Building an English Corner
In the opening scenes of the 1989 movie “Field of Dreams”, the lead character Ray hears a voice saying, “if you build it he will come.” The voice urged the building of a baseball diamond in Ray’s remote Iowa cornfield. Shortly afterward, Ray had a vision showing all of details of the baseball field and he plowed up his corn to begin the project. Despite many hardships and the prospect of financial loss, Ray was encouraged to complete the task with the words, “If you build it, the people will come.”
I would like to take the words from the movie and apply them to the development of an English Corner at our university. If we build an English Corner, students will come. For years, we have heard the voice of our Dean’s urging to create an atmosphere with conditions that promote English proficiency. Now we need a vision of what an English Corner should look like. Perhaps we need to root up our current English Corner to make way for the new.
Let’s look at some of the components that we need to build our English Corner.
One of the key aspects of any venue that expects to attract people is location. In retailing, it is said that the three most important things are location, location, and location. If you get the location wrong, your success is going to be limited. Let’s examine the location of two restaurants in our city. Both are located in a shopping mall. One is situated on the second floor near one of the main gates with an escalator just outside its doors while the other is located on the third floor in the middle of the mall surrounded by many restaurants. Which do you think has the better business location? A good location is essential to our English Corner as well. We must have a location that is visible, easily accessible, and on a major route of student movement. The ground floor of Building A seems to meet the location requirements nicely. It is easily accessible and students can enter and exit freely. The area is visible and students can see when activities are happening even when they are not looking for them. Also, it’s a high-traffic area and students will have many opportunities to discover and explore our English Corner.
Another component that we need to consider is marketing and advertising. In business, getting the word out about your product or service is vital. If people do not know what you have to offer, how can they be expected to buy? In our city, developers of new housing, restaurant owners, and skilled workers routinely distribute information about their interests. Advertising is critical to a successful business and also needs to be utilized more fully in the promotion of our English Corner. We should regularly distribute paper leaflets with information about the time and location. We should prepare information to be included in our University newsletters especially when we have something special going on. Our English Corner website should be updated weekly with pictures and comments from participants. Announcements should be made regularly during our campus broadcasts in both English and Chinese.
Another component is that of atmosphere and environment. Businesses that want to grow know the value of customers and strive to be inviting and friendly. People don’t return to businesses that are rude or indifferent but they frequent places where they feel welcome and at ease. Our English Corner should be a place that people want to come because they are received with a smile and kind word even if there English speaking level is very low. The environment of English Corner must have an air of “excitement.” It should be lively with people standing and moving freely between groups and individuals. News of this type of activity will spread across our university and people will want to see for themselves. Students and teachers from all departments should be invited on a regular basis to our English Corner. A student or teacher who is not interested in having an English conversation today may show an interest or have a need in the future.
Finally, the building of anything requires workers. Businesses whose workers are too few or insufficiently trained fail. Our English corner is no different. We are blessed with a sufficient number of workers as a result of compulsory attendance requirements. Our need is to develop a handbook that documents the duties of teachers and students. Each worker in the English Corner needs clear guidance about their responsibilities and how to perform them. The handbook should not be a fixed document but a work in progress which can be amended in response to changing circumstances.
The movie “Field of Dreams” concludes with a view of thousands of people loaded in hundreds of cars coming down Ray’s road to watch baseball. If we find the right location for our English corner, if we do regular advertising, if we maintain an inviting atmosphere, and if we develop a handbook detailing the duties of English Corner workers, we can have a model English Corner that universities across China will want to emulate. There will be a cost for teachers and students alike but the prospect of one day having an inviting and exuberant environment where students can practice spoken English in authentic way will make it all worthwhile.
Michael Potts
4-21-2017