Learning English is like riding a bike

学英语就像学骑自行车

     When Peter Baker was young, he dreamed of becoming a scientist when he grew up. But things always change. When Peter finally entered into university to study his dream subject, microbiology, he found it was not what he really wanted to do. Everyday he took a little dish and grew very small living creatures in the lab. He found everyday was very repetitive, for a person who always liked having fun, he did not want to have a repetitive life.

     小时候，皮特·贝克的梦想是当一名科学家。然而，世事无常。当皮特终于在大学,如愿以偿地进入微生物专业后，他却改了主意。生物实验机械而又枯燥,当时的皮特天天待在实验室里,拿着一个小器皿培养微生物。对于童心未泯的他而言，重复而机械的生活并不是他想要的。

     In England, he began teaching children science but not in the classroom. He took them outside to the beach and looked for crabs. He let the children pick up and look at the crabs, and told them if it was a male crab or a female crab. "I always taught outdoors," He said, "we did climbing, sports. I taught them in a way that was interesting and exciting, a way that they would remember. I found this very interesting and exciting. It was also very rewarding seeing students learning and progressing.” So he made his decision to become a teacher. After getting the certificates to become a qualified teacher, he came to China, a country of bicycles.

   在英国的时候，皮特开始教授孩子学习科学。他时常带着孩子们到海边的沙滩找螃蟹，鼓励他们大胆地抓起螃蟹，并一起分辨螃蟹的性别。“我常常在户外给孩子们上课。”皮特说，“我和我的学生一起爬山，做各种各样的运动。这种户外体验式授课方式能激发学生的兴趣。同时，我也从中感受到了上课的乐趣，时刻为学生作出的进步而欣慰。”于是，皮特下定决心要做一名老师。当皮特取得了所有与教学相关的证书以后，他便来到中国从教。

     Time flows quickly in China, it has been Peter's 5^th year in Hangzhou EF. "I enjoy teaching at EF where I can teach English while having fun. You don't have to sit in the office all day, you can have class outdoors." At first, Peter taught children. After the establishment of Hangzhou EF, Huanglong center in 2007, he began teaching adults. With dramatic body language and humorous outgoing personality, this charismatic Brit makes a deep impression on the people he meets. He has a loud magnetic voice which acts like a spell, making learning English fun.

    时光如梭，这已经是皮特在杭州英孚的第五个年头。“EF让我感受到了教学的乐趣。在这里，你可以把你的课堂搬到户外。”起初，皮特的学生都是孩子。2007年，杭州英孚黄龙校区正式落成，皮特继而转战成人英语教学。这个富有魅力的英国青年在人们心里留下了深刻的印象，他戏剧性的肢体语言、风趣开朗的性格以及他富有磁性的嗓音像一种魔力，使英语学习变得生动有趣。

It was Friday, Peter cycled from the east part of Hangzhou city to the west, Huanglong center, to begin his typical day of teaching. Friday is usually the busiest for Peter, he had a teachers' meeting at 13:00, 2 Vocabulary Building classes, 2 interviews in the afternoon and an offsite life club at 19:00.

周五，皮特和往常一样骑着他的骑士牌自行车从城东出发，前往城西的黄龙分校。周五是皮特最忙的{yt}，下午一点，他有一个教师会议，之后，他有2节词汇课，2个口语测试，晚上7点，还有他主持的一个户外生活俱乐部。

   In his Vocabulary Building class, Peter tried to teach his students the different pronunciations of "car" in British English and American English. “Your mouth should be left open when you pronounce car in American English While in British English you don’t need to " Peter explained with dramatic body languages.

   词汇课上，皮特给学生讲解了美音和英音的不同之处。“在美式英语中，‘car’这个单词发音时要张大嘴巴，舌头卷曲；而在发英音时就不必如此……”皮特边讲解边做着夸张的肢体语言。

" I am hooked on Peter Barker's class, he is very active and energetic and creates a light-hearted mood which makes us feel happy in class." Jolin, a sophomore at Zhejiang University said. She has been studying at EF for almost half a year and has made swift progress from level3 to level 7.

