I started studying English when I was 10 years old at
CCAA.
At that time I didn’t understand well why I had to go
to the
English class twice a week. But it was funny.
The school used the audiolingual method which was the
result
of the incorporation of linguistic principles and
behaviorist
psychology theories. It was total teacher centered the skills
were taught
according to a specific order. I was supposed
to imitate, repeat and memorize structures. Classes
were
based on dialogues and drills with emphasis on
accuracy
of pronunciation and intonation.
At that time there were no resources such as
Internet, cable TV and other resources like the ones
students have nowadays to improve their learning. I had the classes, some devoted
teachers, books and my own effort to learn English.
The first time in the USA
When
I was 16 years old, I went to Disney World.
It
was an amazing and wonderful experience in my life.
Except
for the frustration for not speaking English the way I imagined.
Studying English Abroad
I
finished my course at CCAA,
so I decided to take an experience abroad.
I
went to San Francisco to study at ELS Language Center, where I had
classes
about American Culture, High Reading, Structure and Speaking,
High
conversation and American Movie during four months. After that
experience
I could realize how important it is for a student to have classes using
different methods and approaches. Since then, my interest towards learning
English as L2 keeps growing. As soon as I came back, I enrolled at Cultura Inglesa, where I studied
for three years to take
FCE and CAE courses.
Meanwhile I took the
entrance examination for languages at UFMG and I started my course in August
1992. It was the first time I had contact with the English and American
literature. I remember studying Heart of Darkness by Joseph
Conrad
in which solitary men confront the mysteries
of their own interior. In a letter to H.G. Wells he wrote:““The difference between us,
Wells, is fundamental. You don’t care for humanity, but think they are to be
improved. I love humanity but I know they are not!” I was really interested in studying the mysteries of
the human soul.
In
the English literature of the 20th century, I could read “Men
improve with the years” by Yeats and see through those words that man is no
longer a part of the life that flows on around him. The idea of death, as an
obvious topic, is presented in all poems. It was interesting to have a
different perspective of death, for instance.
Jane
Austen’s Pride and Prejudice and Charles
Dickens’ Hard
Times working with men and women in society and the
continual conflict with others marked my point of view in relation to those
conflicts that still remain nowadays. It helped me to become a critical reader.
I am very pleased to have had a chance to be a student at UFMG, specially the
literature department.
Another important experience
At the end of my graduation,
I
had a chance to study for a month at Appalachian
University, which was a very rewarding experience.
What most fascinates me concern the study of a
language
is that it never has an end. I do hope to
be able to improve my English
till the last day of
my life.