What are your experiences as new English speakers

[tarantism]

Hello everyone,

I am taking a course at my University called "Teaching English as a Second Language," and I was hoping some of my fellow Ubunteros could help me with my latest assignment.

For those of you who are not native English speakers, I have a list of interview questions that I'll list below. It would be really great if you could give me a response to one or two of the questions (or all if you would like). It could be specific to your involvment with free software, or your general experiences learning to speak English.

Thank you everyone for your help!
Tara Chambers

General Information:

How old are you?
Where were you born?
What is your first language (the language you learned at home as a child)?
What other language(s) do you speak?


Education:

Did you attend school in your home country? For how many years?
What is your level of Education
When did you begin learning English?
Did you begin learning English in school or outside of a classroom (neighborhood, gym, playground etc.)?
Have you ever had an English language class, either in your home country or elsewhere?

[Dual Cortex]

General Information:
1. I'm 16
2. I was born in Villavicencio (Meta), Colombia
3. My first language was Spanish
4. I speak English... and I'm learning Italian

Education:
1. I attended school from pre-kinder to 5th grade (finished 5th grade in Colombia). A total of 8 years (prek + K + transcicion + 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5)
2. My level of education? - I'm still in high school - 11th grade ... though I'm in a dual enrollment school.
3. I began to 'really' learn English on (estimated date) July of 2001.
4. At school... pretty much.
5. Yes I had English classes at my home country, but you know... those were classes for children and we pretty much learned 'easy' vocab (gallina = hen, ventana = window, techo = roof lapiz = pencil ... and of course the numbers in English)


Recommendations = spelling.

[CPtAJ]

General Information:

1. How old are you? - 21
2. Where were you born? - Caracas, Venezuela.
3. What is your first language (the language you learned at home as a child)? - Spanish
4. What other language(s) do you speak? - A little japanese and english, obviously.


Education:

1. Did you attend school in your home country? For how many years? - Yes. I've always received my education in this fine country.
2. What is your level of Education? - Currently attending law school.
3. When did you begin learning English? - 4th Grade.
4. Did you begin learning English in school or outside of a classroom (neighborhood, gym, playground etc.)? - In school.
5. Have you ever had an English language class, either in your home country or elsewhere? - Aside from the ones in highschool? None.


Hope that helps. I also teach English as a second language as a part-time job ;)

[tarantism]

Hello,

Thank you so much for your prompt response! If you don't mind I would like to keep asking you questions about your experience with learning English. If you do not have time or simply are not interested I completely understand. If you are interested, here are some more questions:

1) Are you required to take English classes in your country?
2) What problems did you have with learning English?
3) Do you consider yourself fluent in English? If so, do you still have problems with some of the language?
4) Do you like the English language (you may not have an opinion on this one). I'm just interested in whether or not you like the language itself. Many people think it is an ugly language and needlessly complex. What are your thoughts on English.
5) How useful is knowing English in your country? Do your parents/peers speak English?
6) What inspired you to learn English? Did you only learn it to fulfill a requirement for school?

Thank you so much for you time.

-T. Chambers

[mips]

General Information:
1. How old are you? - 33
2. Where were you born? - Durban, South Africa.
3. What is your first language (the language you learned at home as a child)? - Afrikaans
4. What other language(s) do you speak? - English(fluent), Dutch(Read&Understand), Zulu(not to good)


Education:

1. Did you attend school in your home country? For how many years? - Yes. 12yrs
2. What is your level of Education? - 3yr Degree
3. When did you begin learning English? - Age 5
4. Did you begin learning English in school or outside of a classroom (neighborhood, gym, playground etc.)? - Preschool, the school was English and I had to adapt to the rest of the people.
5. Have you ever had an English language class, either in your home country or elsewhere? - English is a compulsory subject throughout school until Grade 12. After that it might be a requirement for further education (University etc) as well.

[Jiganto]

General Information:

1. How old are you? - 20
2. Where were you born? - Minsk, Belarus
3. What is your first language (the language you learned at home as a child)? Russian
4. What other language(s) do you speak? English, Spanish


Education:

1. Did you attend school in your home country? For how many years? 3.5
2. What is your level of Education Soph. in Uni.
3. When did you begin learning English? 9 years old
4. Did you begin learning English in school or outside of a classroom (neighborhood, gym, playground etc.)? At school
5. Have you ever had an English language class, either in your home country or elsewhere? In home country, I studied English for a year (didn't learn much).

[[h2o]]

General Information:
How old are you?
22

Where were you born?
Sweden

What is your first language (the language you learned at home as a child)?
Swedish

What other language(s) do you speak?
English, german, and japanese.



Education:
Did you attend school in your home country? For how many years?
Yes. 9 years of obligatory primary school. 3 years "college". Now on my 3rd year on the university, having 3 more to go.


