1. english proficiency
In my intended learning outcomes, my first aim was to improve my English proficiency. I think I could achieve this aim by talking to the locals there and ask people for feedback to see if I have improved my English.
To achieve this aim, I have practiced speaking with the locals there as much as possible.
Learning actively
When I shop, I would ask the sales about the information of the products or even engage in a bargain to lower the price of the product, for example, when I bought the honey from the bazaar in The Rocks. I said, "can it be cheaper if I buy two bottles?" The lady in the counter said, "no, this is the best price already" As I turned my head and started walking away, she shouted, "okay, two dollars off." After this experience, I think negotiating for a price reduce is fun and I had always grab this chance to speak English with the locals as well as enjoying discounts of my souvenirs at the same time. It was a really great experience and I discovered the strategy of turning away worked the most in a bargaining event.
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To optimize my opportunity to practice English and communicates with the Australians, the best way to start a conversation with them is to ask for directions. Because our group likes to go around on our own at free times to try the famous Australian restaurants, like Coco Black Chocolate Cafe and Lindt Cafe that we searched before the tour online, and we are not sure of the exact address or even we do, we would still ask for directions, so we could practice English. After we start the conversation by, "do you know how to go Lindt Cafe?" They would show us the direction and in most of the times, they would ask us where are we come from, then our conversation carries on. I Iearnt that they are very willing to talk to strangers and also carry on with the conversation. Learning the station names or the names of the places from a map are really helpful when we are walking back to our hotel. For example, when we were in Melbourne, when we see the sign of University square, we knew RMIT Village is merely two streets ahead.
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Australians bump into us
When our group was taking a group photo on the train, we were amazed that some young locals put forth their head and joined into our photo. (photo evidence) We grabbed the chance and chatted with them from the fish market station to Central station. I took this precious train ride and talked with them about their daily lives, for example what they do after school, what they do over the weekend. I was expecting they would said going to the beach because as I have done research earlier about Sydney, it saids there are around 100 beaches speckled around the harbor and along the coast, both north and south of the Harbour Bridge.
I was surprised to find out that they do not go to the beach often and what they mostly do is hanging around in the cyber world: Facebook, twitter and instagram. No wonder why the street always have so few people. |
I was very lucky to make friends with Yan in Sydney. In the second day of our free time, I was heading back to Sydney Central YHA on my own from Central station. I realized I was at the Central train station instead of the Central tram station, which is the station near our staying place. So I wandered around in the Belmore Park after I got off the train in Central station. I have lost my way and I asked for direction again, then I met Yan. She was really nice and showed my direction back to the hotel. I showed a bit of confusion on my face so she said she have free time and would walk me back to the hotel. On our way. we engaged in a very long conversation, I learnt that she has grown up in Australia and her parents are from Hong Kong. She told me some of the Australian cultures, for example the shops close early, especially the cafe and suggested me to go out earlier if I want to go to more places. At last, we exchanged contacts and I will keep contacting her to practice my English with her.
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Me and Yan took photos together near Belmore Park.
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Meeting friends seemed very easy in Australia, when we stayed in RMIT Village in Melbourne, me and one of our group mate met Andrew, who is an Australian. In the third night, we needed to do the laundry, so we walked to the laundry room and the instructions for the laundry process was not clear. Andrew saw us and then started talking to us and guided us through the laundry process. We do not have the washing powder and he even offered us his. We chatted along in the laundry room and exchanged contacts at last.
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Learning on my own
Tone of voice
After exposed to a foreign country, I noticed the large difference in the tone of voice between Hong Kongers and Australians. When Hong Kong people speaks Cantonese, their tone varies and emphasis are heard from some words in a sentence, whereas when they speak English, their tone of voice are relatively flat, they do not put emphasis on certain words. Therefore, what I did was to pay more attention to the Australian's tone of voice when they speak, listen to the words that are stressed more as to indicate their importance in the message. For example, "are you ready to order?", they stress on the verb "ready" and the final word "order". I understand that English is a rhythmical language, indeed, so is Cantonese, some words are stressed as to show their importance. Because we have spent a long time in determining what to eat as we want to try all of them but we couldn't, there they stress on the verb "ready" as to indicate the time of action and "order" as to indicate the main action she was questioning us. I tried how different tones could affects the message I am giving. If I asked, "how can I get to Central station", and emphasize on the station name "Central" rather than asking the question in a flat tone, it would be a much clearer message. |
A video that shows the powerful of tone of voice. The first version is neutral where the second is sarcastic.
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Try and learn new words are really useful in different contexts. As to improve my English, I know I have to develop my vocabulary, so I can talk about different topics with Australians, for example, food and place. In the restaurants, I will look at the menus carefully and try to learn the food names there so I could tell others the name of the food of what I like to eat instead of digging into my head and think of adjectives to describe the food because I do not know the food names.
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Learning food names are really easy, useful, and makes me hungry now
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Lastly, as to improve my English speaking skills, practice my English with partners is a effective choice. Our group chat in English at night times when we were at the hotel. We did role plays and imitated the foreigners that had talked to us on that day. It was fun.
I am happy that I have achieved my aims by learning actively and also through personal learning. I did grab a lot of chances to talk with Australians and even made friends with them. I have demonstrated my aims through talking with them in the markets, shops, trains, restaurants, hotels and I was able to pay attention to their stressing words in a sentence and imitated them at night times with my group mates and got positive feedback from them.
I am happy that I have achieved my aims by learning actively and also through personal learning. I did grab a lot of chances to talk with Australians and even made friends with them. I have demonstrated my aims through talking with them in the markets, shops, trains, restaurants, hotels and I was able to pay attention to their stressing words in a sentence and imitated them at night times with my group mates and got positive feedback from them.