華華遊學記(Dear Diary -16/01/2009)

Before I came to New Zealand , I went to a junior high school in Taipei which my mum and dad said was quite famous in Taiwan . However, I had a lot of pressure due to heaps of tests and piles of homework I had to do everyday. The students at school were always comparing their marks with each other. Two thirds of the students at school do not have plenty of time to plan what they ‘really’ want to do. They have to wake up at 6:30, and then get to school, then after school it’s already 6:00pm. Even worse, students still need to take more lessons after and have to do homework. When they arrive back home it’s already11:00pm.It is all about getting “good marks” at school. There is no need to plan things out by ourselves, because the school has already planned our ‘lives’ for us.
What we did in school everyday was practically the same, like a spiral ladder that kept repeating the same path with no variations. However, as time went past, there was a change in my life. I had a choice to make. A choice that could change my uninteresting life dramatically; a pathway that could change my destiny completely. My dad asked me a serious question:
“Do you want to learn something different in an overseas country?”
I was surprised and didn’t know what to answer. That night I thought about how I would answer my dad, and also tried to think of the reasons why heaps of students wanted to study overseas. Though, I never ended up with an answer.
The holidays finally started, and my dad asked me the same question again. This time I finally managed to squeeze out an answer:
“I’ll try… ” I said.
“Okay, but you have to do your best. Don’t disappoint us,” replied my dad.
My mum was listening to our conversation and joked:
“He will probably become a deaf-mute person overseas!”
There is a saying in Chinese that means ‘the future is unpredictable’. However, to my surprise this time my mum was right, because I couldn’t communicate with people at all when I came to NZ. Compared to Taiwan , there isn’t as much homework and pressure here, but learning English is still hard for a person who learns it as a second language. For example, if you don’t understand a question in a test, you won’t know how to answer the question. This was what I found difficult, and was the reason why I had to spend a lot of time reading English books and writing essays to improve my English. I found out that reading many English books and writing essays are important as they really do improve your English.
After living here for a few months, I realized that there is a huge difference between NZ and Taiwan . Firstly, Taiwan is a busy place where teenagers and adults have to work very hard until they have finished their work. Oppositely (On the other hand), New Zealanders can choose what they really want to do, and no one will interfere. So if you are really good at planning and using your time in NZ, surely the results you get after will be good, and the time you’ve spent will be worth it.
Secondly, NZ’s education is a lot different than Taiwan too. Students here have more freedom to choose what they want to do, learn and become in the future. They are also a lot more creative than students back in Taiwan . Students in Taiwan have no choice of what they want to do, everything is compulsory. The result is that everyone has the same skills, but no other different qualities and skills. However, there are still some good points and bad points about the two different types of education. I’m quite lucky to have education in both NZ and Taiwan . I learnt how to be creative and find out what my interests are here in NZ. On the other hand, education in Taiwan gave me the basic Knowledge that I needed to know.
I really do appreciate the support from my family to give me the opportunity to come to NZ and I learn things I haven’t before in Taiwan . Such as how to plan my time, make friends, take care of people and learn English. People often say: “We still keep on learning new things as we get older." I absolutely agree, because I learn new things everyday, and there is still so much to know. The knowledge that I have is like a tiny stone in the desert. Nevertheless, I want to say thanks to my parents again, if they didn’t send me here I probably wouldn’t be the person I am today.
And if you ever have a chance to go overseas, hold on to the opportunity and try your best to give it a go.

華華遊學記(27/01/2009)

原本就讀於臺北市大安區的一個國中，聽我爸媽說那是很多人想進去的學校，不過那是個課業壓力很重的學校，每個學生都在互相較量看誰的成績比較好。
幾乎全校有三分之二的人的時間表都是滿的，每天從六點半起床，接著去學校，等學校放學時已經六點多，有時候還要去補習班上課、寫功課，回家之後已經是晚上十一點了，我們的生活基本上都是被結聯不斷考試『成績』給佔的滿滿的，我們並不需要去規劃自己喜好及興趣，因為學校已經替我們把它規劃了。

國中生活就是一層不變的，像個無限循環的螺旋梯，重複做著同樣的事情，隨著時間的流逝，我的生活起了些許變化，有天我父親突然一臉嚴肅的問了我一句話：「你想要出國留學嗎？」，第一次被我父親如此問，我有點驚訝!對他的問題不知所措，也完全不知道為何他刻意提起這種特殊問題，那天夜晚我躺在床上不斷地思索著，為何有許多人如此嚮往出國留學？ 為何更有人為了學習不惜砸錢去留學？當時不管怎樣想卻始終都整理不出一個頭緒…