What is your level of Education
Currently studying for a Master of Engineering in Computer Engineering. This year however I am studying japanese.

When did you begin learning English?In the 3rd or 4th grade.

Did you begin learning English in school or outside of a classroom (neighborhood, gym, playground etc.)?I played computer games so I had seen the language before starting to learn it at school.

Have you ever had an English language class, either in your home country or elsewhere? English was mandatory from grade 3-4 to 12. I have also taken one course in english at the university.

[[h2o]]

1) Are you required to take English classes in your country?Yes
2) What problems did you have with learning English? I have problem with some of the sounds (mainly "th" being a PITA)
3) Do you consider yourself fluent in English? If so, do you still have problems with some of the language?Fluent, yes. Problems, see above.
4) Do you like the English language (you may not have an opinion on this one). I'm just interested in whether or not you like the language itself. Many people think it is an ugly language and needlessly complex. What are your thoughts on English.I don't thin it's ugly, but not very pretty either
5) How useful is knowing English in your country? Do your parents/peers speak English?Very useful. University studies more or less require that you know english since much of the literature is written in it. My parents speak english as well. I'd estimate that more or less everyone younger than 60 speaks english here. Quality may differ though.
6) What inspired you to learn English? Did you only learn it to fulfill a requirement for school?I got hooked on computers early, and knowing english is in that field is more or less mandatory I'd guess.

[Dual Cortex]

1) Are you required to take English classes in your country?
Yes


2) What problems did you have with learning English?
None


3) Do you consider yourself fluent in English? If so, do you still have problems with some of the language?
Yes I consider myself fluent, but sometimes words don't seem to come out of my mouth when I speak :|


4) Do you like the English language (you may not have an opinion on this one). I'm just interested in whether or not you like the language itself. Many people think it is an ugly language and needlessly complex. What are your thoughts on English.
I think it's fine, just don't like how letters have so many different sounds and you can't really tell a word's pronunciation unless someone who knows it shows you.


5) How useful is knowing English in your country? Do your parents/peers speak English?
In Colombia, knowing English is considered something extraordinary! In Colombia, school goes up to 11th grade only. Sometimes, lucky students come to the US and take 12th grade. To make this understandable, in American standards, it's like going to an ivy league school.


6) What inspired you to learn English? Did you only learn it to fulfill a requirement for school?
I had to learn it because... I'm in the US!

[MedivhX]

General Information:

1. I'm 14
2. I was born in Prizren (Kosovo, Serbia)
3. Serbian
4. French a bit (and Croatian, and Bosnian LOL!!!)


Education:

1. I'm elementary school student 8th grade (that's middle school in foreign countries)
2. /
3. 6 years ago (when I was 9 years old), in school, and much earlier on TV
4. School, TV
5. Nope... Only in school... But those were useless... i learned the most over Tv (watching TV series)

[tarantism]

Thank you everyone for responding to my questions! You all have very interesting experiences.

The most interesting thing I think is the fact that most of you learned English at a young age. I only had to take 2 years of a foreign language in high school and 2 semesters of a foreign language in college. I took French in high school and college and I have a very limited understanding of it. At best I might be able to communicate at a very low level.

I think it is unfortunate that most Americans do not begin to learn a foreign language until high school. I know if we started at an earlier age we would be a lot more successful with it.

I have some more questions for you all. If you have any spare time I would love for you to tell me more about your experiences with learning English.

1) What do you remember most from your English classes? Did you enjoy them? Do you think your teachers were effective?
2) What types of activities did you do in your English classes? What methods were the most effective for you?
3) Did you read any British or American literature in your English classes?
4) What was hardest for you when learning English: listening (comprehension), writing, speaking or reading? Why?
5) What language do you use to communicate with your family? Friends? Co-workers?
6) If you moved to the United States from your native country, why did you do so?

Thanks again for your time!

[Dual Cortex]

1) I just remember learning vocabulary and a tiny bit of grammar.

2) My English ESL classes were very, very bad. Except for my ESL class in 7th grade (Where I learned some useful vocab) the rest were a waste of time. I have not experienced yet a good learning style but actual oral communication.

3) I am reading old English literature and I do not like it. It's very complex in the sense that they use lots of words that even seem to contradict each other.

4) I AM having a hard time with my AP English class. My vocabulary isn't that extended (idioms,
adjectives - especially idioms! they give me a hard time on English literature) so my writing isn't as descriptive, poetic, and full of figures of speech as my teacher demands.

5) I communicate with my family in Spanish. If the person speaks English well and prefers it over Spanish, I talk to him/her in English.

6) I moved here because of security reasons involving the Colombian guerrilla.

