An elderly student introduced herself to her class in fluent English: "My name is Peng Shengwu. I am 80 years old. I like singing, playing the piano and learning English. Welcome to Changsha and my university."
After years of study, Peng has mastered conversational English in Changsha, Hunan province. She can even understand some English news broadcasts.
"Learning makes me happy. And besides," she said with a mischievous grin, "I don't want to get senile dementia."
Peng was a math teacher at a middle school in Yueyang, Hunan, before retirement. She knew little about English. She began to learn for her grandson Tang Kaifeng, who is now 26. His hearing had been badly damaged by a fever at age 3, and she worked to memorize sentences for him.
When the boy was 5, the family put him in an English training course to learn dialogue. Peng accompanied him in class.
"I learned from some psychological books that there is a golden period for children who have hearing impairments to learn to speak. I wanted to help him acquire language ability before it was too late," she said.
At first, Tang was too shy to speak. To encourage him, the grandmother would often make simple English conversation at home — asking questions such as "Where is Tang Kaifeng?" and "I'm here."
Gradually, the boy built confidence and skill. He would ask politely, "May I come in?" at the door to Peng's room.
Peng Shengwu, 80, demonstrates English dialogue with a classmate at a university for elderly students in Changsha, Hunan province. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]
"We frequently greeted each other in English," she said. Peng assisted Tang in his studies in primary and middle school. He won a badminton championship in men's singles at the 23rd Summer Deaflympics in Turkey in 2017.
"I feel so proud of him," Peng said.
She herself never stopped learning English, although Tang no longer needs her assistance. In 2015, she joined a local university for seniors.
English classes focus on listening and speaking by asking students to guess the meaning of an audio, and then encouraging them to have dialogues with each other. There are about 30 students ranging in age from 60 to 80.
Chen Yan, a teacher, said Peng is passionate about English. "She does homework seriously and often raises questions after class. She seldom asks for leave," Chen said. "Some students are shy about practicing English dialogue and Peng often offered to help."
In 2019, Peng received a course-completion certificate, but she decided to continue to go through a more difficult textbook just to challenge herself.
Peng feels it's hard to memorize English words at her age. She likes to listen to English while cooking. She stuck cards with English words or sentences on the wall, and carried them in her pocket when going out. That way, she can memorize them while walking or on a bus. She mutters to herself when she encounters English signs, such as "restroom" or "post office".
"Learning English is a healthy exercises for the brain — more effective than healthcare products," she said.
Source: China Daily
