President - KEEP IT UP

KEEP IT UP,XIE LEI

Chinese student fitting in well

Six months ago Xie Lei said goodbye to her family and friends in China and boarded a plane for London. It was the first time she had ever left her motherland. “After getting my visa I was very excited because I had dreamed of this day for so long. But I was also very nervous as I didn’t know what to expect,” Xie Lei told me when I saw her waiting in a queue at the student cafeteria between lectures.

Xie Lei, who is 21 years old, has come to our university to study for a business qualification. She is halfway through the preparation year, which most foreign students complete before applying for a degree course. Xie Lei highly recommends it. “The preparation course is most beneficial,” she said. “Studying here is quite different from studying in China, so you need some preparation first.”

“It’s not just study that’s difficult. You have to get used to a whole new way of life, which can take up all your concentration in the beginning,” explained Xie Lei, who had lived all her life in the same city in China. She told me that she had had to learn almost everything again. “Sometimes I felt like a child,” she said. “I had to learn how to use the phone, how to pay bus fare, and how to ask a shopkeeper for things I didn’t know the English for. When I got lost and had to ask a passer-by for directions, I didn’t always understand. They don’t talk like they do on our listening tapes,” she said, laughing.

Xie Lei lives with a host family who give her lots of good advice. Although some foreign students live in student accommodation or apartments, some choose to board with Enghlish families. Living with host families, in which there may be other college students, gives her the chance to learn more about the new culture. “When I hear an idiom that I don’t understand, I can ask my host family for help,” explains Xie Lei. “Also, when I miss my family, it’s a great comfort to have a substitute family to be with.”

Xie Lei’s preparation course is helping her to get used to the academic requirements of a Western university. “I remember the first essay I did for my tutor,” she told me. “I found an article on the Internet that seemed to have exactly the information I needed. So I made a summary of the article, revised my draft and handed the essay in. I thought I would get a really good mark but I got an E. I was numb with shock! So l went to my tutor to ask the reason for his revision. First of all, he told me, I couldn’t write what other people had said without acknowledging them. Besides, as far as he was concerned, what other people thought was not the most important thing. He wanted to know what I thought, which confused me because I thought that the author of the article knew far more than I did. My tutor explained that I should read lots of different texts that contain different opinions and analyse whatI read. Then, in my essay, I should give my own opinion and explain it by referring to other authors. Finally he even encouraged me to contradict the authors I’d read! At first I lacked confidence, but now I’m beginning to get the idea and my marks have improved. More importantly, I am now a more autonomous learner.”

Xie Lei told me that she feels much more at home in England now, and what had seemed very strange before now appears quite normal. “I’ve just got one more thing to achieve. I have been so occupied with work that I haven’t had time for social activities. I think it’s important to have a balance between study and a social life, so I’m going to join a few clubs. Hopefully I’ll make some new friends.”

We will follow Xie Lei’s progress in later editions of this newspaper but for now, we wish Xie Lei all the best in her new enterprise. She deserves to succeed.