Languages and you
- 1. Languages and you Wonderful stories about your experiences in the long and winding but finally rewarding road to learning languages “T he limits of my langua ge mean the limits of my wor ld” W ittgenstein, L. TLP 5,6
- 2. Copyright NA students at EOI Elx Romance in the German classroom by Javier Ruiz Ramírez It is said that speaking and writing non maternal languages improve your chances in today’s world. The more foreign languages you manage to speak the more successful in your social and work life you will be. It increases your opportunities to apply for a job; it makes it easy to travel all along foreign countries and also makes you to seem smarter! But not only can those things be achieved by speaking (or even learning) languages but to fall in love too. Don’t get me wrong. Not to fall in love with a language (that would be weird!). I mean to find your soul mate in an unexpected place like a languages class in a languages school just at random. So the story began many years ago. Having studied English as first language at secondary school, my chances to improve my skills with the language vanished as soon as I began to study at university. You can imagine how difficult is to study a technical degree. Hard enough not to invest your valuable time carrying on hobbies like languages studies. I bitterly remember when exam periods arrived. Hours and more hours of cramming and a five-hours exam (in the best of the cases) was to decide if you were able to pass the subject and cover a step in your path to become an engineer. I was lucky. I managed to succeed in every exam I had faced ever since the very first day I started at university, but I was kind of selfish and I wanted more. I craved to study abroad in the best European universities so I applied for an Erasmus grant to Germany. Then I had to learn German and so I joined Elche’s languages school as my way to do it. This is what happened next. Lesson one. Meeting people: First class. The teacher started talking about the common ways to introduce ourselves to somebody. She wanted us to learn questions like ¿What’s your name? Or what do you do? - - “¿Wie heia du? “
- 3. She was asking me. But my brain was paying no attention to her but to a pretty dark haired girl who had sat right in front of me. I found myself glaring at her and the words just formed inside my head ¿Who are you? … We stood up and introduced to each other. I gathered the courage to approach to a group of girls which she was part of. My stomach made a little lurch. - “Hallo. ¿Wie heir du?” Giggling should be made illegal, I thought. - “Hallo. Ich bin Patricia”. - “Hallo. Ich bin Javier”. … Lesson 2. Modal verbs: - “¿Kann Ich hier sitzen?” - “Ja its frei” A couple of weeks after our first meeting I’d made important progresses. I’d managed to approach people of her group in order to be able to sit somewhere nearby her. Ever since I met her I could not stop thinking about her. Lessons glided by and I even realize… Lesson 3. Relationships: Time slid by and we got used to each other’s company. Whenever she was nowhere to be seen I felt bewildered. I hadn’t felt like this before. It was hardly bearable to be alone in German lessons. We had made of those lessons our “little world”. I asked the question, not knowing what consequences it might have. - ¿Hast du eine beziehung? - Ja, aber nehme Ich nicht ernst.
- 4. Suddenly I didn’t seem to have any insides at all. I hope I could rip out my heart not to feel this way. I would have never expected this to happen but it’d happened indeed. I’d fallen in love and I hadn’t realized yet. Lesson 4. Free time and leisure: Weeks had elapsed and I’d given up with her. I’d returned to my old table (far away from her) and our friendship had got cold and distant. We were learning about leisure and free time. We were asked to stand up and make questions. I vividly remember her approaching me and saying: - ¿Mochtest du morgen ein beer trinken? - “Sorry”, I said (I couldn’t answer that in German). “Tomorrow Barcelona and Chelsea are playing an important match and I cannot wait to watch it”, I said matter-of-factly. - “Then, ¿can I watch the match with you?” - “Why not”, I said coldly A happy ending, afterwards. We met, spoke and scheduled an appointment again. We started dating, we bought a house and now we’re happy living together. Again don’t get me wrong. It has not been easy get through all the problems that happened to us during the last five years, but we have managed. We always do. And so, this is my story. One which tells about how languages and love can end up into two souls becoming one. And I’m happy for being able to write it!
- 6. My most embarrassing moment at the languages school or why was I late to class by Alberto Cerveró This is my story. It is a true story and I think it’s the worst experience I have ever had in the School of Languages. It is not about English classes or any other language but I consider in spite of the difficult situation is a funny moment to remember. It was Tuesday, like any other Tuesday this year that I have English class. I woke up very early due to the fact that I had to take my sister to work and she has to arrive before nine o’clock. However, I always start classes at ten past nine and on that particular day I knew I would have some spare time, not very long to use it doing anything productive therefore I decided to wait at the School. When I arrived it was quarter to nine and the teacher had not arrived yet. In addition the classroom was locked and I needed to go to the toilet. Everything was OK until the moment I tried to open the toilet door in order to go out…oh my God! I was trapped! The bolt had been hooked and it was impossible to open the door. Nevertheless and maybe invaded by the syndrome of the claustrophobia I tried for ten minutes to open it with no luck.
- 7. Suddenly and inexplicably a girl passed through one of those hidden narrow corridor where toilets are in our School of Languages and she listened to me trying to open the door. Thanks to her I was rescued by a schoolteacher and the caretaker, who used special tools to open it. Fortunately and after being trapped for twenty minutes I arrived on time to class and nobody noticed anything unusual. To conclude I have to say that is funny to remember the anecdote but I’m sure I will never go to the toilet in the School of languages although if it is impossible to resist I will leave the bolt unlocked.
- 8. My year speaking in tongues in Amsterdam By Roberto T. Yáñez Pacios One cool thing about languages is that you have to use them undoubtedly when is travelling that we talk about. It is curious how people feel when suddenly another language has to be talked and there is no other choice. The first time it happens to you, maybe an overwhelming embarrassment starts to grow on your inside, but I firmly believe that sooner or later it will disappear. Just by the time that you need to communicate yourself with words. It is difficult to express the feeling of being abroad and noticing that from that very moment until you leave, you will be forced to speak not in your mother tongue. Out of necessity that is.
- 9. Despite facing all sorts of difficulties, not only can you handle it but you end up enjoying it. Given the chance, I did not doubt to live one year abroad. And suddenly, I saw myself in a humid north-European country, living for a year and willing at least to learn and practice a language. If you have ever studied any, you feel like demonstrating yourself you are able to speak it fluently, besides understanding it and feeling involved with the culture. At first I expected to converse only in that one language, but at the end it is highly unlikely. Seeing that other students in your same situation want to learn Spanish, you offer yourself to teach in exchange of some of their knowledge. It is rather exciting when you live abroad for a long while and meet people from other countries, because it becomes more appealing. Even more if both of you share a second - and a third - foreign language to chat. A Spanish guy and a smart extrovert Italian girl can make a great combination if they both have studied English and French, as the conversation can change from one to another passing through Italian or Spanish not making any difference to us. All this incorporating not only the languages you know but also the one that you are currently learning from the other person. And what is more, it gets completely out of the ordinary if all this happens in a country with a different official language (for example, Dutch) because this unknown one is also introduced in all the mixture of words. At length, without having decided anytime, both you and your friends end up speaking some kind of own mishmash where an exquisite selection of diverse words is included, but everyone understands it... because you all have created it. Having lived one year abroad, when I finally returned to my country all these experiences had become so interesting that I started again studying English. Eager to learn, I also became interested in starting studying other subjects and languages, reinforcing that vision of live as a continuous learning.
