The biggest room in the world is the room for improvement.
-German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt
I have learned that success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome while trying to succeed.
–Booker T. Washington – born in Virginia as a slave and later the first black person to be a guest in the White House
Each 9 weeks, the DreyerCoaching.com teacher team nominates one student to win the “Most Improved” Award. Like the name says, this award is not for the student with the best English overall. It is for the student who shows the most improvement over the 9 week period.
每隔9周，DreyerCoaching.com老师团队会提名一名学生获得“进步最快”奖。顾名思义，该奖项并非针对总体英语水平最好的学生。这是针对在9周内表现出最大进步的学生。
To celebrate success and improvement, we created the DreyerCoaching.com Most Improved Award (最佳进步奖) for the first quarter of the 2018-2019 school year, to help also celebrate our 10th anniversary online.
2018-2019 1st 9 weeks
The FIRST winner of this new award, in November 2018, is Bob Liu, from beautiful Hangzhou, China. (Photographed above with Scott Dreyer in Nanjing, China, July 2018).
Why did Bob win this award?
His DreyerCoaching.com teacher Mrs. McKinney reports that Bob has made GREAT progress since she began working with him, and Bob attends almost EVERY Friendly Free Friday class he can. Bob knows that learning a foreign language is a long-term process. On top of that, when my wife and I were in Nanjing in June 2018, Bob and his mother traveled two hours by train from their home to Nanjing, just to meet us in person. Wow! What commitment! Lastly, Bob is curious and likes to ask questions, and always has a GREAT attitude.
So, for all these reasons and more, Bob is our FIRST winner of the Most Improved Award. Congratulations, Bob!
2018-2019 2nd 9 weeks
The winner of the “Most Improved” Award for the second 9 weeks is Cici Liu, of Wuhan, China.
Over the past year or so, two things about Cici have made her stand out in my mind. First, she takes initiative to learn. At DreyerCoaching.com, we seldom ask our students to memorize passages, but several times her teacher, Mr. Woodson, told me that Cici had volunteered to memorize and then recite passages from her Reading 1 book about the US states like Vermont. He was so impressed, he would record her recitations and email them to me to watch. Second, once she learned the word “mayor” in English and when she realized the Chinese meaning, she told her teacher, “I want to be the mayor of Wuhan some day.” When I met with her for her bonus class the other day to celebrate her winning this award, I asked her why she wanted to be mayor of Wuhan. She told me in English, “So Wuhan can be number one.” (Wuhan, capital of Hubei Province, sits alongside the mighty Yangtze River and is home to more than 10.6 million people. That means, Cici’s CITY has more people than the entire US states of VIRGINIA and WEST VIRGINIA combined!
When I told our teacher team that we have a new “Most Improved” Award, Mr. Woodson told me he wanted Cici to get it for the next 9 weeks. Below is his glowing assessment.
“I’ve been having 1 on 1 English lessons once a week with Cici Liu since July of 2016, and have seen remarkable improvement in her English reading, listening, and speaking skills over this two and a half year period. She is a highly motivated student who often scores at the top of her Wu Han school class in Chinese and math. This motivation clearly carries over into her online English class. Several times last year, Cici would recite from memory the text from her previous reading lesson, and she did so from her own motivation; this wasn’t something I asked her to do at all. Her responsibility for her own learning is also shown when she regularly asks questions about vocabulary or concepts in a lesson that she doesn’t understand. She frequently tells me, in English, about her school successes and interesting things she’s done with her family.
Cici has steadily progressed from beginning vocabulary such as clock time, ordinal numbers, simple present tense verbs, classroom objects, etc. to the level 2 reading book, and she’s almost finished with the level 2 spelling book. Frequent entries in my lesson log for her go like, “Great lesson; good lesson; lots of improvement.”
2018-2019 3rd 9 Weeks
For the spring of 2019, this award goes to Thomas Lee in Hsinchu, Taiwan! Thomas’ teachers, Mrs. McKinney and Mr Woodson, are impressed with Thomas’ consistency and growth. Thomas attended Chinese-language schools for most of his life, then in middle school switched to a new, international school that uses English as the language of instruction. At first, Thomas took ESL classes at his new school, but his English has progressed so quickly, he has finished those ESL classes and is now “mainstreamed” with all his classmates in normal-track classes. Thomas has both excellent attendance and punctuality, and always shows a great attitude. He has taken writing, SAT/vocabulary, and 1 on 1 classes with DreyerCoaching to improve his overall skills, and it is showing. Thomas is not only improving language-wise, but he is also improving physically, with a height of some 190 cm, and he has yet to enter grade 10! No wonder he loves to play basketball! Congratulations, Thomas!
