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等级:Senior
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注册:2008-2-29 21:58:10 |
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 Graduation Speech 毕业典礼致辞
Graduation Speech 毕业典礼致辞
Dear Dr. Stevens, teachers, tutors, classmates, and friends of the 1)ELI.
First I want to give thanks for this award to the graduation committee, but especially I want to give thanks to my teachers and tutors. They are great! They are always very interested in helping to motivate and encourage us. For example, every time that June says, "Yes!" or "Good job!", that motivates me, because I know it‘s a sincere comment. Or the contrary, if you do not do a good job, she will tell you: "Guys, I will be honest with you…" (then you better be prepared…because a bomb is about to fall down). It seems like they never get bored of teaching the same thing and they want you to 2)take advantage of this time. They are much more than teachers, they are friends like Leslie or Rika, tourist guides, like James Slater, they are also advisors and some times we see them like part of our families.
I also want to thank my classmates and friends because I have learned a lot from them. I think everybody deserves 3)recognition because while we are here studying English we have to overcome many difficulties.
I admire all the young people who came from countries that are very far away, and probably it is their first time traveling alone to an unknown country. Like Joyce who came from Taiwan. Beside this, there are other people who are not used to do some chores like cleaning and cooking or doing the laundry. There are couples who are here with their children, like Enzo and Janet, from Venezuela, who have to take care of Daniel, or the contrary, people like Josephine from Brazil who is alone and misses her husband and children. There are also people that have to keep in touch with their jobs. I remember Cristina, from Italy, who graduated last 4)session. She was always worried about all the things that her boss told her to do via e-mail. And with all these responsibilities, they have done a great job.
I have tried to follow the steps of my friends, like Meric, from Turkey, because he was always studying by himself doing exercises for the TOEFL; or the adapting to new cultures like Radek the tall guy from Poland has. The first day of class he looked so serious, he was so 5)uptight, but you should see him now. If you ask him: "Where are you from?", he will tell you in perfect Spanish, "Yo soy de Colombia", and you also should see him dancing the 6)merengue. You can see that here you can learn many things besides English. I also admire Nestor, from Venezuela who always had his homework ready before the deadline, this encouraged me to hurry up with mine.
If you are a new or continuing student, I want to tell you few things that helped me during this time to improve my English. The first recommendation is, don‘t feel afraid of making mistakes. I learned this from my mother, she does not speak English very well but she doesn‘t care, she talks to everybody and she knows how to be understood. You have to tell yourself, ok, I made a mistake, so what! If we knew how to speak English, we would not be here. We have to accept that we are going to make mistakes, in this way we will be able to look at them and to learn from them. It is important to have confidence in ourselves, and that confidence grows with time and practice. To learn a language is not easy. Our teachers will give us the rules and tools for learning, and will help us during the process, but most of the work is from our side. It is not enough to go to class. It is necessary to practice what you have learned, to make sentences with the new words, to do "pleasure reading", as Barbara Gillette would say. You have to speak, to listen, to think, to dream in English all the time.
In order to practice the language, we can take advantage of the facilities that the university offers to us. I am always reading the newspapers from the university, to practice English and to know what is going on. For example, one day I read that there were some free computing courses at the university, and I told Nestor, to take an HTML course, because he has a very nice web page with all his pictures from the ELI. It was great, because we learned something new and we were in a class like regular students. I also went to a class as a listener and it was a good opportunity to participate in a class.
Another good way to practice English is with a 7)language partner or a 8)host family, who want to meet people from other cultures. For us it is a great opportunity to talk to native speakers and to know more about the culture of this country. With my host family, the Gangemellas, I went on a picnic, to an ice cream festival, and I was glad to share with them Amy‘s birthday, the oldest daughter, and in general to talk to them and to know more about their life. Another thing that I liked to do is to go on Tuesdays to the Scrounge coffee shop, to see the shows. Usually they have comedians and it is a very good listening and comprehension exercise, especially to understand slang and informal talking. And as a plus they give you free coffee in very nice mugs.
There are opportunities to meet people and practice English everywhere, at the bus stop, in a party, on the streets, at the library, or at the computer centers.
I also recommend that you see movies, watch TV, listen to the radio. The radio is very good to improve your listening skills. I remember that when I came here in the summer, I wanted to listen to the weather forecast, and the first day I could only understand something about 93, but they talked very fast and it was hard to understand what they said. The next day I was surprised that the temperature was the same that the day before and then I realized that 93 .7 was the dial of the radio station. It is incredible that I could not even notice that they have already finished the weather forecast. Now I am happy that I can listen the weather forecast while I am cooking, without paying too much attention to it.
But don‘t overload yourself, there are other people who want to do so many things at the same time that then, they can‘t do anything well. In conclusion my recommendation is don‘t worry, study hard and enjoy your time in Newark.
Thank you and good luck.
