They have a dream - Adult English learners in Yangshuo, Guilin 夢，在陽朔萌芽

Today's Yangshuo is represented by its scenery, bikes and conical straw hats. Packed with loads of tourists and backpackers, Yangshuo has thousands of tourists coming and going everyday with their cameras and souvenirs. Indeed, the lure of beautiful scenery and the relaxed atmosphere brings in not only those looking for tourist-fun but also people of different backgrounds from other parts of China, who come with a dream to improve their English to realize their own dreams.

The week I volunteered at an English college for adult at Yangshuo elapsed between teaching, or it is more like sharing, and getting myself involved in the students' lives. The college accepts volunteers through HelpExchange as well as WWOOF and volunteers are responsible for a 2-hour English Corner session on weekdays. From personal to politics, from television shows to ambitions, we talked about different things during lectures. The tuition fee here is 4,500 yuan a month, which is rather cheap, compare to first tier cities like Shanghai and Beijing where the fee is expected to be over 10,000 yuan. As for accommodation, they either stay in residential hall or rented rooms, which costs them about 700 to 800 yuan per month. The age of the students there ranges from 20 to 40, some just graduated from college or university, some quit their jobs and come here to "invest" on their career and then, hopefully, make more money for family. They come from different provinces but all share the same wish in coming to Yangshuo: learn English.

Throwing themselves into an English-speaking environment, they left home and paid the tuition fee that may be equal to 2 months' salary. And what do they get from this? Every day, they attend lectures to learn vocabulary, phonetics and linguistics. Tutors are native English speakers, mostly foreigners. It is not uncommon to have no idea what the tutor is talking about, but they regard it as listening exercises to get used to the tone of speaking English. "The tutor teaches for the first half of the lecture, and spends the other half on delivering a speech to rebuke a student for her/his laziness. Sometimes, they may utter dirty words in front of everyone." This is how the lecture is like, as described by some students. They even told me that there is one tutor who has a record of making over 20 students cry on lecture. In China, the market of adult English learning grows so fast that many private education institutions sprang up. However, quality is not guaranteed and rumours like the institutions making English insurmountable fly about but gain ground because of its profitable nature.

Indeed, their learning goes beyond the lectures. After dinner is the time for English Corner in which students can choose to participate or not. It serves as a platform for students to practice oral English with volunteers. Practice makes perfect. That's why some students go to rooftop bars at West Street at night to chat with foreigners, or invite volunteers to teach them in spare time. However, no matter how they want to immerse themselves in the world of English, they always seem out of practice. It is probably because, most of the time, they switch to Mandarin or Cantonese once they step out of classroom and are not with foreigners.

English, for them, is a stepping stone on their way to success. The road to make their dreams come true may be rough and long. Do they sometimes get lost and lose direction in this sparkling wonderland? Students usually come for 2 to 4 months. Among the students I have met, J stays here the longest. This is his ninth month studying in this English college and he still has another 3 months to go. This 23-year-old boy came from Guangdong. Having been worked in pottery trading business for 2 years after graduated from high school, J wishes mastery of English could grant him a better paying job and a prosperous future. However, he confessed that he was not making much progress, "Knowing many vocabularies and phrases doesn't mean I can put it into practice." The day before I left, he also took one week's leave to absorb what he's learnt and redefine his life direction. Studying is hard work yet their lives in Yangshuo is happy because classmates become room-mates and close friends. They study, live and play together, but J expressed that it is this enjoyable living that sometimes gets him dizzy and loses passion to learn.

The misty mountains and unpredictable weather coated Yangshuo with a sense of mystery. No one is able to grasp its beautiful and variable scenery, like no one could grasp the moments in life and seize time from slipping away. To chase your dream, you lose nothing but gain a life with sweet memories and of no regrets. Nobody knows how many of the students would, at last, achieve what they dream for, but life itself is, as well, only a dream.

沒有旅遊，没有今天塞滿背包客的陽朔；桂林陽朔的風景如仙境般，每日前來旅游，消費風景，人文的人絡繹不絕，但在來來往往的過路者中，也有来自五湖四海的芸芸學子，帶著夢想的種子前來，希望學好英語，並視之為實踐夢想的跳板。

在陽朔一所成人英語學院裏當了一星期義工，於平日傍晚的英語角跟學生用英語交流。每天兩小時的課，從個人到國家，從非誠勿擾到人生夢想，無所不談。在這裏，一個月的學費是四千五百元人民幣，比起在上海、北京等大城市的過萬元學費來說，算是便宜；或住宿舍，或租房子，一個月住宿費約七至八百元。學生多是二十到四十歲左右，有的剛從中學或大學畢業，有的工作了幾年想進修一下，也有已成家的希望說得一口流利英語能替他多掙點錢養家。學生有來自廣東、廣西，也有來自東北的，是一個夢幻般的泡泡把他們帶到這裹。

為了浸淫在一個英語的環境，他們放下工作、家庭及本來的生活，付上相等於約兩個月工資的學費，買到的又是什麼?每天學單詞、拼音及語法等。老師主要是母語為英語的外藉人士，課堂上老師所講的，縱然不是完全能聽懂，也當作聆聽練習罷了，讓自己熟習英語的節奏。那麼上課又是怎樣的情況呢？「一半的時間在教學，一半的時間在罵人，有時連學生的父母也被罵及」是學生所形容的課堂，據說有一位老師罵哭過的學生有超過二十位。成人英語教育在中國的需求愈來愈大，但這類私人教育機構質素參差，教學進度沒有保証，牟利性質亦為人垢病，被指凝造「英語很難學」的氣氛，讓學生乖乖獻上源源不絕的學費。

白天課堂的完結，並不等於一天中學習的時間已經過去；傍晚是英語角的時間，義工跟學生作自由討論，為學生提供一個練習英語會話的平台。多說多錯多改正，是學習最好的方法，因此在英語角完結後，也有不少學生到西街的天台酒吧和外國人聊天，不放過任何一個練習英語的機會;也有些學生會邀請義工當他們的私人補習老師，一有空檔便相約授課。學生們希望英語能成為他們生活的全部，但現實是他們對英語還是生疏得很，大概是因為在課堂以外的他們，多數或說普通話，或說粵語。

英語，對他們來說，是圓夢的跳板，但踏上跳板的路走得太久，會否讓人忘記初衷?學生通常在書院待上兩到四個月，我接觸過的學生中，待得最久的是九個月。二十四歲的文來自廣東佛山，打算在這裹待上一年。高中畢業後，他在陶瓷行業打滾了兩年多的時間，來陽朔是希望學好英語，有助將來的工作。他坦言，來了這麼長的時間，其實自覺英語沒有多大的進步，「單詞、短語是認識了很多，但就是不能活用。」我離開的前一天，他也向書院請了一星期假，想要把所學的東西消化一下。有時候，學英語這事情很容易從一個過程變成一個目的，而一路走來的同學，是書友、朋友，有的更是宿友，一起學習，也一起玩樂，更是交心的朋友，卻就是這種氛圍有時容易讓人沉醉其中，忘卻了本身的那份衝勁。

陽朔，偶爾蓋著一層層神秘的煙霞，變幻莫測的天氣讓人覺得撲索迷漓，然而，沒有人能捉住它的美態；生命的消逝也如是，任何把時間捉緊，停住的嘗試也註定是徒勞，那倒不如窮一生的時間做一個夢，任它是多麼遙不可及，也總算是一場美夢。