2019-2020 1st 9 weeks
2019-2020 2nd 9 weeks
The Most Improved Award this 2nd 9 weeks goes to Perry Feng, from Taoyuan, Taiwan. Perry’s parents approached me in the summer of 2019, so he could improve his English. They said they were thinking about letting Perry attend high school in the USA some day, and they knew he needed to learn more English. He joined his first DreyerCoaching.com class with Mrs. Rosenbaum in August 2019, so he could improve his skills in a 1 on 1 class. Perry was so nervous that first day, his older sister had to sit with him to help explain and translate. However, he quickly caught on and was able to attend class by himself. A few weeks later, in September, he also joined a twice a week reading/vocabulary class with Mrs. McKinney and a twice a week conversation class with Mr. Woodson and Ms. Holmes. His English has improved so much, that when his family came to visit us in Roanoke Virginia in January 2020, he was able to speak freely with people in English. He even spent the day visiting a high school here that he wants to attend and was able to easily pass the oral English interview with the principal on his first try! When I asked his father what he thought about how DreyerCoaching.com had helped his son, he said (in Chinese), “At first [in August] he was afraid to speak, but now he’s not afraid to speak. That is really good.” Congratulations, Perry, and we hope to see you living and studying here in Virginia soon!
This is Perry’s story, which you can also read on our Testimonials Page:
剛開始, 英文,對我而言, 是種恐懼,我不想去學習, 我不想去面對,不太想面對,更不用提去國外讀書了,當時的我對語言這方面非常不感興趣且排斥.但後來接觸了以後, 發現自己對英文已不再是陌生討厭,反而變得有興趣了, 英文现在對我來說是種喜悅.三年前剛升國一的我, 英文成績不是很理想,而在偶然的機會下, 與姐姐一同前往加拿大遊學一個月,剛開始的時候, 都不敢跟外國人講話,很羨慕姐姐不害怕,能跟外國人互動,談天说笑,就像在台灣一樣地買東西,分享趣事, 幾天過後我開始嘗試跟外國人講話, 發現和他們說話並不是想像中的那麼恐怖,他們會去尊重你的英文, 畢竟,英文不是我的母語.回到台灣後, 就想開始增進我的英語能力,很幸運能遇到Dreyer 老師這樣的英文教学團隊,使我的英文能力大大提升,最顯著的地方是, 從一開始連開口都不敢說話的我,現在已能和外國人面對面聊天, 不會害怕.並且也上了 conversation class, reading class和 1 on 1 class,而在會考拿到A的好成績. 我相信觉得自己英文不是很好但有興趣並想改變提升英语能力的人, 只要透過Dreyer老師的英文團隊的協助, 一定能幫助您完成夢想.
以上是我的感想,謝謝!
At first, I was scared of English. I didn’t want to study it. I didn’t want to face it, let alone study abroad. I was not interested in that language at that time, and even found it repulsive. But after spending more time with English, I have found it is no longer something I disliked. Instead, I have become interested in it. English has become a joy to me. Just three years ago, when I went into seventh grade, my English grades in school were not very satisfactory. I then had a chance to go to Canada for a month with my older sister. When we first arrived, I was afraid to talk to any of the foreigners. I admired my sister for not being afraid and being able to talk with those foreign people. She was able to interact, talk, and laugh with the people we met, just like a person would do while shopping in Taiwan and making small talk. After a few days in Canada, I started to try to talk with the foreigners and found that talking with them was not as terrible as I had thought. They respected my English skills. After all, English is not my mother tongue. After returning to Taiwan, I wanted to start improving my English ability. I was fortunate to meet Mr. Dreyer’s English teaching team, which greatly improved my English ability. The most remarkable thing is that when I began their classes, I was afraid to open my mouth to speak English, but now I can chat face-to-face with foreigners without fear. I have taken their conversation class, reading class, and a 1 on 1 class, and I recently got an A on my 9th grade final exams in school. I believe that my English is still not yet great, but for those people who are interested and want to improve their English skills, as long as they are assisted by Mr. Dreyer’s English team, they will definitely be able to achieve their dreams.
These are my thoughts, thank you!
Wishing you all the best,
Perry, Grade 9 student, Taoyuan, Taiwan
2019-2020 3rd 9 weeks
The most improved award this 9 weeks goes to Tammy Gao in Changde City, Hunan Province, China. Tammy attends a 1 on 1 class with DreyerCoaching Team-Teacher Mrs. Rosenbaum on Saturday nights. This is what Mrs. Rosenbaum said about why Tammy wins this award:
Tammy has shown much improvement this year. Her reading and pronunciation have steadily improved thanks to her work and she is doing very well. She shows substantial improvement in her speaking and understanding working with English and her outlook is always positive. She has put in much effort and it is noticeably paying off.
2019-2020 4th 9 weeks
The Most Improved Award for the last 9 weeks of the historic, challenging 2019-2020 school year goes to Peter Yuan in Beijing, China. Peter attends a 1 on 1 class on Friday nights with his teacher DreyerCoaching Team Teacher Mr. Woodson. Please note, Peter is only 7 years old!