Raysa Urdaneta
From Venezuela
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亲爱的史蒂芬博士，各位老师、助教、同学，还有在英语语言学院的朋友们，下午好。
首先我要感谢毕业评审委员会授予我这个荣誉。而我尤其想感谢我的老师和辅导助教。他们真的很了不起！他们总是乐于调动我们的学习热情，鼓励我们。每次祖儿老师说“对！”或“做得好”的时候，我都深受鼓舞，因为我知道那是出于真心的评价。而相反，如果你做得不好，她会告诉你：“同学们，我得老实对你们说……”（这样你最好有所准备，因为重头炸弹即将降临）。虽然要重复地教同样的东西，我们的老师却似乎永远不会感到厌烦腻闷，他们要的是我们好好利用这段学习的时光。他们远远不只是我们的老师，而且还是我们的朋友，像莱斯利和丽塔，是我们的旅游向导，像詹姆斯·斯莱特。另外，他们还经常为我们出谋划策，有时候我们简直就把他们看作是家庭的一份子。
同时我也要感谢我的同学和朋友，从他们的身上我获益良多。在这里学习英语我们都得克服重重的难关，所以我觉得这里的每个人都值得赞赏和认同。
我很佩服那些远道而来求学的年轻人，这可能是他们第一次独自出门来到一个陌生的国度，像来自台湾的乔依斯。另外有些同学以前是不怎么做诸如打扫卫生、做饭或者洗衣服这些家务杂事的。有些来这儿学习的夫妇还带了孩子过来，就像来自委内瑞拉的恩左和珍尼特夫妇，除了学习，他们还得照顾孩子丹尼儿。也有恰恰相反的情况，像来自巴西的约瑟芬就是单枪匹马过来的，她常常惦记着家里的丈夫和孩子。也有一些同学同时要兼顾工作，我记得上学期毕业的，来自意大利的克里斯蒂娜就要整天操心着老板用电子邮件交待她办的各项事情。虽然担负着各种各样的责任，我们的同学还是出色地完成了各自的学习任务。
我曾经努力向我的朋友学习，例如来自土耳其的马里克，学习他经常上自修，拼命做托福练习题；或者是来自波兰的高个子潘内克，学习他努力适应新文化。第一天上课的时候他看起来还是一本正经、紧张兮兮的，但现在的他已经大不一样了。如果你问他：“你来自什么地方？”，他会用很溜的西班牙语告诉你“我来自哥伦比亚”，你还会看到他大跳梅伦格舞。可见，在这里除了英语，你还可以学到很多其他东西。我还很钦佩来自委内瑞拉的内斯特同学，他每次都能早早地把功课做好，这激励了我也要赶快完成。
对新来和还在继续进修的同学，我想告诉你们我这次进修英语的一些心得。第一个建议就是，不要害怕犯错。这是从我母亲身上学到的。她英语说得不怎么好，但她不管，就是要跟所有人讲英语，她懂得如何使人明白她。你要告诉自己，是啊，说错了，那又怎么样！如果我们都懂该怎么说英语，我们就不会来这里学习了。我们必须接受这样的现实：我们肯定会犯错误的，只有这样我们才能正视错误并从中学习改进。很重要的一点是我们要对自己有信心，自信心是会随着时间和实践而增强的。学习一门语言并不是易事。老师教给我们学习的法则和工具，在学习的过程中帮我们一把，但学习始终还得靠我们自己努力。仅仅去上课是不够的，我们必须运用所学并加以练习，要用新词造句，要像芭芭拉·金吉利所说的：“愉快阅读”。你得整天讲英语，听英语，用英语思维，用英语做梦。
我们可以利用学校提供的设施来锻炼英语能力。我就常常读学校的报纸，以此来练习英语阅读和掌握最新资讯。例如，有天我看报纸看到学校里开办了一些免费的电脑课程的消息，我就告诉了内斯特让他报读HTML课程，因为他原来就设计过一个很漂亮的网页，展示了他在语言学院的照片。能够像正规专业学生那样在一个班里上课，又学到一些新的东西，实在是件妙事。我还旁听了另外一个课程，是个参与课堂活动的好机会。
练习英语的另一个好办法是找一些了解他国文化的语言伙伴或者寄宿家庭。对我们来说，这是个听说地道英语，了解地道文化的好机会。我跟我的寄宿家庭刚格梅拉一家人一起去过野餐，参加过雪糕节，很高兴还和他们最大的女儿艾米一起过生日，跟他们聊天，了解他们的生活。我还很喜欢在星期二到“搜寻”咖啡店里看表演。那里常有笑星表演，是个很好的听力理解训练，尤其对理解俚语和口语有帮助。而且他们给你免费的咖啡，盛咖啡的杯子可漂亮了。
其实，与他人练习口语的机会到处都有，譬如在公共汽车站，舞会中，大街上，图书馆里或者在电脑中心里。
我还建议你多看电影、电视，多听电台。听电台节目对提高听力大有帮助。我记得我是夏天来到这里学习的，我当时很想听听天气预报，第一天听，觉得他们说得很快，很难听明白，只听到个什么93。第二天再听，我发现气温跟前一天是一样的。这样一来才明白原来93.7不是气温，而是那个电台的频率。人家一早把天气预报完了，我竟然还不知道，真是难以置信。幸好，现在我可以边做菜边听天气预报，不用太留心都能听明白了。
不过千万不要让自己超负荷学习。有些人想在同一时间做许许多多的事情，但结果哪一样都做不好。最后我给大家的建议是别担心，努力学习，享受在纽渥克的时光。
谢谢各位，祝大家好运。
瑞莎·乌尔达内塔
来自委内瑞拉 |
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君子之过也，如日月之食也，过也，人皆见之；更也，人皆仰之！ |
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