I am sorry that this letter was sent by the computer system automatically before I had checked it. So, now I would like to send it to you once more and I do hope that you would excuse me if it had brought you any troubles.

--Shirley

How are you? I do hope that you are well and have had an easy and relaxed weekend.

This week, the biggest thing in the company is that we have signed the contracts with all of the department managers.

Except promoting, adjusting and dismissing about 1/2 of the department managers, we also require every department to sign a contract with its employees to make sure every one's duty, obligation, right and target to be rewarded or punished.

I am glad to see that our company has trained a young manager team that is full of the vital force. -- All of them graduated from universities, 50% have a master or doctoral degrees. 90% of them are younger than 40 years old and 1/3 are women.

I am confident of the company and believe that we will certainly create a better achievement than last year.

In my free time, I have recovered my painting and music lessons and also I attended the term beginning ceremony of the Bejing Foreign Language College in one of its teaching centers in Shenzhen. I will learn online mainly in the coming 3 years and be offered a lesson face to face on some weekends.

This is the first time that I re-went into a classroom after I got my doctoral degree in 2002. This is also the first time that I heard a lesson by a professional English teacher from a foreign language college.

People wondered why I was there to be a student for an English bachelor degree since I have had a doctoral degree already. My answer is that even though I have learned English for many years, I got little professional training except 120 hour's public lesson in the university during I was major Chinese language for my first bachelor degree. My English is not good I think. So, since I would like to improve the quality of my current work and life, since I wish to be an artist of painting, music and language after I retire from the current position. I have to improve my English as a tool and a personal cultivation.

In the first lesson, a teacher offered us a structure of English language from its sound and symbols and pointed out the biggest problem of Chinese students and told us how we should learn English and so on.

I am glad that the instructing personally teacher is an expert of simultaneous interpretation. Plus the professors online, I am confident of myself to complete the studying for 3 years. Also, I will do my best to strive for an opportunity to graduate ahead.

How about you? Did you have any plan to learn something new to improve yourself?

I am just a learner on that art of painting, music, calligraphy, languages and to work on the web site in my free time. I would really like to do a little bit things with what I have learned to make this little web site to be An Electronic Bridge Of Culture Exchange, Friendship and Language Learning. To help the others while to improve myself.

I appreciate your understanding, directions and supports. I do hope to get your friendly help...

If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, please write to shirley@ebridge.cn or shirleyz004@yahoo.com. You are welcomed to publish your opinions in the forum.

Shirley Yiping Zhang
Sun, March 16, 2008