This is what his mother says about Peter and another year with DreyerCoaching:
Mr. Woodson ：I am glad that you can continue to help Peter in his English study. This year, I have found Peter likes using English words or simple sentences as he chats with others. I am very happy to see that, and I suppose it can be because of the help he receives by getting the very best in English language instruction.Thank you for your and Mr. Dreyer’s help !他的母亲在上课时和彼得坐在一起，并帮助了他。她告诉彼得的老师伍德森老师：
伍德森老师：
我很高兴您可以继续帮助彼得进行英语学习。今年，我发现Peter在与他人聊天时喜欢使用英语单词或简单的句子。 我很高兴看到这一点， 并且我想这可能是因为他获得了最好的英语教学而得了帮助。
谢谢您和德雷尔老师的帮助！
Peter is always on time & prepared for his weekly lesson, and participates eagerly during the entire 50 minutes. He’s made continual progress in vocabulary and spelling, and is now on page 29 of the second grade Spelling book, even though he’s only 7 years old. Peter regularly listens to recordings of his spelling lessons and models the speech in his own recordings, which are fluent and accurate in pronunciation. He can use English to name fractions and knows the terms numerator and denominator. He can also state inequalities using “greater than, less than” terminology, and knows how to use the terms, “is equal to & equals”. He’s able to talk with me about what he did during the day prior to our evening lesson, and sometimes shows me one of his toys or something he’s made.It’s a joy to teach such a capable and motivated student.
这是伍德森老师对他为什么选择彼得赢得该奖项的解释：
彼得总是准时上课，为每周的课做准备，
并在整整50分钟内热切地参与。尽管他只有7岁， 但他在词汇和拼写方面取得了不断的进步， 现在在上二年级拼写书籍的第29页上。 彼得经常听他拼写课的录音，并在自己的录音中对语音进行建模， 录音流畅,准确。他可以使用英语命名分数，并且知道分子和分母。 他还可以使用“大于，小于”术语来陈述不平等， 并且知道如何使用术语“等于＆相等”。 他可以和我谈谈他上课前一天在做什么， 有时还可以向我展示他的玩具之一或他制作的东西。
教导这样一个聪明而积极进取的学生是一件很高兴的事情。
2020-2021 1st 9 weeks
“Eleanor has shown incredible growth over the longer period of time. She has gone from zero to now initiating conversation.”
2020-2021 3rd 9 weeks
Thanksgiving, a holiday about gratitude and rejoicing, has long been celebrated by most Americans on the fourth Thursday of November for more than a century and a half. However, Thanksgiving was in fact not celebrated on the same day throughout the whole nation before Lincoln delivered this proclamation. Lincoln, through using a plethora of rhetorical techniques, builds his authority on his argument that the celebration of Thanksgiving should occur on the same day on every inch of American soil to unite the fragmented nation.
Throughout the whole proclamation, Lincoln expressively alludes to God to bring all the audience, no matter from North or South, under the same cause: religion. In a culture heavily influenced by Christianity, most, if not all, believed in God, and this makes Lincoln’s biblical allusions exceptionally efficacious. Not only does the constant mention of God strengthen the connection between the audience and Lincoln, but it also further establishes a more positive bond between the opponents during such chaotic wartime. These enemies, for once, shared the same belief and work toward God’s way of life. The effects of Lincoln’s clever allusion to the “beneficent Father” do not stop there, however. After uniting the readers, Lincoln continues to describe the fatherly love God has for all people. Just as he stated, despite the war raging over the frontiers, the nation has continued to enlarge its land through conquest, to become wealthier through the abundance of precious metal, and to increase in prosperity, but “no human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy.” This brings a sense of guilt onto the audience as they participate in the destruction of the nation, ignoring God’s unconditional love and efforts in bringing peace to the nation.
To further his argument advocating for the celebration of the Thanksgiving holiday on one day nationwide, Lincoln carefully utilizes specific diction to reinforce his point. First of all, he starts his speech by illustrating the ending days of the year with “fruitful fields” and “healthful sky.” By starting this way, he directs his audience toward a positive and cheerful mood. As people are more willing to comply with demands when in a delightful mood, Lincoln ingeniously asserts his argument through uplifting tone and diction. Moreover, this pleasant description of the ending days of the year creates a strong juxtaposition with a time of disorder, of war. As the nation stands amidst an atmosphere of fear and division, a moment of harmony or tranquility becomes increasingly desired by all. He then states that the nation’s prosperity should be “solemnly, reverently, and gratefully” acknowledge as a single, unified voice of all American people. The three words “solemnly,” “reverently,” and “ gratefully” create a strong sense of gratitude and respect, which are the essence of the Thanksgiving holiday.