- 10. And in addition, there are also foreigners in your city wishing to teach and learn. Discovering that it is possible to vividly remember most of the sensations just by having a language exchange... has no price. These are by far the best decisions I have ever taken and the best time I have ever had.
- 11. Ireland and Spanish-phobic family by Eva Santonja Ceresola I have always loved travelling abroad and I have to admit that speaking perfect English is one of the objectives that I vividly wished for. Having proven that, despite studying at the Official English School for so many years, it is thoroughly complicated to improve your English reaching a perfect level if you are surrounded by Spanish people, I decided to ask for a grant to travel abroad and improve my English chatting with native people. As soon as I achieved the grant, I joined in a group of students who would go to live with Irish families in Tullamore (Ireland). When I arrived there, everything was gorgeous. All of my mates were extremely nice and open- minded. They came from Italy, France, Poland, Turkey, Korea, and so on. Most of them were Spanish too, but what we tried to speak in English with the rest of the people, so they tried to do the same. Speaking all of us the same languages we could share lots of funny and memorable moments together, but finally we also learnt Italian, French, and many more languages because of them. Although life with my friends was completely wonderful, the time I had to spend at home rarely was I so happy and comfortable. They didn’t speak to me at all, neither did they walk with me, they told me that they didn’t like young Spanish people, that was why they didn’t try to know me. They just gave me my lunch in a little, brown, paper bag with an insipid sandwich and a piece of fruit. During the first days I try to convince myself that you can’t have your cake and eat it too, in other words, if my free time with my friends was lovely, I had to hold on with the situation at home and try to get on well with my Irish family. But when I have spent two weeks in that house, the situation was bitterly insufferable and I was looking forward to come back to Spain. I felt absolutely alone when I was at home and deeply frustrated because what I wanted to do, since I arrived there, was speaking English with that people, but they were so rude and unfriendly that I felt I couldn’t get it.
- 12. Spending so much time alone in my room, reading, writing and thinking over lots of things about my life, I realised that I was more independent and self- sufficient that I’ve never thought and, probably, it helped me to mature before time, afterwards every cloud has a silver lining.
- 13. My Talkative Experiences by Nuria Campillo Communication: that great ability that human beings have to express their feelings, expose their ideas and transmit their needs. This is the main aspect that makes us different from animals and without it humanity would not have advanced until nowadays as it has done. And the main vehicle we use to communicate between us, the principal tool that makes it possible, is the language. But, have you ever thought how important is to be in verbal contact with our environment and how we use it in our day-to-day? When I was a child, my parents taught me to speak two languages, Spanish and Valencià. I am bilingual, and it caused me some “problems” in this first stage of my life: I was in a mess because I could not distinctly distinguish the words between that two languages. I remember my mother explaining to me: “you say naranja in Spanish and taronja in Valencià”. Fortunately that puzzlement passed, and now I feel glad to talk in Valencià when I perceive a Valencian talker thanks to his or her accent. Apart from the native languages I talk, I study English at the languages school. It is a basic skill to be familiar with this language in order to carry out my job properly, mainly for writing scientific papers for journals and for presenting in congresses the latest research developed in my research group. At this point I vividly remember my first international congress. I have to admit that I was a bit nervous as I had to present my job in English using technical vocabulary, the room was crowded and I could recognize before the faces of some experts in the matter I was going to talk about. In the questions time, one of them started a little discussion and I felt deeply frustrated when I could not answer him as I would have wanted because I was not be able to understand all his suggestions. My last English interesting experience happened the last month when I went to Amsterdam for studying a course related to the subject of my PhD. There I met quite a number of researchers from different European countries and during two days we had great conversations, of course in English. It was amazing to think that all we spoke different native languages, but the common link for our conversations was English.
- 14. Finally, I would like to communicate the reader of this text that it is wonderful to share talkative experiences with other people. You know, the more languages you speak, the higher number of astonishing different people you will be able to arrive. So, a great communicative objective for the next year resolutions: to learn a new language.
- 15. My path from student to teacher by Veronica Torres Barragán You really want it, when you really need it. I have been very keen on languages in my life and of course on English. I studied English at primary school and I always got good marks. I firmly believed it would be fantastic to travel abroad and be able to understand people and being understood as well. In that moment, I couldn’t look forward and find another vast array of benefits that English skills could give me. The choice to improve my English became when I really needed it, in my new job. I have been working as a nursery school teacher for twelve years, all of which I have enjoyed quite a lot, working in childhood education. Every day, I have to take care of children, help them to be more independent in their daily routines, teach them to live together with other children, share the materials in class…but not to teach them in English. So, I have never thought that English could be necessary in my work. But three years ago I had the opportunity to thrive on my working conditions by changing my job. Now I work in a public nursery school in San Fulgencio. It is a very small village located in the area of La Vega Baja. The population of the village is mainly people from the United Kingdom, so half of my pupils are English. That’s the reason why I wanted to improve my English and I joined the English school here in Elche; I did so just to be able to explain to the parents of my children how they had spent the day or to be able to deal some problems related to their education. Now I’m studying my last year in the English school and I hope to finish it successfully. Finally, taking everything into account, I fully recognize that my English skills have really helped me to feel more competent in my job despite not being necessary for me. As a result I have made close English speakers friends there in San Fulgencio.
- 16. Multilingual harmony in the camino by Jesús Román Pastor I am going to tell you my experience of the Saint James’ Way. I did the Saint James’ Way with two friends at the beginning of the last summer. One of them had already done a few years ago and he convinced his brother, other friend and me to do it, but finally the other friend couldn’t. We were very excited about this life experience. How beautiful landscapes we would see, how many people we would meet… We prepared some weeks before, buying clothes and preparing our body, we are young and sporty so we didn’t need to train too much. We traveled by train from Alicante to Madrid and then by hotel-train to Sarria. It was getting light when we arrived. So we had breakfast and then we started to walk. We were very excited about this. At the beginning of the journey we took photos of
- 17. everything, our breakfast, buildings, trees, the first people we met…The first people were a friendly elderly Italian couple, whom we met the others days, because normally, people go at the same speed. During the Way, we met people from a lot of places of Spain, and from a lot of countries. We met Italians, British, Germans…We were greeting each other in several languages, “Ciao”, “Hallo”, “Hola”…But after that, everyone told the same phrase in Spanish “Buen camino”. There was harmony in the Way, everyone was enjoying the nature and everyone smiles to other people, apart from some people in the bars who put up the prices because it was the Jacobum Year, but normally there was an especial connection to each other. We walked twenty-five kilometers at day of average. We went to Portomarin, Palas de Rei, Melide…and finally to Santiago. How satisfied and joyful we felt when we saw the cathedral. A day after we went to Finisterre and we had an incredible experience just seeing the ocean. We went to A Costa da Morte to watch the sunset. My best friends and I taking a beer in the silence, peace at the amazing end of the world. That was just the best prize.