[CPtAJ]

1) Are you required to take English classes in your country? - Most schools have mandatory english classes but they are mindnumbingly basic. Its rarely regarded as a serious class. However, my school was very English-intensive.
2) What problems did you have with learning English? - None that merit a particular mention. Its a pretty easy language compared to spanish in my opinion. (No accentuation FTW)
3) Do you consider yourself fluent in English? If so, do you still have problems with some of the language? - Very much so. And yeah, theres still a couple of areas on which I'd like to have better vocabulary. But nothing particularly important.
4) Do you like the English language (you may not have an opinion on this one). I'm just interested in whether or not you like the language itself. Many people think it is an ugly language and needlessly complex. What are your thoughts on English. - I actually find it easier, as I said before. I guess that means I like it >_>
5) How useful is knowing English in your country? Do your parents/peers speak English? - Very useful. It will often guarantee you a job offer even if you're not the most qualified for it. My father speaks english, my mother doesnt. Very few of my friends do.
6) What inspired you to learn English? Did you only learn it to fulfill a requirement for school? - Videogames. Try playing imported RPGs and you'll understand >_>

1) What do you remember most from your English classes? Did you enjoy them? Do you think your teachers were effective? - Yeah, I enjoyed them. They made an effort to add a little entertainment to them. Sometimes we'd watch movies and such. Yeah, they were very effective in giving me the basics which later allowed me to learn on my own (However I did NOT get to be "fluent" because of the classes alone. It took a lot of wasted hours in IRC chat rooms and multiplayer games)
2) What types of activities did you do in your English classes? What methods were the most effective for you? - Well, before highschool they had a very clever system for us. Every "official" spanish class was mirrored by a similar english version later in the day. For instance, you'd see Venezuelan history in spanish early in the morning and later in the day you'd see American history in english.
3) Did you read any British or American literature in your English classes? - A little. Most of my reading I did on my own (Douglas Adams taught me to appreciate english literature)
4) What was hardest for you when learning English: listening (comprehension), writing, speaking or reading? Why? - Speaking ofcourse. Mainly because I was afraid of sounding like an idiot.
5) What language do you use to communicate with your family? Friends? Co-workers? - Spanish. Sometimes, if a friend knows english, I'll use that so others wont understand what I'm saying (You'd be amazed how often this comes in handy)
6) If you moved to the United States from your native country, why did you do so? - I didnt.

[chaosgeisterchen]

General Information:
How old are you?
Where were you born?
What is your first language (the language you learned at home as a child)?
What other language(s) do you speak?

Education:
Did you attend school in your home country? For how many years?
What is your level of Education
When did you begin learning English?
Did you begin learning English in school or outside of a classroom (neighborhood, gym, playground etc.)?
Have you ever had an English language class, either in your home country or elsewhere?


1.
I am 18 years old.

2.
The city of Linz in Upper Austria but living in Kefermarkt, a small village in the same state.

3.
As everyone else in our country I was taught German ('lower German', a quite rude dialect which I now strongly reject).

4.
We are taught French but I never managed to dive into it any deeper than necessary to pass year for year. In fact I am a rather bad French speaker.

-----

1.
I attended primary school, grammar school in Upper Austria, the former in Kefermarkt, the latter in Freistadt. I am now attending business school, also located in the city of Freistadt.

2.
As I already said I am attending business school and have now reached the last of the five years. I am expected to surpass my final examination next summer...

3.
As everyone I was taught a little bit of English during primary school but the real education began in grammar school. I was rather bad at English the first few years.

4.
School kinda forced me to learn English at first. I would have never thought of learning it any further by myself.

5.
Once, when we were on language experience week in Ireland. It was great to talk to native speakers and it temporarily improved my English skills quite a lot. I was never ever as capable of using English as during this week in Ireland.

-----

I hope I answered your questions right according to the information you wanted to get from me. You see I have quite a lot problems to express myself but I hope this will wane with the years.

[chaosgeisterchen]

1) What do you remember most from your English classes? Did you enjoy them? Do you think your teachers were effective?
2) What types of activities did you do in your English classes? What methods were the most effective for you?
3) Did you read any British or American literature in your English classes?
4) What was hardest for you when learning English: listening (comprehension), writing, speaking or reading? Why?
5) What language do you use to communicate with your family? Friends? Co-workers?
6) If you moved to the United States from your native country, why did you do so?

Thanks again for your time!

Second part.

1.
It was very effective as we were solely surrounded by Irish native speakers. It was so great.. I wish I would got to know some native English speakers 'round here.

2.
The mere conversation about this and that was the most effective way of learning English. Using it will ever stay the best way of learning it.

3.
In fact it was more Irish ;)

4.
It's still speaking and writing. Understanding is not such a problem but expressing oneself with only a quite limited range of vocabulary can really be a super hard task.

5.
Solely German. The low-leveled German dialect I already mentioned. I reject it but I am force to use it. Well, I have to admit that it's the easiest way to communicate, though. I learned it throughout all my childhood.

6.
I am still living in Austria.