Nome: Lilian Aparecida de Souza
Idade: 20 
Escolaridade: superior incompleto (cursando o 5º período de Letras)
Tempo de aprendizagem da língua:  se considerar o aprendizado em curso de inglês durou 5 anos e meio aproximadamente (comecei com 13/14 anos). 


How I’ve been learning English

English has always been my favorite foreign language. I remember asking my father how to say words in English since I was a little girl. However, I only started learning English formally when I was 11. It was at regular school and though I liked it, I didn’t learn much because regular schools don’t really teach English – students are always “learning” the same stuff over and over again.
It was only when I was about 13 or 14 that I started learning English at a language school (Number One). It was really fun and I enjoyed the classes a lot in spite of the drills we constantly had (especially in the first 2 years) and that bored me sometimes. Then in the intermediate level the course moved on to a more communicative approach (2 years) and the advanced level (based mainly on communication too) lasted 1 year. I think my learning there took place in a very pleasant effective way because I love English and I didn’t have difficulties to learn it. I think the time and the money I spent there were worthy because I really learnt English there. However, I must assume that I a was a very committed student, interested in learning and using the language, etc, and this has of course inflenced the way I approached learning in a positive way. Besides, I was there because I wanted and I had a real purpose for learning English – I’ve always wanted to be a teacher and a tranlator.
When I got into the university in 2002, I was finishing my English course and since then I’ve been improving my English through the classes I have there. I know that foreign language learning is an endless process, thus I’m sure I’ve been profiting a lot from the English area classes I have at FALE. I’ve been learning things I’d never learn at other places through literature, linguists, translation, etc. It’s been pretty good. Besides, these classes have helped me improve especially my listening and speaking skills. 
This is how I’ve been learning English formally. As to informally strategies I like to watch movies and TV series, listen to songs, use the internet to learn new stuff, read books in English, and also to think (some people call it “talk to yourself”) in English. Teaching English has also been helping me a lot – especially teaching English to children because I learn vocabulary that used to be a bit far from me due to the age I started learning English.