- 18. My experience working in a country hotel in Oxford by Diana Being aware of the importance of the languages in the professional world and having studied English since the age of 11, when I finished university (I did a degree in Tourism) I decided that it was the suitable time to do something I had always wanted to but I had never had the opportunity or the economic resources to do it: go to live to England for a while. I already knew the grammar, but I needed to get fluency in my spoken English and get my ears used to the English accent. To begin with, the first thing I did was to find two friends to undertake that amazing new experience with. Together, we contracted a company which found in two days job and accommodation for the three of us in the same place, a hotel called Heythrop Park. Within a week, we prepared the journey, bought the tickets and everything we needed. I remember those days as extremely busy and stressful ones! Our plane landed in London the first of December of 2004 and, after taking a bus to Oxford, we realized that things were not as we had expected because the hotel wasn’t located in Oxford. As a policeman told us, we had to take another bus to Enstone, a small village half an hour away by car from Oxford, and once we were there, walk a little as the hotel was surrounded by golf fields and a natural park.
- 19. That “walk a little” turned out to be more than an hour; luckily a car stopped and gave us a lift. Once in the hotel, an extremely rude receptionist told us were our rooms were situated, and then another girl showed us the hotel, a quaint enormous old building which looks like a castle full of ghosts, and explained us what our job would consist of. My two friends would work in the restaurant and I in the banqueting and conference department. The following two weeks were exceedingly harsh, not only because I was working alone in a foreign country with unknown people, but also because I realized that I had to learn too much as I didn’t understand a word when people talked to me in English. I was terrified and only wanted to take a plane back home! But then the time went by and, although nothing was as I had expected because the main thing I wanted to do there was to take an English course and do some exams, and being in the middle of a forest and working every day was more than impossible, I started to enjoy myself working in that hotel with such fascinating people from all range of nationalities and getting more fluent in English or, at least, losing the fear of speaking and understanding that language that wasn’t my mother tongue. We spent eight months in that breathtakingly charming hotel and now I can say that rarely had I had such an intense experience. If it hadn’t been for the English language I would never have lived the most exciting and funniest months of my life.
- 20. At last I came back to Spain and I found a job in a marble factory due to the fact that I could speak English. Having gained good communication skills and not wanting to lose them, I thought it was a good idea to go to the Official Languages School. I did a level test and I started in the second course of the intermediate level. Now I’m in the last year and I hope to finish in June, but I don’t know what I’ll do later. Sure go for another language !
- 21. A personal achievement: learning English by Montse It was in 2004 when I was looking for an educational experience, and at the same time I wanted to add something interesting without pressure in my life. The idea of learning English was by far the best way to do it, and it was growing constantly thinking that English would provide me a lot of variety and knowledge. At that time, the official English school opened in my town, and soon I made the most of this opportunity. It would be an alternative at very little expense and feasible. I have to admit that I lost touch with the language for a long period of time and to be honest, I feel pride in my achievement. The best thing would be if I hadn’t stopped learning from secondary school days,but it’s never too late to start again. Probably, the reasons for choosing English, ‘the global language’, were on one hand, because certainly by the turn of the century it is widely used, English became the language with people were most likely to be taught and one of the most available to adults, and on the other hand, because English rules is an actual example of uncomplicated language, it has less grammar than others and majestic expression, fair examples of factors which motivated me and made a big difference from the rest to went back learning English. I consider learning a language, as a vehicle of developing a great culture and my self-esteem. In my opinion the language choice is one of the most sensitive issues, accessible to everyone. At the moment, I am studying at advanced level in the EOI Elx and making great progress. I enjoy the availability of self access material in our blog. In particular, I love English more than anything else I would do in my free time. It is just an entertaining way not to waste my time and luckily it helps a great deal with my daily life, particularly together with the resources at my disposal and support that my English teacher provides. In short, advantages, creative work and increased opportunities, are determining factors for people who enjoy learning a language compared especially with those who don’t learn a language.
- 22. Four languages and a job by Esperanza García Vacas In my opinion, it is very important to learn languages. At the present time, they are essential to communicate with the rest of the world, travel, know different cultures, find a job or just for personal development. I like learning languages. In fact, I studied Tourism because there were several subjects related to languages. I can claim to speak 4 languages: Spanish, Valencian, English and German. My first language is Spanish because I am from Spain and it is my mother tongue. Because of I live in Alicante, I studied Valencian as a child. Therefore I
- 23. am fluent in it. Nevertheless, I am not bilingual and as I don't use Valencian daily, it has become a bit rusty. English is another language in which I can get by. I consider English the most important language in the world. These days, English is becoming more and more popular. You need it to work, travel, search the Internet, etc. I have been studying English for years. And I will study it the rest of my life because I’m aware that it is not possible to know all about a language. You can study a language day by day and you will always learn something new. I studied English at the grade school, High School, at the University and today I study it at the language school. I even lived in Ireland during the summer of 2005. I worked as an au-pair and I lived with an Irish family. It was a wonderful time and my English improved a lot. However, now I have lost vocabulary and fluency. That's why I continue studying.I doubt if I will be reasonable good at English in the future, but I am putting a lot of effort into it. Rome wasn't built in a day, was it? Finally, the fourth and last language, in which I can have a conversation, is German. I think German is considerably more difficult than English. However I like it. I was in Germany in 2004. I was given an Erasmus grant to study in a little town in the South of the country. I was there for 6 months and I learned rather well. Even though I know if I had been there more time, I would have learned more. Anyway, I try to learn at home. Frequently, I watch films in German and once in a while I read a book. Thanks to the languages I speak, I found my job. Today I'm working with the online service of a bank. We help customers by telephone. We receive calls
- 24. and we resolve problems the customers have. Among the customers, there are foreign people. I speak daily with English and German people by telephone. In the beginning it was so difficult for me. It is easier to understand somebody face to face than by telephone. But today I am used to speak with the customers by telephone and I understand most of the conversations. In conclusion: These are the languages in my life. I consider myself a strong-willed person; therefore I will continue studying these languages to improve them. And if it is possible, I will try to learn new languages. Because “one can never know too much”, right? Thousands of new doors that I can knock on by Jose Luis Boj Poveda The very first language I learnt was Spanish, since my mother tongue is Valencian. As a matter of fact, I wasn’t aware that I was acquiring it as time went by loads of new expressions, vocabulary, idioms, sayings, etc. From my
- 25. childish point of view, this knowledge came out of the blue due to the fact that I didn’t notice the learning process at all. It was time after when I realized that learning languages, at least at a proficient level, involved doing a huge effort, in other words, that I would have to hit the books. By then I was studying French at high school and it turned out that I got quickly a strong basis because of its similarities with Valencian, a kind of synergy which I highly appreciated. English was the next language I decided to learn. I started in 1999 attending short night or summer courses and in 2004 I entered the first course of English at the Languages Official School, having continued my studies up until now. This is (I hope) my last year as an English student so, what’s next? I’m considering the possibility of learning German (or even Chinese); since I really enjoy having the ability of communicate with people from other countries. It appears to me as thousands of new doors that I can knock on and are likely to change my fate. In conclusion, languages and I, have been, are and will be two very close concepts to me.