國二的寒假來臨時，我父親又再度問我:：「你想要出去留學嗎？」，我好不容易擠出了一個很勉強的回答：「試試看吧…」，於是我父親回答：「那你可要好好加油，畢竟有很多人想出國沒機會，可別讓我失望。」在旁邊聽到我們對話的母親用開玩笑的語氣說：「他去外國搞不好會變成啞巴呢!」真的被我母親料中，因為到紐西蘭我真的變成『英語啞巴』，無法順利的跟人們溝通，雖然紐西蘭的課業壓力並沒有像台灣的課業壓力重，但對英文基礎不佳的我是個難題，考試時常會看不懂題目敘述，我只能跳題的作答，體驗到這種難處所以我只能花加倍的時間學習英語，在學英文的過程中，我發現學英文其實跟學中文一樣，特別要多閱讀一些書籍，因此我會到圖書館借幾本對自己來說稍微難一點的書回家閱讀，藉此增加自己的單字和增進寫英文文章的能力，我想每天借本書回家看是很有助益的。

來紐西蘭將近一年，我漸漸了解到紐西蘭社會步調和台灣不同，台灣人都在忙碌中生活，大大小小工作到很晚，不然就是讀書讀到很晚，而紐西蘭相對優閒開放，在紐西蘭自己可以規劃自己學習時間與休閒活動，並不會有太多人介入，如果生活有經過妥當的規劃，有許多自己想做的事情，這些時間就會變的非常的寶貴且有意義。

除了這點之外，紐西蘭的教學方式和台灣的教學也不同，紐西蘭是採用『自由』學習和自由發揮的教學態度，因此紐西蘭人的開創力很強，至於台灣則是採取『強制』學習的教學，所以每個學生有其基本的常識，我也從中發現其實兩種教學都各有利弊，紐西蘭是比較『鬆』，台灣則是『緊』，而我也覺得很慶幸能夠親身體驗過這兩種不同教學方式，台灣的教學讓我建立了較好的讀書習慣和基礎知識，紐西蘭的教學注重開創力及興趣，如果沒來紐西蘭，可能無法學習到如此寶貴的經驗。

在這個國家裡讓我見到了與台灣不同的國度面貌，它教會了我如何為自己生活、學習不同的人際交往、體驗不同的文化優點，俗話說『讀萬卷書不如行萬里路』，目前正深入其境體驗著！

凡凡留學記 (親愛的日記本-97年12月30日)

