The Significance of Learning English to Vocational School Students

【Abstract】As an English teacher in a vocational school， you should know the attitude of your students to their English learning. Only when they understand the significance of learning English ， can they pay special attention to the teachers teaching.

【key words】English learning; ability; vocational school

【作者簡介】孙野，江苏省南通卫生高等职业技术学校，高级讲师，研究生。

As an English teacher of the vocational school， I am often asked by my students：“What is the use for us to learn English？” My students often think that they have barely chances to communicate with foreigners， they have no interests in learning English because English is very difficult. In such a situation， I will tell my students seriously，“learning English is still useful and important to you and to your self- development.”The reasons are as following：

1. Learning English can improve your comprehensive ability

My children， you live in China， and Chinese is your native tongue. In such language environment， you may have many problems to master English. Even this， you should be brave. Firstly， you should have the strong courage to learn English well. Secondly， you should have some scientific methods to study this language. Through the training courses， your comprehensive ability will be cultivated gradually. One day， you will find English learning is not so difficult as before. You can understand this language somehow， and you even express your idea in this language smoothly. Your comprehensive ability has been improved step by step. As vocational school students， you should have all kinds of the skills to better your study ability. The comprehensive ability is the basic and the most crucial one.

2. Learning English can enhance your memory capacity

English has large vocabulary. If you want to learn English， you have to study the words and remember them in your own way. In fact， it is not an easy thing for our Chinese students to master the English linguistic rules. You should listen to the English teachers teaching carefully. You should study English grammar if necessary. All the aspects of study mentioned above needs your strong and scientific memory. You will be trained and also you will find the correct way to remember English words. Your memory ability will be enhanced. Some people say that learning English is training ones memory capacity.

3. Learning English can hoist your capacity to get knowledges and information

Someone said，“Learning English can help you know the world well” We can compare English to a tool. By this tool， we will get a lot of valuable things. We now live in an information era. Most of the news and papers are published in English. English is also the most important linguistic tool. As the students， you would master more advanced knowledge if you are good at English. You can communicate with foreign teachers and students if you have fluent English. Your social circle should be larger than before. At the same time， you can have the ability to compare your own culture with English culture. It sounds so interesting to the students. “We will have another window to see the world if we learn English well，” said some students. It is true. As the teenage vocational students， they have the strong interest to know the world and communicate with others， to catch up with the fashion trend. Good English learners could enjoy the pleasure.

4. Learning English can better your communication ability

Communication is the basic function of language， especially to English. In order to communicate with others， you have to do a lot in advance. You must learn the vocabulary， and understand some grammar knowledge. If you want to communicate with others smoothly， you should have some interesting， attractive and useful topics. You have to study and care some knowledge about history， geography， culture， law， science， economy and so on， even something about drama， movies and sport events. All of these will compel the students to learn， to search and to study lots of things in different fields. In fact， the vocational school students need the chance to practice their ability and skill.

In a word， learning English is quite helpful to our vocational school students. It will bring them a pair of wings if they learn English well. They could fly in the sky of the knowledge and culture that is in English. And they could fly higher and farther in their lives in the future. They could watch and enjoy more beautiful views.

References：

[1]Kathleen Graves （USA）. Designing Language Course[M].北京師范大学出版社，2008.

[2]刘电芝.教育与心理研究方法[M].安徽教育出版社，2011.