Image of Student

When Dr. Mason tells a story, she does not just tell a story, but she also tells the story with drawings and explanations of the characters, scenes and events. The content of the story comes into me through my eyes, ears and heart. I can feel the rhythm of English and see the flow of the story in my head like a movie. I have noticed that I now understand more smoothly when I hear a story in class than I first started last year. I have attended this class twice a week for two semesters. I have heard about 100 stories in 10 months.

Recently I have noticed that my mouth is moving while Dr. Mason is telling a story. I am repeating silently what she is saying to tell the story. After listening to a story, I feel like I want to express my thoughts and opinions about the story in English. I have never felt this way before when I was studying English.

I am charmed with the Story Listening time. It is not like reading a book in English, not like watching a TV show in English or not like listening to a radio program in English. The difference must come from her passion to want to help her students improve in English. It must also come from her confidence with many successful cases with her former students and her research findings.

When she starts drawing, the first thing that comes to my mind is a noun and a verb, and then other words are added to the meaning. This pattern of understanding has become very natural.

Every week I look forward to her class wondering what stories she is going to tell us that day. I feel lucky to have found Dr. Mason’s SL/GSSR course.