|
ESL Forum:
Techniques and methods
in Language Teaching
Games, activities
and teaching ideas
Grammar and
Linguistics
Teaching material
Concerning
worksheets
Concerning
powerpoints
Concerning online
exercises
Make suggestions,
report errors
Ask for help
Message board
|
ESL forum >
Message board > Where did you learn English?
Where did you learn English?
|
|
Mehlika Sultan
|
wow so many different stories.
for me it was a bit complicated. my mother tongue languages are russian an romanian cause my mom is ukranian but she spoke russian with me and my father is moldovan. my granparents used to talk with me in ukranian so i can understand only. at school i studied french as a foreign lang but since gr 9 i studied in a liceum with profiles so english was added. i was lucky to have a native speaker from colorado usa. we had a lot of fun when having lessons with her. later on i followed my dream to be a teacher so i applied for preschool psychology and pedagogy and there was english not french. now i am graduated in 2 departments. i �ve tried to keep my french alive by reading in original jules verne �s novels but then i met my going to be husband that was from turkey so i had to study turkish. and he also studied russian and engilish, in this way may french left behind. now we work abroad for many years in many places:Moldova, Bulgaria, Myanmar, Singapore, Iraq, now in Indonesia.now we are trying speak indonesian.
|
7 Jun 2011
|
|
|
Fabiola Salinas
|
|
Love the question! I made me think back in time... as most of us, I also started studying English at the age of 7 or 8 together with my sisters. I studied until I got my FCE degree. Until then, I was not sure whether I really liked English as my future carrer, or I was just used to studying the language. I finally decided to study it at University. I �ve been teaching since I graduated... & can �t be more happy with my choice! Teaching English is what I love doing!
|
7 Jun 2011
|
|
|
juliag
|
Wow, I don �t have an interesting story to tell like the rest of you as I �m an native English speaker from England, but just to say THANK YOU, I LOVED reading your stories . It is amazing the amount of dedication you have all put into your English studies and it shows in your excellent command of the language. I �m especially happy to read of how so many of you love the language so much. Although, of course, I like English, I love speaking Japanese, too. I guess it is this passion for another language and the excitement of being able to express ourselves in it that enables us to become fluent speakers of it. @ ELOIJOLIE, completely get what you are saying. I remember my excitement the first time I dreamed in Japanese, and also the time I visited England and took a nap in my friend �s flat suffering from jet lag and on waking asked "Nan ji desu ka?" instead of "What time is it?" Look forward to reading some more of your interesting stories. Hugs to all.
PS Brilliant topic Ed, thank you.
|
7 Jun 2011
|
|
|
Mar0919
|
|
Hi there! Well, my story isn �t so interesting. I was taken as a child to the US, at the age of 2 or 3... so, I learned English in a very smooth way, as learning it if it were my mother tongue. We spoke Spanish at home, but only with Mom & Dad, with my brothers and sisters, friends and school it was only English. Back in Mexico, I begun teaching English, kind of accidentally. One of the schools where I studied, needed an English teacher, and out of desperation told me, well, you know how to speak English, give us a hand. I said I DON �T KNOW HOW TO TEACH!!! But they had faith in me, and started me in this wonderful world of teaching. I started studying English Methodology, and whatever I could get my hands on, joined MEXTESOL, went to workshops and all to really learn HOW to teach. And the fact that all my family on my mother �s side are teachers, I think it �s kind of in my blood!!! I love to teach! |
7 Jun 2011
|
|
|
mariamit
|
Such interesting stories! Like Julia mine is not that interesting. English is my mother tongue. My parents were first generation immigrants so we spoke Greek at home but I spoke English from as early on as I can remember with everyone except my dad. My mum allowed us to speak to her in English although she always answered in Greek. My father insisted we speak only Greek when he was home. It turned out to be a good thing for me because when I met my husband and moved to Greece, I spoke the language enough to get by. The only thing I still can �t do in Greek is pray.
|
7 Jun 2011
|
|
|
joy2bill
|
|
Fascinating topic.
May I congratulate each and everyone who has mastered English as a second language.
One thing I have noticed is that non-English speakers often have two, three, four languages under their belt while native English speakers usually have only English!
It is sad! Is it through lack of necessity or arrogance? Why do they expect everyone to speak to them not the other way around?
Sorry I �m stirring!!!! |
7 Jun 2011
|
|
|
Zora
|
|
Actually Joy, most of the "natives" on this site DO speak two (or three) languages. I speak 2 (3 if you count the regional dialect), I know Lisa speaks Danish, Cheezels speaks Swedish, Julia and David Japanese, Lindsey speaks Spanish and hopefully, she is getting a smattering of Chinese, Mariamit Greek, Barb Hebrew, etc... the list goes on. I think, any teacher who has left their native countries speaks 1 to 2 other languages.
|
7 Jun 2011
|
|
|
s.lefevre
|
|
I �m Austrian and my mother tongue is German. I started learning French and English at school. I spent a few month in London and than 5 years in Paris where I went to the Sorbonne studying Sociology. Then I married a Brazilian and had to learn Portuguese. As I love languages, I was always studying English in language schools or privatly. |
7 Jun 2011
|
|
|
htunde
|
|
Well, it is
a long story. I have always lived in Hungary, but studied abroad quite a deal,
hence the passion for languages. At the age of 11 I was invited to my uncle to
Canada for the summer holidays, so unknowingly I learnt the language surprisingly
easily, considering the short period of not quite two months. I was babysitting
my cousins, 1.5 and 3 years old at the time. Then a big gap. And only in
secondary school I started officially my English studies (14-18 years of age)
and discovered that I still remembered a lot. Then I was accepted to a
university in Russia (then the USSR) and studied civil engineering in Russian. Five
years, later back at home I decided that it was worth to start anew. Evening
course twice a week. Then my uncle asked me again to Toronto, and this time I
had a full 6 months to develop my English. School during daytime and another in
the evening. I was the only non-emigrant in the classes I attended. For my 26th
birthday I got the first book in English, and I enjoyed it so much that since then
I have been trying to read everything in this language to enrich my vocabulary.
Another event helped me to maintain my enthusiasm. I had the opportunity to
study in the Netherlands for my second degree. The course was at the IHE Delft,
in English. I managed to develop my proficiency of technical terms and coming
home I changed jobs and started my career as a teacher in a bilingual school in
Hungary teaching different technical subjects in English and Hungarian. Nowadays
there is less interest for bilingual courses but I remained at this school and
as I knew the language fairly well, I saw no difficulty in finishing a teacher
training course. So now I am working not only as an engineer but also as a
teacher of English and I must say I enjoy it as much as my other subjects. It is a pity that I am forgetting my Russin as I never have the opportunity to use it. Yes Zora, you are right we all speak a few languages.
|
7 Jun 2011
|
|
|
gdinca
|
|
So interesting topic!
My mother tongue is French and I started learning English at middle school at the age of 11. I also studied German and Latin. I kept on studying English at university and spent some years in the USA. Then I met my husband who is Italian. Our children speak Italian, French and English at home. I have started to learn Spanish. |
7 Jun 2011
|
|
< Previous
1
2
3
Next >
|
