EBE Chapter 125 Shu Yun's Little Classroom Begins
Chapter 125 Shu Yun's Little Classroom Begins
Kang Xianqin's words broke the quiet office atmosphere, "Really? And a foreigner?"
In the 1970s, China's diplomacy underwent new changes in the international situation. The visits to China by European and American leaders were a signal of breaking the ice, and foreign companies began to invest in China one after another. This foreign film crew was no exception. Before this, foreigners only existed in books and newspapers, and no one had ever seen a single hair of them. Therefore, everyone was very excited when they heard the news, as they could finally see real people.
"I wonder if they are really like the ones described in the books—blonde hair, blue eyes, and white skin? Are they that different from us?"
Some people imagined it and shuddered, saying, "I feel like this is really weird."
"Who said that? Foreigners are all good-looking, just like the dolls in the shop windows of big cities. How could they not be good-looking?"
Everyone was very enthusiastic about the foreigners, but after discussing it for a long time, they still couldn't reach a decision. They planned to sneak over to see them when they arrived, thinking, "Who knows? Maybe they'll come to interview us?"
"No way, I don't even know a few words of English!"
Soon, news of the film crew's arrival reached the family compound, and many people heard about it and expressed their curiosity.
Shu Yun and Tian Xiufen were walking to the service store together when they ran into Shi Yan. The three of them chatted and laughed all the way to the service store. They needed to buy oil, salt, soy sauce and vinegar for their family.
Li Jianqing was knitting idly when he saw them coming over. He quickly stood up and greeted them, "Look, what do you want to buy?"
After buying their things, the group didn't leave immediately. The winter sun felt especially warm on them. Li Jianqing moved a few stools to the sunlit spot by the door. "Sit down. We haven't talked in a long time. I'm so bored minding the shop all by myself."
It was right after the Lunar New Year, and everyone had returned to their parents' homes. They had so much to talk about, some complaining about their sister-in-law, others about their husbands' extended family. Suddenly, Shi Yan mentioned, "Hey, have you all heard? A film crew is coming to our unit. I heard it's the British."
Tian Xiufen: "I've heard about it for a while now. My husband has been talking about it at home for a long time. I heard that the army is now selecting people who speak good English so that they can accompany the troops."
Li Jianqing: "Oh, my wife also said that she knows a little English and was selected. She's been practicing her foreign language at home every day lately, which gives me a headache. Sometimes I really want to slap her in the face. It's so annoying."
Shi Yan became interested. "Political Commissar Zhao is an intellectual, he'll definitely be able to do it."
Li Jianqing waved her hand, showing no respect for her husband in front of outsiders, "What do you mean 'okay'? If it's Russian, it might be passable, but English? Think again. Even I, who can't understand anything, find his speech stuttering. If we actually go to foreigners, wouldn't that make us a laughingstock?"
Tian Xiufen was a little worried: "Does our unit still have anyone who can speak English? We don't want to embarrass ourselves later."
Li Jianqing said, "Yes, there is, but he went on a mission a few days ago and won't be back for a while. We can't just call him back for this interview."
Shu Yun interjected, "There's no need to worry. After all, they are foreigners coming to our country. They should be the ones worried about the language barrier. They should bring translators with them."
Everyone nodded in agreement.
The military attaches great importance to this opportunity to showcase China's style to the world. This is a great opportunity to demonstrate China's strength and tell China's story, and it must not be wasted. Therefore, the military has been conducting foreign language training from top to bottom recently. After dinner, they have to study foreign languages again. They don't need to be able to have fluent conversations, but at least they can understand a few sentences.
Gu Jun was also among the trainees. In the past few days, Shu Yun had watched him come home late at night and sit at his desk, writing English letters seriously. He would occasionally utter a few English words. From his furrowed brows and serious expression, it was clear that he was studying very diligently and had a very positive attitude. It was just that his efficiency was a bit low. Shu Yun had seen him studying the 26 letters abcd for three days already. Recently, he had been learning the pronunciation.
"Good morning, Mom." Gu Jun read it aloud in a low voice, and Shu Yun, who was listening by the bed, found it amusing.
Gu Jun also seemed insecure, and unusually, he spoke very softly. Fortunately, Shu Yun had sharp ears and heard him clearly. She flipped through the comic book and looked at it with her eyebrows curved, as if there was something funny in the picture.
Gu Jun glanced at her sideways with a hint of suspicion. "What are you laughing at?"
Shu Yun straightened her expression and said, "What can I be laughing at? The plot is just too funny."
How funny could a comic book about the Three Kingdoms be? Gu Jun took his homework and prepared to go to the yard to read it.
As I entered the courtyard, I heard Battalion Commander Gao's signature loud voice coming from next door, "Gu, Gu's Mao."
Gu's hair? Are you sure it's not Gu De Mao Ning? Gu Jun was puzzled; he was somewhat unsure.
Just then, the loud, arrogant laughter of a child and a woman came from next door. "Hahaha, Lao Gao (Dad), your reading is so funny!"
Gu Jun consciously kept his mouth shut and sat back down at his desk. Shu Yun poured him a cup of hot tea. "Have some water to soothe your throat first."
Gu Jun: "Thank you."
Shu Yun glanced at Gu Jun's notebook, where each word was marked with a Chinese character that roughly pronounced the same character. "How about it, do you want me to teach you?" Shu Yun asked.
"Hmm?" Gu Jun looked up, and Shu Yun raised an eyebrow. "What? Don't you trust me? I studied at university for several years, and my parents are both university professors. English isn't a problem for me."
Gu Jun pointed to the words in the notebook and read them aloud.
Shu Yun: "Good morning"
"How about it?"
Gu Jun touched his lips silently. Anyway, they read it more fluently and smoothly than him, and even more standardly than the teacher who taught them.
The teachers in the military were temporarily transferred from nearby schools. Some of them had decent English skills, but only in written English. When it came to spoken English, they either stuttered or had accents. It just goes to show that learning a foreign language requires context.
Gu Jun immediately pulled up a chair for Shu Yun to sit down, "Come on, teach me."
Shu Yun looked into their courses and found that they started by teaching how to pronounce words directly without teaching phonetics. Even if you learned the word, you still wouldn't be able to pronounce unfamiliar words. With phonetics, you could generally pronounce them, and once you could pronounce them, you would naturally be able to spell them correctly.
With that in mind, Shu Yun marked out the most commonly used phonetic symbols. She first helped Gu Jun recognize them, and then marked the phonetic symbols of the words they learned in class, so that Gu Jun could learn how to pronounce them with the help of the phonetic symbols.
Gu Jun has made rapid progress these past few days. After finishing his classes at the military base, he still gets extra tutoring at home.