Chapter 501: Zhai Yaohui Had a Change of OpinionTranslator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
“h.e.l.lo, Yang Lin, nice to meet you.” Qiao Nan looked at the soldier with an encouraging look in her eyes. The soldiers learned how to say ‘nice to meet you’ in English. “Since I said the greetings first, when you return the greetings and say that you are very happy to see me as well, you have to add a ‘too’ at the end of the sentence. Alright, this is how foreigners introduce and greet each other when they meet. All of you are doing very well. Now you know how to make a self-introduction in English.”
Everyone was stunned. English was as simple as this. Was this a self-introduction?
“Alright, now let’s say our greetings to each other. You should say h.e.l.lo and introduce yourself. Let’s start.”
English was something new to the soldiers. In general, people would be naturally curious and interested in new things. Besides, it was not very difficult to converse in simple sentences, and it sounded quite easy to learn. They did not need to practice with other teachers or feel burdened to have to practice it with their comrades whom they trained with every day. In just five minutes’ time, everyone could speak fluently using the two simple sentences that they learned.
“Very good.” After getting into the momentum, Qiao Nan became more and more relaxed. She continued to ask the soldier whom she taught just now. “Do you still remember how I addressed you just now?”
The soldier who got the answer correctly just now was confident. He tried to say the word in English, “Brother?”
“Yes, that’s it. Make a guess, what does it mean?”
The soldier frowned. “Elder brother?”
“You are very smart. All your guesses are correct!” Qiao Nan encouraged the soldier, boosting his confidence. “Please have a seat. I used another word, ‘sister’, as well. Can anyone who is my ‘sister’ stand up please?”
A female soldier tried to make the connection between the sentence Qiao Nan said previously and the word that she mentioned just now. She mustered her courage and stood up.
“Yes, you are my sister. Let’s p.r.o.nounce the word ‘sister’ together.”
“Sister.”
“Great! Everyone, let’s try to p.r.o.nounce ‘brother’ and ‘sister’ together. Don’t be shy. There are so many of us here. n.o.body can tell what the others are saying, so you can go ahead to practice them loudly.”
“Look at you…” Lin Yuankang, who watched his disciple from the side, was overjoyed. “She seemed to be nervous just now, but as soon as she started the cla.s.s, she looks like a teacher. Nonetheless, is the progress too fast?”
Qiao Nan did not know what was going through Lin Yuankang’s mind. She went according to her own plan and speed, and proceeded to use the same method to teach them the way to address their family members. “Although I have never been a teacher, I believe that all of you were good students in the past, and will remain so from now on. It is not so difficult to be a teacher, and it’s quite fun to teach. This is only the first lesson, but all of you have learned so much today. By tomorrow, all of you will be able to address your extended family in English. In two days’ time, you will be able to address all of your family members and relatives in English.”
“Hahaha…”
Qiao Nan was humorous and her lesson was interesting and fun. Many of the soldiers in the army liked her lesson. They enjoyed the fun and relaxed learning environment.
In particular, Qiao Nan encouraged them constantly, giving them the confidence to learn English. They were not as uneasy as before. They no longer felt that given their ability, learning English was an impossible task.
People were more accepting and willing to learn things that were easy to pick up as they would be able to make huge improvements. Even if they were not totally accepting of English, at the very least, they were not as against it as before.
The purpose of Qiao Nan’s cla.s.s was simple, and that was to help the soldiers be rid of their fear of English.
The atmosphere and att.i.tude toward learning were very important and crucial.
“Okay, that’s all for today. I hope everyone can use what we have learned today in your daily life. You should have the chance to address each other as ‘brother’, ‘sister’, ‘uncle’, ‘auntie’, and even ‘grandma’ and ‘grandpa’.” She believed that the people in the army liked to give each other nicknames.
After Qiao Nan said that cla.s.s was over, all of the soldiers gave her a bow respectfully and left.
Zhai Yaohui, who had been sitting in the front row and was silent all the while, knitted his eyebrows. Qiao Nan was quite daring to stand in that place and give lessons in front of so many people. The place that Qiao Nan stood at was reserved for the leaders.
What surprised Zhai Yaohui the most was that Qiao Nan, who was so young, was unexpectedly bold and daring. She had no stage fright and she acted with grace and courage.
Although it was not suitable to use ‘veteran’ to describe Qiao Nan, her performance today was simply stunning.
Zhai Yaohui was not concerned about anything else but how Qiao Nan conducted her cla.s.s just now. She commanded the attention of all the soldiers and was able to control the pace of her lesson as well as creating a good learning environment for the soldiers. This was what Zhai Yaohui was most concerned about.
For certain skills, once you had mastered them, you would master a hundred.
In the face of such a big occasion, and in front of influential and respected people, Qiao Nan did not have stage fright and was able to rule the stage. It showed that in other major occasions, Qiao Nan also had the potential and possibility to do so amazingly.
Given the Zhai family’s status, a lot was expected of them and they were required to attend many important occasions.
As the daughter-in-law of the Zhai family, if one did not have such ability, she would have failed the first requirement and would be crossed out from the list of potential daughters-in-law.
Back then, when Zhai Yaohui married Miao Jing, he was not the chief yet.
Zhai Yaohui worked his way to the position of the chief of the army through hard work and constant learning and improving. In this way, even though Miao Jing was not the perfect candidate back then, there was time and s.p.a.ce for Zhai Yaohui to help Miao Jing along as she learned and improved, till they were on par with each other.
Zhai Yaohui was not as optimistic as Zhai Sheng to feel that love and marriage was a simple affair between two parties.
What he asked for from the future daughter-in-law of the Zhai family was not that she must come from an influential family. However, once married to the family, the people she would meet and the events that she would have to attend were completely different from what an average daughter-in-law would face.
Given the Zhai family’s situation, whoever married Zhai Sheng would not be able to have the time to learn and improve like what Miao Jing did back then.
Zhai Sheng’s situation was different from that of his father. Whoever he married had to have the ability right from the start.
In short, Zhai Yaohui valued the effort that his future daughter-in-law put in. He did not care about their family background.
However, one’s family background usually indicated one’s ability.