MY
ENGLISH LEARNING HISTORY
UNIVERSIDADE FEDERAL DE MINAS GERAIS
COMPUTER ASSISTED LANGUAGE LEARNING
STUDENT: Renato Frossard
PROFESSOR: Vera Menezes
My English learning begins in the Elementary School. In that time, I was
amazed with the learning of that new language. It was something totally new for
me and I felt very proud of being able to speak some sentences like: “What’s
your name?” and to answer this question with “My name is Renato”.
I felt I was not only a little boy anymore, since I was able to “understand” a
foreign language. Besides that, I don’t know very well why, but English had
some kind of attractive power towards me and I would never get bored during the
English classes. Actually, I was always a step forward in relation to my
colleagues that would not enjoy the classes as much as I would.
Another point that made me enthusiastic about learning another language was
the possibility of, for the first time, being able to understand what my
favorite English singers were saying in their song lyrics. In fact, since my
early childhood I was very interested in music and this indirectly made my
interest for English also increase.
I felt I could really learn that language and that I would be able to
understand and sing all my favorite English songs. I was very glad!
But then, the time passed. I was growing older. I began to see that the world
was not so colorful as I had thought. And year after
year I would “learn” the same things again and again at school. Until one day I
was able to “teach my teacher the verb to be” (lol).
It was frustrating not only for me, but I believe my teachers also found it
boring to have a student in class who would answer to every question even
before they had finished making them.
When I began the
secondary school, my colleagues soon realized that “I knew everything”. Then I
had a hard time being the one who would do everybody’s works and correct
everyone’s tasks. I hated that! Imagine that the students from the other
classrooms would come to my room in order to ask me to do their tasks??? And I
could not say no, because everybody thought I was a nerd, so they wouldn't like
me very much, unless I would do everyone’s work and “be proud of it”.
After finishing
the secondary school I had already realized that, knowing the “verb to be” and
how to say “how old are you?” was not a great deal. The problem was that I
could not afford studying in a private English school. Then, the only thing I
could do was to study by myself. That’s what I did then. I started reading
things in English and using songs as a way of developing my skills and, by
doing so, I was able to achieve some improvement.
The years passed and I got a job at Bang Bang Burguer, a fast food shop. For some time, it seemed that I had
forgotten all about my dreams and professional ambitions. Sometimes, my little
knowledge of English would amuse people when I had the opportunity to talk to
some foreign customer that would show up to have a snack. But that was all. “Fortunately”,
one day I lost my job. Then I decided to get back to school and began studying
to my Entrance examinations for UFMG. At the beginning, I had not even thought
about choosing Letras as my course. I wanted to study
music, since I had always loved this area. However, I realized that, I could
not pass the entrance examination to study music because I didn’t have the
required knowledge. I was reading through the candidates
manual when I found the Letras course description. I
saw, then, that I could choose English as my area of studies. Then I remembered
all my love for this language and was happy to choose Letras
as my university course. I passed the examinations and began studying. I was
very happy.
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The
problems, however, were just starting to appear. As I began the course I
discovered that I was supposed to have a degree of knowledge of the English
language that was far beyond the knowledge I had until then (at least I
believed so). Then I got very worried and tried to think about possible ways
for acquiring and developing my English skills.
One
day, I asked a friend if she would like to study with me, in order that we both
could refine our English. Then she answered: "No, thank you. I don’t want
to study with someone that knows less than I do. It’s no use." I got so
embarrassed that I could hardly find an answer to this. Then I said: Ok, thank
you anyway.
Nevertheless, I decided to face the challenge and began studying like a crazy
to catch up with the other students who had had the opportunity to begin their
studies in private schools since their early childhood. I used my rights as an
underprivileged student and enrolled myself in the CENEX English course. At the same
time, I used the Internet, films, songs, books, and everything else I could
think about as a way to improve my English skills. Surprisingly, I was able to
go on taking my graduation course, whereas some of my friends - even some who
had studied in private English schools - had given it up long before.
Later, I was selected to work as a trainee at
More recently, I
was selected to teach English at CENEX, which I considered the great trophy for
my effort to learn this language. I recognize that I still have lots of things
to learn, but I can’t deny that I have made a great advance.
Nowadays, I still keep my love for English and I still study a lot. I use the
TV, Music, reading and Internet to create an environment where English is the
"official language". These things have helped me to improve listening
and speaking skills. I also have to mention that I improved a lot my writing
skills, since the demand for this ability is very hard in the university. This
necessity compelled me to learn, no matter I liked it or not.
Now I'm
almost graduating in Licenciatura and I can hardly believe
I did it all. I thank God that he's given me such an "obstinate"
character, so that I wouldn't give up my dreams easily.
My
last victory came recently. I have been selected to take part in the Capes/Fipse Interchangement Program.
I'm going to stay one semester at Wayne State
University, in
Well, that’s a little of my English
learning history. I hope You have enjoyed it, and
I also hope that it can inspire you to never give up your dreams and never pay
attention to people that want you to give them up. And remember, the history of
your lives is not written yet. Only you can write your history!
Hugs! God Bless you!!!
Renato Frossard
See my photo album:
http://photos.yahoo.com/renatofrossard
Visit my Blogs:
www.renatofrossard.blogspot.com
www.geocities.com/renatofrossard/yujinkai.html
MY FAVOURITE SONG
If I were to describe my life through a song, I think it
would be this one. Enjoy it.
REACH – GLORIA
STEFAN
