,Nome: Renata Rego Rodrigues
Idade: 23 anos
Escolaridade: superior incompleto - Letras
Tempo de aprendizagem: 13 anos
My first contact with English took place when I was only five years old. At that time, I listened to the radio quite a lot and most songs were sung in English. I knew that that language was not mine so I asked my father what language was. He told me it was English. Since then I have been interested in searching for information about English language. It is worth mentioning that, when it comes to music, I always got interested in songs sung in English, not in Portuguese. For you to have an idea, I do not have any CDs by Brazilian artists. Mainly are by British and American artists. A lot of people find it very strange.
Later on, when I was eight, I started buying international soundtracks of soap operas. I listened to them for hours. By this time, I asked to an aunt of mine to teach me how to count some numbers in English. I also learnt that when I was at ‘5ª série’, I would begin studying English and then I waited for that time to come anxiously.
When I entered ‘5ª série’ and started studying English, I found out I had a huge facility for it. I paid close attention to the classes, did all activities and studied very hard for the tests. When I was at ‘8ª série’, I asked my father to enrol me at an English course, called “Follow Me”. This was in 1993.
Since when I began studying at private English schools, the classes already carried communicative function and many activities involved students in realistic communication. I found it very interesting, since we were encouraged to speak in English most of time and we were free to take chances on communicating and interacting with each other.
I studied at English courses until 2000, which enabled me to be good at the four abilities. Nowadays, I do not attend private English schools anymore, because in my opinion the university gives already a good basis for learning English. But after graduating I really want to re-start studying at English courses, for I intend to take CAE and then I need to prepare for it.