- 26. A villain teacher, a diffident girl and a happy ending by María I. Once upon a time there was a bright little girl who did not like English when she was in Primary School. In spite of the fact that she was very interested in foreign languages and she had excellent marks in all her subjects, she had a serious problem with English. As in any good story, there was a villain character. In this case, he was a draconian middle-aged teacher who laughed at his pupils all the time. He took pleasure in embarrassing his students in public, in particular, when they made a mistake in pronunciation or in the spelling of a word. Actually, this diffident girl and her classmates were frightened in each class. Never had she lived such a horrible situation, she started to hate English. Fortunately, her parents decided to send her private lessons in order to improve her English level. At which point, the hated classes became an advantage for learning English because she had a working knowledge of this language. Having developed a love for English, she was completely happy at school.The more she grew, the more interested in English she became. Actually, when she was going to start Secondary School, she decided to take up at the Language School of Elche. Shortly afterwards, she had to quit her passion for a well-paid job, but English was always in her heart. Her life took many turns and nowadays this talented girl would like to become an English teacher in the near future.
- 27. A resolution achieved by Mayte Why did I start to learn a foreign language? In short because of work. I moved to a seaside town sixteen years ago. At that time a massive amount of foreign people resided in Spain especially English and German people, therefore the main requirement to apply for a job was to speak foreign languages. In this little town there were hardly any possibilities to learn, as a consequence I joined to the Official School of languages in a program called That’s English , a great alternative to learn by yourself at home furthermore with the support of a teacher from whom I received classes once a week. I got the Elemental degree after three years. Eventually I left English for circumstances of my personal life. However, having studied for three years, I wasn’t able to use the language properly. When it comes to learning or doing something as an obligation it can turn into a nightmare, I was under pressure by myself , because of hard exams, to share homework with my own housework , to memorize too much vocabulary and heavy grammar, to sum up I made a big effort with which I wasn’t confident. I retook my English studies three years ago in order to achieve an old goal, and not having used it after ten years the beginning was quite hard. Nowadays I am in the second advance level of English and in the second basic level of French, actually I have to say that it is by far my best moment regarding to the languages, I enjoy it every day at school, when I speak it, when I listen to it, for instance when I travel abroad I am looking forward to use it. Although I am aware that I am not as good as I should be, I keep enjoying it. In conclusion, the most important thing for me as student it isn’t a matter of marks, it is learning and enjoying it, and believe me it is really worthy.
- 29. Tsunami paradise by Oli Everybody has a reason to go, a reason to begin, to finish, to forget …to learn. It was mine: travel to remember. The winter of 2004 came much more intensive than most people had expected, when a terrible tsunami struck a great deal of lives around Asia and Africa, the 26 of December. While the terrible piece of news was being broadcasted around all the TV and radio programmes, I was enjoying the Christmas time with my family. Afterwards, as many people did, I though – Thank goodness because there are courageous enough people to go there and try to help all these people! – And I sent an e-mail to one Spanish charity organization giving them my humble support and saying to them how much I would like to collaborate.
- 30. It was the 31 of December, no sooner had we prepared the dinner, when the phone rang. It was SEMECA (Spanish Medical Catastrophe Association) who called me to go to Sri-Lanka to work as a nurse. It was hard to believe. Into my chest was my heart was beating wildly. Meanwhile I was flying to Asia with a team of doctors, nurses and firemen. As soon as we arrived we were able to be aware of how very poor these people were, on a regular basis, also before the tsunami came. Now, they had nothing. From then on we decided to stay living where they were, inside the old school building which hadn’t been destroyed at all. So we could take care of their health every 24 hours. Walking along the streets, the view was distressing. The destroyed houses besides the hospital showed the water mark near the roof. We found it difficult to believe! Silence reigned around. Our hospital was formed by three ridge tents. From the first sun light to the night a line of injured and sick people came to ask for treatment, from broken bones six days old… to births. But everyone come with terrible histories to tell about dear people, mostly children, they had lost. Some young boys, who had studied secondary school, were our translators from their language called “Tamil” to English, which fortunately had been basically learnt by everyone at school. But, what about children who were looking into your eyes with their almond dark eyes that didn’t understand nothing or who we were? What about men and women as grateful as resigned, who explained to us how they had injured themselves while they were trying to help their own children? I didn’t know enough English to understand their feelings, to meet their culture, to learn so much about courage… Nowadays I can’t forget those twenty days in the tsunami paradise where my English didn’t let me share emotions. Now, learning in the EOI-Elx, I remember with love that incredible experience. My reason to begin my English studies, my reason to continue working at it.
- 31. Phonetics and classmates by Verónica Chico Gras Language is used by humans as a communication system. This use of language, apart from being used to express feelings and to share information, has become deeply entrenched in human culture. Nowadays, learning languages has a special interest in our society because it brings more job opportunities. This is the main reason why I decided to start learning English at the Official Language School six years ago. Since then, not only have I learnt a new way to communicate, I have met lots of interesting and charming people along the way. At the beginning I was very impressed in my first English course at the Official Language School because I learnt much more English than I thought I could. In spite of the fact that I had studied English in primary and high school, this was the first time that a teacher put special emphasis on pronunciation instead of on grammar. I vividly remember when I spent five minutes trying to pronounce well the word WORK in class. At this school apart from studying a lot of English and learning about curious issues and current affairs, at this school I met a wide variety of people most of whom I shared personal experiences with made me laugh a lot and finally those people and I have become close friends. However, the time I have spent at this school despite being wonderful, did not lack sad moments. Among these, it was the death of my classmate the most terrible experience that I had to go through while studying at this school. I had met her a few months before she passed away when we started 1NI level and we got on well. One day she didn´t come to class because she had flu and two weeks later she died. It was exceedingly harsh for me because her dead was fast and sudden. It made me think that life is very short and therefore I do not have to worry about things that are not worth it. To sum up, studying English brings me a new way to communicate and job opportunities but overall it makes me find a wide variety of interesting and charming people.
- 33. My road to learning English and some party animals I met on the way by Baldo After thinking for a while how to depict in a couple of words my experiences with the languages, I concluded that the most attractive and exciting way would be jogging my FIRST TIMES ENGLISH memories. Probably, as most of my contemporary colleagues, my first contact with a foreign language was in the primary school when I was a child. Being honest, I have poor memories of this period of my life, although I have got to admit that I still keep the books and the related activities of this initial English learning. Thanks to the ‘Comenius’ European educational programme, I was extremely lucky to visit the quaint village of Kirchheim (Sttutgart) in Germany. The Comenius programme aims at improving the language skills of the European students through two-weeks stay in host families. Not only was it the first time I was abroad, but also it was the first time I was more than 200 meters far away from my family protection. Yearning to revive this freedom experience, Kirchheim represented a turning point in my life in which languages and foreign countries mix together.
