Shelly Westebee

Believing in my ability to speak English in front of international students and native speakers was my first goal that I wanted to achieve, and I don't think that I can achieve it without Shelly Westebee's support. Shelly Westebee was my Oral Skills level 4 teacher in Spring 2010 at USC Language Academy. She has a Phd degree and worked in many countries around the world especially in east Asia. Her skills and knowledge were more than enough to encourage us to do our best in class; moreover, she has various information about many cultures such as Japanese, Korean, Chinese, and Arabic which helped her and us to communicate and understand each other faster.

What is amazing about her class is that students go to the class without a need to overdo or overthink what they asked to do, just do your best. After spotting her reactions to my classmates suggestions and opinions on some aspects or issues that are related to assignments, I realized that Shelly is open minded for giving each one of us the opportunity to express opinions without the fear of making mistakes which buttressed our efforts and raised the level of competition between us inside the class.

As a result of encouraging students to participate and contribute in the class, I found myself giving opinions in many topics and cases that I didn't use to participate in. I rarely do that because of my quiet nature, but I am glad to break the silence barrier ^_^!. I bet my classmates noticed my enthusiasm in last weeks.

In addition, I will not forget how she received my objections when I refused to do a specific scene that we had to perform in front of all language academy students, faculty, and staff. With a smile, she accepted my objections while some of my friends tried to persuade me as long as they were going to perform the same scene ^_~. She didn't argue me and respected my reasons, and I really appreciate her for doing that.

I really loved to be one of Shelly's students, and I consider myself lucky to get the chance to learn from her. There is a common proverb in my culture says, "You will realize the value of things when you lose them." From the first moment, I knew Shelly's value and intelligence, and for me, there is no need for a second to think about that ^^!