I do not remember much about kindergarden other than some disastrous birthday parties I had, like jumping on a trampolin and hitting my head or making my best friend cry because I didn't give her the first piece of the cake. But it was in kindergarden that I was first introduced to English.
I was about three years old when I had my first lesson, but I can imagine I kept repeating words like "cat", "dog", "house", "bird" thinking it was funny and probably feeling special because I knew things my mom didn't know. Since then, it hasn't changed much, to be honest. Maybe now my techers are mainly the Internet and, God bless them, Hollywood actors, but I still think the words are funny and I still make fun of my mom with her poor English.
For me, English is extremely important. I think it is a way of becoming a citizen of the world, communicating with everybody and being able to do anything anywhere. By knowing a language that is almost a lingua franca, it opens up a lot of opportunities. Maybe that is why I don't take it too seriously. I know I should make more effort to learn, but I noticed that I end up learning more when I'm not too worried about it. I also noticed that in Spanish and I think that it works for everybody: taking what you have to learn as something fun!
Almost all the specialists agree that one of the best ways to learn is enjoying what you are studying. Many schools are using this method and making the classes more interesting. I was lucky that my mom had enough money and payed for english classes for me in a place where my classes were nice and there were good teachers, but I still think that, if you have a boring teacher, you can try to make classes interesting, and not give up on learning!
You offered very sound advice for anyone learning a foreign language. It is easy to blame something or someone else (the teacher, for example) but the truth is, a lot of it is to do with your own attitude and approach. It was interesting to hear that English is considered very important in your country, too. But for a Finn it's quite rare to have parents pay for extra lessons outside school. I'm wondering if this is common practice in Brazil, and for what subjects?
ResponderExcluirThe education in Brazil is very poor. Everyone who have enough money send their children to private schools. And even in private schools, the english classes aren't really good, so is very common for richer people to try giving the best education possible to their kids, including extra english classes. There are lots of english schools in my city and almost everybody I know do extra english classes. I am thinking of doing a post about the differences between finnish an brazilian schools, so I will explai int better later.
ExcluirGreat story of how you learned English and also very interesting, because you told the situation of English learners in Brazil. I have also learned English from Hollywood movies and actors. Do you learn any other languages in Brazil besides English?
ResponderExcluirIn Brazil is obligatory to all the students to learn english, but it was oly few time ago that the public schools were told by law to offer spanish classes too. The students don't really have to do them and they are just like extra classes. But the most common in Brazil is having language schools, where you have to pay. In these schools you can find various languages. There is one in São Paulo that even teach finnish!
ExcluirThat is very interesting information and it was new for me that in São Paulo is a school where they teach Finnish. I have some relatives in Madeira (island of Portugal) and I have decided that I gonna learn Portugal. Not just because of that I have relatives there and I'm going there on February, it's because I love travelling and I'm eager to learn different languages as well, just like you are eager to learn English.
ResponderExcluir