- 34. Another unforgettable experience took place in Southampton when I was already a university student. It was the first time I traveled on my own, and maybe the lack of self confidence on my English capabilities, or the fact that the residence where I stayed was full of party-loving Spanish people, did not make it a complete language experience at all. Unfortunately, adulthood reached me and such inappropriate behaviour was moved away in my following language experiences in Dublin and Toronto. As can be appreciated in this picture, although I tried to keep my mature promise of meeting other people, studying hard, etc., only some of them were achieved. Being abroad provided me with both the opportunity to meet fantastic people all around the world and the challenge of living under the same roof of hospitable foreign host families. Unhappily, I am not in touch with most of them, but writing these experiences brings me closer to them. EOI Elx represents myn latest English learning experience, and neither my classmates are foreign nor I am living in a host family, but anyway It is also being a memorable period.
- 35. My Phoenix flight by Ana It is amazing how life can change. One day there is something you really do not like, something you hate enough, and is funny seeing how the next day, when you wake up, it becomes part of yourself. That was my beginning with my first foreign language, as you can guess, with English. I can remember my first lessons with this weird and “from outer space” language. When I was 7 the teacher stood up in front of all the students and started to speak as she was possessed. I opened my eyes as much I could, looking at this scene. No one could understand what was happening, moreover understanding what she was saying. Indeed she was speaking English, a -not at all- new language for us. As soon we started learning English we realized that a lot of words we have seen on TV, in magazines or even in the normal life came from English. It was a total surprised! My first steps in this new language were easy: colors, familiar words, verbs, and so on. I was proud of my self saying words in English to my family as part of my progress in the school. But in the next year we came in an upper level. Everything was more sophisticated and complex. Conditionals?, False Friends? Phrasal Verbs? My brain was almost exploding with all such as incomprehensible information. I felt lost as we were given more lessons. And to top it all, all my classmates seemed to learn faster than me. This fact made me lose my interest on the language. I started wondering why we needed to learn English, why it was so important as much as another subject at school -Maybe now it is clear the importance of English, but on these days this language was getting popular in the economic and social aspects- All this confusion plus the fact that I was not able to follow the lessons, made me hate English. Then everything was getting worse as the days went by. I was the last student to answer teacher’s questions; I couldn’t understand any homework we did and therefore my marks were below the pass. The final term arrived and we got our final marks with a big expectation. Except me. I had put a big effort into all the subjects, even English, but actually it was the only I failed. Everybody was enthusiastic showing their pass-marks to their parents, who looked proud to them. And then, in this moment, I felt guilty and
- 36. wretched with my failed-English as it would be a stain in my academic file for the rest of my life. Maybe it can sound excessive, however at this age everything you feel is enormous. Then I felt it, deep in my self, how a little voice told me I could change that. If I quit now I would last forever with this disappointment over my shoulders. It was a mix between my conscience and responsibility which pushed me ahead with English. Then I knew what I should do. I had to face my fears, I ought to scramble over English and show everyone, even myself, I could do it. It would be like a phoenix, I would return from my ashes. While the summer was coming by, I was trying hard to learn by heart a lot of vocabulary, verb forms, grammar, sounds, spelling and pronunciation. But it was even more boring I had supposed. In order to catch my attention I made myself believe it was a game, and behind all this meaningless words was hiding the main clues to find an incredible treasure in a lonely island. And it worked! Days after I surprised myself devouring hundreds of grammar exercises and learning faster new words. When the new academic year began I was extremely nervous and anxious in the same time. It would be worthwhile all my effort during the summer or a complete waste of time? All my doubts were disappeared on my first English lesson. I could understand everything! all the teacher was saying inclusive all the exercises we did. There I could not do anything but smiling. I felt over the moon! My determination to improve my English had had big satisfactory results, and also made me fall in love with the language. My horrible English past marks were now excellent! Then, I became aware that I had learnt something very important, which indeed could be incredible useful in the future: fight for the things you really want, and then, in this moment, no one could stop you to get them.
- 37. I am still looking for this incredible treasure in a lonely island.
- 38. A welcoming Irish host family By Cristina It's true that my first contact with the English was at school, when I was ten years old. I vividly remember the first English class, we were utterly excited and overjoyed because all of us wanted to know some word in English, it was an uncanny and unknown idiom for us. We began learning the numbers and the colours, it was so funny. I still remember that the teacher said us that the pronunciation of the colour “green” was like the the sound of frogs. When I was fifteen, I decided to apply for a grant with which you can travel to Ireland with a group of students who are your same age, guided by two experienced leaders, in order to stay with a family for a month. I got it, and I travelled, my first time alone, I mean, without my parents, to a foreign country for a month! I went to Offaly, Tullamore concretely. It was an unforgettable experience for me, because thanks to experiences like this, you mature incredibly fast and get to be more self-confidence.
- 39. There I stayed in a broken home, with the mother in her thirties whose children were a naughty seven-year-old boy and a lovely ten-year-old girl. They took care of me extremely well. They took and then picked me up wherever and whenever. In addition, when I stay at home, they were always on the lookout for me, in case of I had hungry or I was bored. Rebekah, the girl, always wanted play with me to “dads and moms” with her dolls. It was so chirpy. Staying there, I meet a lot of friends of different points of Spain, and after class, we went out to take a walk, or to go shopping. Every weekend we went hiking to different parts of Ireland, like the capital Dublin, or surrounding cities. It was really funny and satisfying knowing different places. I got on very well with the family, even I called Michelle, the mother, when I was talking with my friends “my mum from here” . However, I missed a lot my real family, my parents, my brothers... So spent the month, the day of parting came, and Rebekah and I cried a lot. Indeed, she gave me a lovely teddy which I appreciated so much and I put it later in my car, where it is since that day. Nowadays, I keep in touch with them, we call each other every year at Christmas in order to congratulate and tell the important things which have happened during the year. Ever since I haven't stopped learn English; first at school, like I've mentioned, then at secondary school, which last year, taught me an excellent teacher who dawned on me a special interest on the English language. From then on I began study English in the Languages School at intermediate level. At the beginning it was so hard for me, because it required a high level of English, but I was so enthusiastic on it. Afterwards, I began the Tourism degree in the University of Alicante and I needed speak fluently English more than ever, so I followed with the Languages School, each year one level higher until nowadays when I am in the last year of advanced level. This is so rewarding for me.
- 40. So that is all about me and the English language, now I hope pass the last exam of the Languages School and get the First Certificate in English too. Finally, I am thinking of applying for another grant in order to improve my English this summer, but I don't know where I'll go... maybe in the next contest I'll tell you about that trip. In the class with my teacher and my best friends of Ireland
- 41. The typical landscape of Ireland
- 42. MY FIRST TRIP ABROAD by RAQUEL MORA ROS. I was in my last year in Secondary school. I had already decided that I will do my degree in Law, although I wasn’t going to do “the selectividad” until few months later. I was going to study at University the following year. However, I didn’t feel like an adult. Over all, because I didn’t have the independence and freedom an adult has. I had a lot of rules and strict discipline at home. On the one hand, though I could go out with my friends, I hated it that I had to meet my father in a place to come back home. I felt ashamed for this. On the other hand, I couldn’t bear it when my mother ordered me which clothes I had to wear to go class every single day. In addition, I couldn’t go to sleep to a friend’s. Maybe, it was the same for everyone. In that age you feel the centre of the world. The thing was that my English teacher, Julia, recommended a scholarship the government awarded and it consisted of spending a month with a host family in England. Loving learning English, travelling, meeting new people and knowing other cultures, I got utterly happy and I decided to take that opportunity in order to improve my English and get on by myself in another country. But, first of all, I had to ask my English teacher to help me to make up my parent’s mind. Amazingly, it worked and a couple of months later I was awarded a scholarship, through which, I was staying for a month in Manchester with a host family. Came the time to travel to Manchester, I was pretty excited because of all the experiences I was going to have and all the people I was going to meet. It also was going to be the first time I was flying and going abroad. I packed my suitcase and I took a coach in Alicante with other students to go to Valencia airport where we caught a plane to fly to London. Having arrived at London airport, we took a coach to go to Manchester, where our host families were waiting for us.
