Hi class!!! Nice and cold today, ah!!!
Before you read the short story by Lucy Honig, please post an entry on the blog about how you feel when you speak the second language, or a special experience you remember in which you felt a certain way when you had to use English as a means of communication.
Deadline: before Tuesday 12 June.
Enjoy reading this touching story.
Hi guys!! Well, I have to say that, despite I like the English language, I don't feel too much comfortable speaking it with a native speaker. I feel I have a lot of things to improve while speaking, for example pronunciation, intonation and fluency, so it's a bit embarrassing for me to speak in front of a native. But at the same time I want to become more proficient in the language and I know that the only way to achieve this is speaking and taking advantage of every opportunity that we have to use English.
ResponderEliminarHi everybody! Well, as Roci says, it's hard to get comfortable while speaking with a native speaker. Nonetheless, I try not to ckicken out, because it's the only way I can improve.
ResponderEliminarI realized that no matter how much vocabulary or grammar you learn if you don't set in motion to use it and improve it, learning is worthless.
Many times I feel dissapointed because I think I'm doing my best but actually I'm making a lot of mistakes. Yet, I have to bare in mind that no one is going to do the work for me.
Having Stacey here last year, gave me more confidence and I tried not to focus my mind on what structures I was using or how I was speaking... I tried to go with the flow. Obviously, I was very grateful for Stacey's tips and pieces of advice.
I think our aim (to learn English) will always set us further goals and achievements we would like to gain, but we do not have to feel discouraged by this. I also have to always bare in mind that I'll never speak like a native speaker, but that will not bar me from keep trying to do my best ;)
Hi girls! I must say that I sometimes feel embarrassed and uncomfortable while speaking with a native because I feel that they are going to think things like.."oh! her grammar is sooo bad!" although, I know that what they really want is to help me, so I try to forget about that and do my best to learn everything I can from them since that is the only way to become masters in the language.
ResponderEliminarHi everybody!! Well, when I speak our second language, I feel really great, but also embarrassed and quite uncomfortable at the same time, because I know I make a lot of mistakes and also because sometimes I cannot find the correct words to express what I want to say, although I know I have to give a try and speak in English, and not in Spanish, as I frequently do! :( However, despite our difficulties to use the language, we have the teachers, and occasionally a native speaker, to correct us and help us improve our English, so we are very lucky!! Don’t we? ;)
ResponderEliminarOnce I had to use English as a mean of communication, and it was amazing because, on the one hand, that was mi first experience with the language, and on the other hand, I was in Bariloche!! That was something really special because my schoolmates told me to ask the native speakers all kind of questions, so I was a kind of interpreter!! They told me to ask them about what they knew about Argentina, if the liked it or not, and why; if they knew Messy and Maradona, that was very fanny! They were crazy! Haha. Although I did not know so much about the language, about pronunciation most of all, I could communicate quite well, and I was proud of myself because I did my best!!
Dear Rocío, Vicky, Mailén and Laura: thank you for your comments. To reflect upon how we feel when we speak a second or foreign language will help us as students and as teachers too. It will also give a deeper interpretation of the story we will be discussing in class next week.
ResponderEliminarHi everybody! As the girls said, when speaking English I also feel embarrased and not so confident because it is difficult for me to focus on both pronunciation and structure, so I made lots of mistakes.. Despite this, I´m aware that it´s natural to feel in that way since we are learning to speak a second language, and it´s not an easy task!
ResponderEliminarI remember that 2 years ago I had to speak to a native speaker so as to help a friend of mine. He has a girlfriend, who is also my friend, and she, at that time was in a city in the USA. It was Valentine´s day and he wanted to send her some flowers, so we got a telephone number from a shop in the USA and I was the one who had to phone (because my friend doesn´t speak any English). I did call to the shop, and then I didn´t know what to say, and as the girl didn´t understand me, she hung up. Some minutes later, I tried again, calmer, and hopefully I could tell her what I needed. Finally, my friend received a great surprise that day! What an embarrasing situation!
Have a nice weekend!
In spite of being afraid, you finally achieved your goal!! Way to go!
EliminarHi everybody.
