SLA

DISCLAIMER

You're about to witness the apotheosis of Blogger editing. By watching past this point you accept that I cannot be legally prosecuted for any injury that may occur, due to hardcore blogspot addiction. Once you realize that Blogger is flawless in every aspect, doing anything but writing will seem pointless.

No, I wasn't paid by blogger to write that introduction

Everyone has his/her own way of learning. A different pace, different strategies, different everything. And when it comes to talk about my process of learning English, it gets confusing. Not because English is confusing; how I got to learn it is what puzzles me.

People say that if you start from the beginning, stories get way easier to tell. Not my case, but here we go.

I remember learning my first words in English when I was three. I was watching Tom and Jerry with my parents and when the chapter ended, the words "The end" appeared on the screen, and I asked them "The end" means "el fin"? They said yes, and there wasn't much more to say.

I realized later (way later) that I was able to get the meaning of those words without anyone explaining me. Was it logic? Was it subconscious  learning? I'll never know.

Then, some years later, a famous card game, based on a TV series, appeared in Argentina. The original card deck was in English, and I used to play with my cousins, but they couldn't get a single word, so I sat and translated, dictionary in hand, card by card (of course, I conveniently twisted the meaning of the words in order to win). This was when I was eight.

Two years later, music and videogames were the trend in my 2x2 cubicle called room, and everything was in English. Not because my parents intendedly got me stuff in English, but because it seemed more original to me. At this time, I wasn't fully conscious that I could understand pretty much everything within simple structures in these games or songs without having anything but colours in English at school. So I assumed everyone would learn just like me.

Then, the messenger era started. My sister had added a guy in Sweden, "Alexander Johannson" and used to talk to him. He was eleven, and so was I, and since my sister didn't know a single word in English, I had to sit and write to him what she wanted to say.

And finally, what paved the road to the teachers training college - along with music and videogames - was Omegle. This site -not advisable for everyone - is a videocalling site where you can talk to anyone in the world, as long as you have a webcam. I found myself talking in English with people in India, Switzerland, Romania, and many other countries. It was a great experience, and I still keep some friends from those times.

So why am I writing this?

First, because I have a working keyboard. Second, because I am not used to be proud of myself, but this is the exception; I never dealt with any topic at school that wasn't present simple or loose vocabulary, and still, I was able to start this career. Third, and I really hope this doesn't sound arrogant, but I think, looking back at my process, that I was luckily able to really acquire the language, since no one taught me until I got in the prof and I was able to handle it properly.