- 43. My host family, the Shah, were from Pakistan and spoke Arabic. They lived in a detached house in a suburb of Manchester, called Chorlton. They were attentive, friendly and kind. I spent wonderful days with them. Another thing is that we had to go to a Secondary school in the morning to learn and improve our English. There, I met marvellous people that I’ll never forget. In addition, we had to go on excursion to different places, such as the Manchester United stadium, the Museum of History, Art galleries and the cities of York and Liverpool. And, we also had time to go shopping in Manchester, to walk round the city, its suburbs and its lovely parks, and go out to many different bars and pubs at night. After few weeks, we could think in English and it wasn´t an effort to articulate our feelings and thoughts in English. To sum up, that was the most incredible, fascinating and fantastic experience I’ve ever had. I felt independent, free, capable to get on by myself, even in English. And, the most important thing, I met wonderful friends, with whom I keep in touch nowadays. We know every special moment that has
- 44. happened in our life. A family affair by Toñi Having started learning languages at an early age, it has been one of my favourite hobbies ever since. I am bilingual in Spanish and Valencian, because it is my mother language. When I was at school, I started learning English until high school. Although there were many years of grammar and study, it was not enough to be fluent in speaking. Apart from English at high school, I took Latin for a year. It was incredibly fascinating being able to understand classical texts , so I enjoyed it.
- 45. Throughout my adult life, I started to learn French. I really have to say that it was easy for me, due to the fact that it is similar in some bits to the Valencian language. In spite of this, I realized that it was more useful for me to improve my English level, mainly at work. When travelling abroad, no matter the place where you are, it is absolutely necessary to have a good knowledge of English. Thus here I am, studying the advanced English level at the “Escuela Oficial de Idiomas”. Furthermore, one of my daughters is here studying the same level, at the same classroom, and with the same nice teacher. Oh my God! and she is doing better than me. In conclusion, what about trying German language next time? My first year at the languages school by Marisa Córcoles Bartolomé Why is important to learn languages? Why do we start to study a foreign language when we are children? That’s because we live in a globalizalised world and we need to come into contact with people from other countries. So, the sooner we begin study idioms the faster we achieve our purpose. Broadly speaking, this is the reason what I decided to continue my English studies at the Official Language School. When I finished Secondary School I went to the university and I stopped studying English. A couple of years afterwards I took up it again and now this is my sixth year at the Official Language School.
- 46. During the last years I’ve known a lot of people and I’ve shared exceptional and unforgettable moments with them. But I remember with especial affection my first year at Official Language School. Our teacher was a young woman and it was the first time she taught. She was stable, good-humoured and attentive. Our group of classmates was very close and as soon as we had the opportunity, we organized a dinner all together with the teacher. We spent an amusing night, having a delicious meal and dancing in a pub. Having had a friendly atmosphere, we celebrated other meetings during the course. When the course finished I felt deeply sad because our teacher couldn’t repeat in the School and most of us probably wouldn’t stay together the following year. Although we couldn’t see each other the next course we stayed in touch and we kept up our friendship. Languages are highly useful to get a job, to go abroad for holidays, to talk with foreign people but in my opinion languages unite people and help make strong relationships and this is the best advantage I’ve felt since I started to learn a language.
- 47. When communication turns into an adventure by Victor According to my experience English is spoken everywhere. In some lands as its native language, in others is the second and in the most of the countries in which another language is spoken, English is known by a vast majority of its inhabitants. For example if we focus on Europe, the Scandinavian have adopted English as a second language as well as other small lands such as the isle of Malta, Holland due to the fact that its language is just spoken in their countries so that its people have more opportunities abroad English is learnt in the school from their childhood. Another case would be Germany or France which are very developed and touristy; hence English is widely spoken too. I admit that in these lands I haven’t had any trouble with my English, but there is another kind of tourism which is passionate, exciting, astonishing, impressive and English or even the own language of those countries are not enough to understand its residents. In Germany there is a blissful and unspoilt place called ¨Spreewald¨ where a strange German-Polish-Czech mixture is spoken owing to that the Polish and Czechoslovakian borders are next to its territory. I remember my experience in Poland where I checked that English was spoken just in hotels. In restaurants I had to point with my finger choosing dishes without knowing what I was asking for. Once they brought raw meat mixed with sauces, for me it looked disgusting. A taxi driver who brought me from Krakow to the Nazi death camp Auschwitz spoke to me in Polish. We tried to understand each other means gestures but our communication was impossible. He stopped his car in a restaurant, I came in with him and the man behind the counter made the translations between us. In the bus station I wanted to know what bus I had to take for Warsaw, but the employee spoke to me only in Polish. I went to the centre of the station and shouted several times ¨somebody can speak English? then a young girl helped with the translation. It was impossible to speak to anybody. Although I addressed them in English, they
- 48. answered me in Polish and in the whole country things were like that. Sometimes I felt desperate. Anyway I attended Mass in the village where the previous Pope was born, theatre plays performed in their language and many other events. I love travelling alone, getting across the native people, doing the same things than them, eating their meals but several times the communication turns into an adventure. Hardly a path of roses by Javier Contreras López I would be glad to say that my way to the Language School has been a path of roses, but reality strikes harder than Rocky Balboa’s punches. Being a child in an adult’s school is not a joyful situation. My, I hope short, run in the Language School started taking the level test for the second year. My father and me, both of which expected me to pass the test and get a place in the Language School, became very disappointed as we saw my test results were not high enough to get one of the few places that were available to enter the school. Not until a week after we started to find out a solution for that problem. It was my father who was really upset but tried to overcome the situation. There was something in the level test that was not fair and was that test results from Language school in Elche weren’t suitable for the one in Crevillente. Seldom do people have the faith needed to keep fighting for what they think is fair, and that’s what my father did. So he was there in Crevillente, talking to the person in charge of Crevillente’s Language School and trying to persuade him to let me enter the school.
- 49. The most amazing thing of this story is that my father achieved it, and sacrificed himself to take me 2 days a week during a year from Elche to Crevillente just because he wanted me to enter the language school.