“皮特是一个精力充沛、富有活力的老师，他上课总是能向学生传递一种轻松愉快的心情，让我们觉得上课很开心。”浙江大学大二学生Jolin这样评价皮特的课，她在英孚学了半年，英语口语从3级上升至7级。

"For me, as a teacher, you should always be enthusiastic in class; otherwise, the students will switch off and will not learn. " Peter recalled his experience in his university,” When I was a university student, I was very lazy and wasn't hardworking. So I know what it is like to be a lazy student. This kind of student likes to have fun and doesn't want to do homework. If you make taking the class fun, they will like the class and learn more. So I learned new ways to make the class interesting and fun." This is probably the secret method that keeps Peter’s classes energetic.

   “作为一名老师，你在课堂上应该总是精力充沛，不然，学生们会感觉没有动力去学习。”皮特回忆起他大学时的经历：“大学时期的我学习非常不努力，经常偷懒。因此，我很了解那些懒学生。懒学生爱玩但讨厌做功课。如果老师能把课堂变得好玩，懒学生们自然就会被你的课堂吸引，有动力去学了。所以，我不断学习新的教学方法，使课堂变得有趣好玩儿。”这大概就是使皮特的课堂充满活力的秘诀。

Off site life clubs are one of the most popular classes in EF as you can practice your English while enjoying activities. This evening's off site life club was Rock Climbing, there were 12 students attending the lesson. Everyone was a bit nervous when standing at the foot of a 10 meter high wall. It took Peter about twenty minutes to teach the terms and explain proper climbing techniques and how to use the equipment. Then, Peter started to climb, with everyone watching carefully from the ground.

户外生活俱乐部是杭州英孚{zshy}的课程之一，学生能够在享受户外活动的同时练习口语。当天晚上，皮特主持的生活俱乐部主题是攀岩，共有12个学生报名参加。当站在一面10米高的攀岩墙脚下时，每个人脸上都露出了紧张的神色。皮特花了20分钟给学生们讲解了与攀岩相关的英语知识，传授了一些基本的攀岩技巧。随后，皮特开始攀爬起来，学生们站在地面上，紧紧地盯着皮特。

   "It is very cool to have an off site life club at EF. It allows me to learn English while experiencing different things. Last week, we went to KTV to sing English songs, and I remember that in one of the classes, we made Pizza and enjoyed western culture.” Lily, an editor at EAC who came to EF this March. Since then she has had a love for English and attends off site life clubs every week. Before, Lily considered learning English very painful and almost gave up.

   “英孚的户外生活俱乐部非常酷，能让我们边玩边学。上周，我们和外教一起去K歌，我记得还有一次，我们一起去做Pizza, 感受西方文化。”学员Lily这样说。她是EAC一家外企的编辑，自从今年三月份来杭州EF学习以来。Lily深深爱上了英语，每周的户外生活俱乐部中都能找到她的身影。而在这之前，Lily觉得英语学习是一件非常痛苦而枯燥的事情，她差一点就想放弃了。

   "Many students come to EF with preconceptions about what the class will be, for example, boring, stressful or having a lot of homework and exams. This is because of what they experienced at school." Peter said:” In fact, English can be learnt while having fun. Students should consider their interests and find something they would like to do while learning English. For instance, if they like sports, they can play badminton or archery with teachers; if they like music, they can go to KTV to sing English songs; if they like cooking, we can go to a pastry house to make pudding or cakes; if you like visual, you can watch foreign movies, etc. EF's off site life club can suit everyone's hobbies."

   “来EF之前，很多学生都怀有自己的成见，受中国式教育的影响，他们觉得英语学习要靠题海战术，枯燥至极，压力重重。”皮特说：“事实上，学习英语也可以很快乐，学生们可以通过体验自己的兴趣爱好来学英语。比如，喜爱运动的学生可以和外教一起去打羽毛球、射箭；喜爱音乐的学生可以和外教去K英文歌；喜爱烹饪的学生可以和外教去西点屋做蛋糕；喜爱视觉效果的学生可以通过观看英文电影来提升自己的英语。在英孚的户外生活俱乐部，每个学生都可以找到与自己的兴趣爱好相关的活动。”

杭州英孚每周都有免费的英语体验活动，对英语有兴趣或者想学习英语的可以参加，预约电话：0571-88888058