My English Learning History

 

By XXXXX

November 2006

 

 

                               

Going back to the past and comparing my English learning experiences at that time with the ones I have just been going through I hardly believe I am talking about the same person: me, XXX.

It is incredible that such big change of mind has happened into my life related to the concept I used to have to English. How could I hate it and now be completely in love with it?  In order to answer to this question and also to reflect about it I wrote “My English Learning History Narrative “. I hope you enjoy it!

 

 

Going back to the past ... many years ago...

When I was a teenager, a 14 years old girl, in 1978, my parents decided to enroll me and my 13 years old brother in an English Language School called ICBEU. It was in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. To my parents, English was very important and they decided to give us this opportunity, although I and my brother hated it. We always gave them all possible excuses for not attending the classes such as: - I am not feeling well today, I have a headache, a stomachache, a backache....- oh...English is too difficult, people laugh at us in the classroom, oh! No! Believe it or not I  had  even  cried sometimes in order to convince my mother to allow me  to stay at home and not  go to that “horrible and miserable” place called “An English Class”. At that time, English was like a monster to me....

Teenagers sometimes exaggerate too much!!!

 

Anyway, after all the same complaints and crying, my parents finally decided to listen to me and my brother and we finally could stop studying English! We won.....How wrong we were!

Later, in 1989, I started my first graduation course, International Business at UNA-União de Negócios e Administração. This time I realized how important English was to me.

English was one of the subjects I had to attend to and then I had no choice, I  decided to come back to ICBEU (which was one of the best and well known English schools in Belo Horizonte at that time).I made the decision !!! Things were changing....... It was in 1989 and I studied there until 1995 when I finished my Michigan Course. A big change: English was not a monster anymore!!!! I finally liked and enjoyed it!

 

After Icbeu, I studied English at Luziana Lanna where I met an excellent teacher who is a Royal Family Admirer and that influenced me in my decision to travel to London. His stories about England , the Royalty, and experiences of living and studying English in a Native Speaking Country had inspired me. I was so excited about going there...Big Ben, Tea, biscuits, etc....The unpredictable would be soon part of my new life! It was August, 1996.

I studied at King´s School in Beckenham. It is only twenty minutes by train from centre London. I was supposed to stay there for three months but I changed my mind......

You know why? Because I couldn’t even speak or listen to native speakers properly. I was so disappointed....Going to supermarkets, shops, etc, was a nightmare for me because I couldn’t understand or be understood. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Help.....Help.......Questions, questions and questions...

 

 

I was so disappointed with my English that I decided to stay there for nine months instead of the three ones already set. It was one of the best time of my life. Totally U n f o r g e t t a b l e !!!!!!! I met people from everywhere. The school was excellent and I became aware of the importance of not only speaking a language but also listening to, reading and writing it properly. A new world was opening to me...English had already become something very important and Pleasant to me! The monster was becoming a very charming gentleman!!!

 

Back to Brazil, in August 1997, I immediately enrolled myself in an English School called Britain and went on having a pleasant relationship with English and in 1998 I went to the USA and spent three months in Austin-Texas in a school called AIELS. It was again a marvelous time. There, I finally felt more confident about my English and conscious of it being an endless process.

 

In order to improve my English, I did the entrance exam in 2000 and entered UFMG to study Letters. Meanwhile, I was attending my graduation course, I also attended to a Specialization Course in English- Translation at UFMG during 2000- 2001. It was a very good experience which showed me that I’d rather be an English Teacher than a translator. I stayed one year away from University because I had a baby on January 2006. His name is Bernardo and he is the sunshine of my life!!!

                     

 

Time has gone. Finally, I am supposed to finish my Letters Course in the end of this year. Right  now, I am attending an on-line subject called “Computer Literacy” and having the opportunity to exchange e-mails with people from Wayne University in Detroit with my professor and classmates.  I wonder how lucky I am.

 

 

I am lucky for the past and for the present. For all those nice people that have helped me to improve my English and show me how broad it is. To my parents and family a very special thanking for being the ones who have always motivated me.

 

 

 

 

 


This is my English Learning Experience Narrative!  

 

           

 

 

 

 


                      

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