- 50. OBSESSION BY JORDI Actually, if I am honest with myself, I am not able to forget the precise moments that this obsession began... *** I was only a child walking down a street with his father, who held my hand firmly but carefully. We usually strolled, but that day my father took me to a place where we have not been before. There were a lot of shelves, which house some strange objects that I did not know. Then, shocked by this new discovery, I asked my father where we were and he answered: «It is a library. Here, you can borrow books and read them. It is an incredibly important place, because the books are the keepers of knowledge». I had heard about “books” before but I had not seen so many of them until that instant and, the most important thing: I did not know that they were the knowledge’s keepers. Without asking permission to my father, I approached one of the bookshelves, I caught one of the books and I opened it... The result was really disappointing: there were only sheets covered with black blots. My father noticed my unsatisfied expression and said to me: «These blots are letters and with them we form words. You speak a language, but you don’t know hoe to read. When you go to school, you’ll learn to read and you’ll understand the written words». I felt relieved. If I knew reading, I would comprehend all the wisdom contained in books. *** Time after, my mother and I went to the market. The atmosphere was loaded with a crowd of noises and voices, all mixed with the smells of the fish, the meat and the fruit. Suddenly, near to me, I heard some strange sounds. I was taken aback because I saw a man speaking but I could not understand his words. Immediately, I asked my mother why I was not able to comprehend him and she said to me: «He doesn’t speak our language. He’s a foreigner». I was terribly shocked. Until that moment, I had no idea that more languages, apart of mine, existed. My childish mind could not accept it: «Why? Why are there other languages?» My mother smiled to me, she did not perceive
- 51. my worry but she answered me: «The Bible tells that, long time ago, men tried to build a tower to reach the sky. God got furious because of their pride, so he made that all the builders spoke different languages. As they couldn’t understand themselves, the confusion and chaos reigned and they couldn’t finish their work... Since then, we’re condemned to learn other languages if we want to understand each other...» *** This is mankind’s punishment... The languages in our world are like the stars in a black brilliant night: uncountable. Therefore, my dream and my obsessions is not easy, but I must try it. Maybe, one day, I will know all our languages and I could read all the books and not their treacherous translations. Then, I will be the wisest man.
- 52. The yearned for moment by Ester Gomar When you are a baby, you start to see things in a blurred way and listen to different voices and noises without rhyme or reason. Suddenly, like a ray of light, the knowledge breaks through and the letters join and form syllables, and syllables form words and beautiful sentences which describe the world and their wonders and all the secrets that this planet had been hidden behind each corner. At this point, we’re arriving to the personal part of a universal story. I was very lucky and my soul fell in hot and bright part of an antique vast but run-down empire, dominated by a Latin language, the Spanish, a mean of communication of old-fashioned conquerors or unforgettable artists, of corrupt mayors and folklóricas with an ambiguous sexuality or a place with a rich nature and delicious traditional food. Which is the response? Maybe we can find it inside the heart of everyone of us. In our country, we enjoy an incredibly diversity of societies, all of which have helped to increase our cultural legacy. These circumstances should increase our possibilities, although this doesn't always happen like that. In any case, I’m grateful with the opportunity of being bilingual in the land of the flowers, of the light and of the colour...(I’m only joking). Fortunately, I have a gift for valenciano and this language opened its doors to me. Nowadays, English is my real bugbear and I’m continually trying to improve Shakespeare language although the yearned for magic moment on which the knowledge breaks through, is still quite distant. However, better late than never! Finally, only to add that in a close future I wish I could speak and understand English better and start and increase my goals in other languages. Will I be able to do that? I don’t know, but if I could go back, I would do the same with the languages and I.
- 53. The battle without end by Pilar Quinto It was in 1970 that my tenacious battle against English began when I was only twelve-year-old. In those years during my incipient adolescence English started to be taught in secondary school. Although the Escuela Oficial de Idiomas in Elche already existed it was not since years after that I signed it and I went on learning English only as a subject of the high school and the university, besides I got good marks without any effort because I enjoyed it. Once I had finished my university studies I started immediately to work, I was totally fortunate, otherwise I could not go abroad and improve my basic level of English as I had planned in advance. Nearly three years later I was married and had opened two optician´s shops, as you can imagine it was hardly possible that I could have any chance to study English during this time. When a more relaxing time came my husband and I travelled a lot and I felt the imperious necessity of higher level of English. I signed a private English school for two years, there was where I spoke English in a real conversation first in my life and I vividly remember how nervous I got. Although this school was really good in new technologies of teaching English it was equally expensive and I looked for another cheaper way of learning with which I was given an official recognition as well, it was of course the Escuela oficial de Idiomas. I decided to make the previous exam which contained the first and second level, fortunately I passed it and for the third I attended to That´s English system with those tedious TV programs at seven o´clock in the morning which I had to record by the forgotten and ancient VHS system and then to study them alone. Once again, not without effort I passed my exam. For the fourth everything was completely different from the previous, I was obligated to attend lessons, I could have given up learning English but I did not it and accepted the challenge, it was really difficult for me to continue, seldom had I enough time for lunch. Although I passed my grammar exam, unfortunately I failed the oral one and I had to repeat. As I was used to keeping the pace I continued with my battle and began a new academic year, to make matters worse, suddenly I got pregnant with danger of miscarriage and the doctor said that I must have absolute rest; I was deeply frustrated. The time passed and it even became more difficult to me to return to study English and when my second son was born, it was absolutely impossible. It is said that nothing ventured nothing gained, I was so determined and courageous person that when my older son was nine year old I returned to the Escuela, I was said that there was no vacancy for me, I thought “it does not matter, I will study another language “ that is to say
- 54. that I registered in Arabic. A part from the fact that I was enjoying my new language I missed learning English too. Suddenly, when a month had passed, the director of the studies made me a phone call to tell me that there was a vacancy in Primero de Avanzado, as my old “Cuarto” is known nowadays, I hardly could believe it but a new opportunity of fulfilling my objectives was being given to me. Immediately I went to attend my English lessons, I had thirst of learning and once more I passed my exam. In this level I had a highly efficient and enthusiastic teacher, I will not tell you her name but her name´s first letter is "I ". Fortunately I passed and a new challenge started, this year was definitely the last but unfortunately I failed my Examen de Certificación, in spite of the fact that I had got my ten per cent from my teacher it was not possible. Actually I am repeating and have a really competent and ingenious teacher again whose name ´s first letter is “I” too, so I firmly believe that I will pass my exam. It is important for me to say that the Escuela Oficial de Idiomas has encouraged me to keep up with today´s new technologies and the vast array of activities for learning languages in The Internet because years before it was not as easier than now to buy an English book or to watch an English film. Furthermore the exams and teaching system have been positively pointed towards a more intuitive and useful way of learning a new language.
