From July 14 to October of 2002, 50 of us stayed at Hasting ,a small seaside town in England, taking the teacher-training course in Embassy Language School.To most of us, the stay was a fantastic and unforgettable experience.As English teachers,it was a good opportunity to learn about English people,live a very English life and feel and touch the real English language.

　　What struck me most is the leisure life of English people .Start work or school at about 9 o'clock. Go back home at about 4 o'clock .During their weekends, they will do nothing but lie on the beach to have a sunbathe. What a happy life they are enjoying!

　　Second thing is their education. I think the students there are really enjoying their learning .You know they don't need to worry about their examinations ,their marks and the terrible discipline at school. I couldn't help having pity on our students in China. All of them are working so hard but just can't enter the universities they are looking forward to . And they find the things they are learning are so difficult. Gradually they will lose their confidence ,and they will question their own intelligence. That's really too bad.

　　Third thing is their teaching system .As in some other countries, teaching is not so an honourable job in society. Most of the young people don't like to be teachers. And the pay is not so satisfying and tempting.But their teaching life is more interesting than ours.Like students , they don't have to worry about the disgusting examinations. So the teaching method is more relaxing and interesting .They often teach something through games.A single game can last an hour or even longer. Almost everything in class must be done in groups or in pairs. They try their best to help students build their own confidence.Confidence,they think, is the most important thing ,especially small children.I couldn't agree more at this point, really. Another thing it seems that all the teachers in foreign countries have talent of performing.The gestures they use in their teaching are really fantastic. It is easy for them to arouse the student's interests. I even tried to imitate it, but I couldn't. I think it's the problem of different characteristic personalities. Chinese people are too shy to do some of the gestures.

　　Finally I will say something about the English language. Because all of us have been English teachers for several years, we had no difficulty expressing ourselves when we first arrived in Britain.But some days later, our teachers and our host families told us the English we spoke sounded like Queen's speech.That means our English was too formal, not so natural, and a bit strange.To some grammar we discussed in class, even our teachers were not so clear about it.One of us even took our textbook along with her. To believe it or not, after the teacher read it ,she said ,oh,that's the English of ten years ago. What a pity!

　　I also paid special attention to everyday English used by the teachers and my host mother. The most interesting thing was that I found how simple and accurate their English was. Compared to their English , my sentences were so long and so complicated.And whenever I spoke English, I was afraid of making mistakes and tried my best to make sure every sentence was correct ,especially in grammar. In fact ,it worked opposite and we didn't have to do that. So during my latter part in England, I made full use of every chance to practise speaking simple English and even writing in simple English.That's really good and important to middle school English teachers. I think I have learned a lot from that.

2003年四月发表于"英语周报"教师版（初中）第35期