記得三年前我還國二的時候，同學都為我要來紐西蘭的事而議論紛紛。雖然我不是個很喜歡當眾目焦點的人，我還是回答了他們的問題。
同學會問：「為什麼要去紐西籣呢？」
而我則回答他們：「讀書和學英文啊。」
而他們又好奇地問說：「你不是英文很厲害嗎？」
「跟白人比還是不夠吧。」我又回答。
不只是同學會這樣問我， 連 老師和其他親朋好友也會這樣問，而我就得反反覆覆說著一樣的答案。一直說著一樣的話難免會有些不耐煩，偶而也想過反問他們說你覺得呢？其實講偶而太客氣了，根本就很想直接說，只是始終沒有破口而出而已。難道真的沒有人認真思考過為什麼這麼多的父母要把子女從台灣送去美國、英國、加拿大、澳洲等等的國家嗎？答案不就一個？不就是希望子女能多一些機會；在未來或歷練上有多一些r經驗？不過像大家所說的英文已經是個國際語言，會講英文的國家和人多不可數。所以會講兩種語言一點也不令人意外，英文反而漸漸變成人人都應該會的基本常識。反倒是那些能夠流利的使用兩、三種語言以上的人才是真正站在所謂的「排頭」吧。當然，想學一個語言並不是一晚不眠不休就能夠學成，這樣不如叫一個對數學完全一竅不通的人，在一個晚上之內，把一堆數學公式背起來還比較有勝算。問題出在於語言根本不可能只用背的，也背不完，它所覆蓋的層面實在太多。就以我們為例子，我們從小到大都一直學中文，但是我們真的曾經學會那被稱為「常用的」四萬個繁體字嗎？我覺得能夠從字典一一的看過就已經很了不起了，更不用提那些更古早以前的字數又是從幾萬起跳。我們的祖先還嫌這樣不夠學，再來發明個四字成語，這下好了，字都不見得見過了，哪知道那四字成語裡面的單單一個字又是什麼意思，而這四個字再組起來又是別的故事，沒想到那故事背後竟然又有別的涵義！
這國中學生看完都在哀嚎著：「這...這...這...魔鬼啊!背完成語就算了，還要一一造句?」
這也曾經是我的心聲。然而，古人還是說給我們的功課實在還是太少了，要再加一個文言文，而且要會、要懂、要寫、要背誦、最好滾瓜爛熟。連作者的名，哪一派的都不能漏。彷彿繞著有著一堆中國文字的圓周一直走，不僅學不完，還永遠沒有盡頭，更慘的是圓周裡還有圓圈；謎題裡還有更難解的謎等著解。我們就像迷失方向的可憐螞蟻被捲入黑白、惡夢般的漩渦。也許你會覺得我形容得非常戲劇化，但你不得不否認，從此以後中文變成地球上屬一數二難學的語言，而這完全歸功於我們那思想複雜的祖先。難怪白人要學我們的語言更加的困難，問題出在哪裡？問題出在於自稱是本土人的我們自己都學不完了，他們有辦法？除非他們有什麼優良基因是我們沒有的，能夠像我們成語所說的「一目十行」。不過我想，他們才沒讀中文的那個耐性哩，有一次我的白人同學問我，為什麼我們一個字筆劃這麼多，密密麻麻的連螞蟻都看不清楚，我們竟然還知道那是什麼字。這種情況你們會怎麼回答？我就說我們大概知道字的長相，一看過去就知道是什麼字了。難不成還要仔細看字裡面密密麻麻的筆劃喔？很想反問他們你知道中國字有幾個嗎？那你們又知道每個字裡面又有幾個筆劃嗎？我頓時恍然大悟，如果真的每個筆劃都要仔細看才知道是什麼字的話，那台灣的小孩都有藉口對父母反駁了-原因:是因為太勤學，讀太多的中文書所以近視很深，而不是打太多電動。(哈哈，真好笑，我都可以想像那被反駁的父母啞口無言的表情了) 所以倒頭來，我們根本不清楚到底學會了多少中文；到底從我們師父身上吸收了幾成的功力和幾門招數。而白人還是我們的師弟呢，想偷學我們的語言也學不走；想盜也盜不走。門兒都沒有啦，因為我們招術也沒學完啊。怎樣？招數有沒有聽過學一半的？更何況連一半都不到。聽起來實在是有點可笑，是應該感謝我們思想複雜的祖先，為我們的語言設了好幾道難解的達文西密碼，以導致我們的語言和文化,白人怎麼也盜不走，還是應該感到倒楣竟然是台灣人，需要學這麼多東西，但始終還是學不完，卻還自稱會中文。在我完全偏離主題之前，我要強調的是學語言並不是用背的就可以，要不然真的會讀到死，因為太多了。當然英文也不例外，有太多的東西要知道，所以理所當然要找「重點」讀囉。我們所要學的是日常生活中真正會使用到的東西，所以學語言到頭來真的還是需要「環境」，也就是大家都說英文的環境，這點我非常的有把握。這也是為什麼這麼多台灣父母要送小孩出國讀書的原因。

待續....

－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－
3年前還是國中二年級上學期的凡凡辦完休學, 帶著我家妹妹到紐西蘭讀書,安排學校註冊,交通還有寄宿家庭,在台灣的時候她有一堆功課經常功課做到晚上12點有時到清晨1點,被功課壓的沒笑容,因為每天有一堆功課還有要練鋼琴,睡眠不足,身材非常瘦,現在我發現她變高也不在以前那麼瘦了更開朗成熟更有主見,能力也變強了.這一篇凡凡留學記是凡凡自己的感想寫成中英文提供有心出國讀書的朋友及父母想送小孩出國讀書之參考,我也希望凡凡有空可以寫下她的在紐西蘭留學學習心得及留學趣聞及學習甘苦談。

凡凡留學記(Dear Diary-30/12/2008)

I remember it was three years ago, which was the second year of Junior High School, when my classmates were all excited and busy chattering about me coming to New Zealand. Even though I wasn't the kind of person who liked to draw people's attention , I still answered my classmates' questions."So why are you going to New Zealand?" they asked."To study and learn English." I said."Aren't you really good at it?" they asked curiously."Not as good as people there."I replied.