Last of all, Lincoln directly calls for a change. He invites all American people in every state, in foreign lands, and at sea to adopt the fourth Thursday of November as the day of Thanksgiving, for it is “a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens.” Going beyond just “inviting” every single American citizen to embrace that date as the official Thanksgiving, Lincoln not only expresses the country’s penitence for its “perverseness and disobedience” to God but also an appreciation for His “tender care” for all of those whom the war impacted: the widows, orphans, mourners, or sufferers. By relating these victims of society, Lincoln tugs at his audiences’ heartstrings and exhorts them to put effort into healing these people along with the nation. In his concluding sentence, he earnestly begs for divine interposition to restore the nation and heal the wounds the war had caused. Finally, he connects back to the idea of unity and harmony in which he states that the nation should soon be consistent with the “Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity, and Union.”
In a time when the United States is fractured and turbulent, Lincoln seeks a way to reunify all the Americans: standardizing the date of Thanksgiving. Through the use of biblical allusions, eloquent diction, and direct call to action, he effectively delivers his argument about the importance of sharing gratitude in the same moment and fostering harmony among all.
*****
Keep in mind, not only is Ian’s thinking and writing in this piece at a highly developed level, this is a young man who has spent his entire life living in Chinese-language environments: Mainland China or Taiwan.
Granted, Ian has attended bilingual or English-language schools all along. Still, the fact that he has lived his whole life till now in East Asia yet can write English on such a high level I find remarkable.
You can read the blog containing Lincoln’s Proclamation and the “literary analysis” essays by Ian and two of his outstanding classmates here.
2020-2021 4th 9 weeks
Sarah has been a faithful student in her DreyerCoaching classes for the past 2 academic years. She began with the grade 1 Spelling & Reading books, and is now in the challenging stories and articles of Reading book 2 and quite close to completing Spelling book 2. She is always punctual, participates well, and consistently sends back her reading practice on WeChat. Sarah also tells me about what she’s doing in school and talks about family activities and outings. In our class today, she taught me the Chinese word for “wasp or hornet”, which is different from the word for “honeybee”. I’m encouraged by how much Sarah has improved in her pronunciation and in her retention of the meanings of vocabulary words we’ve studied and practiced.
*****
Sarah always shows a great attitude in class. When she first joined DreyerCoaching, she attended a class for two, along with a friend of hers. After a while, however, her friend had to stop the classes. Despite that, Sarah and her mother persisted and now Sarah attends 1 on 1 classes twice a week. That goes to show, learning a new language is a long-term commitment that requires focus and time. Learning a new language also requires the environment to learn, and having class twice a week gives her that necessary time and exposure.
Sarah is very responsible to listen to the weekly recordings that Mr. Woodson makes for her. and then she reads them back to us for practice. After we hear her recordings, we give her feedback on what words need more work, and Sarah always repeats those parts until she gets them just right. All that work helps her with her reading comprehension, listening, and pronunciation.
When we listen to Sarah read the passages from her reading book, we can understand about 100% of what she is saying. That is a great accomplishment, especially for a student so young! We are excited to think how great her English will be as she stays with DreyerCoaching all through middle school and high school!
2021-2022 2nd 9 weeks
，這是媽媽最想看到的畫面啊. 我很高興Dora學英文是喜歡也很願意開口說英文，我想老師跟她有很好的互動，讓她的英文進步得更快。謝謝Uncle和Teacher的用心
Since 2010, based in the friendly USA State of Virginia, DreyerCoaching.com has been providing customized, high-quality, real-time language instruction via the internet to a global audience in their home, school, or office. Think how comfortable, confident and successful you or your child will feel, receiving personalized guidance from college-educated teachers who are native speakers and have bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees plus decades of teaching experience. Whether you are looking for help with the ABCs or the SATs, or college admissions to conversational English to business writing, we serve all ages and levels to help our students make dreams come true. Discover the Dreyer Difference. Take the first step and visit DreyerCoaching.com, send Scott an email, or schedule a free consultation to get started.
自 2010 年以来，DreyerCoaching.com 总部位于友好的美国弗吉尼亚州，一直通过互联网向全球观众在家中、学校或办公室提供有制度的、高质量的实时语言教学。 想想您或您的孩子会感到多么自在、自信和成功，从受过大学教育的教师那里获得个别的指导，这些教师都是以英语为母语，拥有学士、硕士和博士学位，以及数十年的教学经验的教师。 无论是从 英语ABC的基础课程 或 SAT 的帮助，就读美国高中，大学入学申请，还是从会话英语到商务写作，我们都为所有年龄和水平的学生提供服务，帮助我们的学生实现梦想。 发觉 Dreyer 的不同之处。 迈出第一步，游览 DreyerCoaching.com网站，向 Scott 发送电子邮件，可开始安排一个免费咨询。