- 55. Languages and I by Laura Domingo Comes If I have to tell you about languages and I, the first thing I must do is go back to a few years ago. First of all, when I was eighteen, I liked writing a lot; actually, I wanted to be a journalist, but I had to study in a private university and it was very expensive. On the other hand, I had sometimes helped my mates at school to study English since I was twelve years old and, finally, I discovered I loved learning languages at secondary school. A special teacher taught me the most important things I have learnt about how you can love a language and, so far, a culture. I was fascinated by the history of the land where I had been born and, in spite of it not being my family language because I was a Spanish speaker, I decided to study Catalan Philology at university: Spanish language, literature and history were the only ones I have learnt in my life, so I decided it would be a positive change. During five years I discovered it is extremly difficult becoming bilingual, but I knew it is one of the most interesting challenges a person can accept, too. I listened to new sounds and I improved my oral expression day by day. Two years later I felt I wanted to try it with French and I was studying this language, which is very similar to Catalan, for three academic courses; I realized the more languages you know, the easier is learning another one and, lost in these ideas, I returned to English in 2005. I had always liked English a lot when I was at school, so I thought that it would be fantastic increasing my knowledge about this Germanic language. It is supposed I am going to finish my apprenticeship this year but, if I think for a while, I know because of my own experience you never stop learning a language although it is yours. Nowadays I am a teacher working with teenagers who are studying Valencian with me, and this is the amazing fact I hope my pupils understand. In this way, they will enjoy it!
- 56. Languages & me by Rosa Pérez García. If I found a lamp with its genius and I had the chance of making a wish…..One of my wishes would be, the gift of being able to speak all languages. Since I was a child I have always been in love with languages, in fact, in the primary school….when I was 6 or 7 years old, I used to say to my friends that I could speak English & French (of course I made it up)……so arrogant I was, nevertheless one day a new girl came to my school, she came from Switzerland, she spoke French and obviously I didn’t, so I got discovered……..it was terribly embarrassing! It was during the adolescence or as we say in Spanish “the turkey’s age” that suddenly I was deeply keen on music, I loved, still loving, the Irish (U2), they were the main reason why I wanted to learn English. I loved their music but I wanted to know what the messages were about and with my little English-dictionary, I used to spent hours and hours trying to translate the lyrics, of course I did not get the results that I expected but it was great fun. During this period of time I realized that the world was bigger than my village and that there were so many countries to visit, people to meet and things to discover, I needed a tool to cope with and from my point of view, it was the language. I took it seriously and started to go to the School of Languages. Later on, when I was independent enough I started to travel the world and it was magnificent to be able to get in touch with people from all over the world, other cultures, through the language, even if we don’t share the same one, everybody makes an effort and do one’s part. During the time I’ve been taking lessons in the School I’ve met amazing people not only classmates but also teachers, to whom I will always be grateful for their support, and have made good friends with whom I still keep in touch.. Learning a language has been a delightful experience in my life, so that I encourage my daughters, my friends and everybody to learn languages, I find it essential in order to enjoy living in this fortunately multicultural, diverse, amazing world.
- 57. Funny children by Silvia Asencio Moreno Twenty-five years ago there was a ten-year-old child studying at school. So far quite typical, but that young girl was me. I was a very ordinary girl, shier than others but neither more nor less clever than her classmates. On the first day of that new year at school, I was extremely excited (as I was on every first day). I loved changes and doing new things. That’s why I had high expectations about the new year. The new one would be full of challenges and interesting knowledge to acquire. My teacher introduced us to a new classmate. Her name sounded really weird but interesting at the same time. She was French! The first thought that crossed my mind when I saw her was: “Will I get on well with her?”. My excitement was growing and growing. Month by month I felt more and more comfortable with my new friend, She made me feel different, but in a positive way this time. My classmates always wanted to sit beside me when our teacher gave us a test to check how much we knew about the new foreign classmate. This situation made me feel important, a feeling which was totally new to me. That is the reason why our friendship became closer and closer day by day. Nevertheless, I was finishing high school when I realised that our lives had to follow different paths. I bitterly disliked this idea, but I knew that although it was the most important decision I have ever taken, I was forced to do it for my future. I certainly knew my French friend would always be in my mind, and that I could call her whenever I wanted. She will always be there to help me. Thus, after having taken this important decision, I decided to meet other people, to make richer my mind. That’s why I went to a new class (remember how much I loved changes) to meet a new friend, an English one this time. As my teacher introduced us to our new friend, I began to feel more and more uncomfortable. She spoke in strange, difficult words. I thought I’d never be able to understand her, so I missed my old French friend even more than ever, asking myself why I’d let her go. Anyway, the decision was taken and I had to go ahead.
- 58. The then little child, today a woman, is still trying to get on with the strange English friend. The relationship is not as close and as comfortable as the one I had with my older French friend. Nevertheless, after six years of an intense, awkward relationship, I know I have to make one final effort and finish this year to openly say that I have done the best I can with my English friend. My hopes slowly decrease because being her friend requires so much time. Despite this, I’ll fight with all my strength to the end to achieve my goal. To finish the story I have to say that I know the end is coming soon and, if I reach my objective, I’ll know that my two friends will stay in my mind forever, helping me to be able to communicate with people wherever I go, all over the world.
- 59. Music inspired me to learn by Fernando Language is a way of communicate between us. It is in our life since we get born, and we learn it with the pass of the time. In my case, I have learnt 3 different languages. Spanish, English and Valencian. Spanish is my native language, because all my family (except my grandfather) speaks Spanish. I learned English and Valencian at school, and as I said, my grandfather speaks most of the time in Valencian. When I was young, I was good at English, and I always play videogames in English, because there was almost none in Spanish. With the help of an Oxford Spanish/English dictionary, I started to feel interest and going beyond English school lessons. Later, I started to enjoy music in English, especially bands like Oasis, The Beatles, Coldplay, Muse, The Killers... so every day I listen the English language and I keep going with English. When I travelled out of Spain, I had no problem with languages thanks to English. Most of people can speak English and can help you when you have to ask for monuments, restaurants, or something typical about the place.
- 60. Curiosity lead me to languages by Cristina Maestre Pomares As a child I always spend the summer holidays on the sea with my family. At home, we couldn’t afford to travel abroad like families often do today, so the opportunity to get in touch with others languages was hardly ever available. Only until the development of tourism in that region of Spain, Alicante began. I remember how fascinated I was by all those people who were speaking bizarre next to me. I couldn’t understand how their childrens didn’t use the same words as I did. I wondered why they call the usual things with all those extrange words. The most amazing thing was that eventhough we didn’t speak the same language, we invariably managed to have a good time together on the beach. This experience in my childhood has always aroused my curiosity for others languages and cultures. The result of that was that throughout fourteen years I was living in foreign lands. First of all I went to England where I spent four hazy years. At first I just wanted to spare a few weeks there, the time to enjoy learning a bit of English. I had just finished my studies at the university and I didn’t have any perspective of work in the short-term. I thought it was a good moment to live my fantasy of living abroad on my own. As I believed in my childhood I thought that communication will be flowing in a very short time. However, once there, I saw how my dream was shattered. During the first three months I refused to admit the need of academic help. I expected to learn only by talking to other people. Soon I plunged in a turbulent state of mind. I couldn’t follow the conversation around me and when someone talked to me directly I couldn’t avoid to seem disturbed by my lack of words: I felt slow and stupid.
- 61. My character became moody and I felt into depression. I had to react if I wanted to survive and finally I went to an English school. Once I started in the English school the black became blue and I began enjoying my time in England for the first time since I arrived. Later on I was living in France where I spent ten years of my life. But that was another experience and another history I’ll tell you next time.