ResponderEliminarI have to say that I feel the same way you feel while speaking English with a native speaker, but I also feel another things which I consider more important than fear, shame and embarrassment. I know I don't speak English in the best way, that my pronunciation is weak and that I tend to get really nervous when I have to speak my mind in English. However, those feelings seem to vanish when I realize I’m having a conversation in English with another person, either with a teacher, a mate or a native speaker and that that person can actually understand me. If feel so proud of myself, so self-satisfied, because it was so hard for me to get to know everything I know, and to achieve these confidence and willingness, that I can’t help feeling I have a fulfilled life. And that is precisely what keeps me going despite all the setbacks and what makes me want to learn more English and practice it and study it. I do all these things to get that wonderful feeling of accomplishment I get when I succeed in getting my message across and when I notice I understand every word someone is saying.
Virgi, it is soooo good that you can appreciate your achievements and have them as fuel that will give you energy to go on learning and working hard! It is a wonderful feeling when you can communicate in a language other than your own! keep going!
EliminarWell, concerning English as a second language, I've never had any experience in which I had to use it as a means of communication. I must say that I feel so ashamed and embarrassed when I have to speak in class, and even more when I have to do it with a native speaker. I don't know why I feel like that, maybe because I am not so confident about myself, or because I know that I still have to improve on certain things such as pronunciation, and above all vocabulary. Anyway, I will take advantage of all the oportunities that present to me in order to progress in English language.
ResponderEliminarGina, all of us have areas in our lives in which we still need to work to feel confident. Besides, it doesn't matter how long you've been learning and speaking a language, we all make mistakes probably and have lots to learn. In fact, the more I learn the more I realize how much I still have to go! Make a real effort to use the language in class and you'll gain confidence little by little.
EliminarHi everybody! Well, as you have just said, it’s not easy to speak with a native speaker, because we tend to feel a bit nervous and we fear of making a lot of mistakes. But, the fact is that the only way of improving our communication is to try to overcome our fears and give our language free rein. I believe it’s a matter of gaining self-confidence, the more confident we feel speaking English, the more we’ll enjoy it.
ResponderEliminarLast year, we had a wonderful experience with Stacy. She was really nice and helped us a lot. The first time I met her alone was strange for me, because I had never had the opportunity of speaking with a native speaker before, but after several meetings I started gaining confidence little by little and I ended up loving meeting her, we had so many things to talk about!
So, in the end, meeting a native speaker is an enjoyable and fruitful experience.
Hi Jose! YOu're absolutely right! The more your speak the greater confidence you'll get! I am glad you had a good experience with Stacy. Do you keep in touch with her? That is also a good way of enhancing your writing!
EliminarLiliana, yes! I try too keep in touch with her, we always meet on Facebook, and it's very funny when we "chat" because we want to say many things at the same time... and we overlap comments because we want to tell everything in 5 minutes haha!
EliminarAnd I also have some friend living in Canada, but they are from Argentina.Even though it's great because they always share their experiences with me, sending me photos and all that... and now that I'm studying English, we share certain knowledge, etc. It's really nice!
Hi girls!! I go along with what you have said about feeling quite nervous while speaking English in front of a native speaker. Despite all these sensations that make us feel that we have to do a lot in order to improve our level of proficiency, I feel great proud because of being able to share some ideas with a foreigner.
ResponderEliminarI believe that having conversations with them help us not only to practice grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation and all that, but also to gain some confidence in order to speak more fluently. As a learner, I had great opportunities to meet native speakers from different countries such as: USA, New Zeland and Switzerland and in that way practice my English. I keep wonderful memories from the conversations I used to have with them because in most of the cases they end up being my friends. The nicest part of this is that I´m usually keep in contact with them despite distance, we have something in common that will join us forever and that is English ♥
Mavi, it's just so wonderful that you keep in touch with your foreign friends! That's certainly an excellent way to foster friendship, understanding of people and another culture and undoubtly, a very good practice for you! Way to go!!
EliminarHi, girls!
ResponderEliminarI feel identified with what most of you have said. I always remember when I started studying English. I was about 9 years old and I found it really fun learning the language since the very beginning. Several years have passed, and in the present the situation is very different for me. Many times I feel that the more I learn the less I know. I think it’s because I know a lot of vocabulary and I’ve advanced through language levels, but frequently I find very hard to put what I think into words. However, whenever I speak the language I feel self-confidence and eager to improve in many aspects such as fluency, pronunciation or intonation, as well as in other aspects of life.
Luciana, if you're eager to improve I am suer you'll work hard enough to go on learning throughout your life, not only English but about "the art of living and enjoying life"!! Way to go! Keep makingz the effort because it pays off.
ResponderEliminar