Name: Amanda
Gomide
By an accident
Believe it or not, I really started learning English when unexpected I
went to The
And I was “the chosen” one, in two or three weeks after her request; there I was in an airplane...
The first steps
Before this experience I had studied a little English in a private
course nearby my house, apparently not enough to handle the situation. I went
with an open mind for learning the language well, and this was certainly my
main purpose. And because I was really taking it too seriously I got in many troubles trying to
communicate with everybody around... One day at school, for instance, this boy
came close to me and said “What’s up?” and I
looked up right the way! Despite that, comprehending was not the worst,
especially because some people make their speech much easier to make sure you
understand. Expressing was much more difficult, first everybody laughed at my
childish talking, many times I would have to repeat myself a few times before
they understood, other times I would change structure, the vocabulary, and even
mime to make myself clear. Later on, I got involved with an American and he really helped me in learning
much more of the language.
In there I lived most of the time in Berkeley, which in my opinion, is a really nice city to live
in. I had a good time going to many kinds of restaurants – Chinese, Japanese, Indian, Ethiopian and Thai. I could say I had a lot of fun living there; I have
made some good friends and had nice experiences. The contact with so many
different cultures was one of the most interesting things about
The Tower of Babel
Of course I was also attending school; I had studied for months in Berkeley Adult School,
a free English school for immigrants in the
Most of my classmates were not that fascinated though, many of them did
not even want to learn the language well, but they went to class to socialize -
find others from the same country or who speaks the same language. Many of them
were also looking for something else... and unfortunately one of them was
actually trying to be with me!!! This man was from Pakistan and very religious,
and as I am normally curious we started talking about Islamism... one day out of nothing he said he had something
for me. “Try to guess
what?” he said. “An article? A
book? Cookies?” and I couldn’t get it... He brought
me close to his car opened the door and there it was –
the beautiful gift. I started to feel uncomfortable when he said: “won’t you open it?”
With an embarrassed smile on the face I faced that ‘strange
dress’ and said “thank you”. I couldn’t even say that I couldn’t accept or anything like that. Just ‘thank you’ seemed much easier. We never
talked again for real. Classes ended soon after.
After this experience abroad I could say that I have been learning
English having it as part of my daily life. I believe that the basis for my
learning was the interaction with the American society, so after coming back I
have been trying to keep as much contact as possible with the language. For me
it became important to look for situations which would lend me to practice what
I had learnt and improve it.
Academic knowledge
As soon as I came back I entered in UFMG to study English and Portuguese. I started studying
after the 2001 strike. Starting from the end of this experience, I could say I
had enjoyed most of the literature subjects I have done – most of them were American Literature. In the
educational area a subject that worked with teaching awareness really called my
attention. The teacher was Dayse Dutra,
and she would ask ten tasks a week!!!
We would always complain among ourselves about it, but I myself can say
that I learnt a lot in this class. The texts were clear and inspiring; the
discussions in class added me a lot of information. But what is more
interesting is that I still reflect upon many of the ideas read or discussed in
this class. Previously my main interest was literature, but getting in touch
with such interesting subjects I got really involved and fascinated with
linguistics and the educational areas too. Of course I still love literature
but I feel glad with the variety in my curriculum. Anyway, it is really good
when you feel that you are studying what planned and getting more than
expected. The hard part is to work and study...
