Name: Luis Felipe Camargos

“A different language is a different vision of life.”

Federico Fellini
Italian movie director (1920 - 1993)

Belo Horizonte, March of 1991. It was my first contact with English. As I started playing the guitar in that time; I was very curious to understand what my favorite bands (Pink Floyd, Beatles, Queen) were singing in those English lyrics:

Hello, Is there anybody in there? Just nod if you can hear me Is there anyone at home? Come on now I hear you're feeling down I can ease your pain And get you on your feet again Relax I'll need some information first Just the basic facts Can you show me where it hurts There is no pain, you are receding A distant ship's smoke on the horizon You are only coming through in waves Your lips move but I can't hear what you're saying When I was a child I had a fever My hands felt just like two balloons Now I've got that feeling once again I can't explain, you would not understand This is not how I am I have become comfortably numb O.K. Just a little pin prick There'll be no more aaaaaaaah! But you may feel a little sick Can you stand up? I do belive it's working, good That'll keep you going, through the show Come on it's time to go. There is no pain you are receding A distant ship's smoke on the horizon You are only coming through in waves Your lips move, but I can't hear what you're saying When I was a child I caught a fleeting glimpse Out of the corner of my eye I turned to look but it was gone I cannot put my finger on it now The child is grown The dream is gone And I have become Comfortably numb.

At this time I was studying French in the elementary school. As a result, I needed to advance in the language by myself and it was a hard job. Because of music, I needed to memorize the lyrics to sing with the guitar chords. Sometimes I transcribed them in Portuguese and I listened the song a lot of times looking for the rhythm and pronunciation of the singer.

Finally, I started to take English lessons at the high school. I was very interested in the class, I learnt how to use the verb to be and other elementary things:

It was completely different to study English in this way. For me, English was a natural and beautiful language. Studying verbs and how to put the words in a context were very strange and new. At this time, I realized how much I enjoyed learning the English language and I looked for a complementary course to improve my vocabulary and pronunciation. After finishing the high school, I started to study at ETIMIG.

I still remember my first class at ETIMIG, the name of my first teacher was Mariza and she had worked as a musician before. Her classes were very funny and she used to work with the basic grammar, music, the tenses, vocabulary and the transcription of rock and pop lyrics as Nirvana and Madona.

Studying English was so exciting that I decided to go deep in the subject.

I decided to study English in the College. It was my objective now.

I started studying at PRÈ-UFMG, a specific course to pass through colleges and

I passed at UFMG. However, I needed to face one problem: the level of proficiency

of my English was not sufficient to follow the course. It was designed

for intermediate students. Finally, I discovered that I could study

at CENEX (a complementary course) for free. I discontinued my course for

one year and I finished studying English at CENEX.

After studying at CENEX I continued my course. It was a very good time, I could study phonology, syntax, literatures with very good teachers; I learnt a lot. Meanwhile, I started to study at BRITISH and AMERICAN, a specific course focused in conversation classes. This course helped me a lot and it was very useful because I was studying phonology in the college and I could improve my conversation a lot.

During the first semester of 2005, I had my first opportunity to work as and English teacher. It was a public school that works with the low-class children. It was a very good experience, the students were 10 years old and they were very interested in the class. I prepared a lot of classes in which I could use numbers, animals, colors, family, music and a lot of interesting things. At this time, I could feel that it´s a very beautiful profession because you are the responsible for the development of your students. They are like sons for you. I liked it very much.

It´s important to reinforce the influence of music in my language`s acquisition. Since the begginning, the music was the most important influence for me. As a guitar player, I started to play when I was 12 years old and the contact with the english language started in the same period of time.

I didn´t stop studying music anymore. I gratuated at “Palácio das Artes” as maestro and I went to são paulo to study with an australian guitar player. Besides, I´m fascinated by the british and the american guitar players and I´m always whatching concerts, interviews, instructional videos and I read a lot of books concerning music. (All of them in the english language)

As you can see, my historical context, my main influences, my personal fellings and directions are all related to music and language. As I`m graduating in English-licenciature with my complementary course in music, I decided to do my master thesys concerning music and language: the relation between them.

Well, I think that I could show you a little bit of my English learning history,

I hope that you have liked it,

Cheers,

Luis Felipe