Blog Post 6: English Language Challenges

 

It's amazing how time goes so fast, I'm finishing this level of English and it passed very quickly.

I think it's a little difficult to say about my general experience learning English at the university, because due to the pandemic I did the first level completely online, and this semester we had a few face-to-face English classes, but then we returned to the online modality. Definitively, the online experience is more difficult than learning the language in face to face, when having online classes it is more difficult to concentrate because of the distractions of the house or the bad connection. In contrast, from the experience with the face-to-face classes this year, I feel that I learned much more than last year, I also feel more involved with the course, and I had a lot of fun.

With respect to the use of blogs, I consider it an innovative strategy to evaluate knowledge, since it differs from the typical classroom test with paper and pencil answering questions. I also found it very interesting that for each blog there are different topics in which we can express different ideas, preferences, and perceptions. 

Despite the good experience of this year, I consider that I still have a lot to learn about the language. Especially what I find most difficult is to speak in English, since I usually feel insecure not knowing the translation of all the words that I would like to express, and consequently I get blocked and end up avoiding speaking in the language. To get better I think it is very important to keep practicing, maybe a good idea would be to practice with someone I trust so I don't feel insecure. However, I still don't have any concrete plans on how to continue improving my communication in English.

Finally, I have to admit that in general I don't use English outside of class. This is because the people I usually interact with do not speak the language well to use it constantly. I also don't usually watch movies or listen to music in English, because I feel that I don't enjoy watching movies in English, and with respect to music, my preferences are really more in Spanish music.