by Shentao (Student Blogger: BA English Language and Linguistics)

Last term I was nearly overwhelmed by my ‘mountainous’ academic workload. Anxiety was haunting me so much that I finally turned to our university’s mental health service and NHS health centre both at campus and in town. I also talked to teaching staff in my department. Thanks to the consultation and teaching staff’s efforts to comfort me, I started to calm down. I redesigned my learning strategies, went to the gym more frequently than before to release academic stress by building my body and I also joined a mock business negotiation society to make friends with my peers.

Redesigning learning strategies

I believe for most international students in the UK, the priority is that they have to adjust themselves to the English speaking environment with which they might possibly lack familiarity. Particularly, as a student in the Department of English Language and Linguistics, it is a necessity for me to master the language skills in academic communication (e.g. consultation with the teaching staff) and production (e.g. essay writing) given that I have to use a second language to carry out these tasks whose requirements on language skills are significantly higher than those of daily lives.

The onset of my learning experiences here has witnessed multiple problems related to the English language skills. For example, there are some sentences in my essay that do not look very ‘natural’ from the perspective of a native speaker of English, which was pointed out by one of my tutors in Year One. My old habit of referring to English dictionaries when I compose English articles has been meaningful in many occasions but it is not the ultimate solution because English (even academic English) is a ‘live’ language that has always been undergoing changes. It is not a bunch of words hidden in those huge heavy volumes. That is, the English language is always ahead of the dictionaries. Therefore, in order to master the most practical language that is employed in academics by native speakers of English, I contacted the native speakers of English around me and asked them for help when proof reading. They pointed out some sentences and/or phrases whose wording looked ‘unnatural’ or even ungrammatical to them and gave suggestions on how to improve or correct them. Modification would be added by me if, after consulting more professional people such as the teaching staff, I was confirmed that mistakes arose in those parts.

Doing more exercise

The benefits of doing physical exercises go beyond keeping myself physically healthy. It is also a great way to release one from academic pressure. As a member of the university sports centre I go to the gym as a matter of routine. I received professional training of badminton and used to play for the school badminton team when I was in China. Here in Lancaster University I prefer to run on the treadmill because I can start it anytime I want without inviting a partner. If my memory serves me correctly, I have run over a hundred kilometres on the treadmill since I gained the membership of the sports centre here. From my sporting experiences I can say that the speeding blood flow and modification of inspiration and expiration greatly relax both my body and mind. Besides, after doing such exercises I can have a nice sleep which is really an asset to academic tasks.

Joining a society

I chose to step out of my comfort zone and I decided to learn how to communicate with people in a more efficient way. To do this I joined a model business negotiation society in which communication skills do matter. In the society I made friends and learned how to express my feelings and ideas while absorbing others’. This has proven to be a great start for me to interact with others in order to exchange information. For now, my marks on coursework have been significantly improved and I am much more open to interact with people all around the world not only to learn from them but also present myself to them.

With all these efforts my anxiety was fading away and my brain started to function more efficiently than before. Ultimately, I successfully finished all the academic tasks of the last term.