來自世界各地的人們受益於在國外生活所獲得的變革性視角和增強的理解。
需要注意的是，僅僅訪問另乙個國家還遠遠不足以實現所描述的變革性體驗。 真正身臨其境的體驗包括日常生活，最好是與當地家庭一起生活。
3.在中國掌握英語極具挑戰性和昂貴，尤其是在雅思和托福考試的背景下。 雖然中國有很多學習STEM科目和文化研究的資源，但這些考試要求的英語水平與傳統的學習方法不一致。
需要注意的是，語言習得是一項深刻的社會活動。 教科書和理論學習只能打下基礎;真正的熟練源於社會的實際應用。 只有當一門語言成為參與和融入社群的不可或缺的工具時，它才能真正掌握。
因此，要達到高水平的英語水平，必須讓自己沉浸在語言和文化環境中，就像新生嬰兒在新環境中摸索一樣。 與以英語為母語的家庭一起生活並避免使用母語電子裝置可以達到最佳效果。 這種變革性的體驗在您自己的國家很難獲得。
總的來說，我建議花 2 到 3 個月的時間去乙個不那麼經常光顧的小鎮上的寄宿家庭，並參加專為非英語母語人士設計的英語課程或文學課程，最好是為歐洲學生設計的。 這種方法以比中國學生學習低得多的成本取得更好的結果。
乙個反例強調了這些建議的重要性。 我妻子家的一位熟人抱怨說學習英語有多難。 他們把兒子送到加拿大學了兩年英語，花了很多錢，但他的英語還是不夠用。 為什麼？因為他與中國朋友交往，沉浸在乙個講中文的社群裡。 這種情況相當於留在中國，從而使追求無效。
總體而言，請始終尋找最適合您的教育目標的最佳環境。 正如谷愛凌選擇中國學習高等數學一樣，當你想學習英語時，選擇最適合環境的地方。 在掌握英語語言方面，理想的環境可以產生巨大的影響，這一原則幾乎適用於任何學科和學習形式。
因此，我想表達以下幾點：
1.在進行任何其他型別的暑假或假期活動之前，首先要選擇的活動是參加的，除非您的英語達到雅思 7 分5 級或以上或托福 105 級或以上。
2.如果沒有足夠好的英語水平，您可以參加的任何其他活動都是毫無意義的，因為它不會被認可，您將沒有機會申請任何競爭性活動。
3.住在另乙個國家（不旅行！會改變你和你對世界的看法，這就是為什麼 90% 的哈佛學生在另乙個國家生活了至少 3 個月。
4.如果你想學習英語，你需要與來自你自己國家和語言的人進行社會隔離，變得像個嬰兒一樣，只有這樣，你才能實現語言的快速增長，否則即使你花了數年時間學習和花很多錢也是不可能的。
本文是為VLM學院的外籍教師準備的，**請聯絡VLM學院的老師。
the first summer activity every single chinese student should undertake.
many students and their parents wonder, how should i spend my summers, how should i spend my vacations to become more competitive for elite institutions – the answer is spend 2 to 3 months in a country where english is the sole language, while living with a local family and h**ing no companions from your own country.
many think of science camps, maybe some research, maybe go to a university and take classes there, maybe participate in a lab, or some other often ludicrously expensive activity.
while these activities can h**e value, it depends on the context and person and to be honest they usually don’t, but one activity that always has value is to improve your english.
it seems like such a **answer, but most people don’t follow it, and it’s important to understand that before you do literally any other activity, it’s absolutely imperative to h**e achieved a sufficient english language level, but why?
1. the only summer camps and activities that h**e real value are competitive and international ones. this means it can’t be a camp just anyone can get into ( if the admission rate is lower than 20% that’s usually a good benchmark ) and also it needs to be international otherwise even if it’s a good camp foreign universities just won’t recognize it and thus won’t see it as valuable.
to get into any such program, you must h**e some form of proof of english proficiency, usually in the form of a high enough ielts or toefl score. if you don’t h**e these you can’t get into any good programs or summer camps put simply, so literally any type of program you do without h**ing a good enough level of english in almost all cases is just a waste of time and money.
