张圣雅
出生年月：Jan, 2001
血型：AB
星座：Aquarius
学校:上海外国语大学附属外国语学校
指导老师：李菁藩
我的个人宣言：I am not afraid of trying new things, as exprience is the best teacher.
我眼中的英语：Beautiful language, rich culture, English is a part of my world.
我最喜欢的一句话：Tide wait for no man
我是什么时候开始学英语的：about 3 years old
我最喜欢的英语读物：Both 《New Scientist》&《Time》
我最喜欢的一本书：《Small Is Beautiful》 by E.F. Schumacher
2016年度玛雅吧2注册英语风采大赛初中B组特等奖
2016年度玛雅吧2英语风采大赛全国总决赛初中组一等奖
How I learn English
I started learning English when I was about 3 years old. At first I was so unwilling to even enter the classroom that I burst into tears every time—anyhow, I slowly got used to the environment (I guess the main reason for my unwillingness is my shyness), thanks to the very compelling way of teaching of my first ever teacher of the English language—to be precise—my earliest mentor in linguistics. I’m not exaggerating, but our only homework was simply to watch movies.
Learning through watching movies sounds kind of unrealistic. This is something that must be agreed upon, since people all tend to focus more on the plot than on the language; the fact is that we didn''''t learn just by watching the movie. We talked about everything related to the film, the plot, the characters, the actors, the director, the anecdotes among the cast etc. Sometimes we wrote short retell of the film’s most fascinating part, or fanfics of our favourite characters. These are all ways to learn English…The truth is, I never actually felt that I was learning; it feels like I just absorbed what I heard and saw without knowing it.
When I got older and went to elementary school, I started reading. I wouldn’t call reading picture books real ‘reading’, because you can completely understand what the content is about by simply looking at the pictures, which I have been doing ever since the start of my kindergarten years. What I would call ‘reading’ is, intrinsically, the comprehension of words—the superficial, which eventually leads you to something more profound: the character’s feelings. I learnt that the meticulous use of words is what all prominent novelist would have in their pieces. We use the term ‘smirk’ instead of ‘smile’ to describe how a conceited person would express his/her sarcasm; we say wild animals ‘roam’ freely on the grassland not ‘run’ freely on the grassland; we do this because it makes the subject more vivid, as words have their own tones, and using words with the right tone makes it easier for readers to comprehend.
After I entered middle school, I started debating. At first I thought everything in debate should be planned out with every speech written—that is not true. Debate actually requires you to act spontaneously to your opponents’ arguments on the basis of your research. That means I need to elaborate my bullet-point sketches into a 4-minute speech. Initially, I thought it was going to pose a great challenge, but as long as I get my research, my logic and my language skill in place, debate will never be a fearsome activity. I received a lot from the tournaments I have been to, the improvement of my language skills is just a part of that.
And I am so fortunate that I had/have so many great teachers in Fushan Primary school and SFLS, who are really important to me along my road, I am grateful for them.
What I have experienced at Star of Outlook
I am deeply fascinated by the performances delivered by other contestants. They must have spent great effort in showing us the best of theirs.
What have I experienced at this competition? My answer would be perseverance. I believe so because I feel what perseverance has done to me during my preparation for the competition.
家长感言
小孩子如果对一件事感兴趣，想让她忘记都难。圣雅对英语的兴趣始于幼儿园里每天 10分钟的英语外教课。虽然学到的东西也许并不多，但却让她对英语的兴趣扎下了根。
福山小学的英语特色教育和热心尽职的老师，上外附中宽松的学习和亦师亦友语外语老师，以及有很多练习和展示的机会，所有这些让雅的进步进入了快车道。雅的进步也得益于有了“玛雅吧2”这个难得的学习和展示英语能力的平台，非常感谢循循善诱的顾老师，陈老师，用心负责的小鱼老师给予的鼓励和支持！
从最初的睡前听故事到后来喜欢看HBO的电影，CNN的新闻，雅的听力不断进步。英文原版书和杂志的阅读为她拓宽了视野，提高了阅读能力，《知更鸟》《Alchemist》，TIMES和The Economist都是她的最爱。当初看完电影后选一些精彩的情节详细描述是她最初写作能力的培养，由此也对电影Transformer念念不忘。
现在圣雅已经初三了，从初二开始她爱上了英语辩论，每次辩论赛之前的准备阶段圣雅都会自己动手搜集各种可靠的相关资料，并进行大量的阅读和分析以形 成自己的观点，然后写出调理清楚的辩论稿，并且在一场场比赛中不断修改完善。这个过程大幅提高了她的阅读理解能力，同时也锻炼了她的表达力，演讲能力和说服别人的能力以及批判性思维的能力。她有自己的想法了，有了探索和质疑的习惯。这也使她在英语方面趋于游刃有余，她也更加自信了！