Not only my classmates asked me these questions, but even my teachers, other friends and family asked the same things. So I ended up repeating myself again and again. It did become quite annoying having to repeat things so many times, and made me feel like asking them "what do you think?" sometimes. Maybe it's too polite to say only "sometimes", but I always had the urge to do so, though never did. Is it really possible? That no one actually thought about the reason why parents in Taiwan, send their children to places like America, England, Canada, Australia and so on? Isn't there just one answer? Isn't it because parents want their children to have a better chance of getting a job; to have more opportunities and advantages than other people in the working force? Like what people say, English has become an International language, there are so many countries and people that can speak English. So being able to speak two languages has become really normal, and being able to speak English has also become a basic knowledge. On the other hand, people who can speak over two or three languages fluently, are the ones that stand at the head of the line. Of course, it is impossible to learn a language in one night, not to mention without any rest. In this case, even a person who is hopeless at Maths, has a better chance of memorising a bunch of difficult formulas in a night's time. The problem is that you can't learn a language just by memorising things from books.

You simply just can't, because there are just so much too learn. Like us, for example, we've been learning mandarin for nearly all our lives, but have we really learnt those forty thousand Chinese characters that are said to be used "commonly"? In my opinion, just even scanning through all those characters, one by one through the dictionary is a big challenge. And don't even mention about those ancient Chinese characters from even ages ago, because the amount of them are also in the ten thousand unit range.

However, our ancestors still think that that's not enough for us to learn, so decided to invent the famous idioms. Much to our surprise, we might not have even seen some of those Chinese characters, and of course have no idea what that single one character in the idiom means. Even worse, those four Chinese characters grouped together makes another story.

Even more surprising, the story has an inner meaning to it. How much more complicated can it be? Surely, Junior High School students would be all yelling out "That...that...that's just cruel! Now you want us to make our own sentence with idioms?" Well, this used to be my problem too. Unfortunately, our ancestors still said that we need more homework. So now we have to learn more about classical Chinese, and we are to know it, understand it, write it, recite it, and to know it as well as possible. Even the author and which clique he comes from is important. I meam, how much more can you ask for? To make it into a song? Ha, no jokes, there are actually ones that you can sing to. Therefore, learning Mandarin is like walking in circles that have endless Chinese characters. Worst of all, there are even more circles inside the circumference; even more mysteries underneath the mysteries that are still waiting to be solved or I should say even discovered(so much to know that it might not even be looked at). So our one, mysterious language leaves us likelost ants, being swirled into the black and white nightmare like whirlpool. It might sound really dramatic, but you would have to admit, that since then, Mandarin Chinese had become one of the most difficult languages on planet Earth.
All from the help of our ancestors and their perfectly "complexed" minds. No wonder why white people find it extremely difficult(and I mean "extremely" difficult) learning our language. So what is the problem?
The problem is that "we", supposedly the "native people" of our "native language" don't even know the "language"! How can white people know? Unless they've got superior genes than us, and have the ability to do what our idiom says of being able to "read ten lines at a glance".
That is, if they've got the patience to study our language. One time, one of my Kiwi* classmates was so amazed, that she asked me how we recognise the Chinese characters, when there are so many tiny strokes in each character. If someone asked you the same question, how would you answer? Anyway, I said that we knew the general shape of the Chinese character.

Can you believe it? Does she think that we have to carefully look at every single stroke in a character to recognise it? Instantly, I wanted to ask her "Do you know the number of Chinese characters that exist?""And the number of strokes each character has?"At that same moment, I also realized that if it was true, every kid in Taiwan will have a perfectly reasonable excuse to retort their parents- it is because of studying too many Mandarin books that made them short sighted, but not the video and computer games.(Haha, it seems so funny, I can almost imagine the parents' speechless faces) At the end, we don't even realize how much we really know about our own language; how many tricks and unique skills we've absorbed from our ancient masters.

Furthermore white people are still like juniors who try to learn our language, they aren't really capable of learning the whole language,nor can they steal it. There's just no chance, because even us, the "native birds", have not learnt every trick yet. What? Haven't you heard of just learning half a trick? Or heard of birds that can only "half fly"? (jokes) But the truth is the truth, we haven't even learnt half of our language. It does seem a bit funny. Is it our "complex minded" ancestors, that we should be thankful of setting up so many traps and Da Vinci codes, to make both ourselves and white people confused? Or should we be resentful of being Taiwanese, having to learn so much? And still call ourselves people who know Mandarin, even though not quite. Just something to think about before I completely go off topic. What I'm trying to say is that you cannot learn a language simply by memorising books, because there's just too much. English is just the same, there's lots to know so it's important to learn useful things.
Which leads to the next point, being able to find the environment that allows you to learn the language- meaning an environment that only English is spoken.
This is one thing I am very positive about, and is why so many parents in Taiwan send their children overseas.

備註:*kiwi classmates-Kiwi 是一種只有紐西籣才有的稀有鳥類(比較龐大所以不會飛)，也因為這樣我們都直接稱紐西蘭人為 Kiwi. Kiwi classmate意思則是紐西蘭同學v