2. 90% of students that study at harvard h**e lived in another country for at least 3 months.
if you really want to understand your own country, you should live in another one first, because this is what gives you comparison. this applies to people from the whole world, the perspectives and changes in understanding you’ll h**e after actually living in a country change you for the better. why would harvard accept american students that h**en’t even seen any other parts of the world, how can they understand america when they h**en’t seen anything else and h**e no point of comparison? the same applies for just about any other nation, and the change in mindset and perspective you get from living in a country is extremely valuable.
note, living in another country is not the same as tr**el, you can tr**el and be a tourist for months and in my opinion you probably won’t learn anything, because being a tourist is just looking at superficial aspects of a country and has almost nothing to do with society. in the past i lived in paris for 2 years and realized french people never go to the eiffel tower, if you go to tourist areas, that’s where you find all the foreigners, just like in beijing a lot of real beijingers never even go to the main tourist attractions.
the point is, tr**el to another country doesn’t count and change you in the way i described, you need to actually live there and experience daily life, and the best way to do that is by living with a local family.
3. learning english in china is incredibly hard and ridiculously expensive.
there’s lots of resources to learn stem subjects and culture in china, but when it comes to learning english especially the way that ielts and toefl exams require, it’s pretty much antithetical to the whole way people learn.
i see people in china spending over a million, if not millions on just learning english, whereas people in other countries learn it for free and usually at a better level than what people here achieve spending ludicrous amounts of money.
the problem with language is, it’s the most social of sciences. you can’t learn language with textbooks, you can’t learn language without using it, you can only get a start but to actually get good at a language you need to use it and be forced to use it socially.
when we use a language and need it to survive and be a part of society, that’s when our brain really activates the parts that are needed to master a language.
this means that to learn english at a very good level, if you tr**el or go to one of the popular language learning camps and courses where you h**e a bunch of other students from your own country, this camp is totally worthless, because you’re losing out on the social element.
what you need to do is be in a situation where you le**e your own language and culture and are like a baby, and need to socialize in a new language and culture.
the absolute best way to achieve this is to stay with a family whose native language is english, maybe a british family, an american one, an australian one, and then also cut yourself off from any electronics which would make you socialize with people using your native language. then, you’ll naturally propel yourself towards learning language in a totally different way, once you’ve 100% cut yourself off from your native tongue, and this is not possible if you stay in your own country.
what i’d recommend is take 2 to 3 months, go for a homestay in a small town, (smaller towns are better, they’re cheaper, you’ll encounter less chinese students which is good since you want to **oid people from your own country, just like i myself when i came to china to study chinese **oided expats like fire, also people in small towns are more curious about people from other countries and want to talk with you more ) and choose english language or literature classes meant for non-native speakers of english, but specifically choose schools european students go to. these are going to cost maybe 1/5th of what you’d h**e with other chinese students and will provide far better results.
one story that to me showed the opposite of what i am advising is this.
an acquaintance of my wife’s family complained to me, about how difficult it is to learn english. they had sent their son to canada for two years to learn english, spent over a million rmb and their son still couldn’t speak english! but, what he now could speak was excellent cantonese.
why? because he had made chinese friends and was in a chinese circle. going abroad to study english and being with other chinese students is just like being in china, in that case don’t go, just stay in china please.
if you really want to learn the language be in a scenario where you are the only chinese student or h**e no contact with other chinese students, you’ll spend less money, h**e a better experience and far better results.
there’s also a principle behind this, always go to places for what they are the best. just like eileen gu went to china to study exam math, if that’s what you want to study you should do it in china, and when you want to learn english you go to where the environment is the best for that, and this principle applies to pretty much any subject and form of learning.
so the points i wish to express are:
1. before doing literally any other type of summer or vacation activity, the first activity to choose unless your english is already at the ielts 7.5+ or toefl 105+ level.
2. without a good enough english level, any other activity you can participate in is pointless because it won’t be recognized and you won’t h**e the opportunity to apply for anything competitive
3. living in ( not tr**eling!!!in another country changes you and your perspectives on the world for the better, which is why 90% of harvard students h**e lived in another country for at least 3 months
4. if you want to learn english, you need to socially isolate yourself from people from your own country and language and become like a baby, and only then will you achieve rapid language growth you otherwise wouldn’t get even by spending years on studies and large amounts of money.