【講師コラム】メル講師　No.11～My Wondrous Journey of Becoming Bilingual～

オンライン英語スクール Englishbuds 管理人 Mommy Kayo です。

今日は金曜日♪

メル講師によるコラムをお届けします(^^)

各講師の英語習得体験談を聞くコーナーも

今回で４回目となります。

さて、メル講師はどのように英語を身に付けてきたのでしょうか。

是非お読みください♪

Hello again, Mommies and Daddies!!! How are things going with you all?.. Aahhh, it’s 2021!!! Ironic how time in 2020 seemed to slip away even with the world was on pause. I read somewhere that that’s the trick of time itself: the days are long, but the weeks and months are short. The years are even shorter.
Anyway, how is your 2021? Everyone has taken a beating in some ways last year. Our conscious and unconscious minds are still coming to terms with the full impact of this instability – individually and collectively… So, I sincerely do hope that this year will be kinder, more peaceful, more prosperous, and a whole lot better to all of us…
Today, I would like to share my journey to learning English from when I was a little girl… I hope that my story would somehow inspire you as you guide your precious little ones in learning English…
I have always been super interested in learning English since I was small. Back then, materials for learning English were very limited, especially for a girl from a normal family, like me. I did not have many books then so I would always go to this abandoned classroom where all the old books were kept at my elementary school. The door was chained, so I would always get in through the broken windows of that room. My classmates told me that there was this huge phantom in that old room. That scared the living lights out of me, so I would always grab English books and jump out of the window in a flash every time I went there. My sister, Teacher Madel, was only 1 year old at that time. She really was a scary, grumpy little baby girl then, but she loved me too much (she still loves me very much now, hehe), plus she was super cute and chubby, and she loved it a lot whenever I was reading her stories. I guess she really liked the pictures in the pages of the books. I can still clearly remember our favorite books that time: Henny Penny and The Ugly Duckling. So, I can say that Madel was my first student, hehehe (a fierce one).
Singing has also greatly contributed in improving my English. I really, really love singing!!! When I was a little girl, I joined and won several singing contests. I don’t know why, but I only knew one or two Filipino songs when I was small. I would always try to copy the way those singers sang and the way they pronounced each word in the lyrics of the songs I used for the competition. That, I think helped a lot in improving my pronunciation.
Watching TV or BETAMAX (there weren’t CDs or DVDs yet back then) were considered a luxury in our neighborhood when I was really small. So, I did not get to watch a lot of movies or TV programs in English or even in Filipino then. I did not have many English books either. That was why I would always go to our school library during lunch break to read some story books, both in English and Filipino. Luckily, when I was about 10, we were able to buy our own television. You can’t imagine how delighted I was that I could finally watch Disney cartoons and movies that time. But it was the CNN news channel that really caught my young mind and interest. I repeatedly watched CNN news and mimicked the way the reporters were speaking. My young self began to dream of becoming a news reporter someday.
I used to have this voice recorder. Everyday, that right, EVERYDAY, I would choose one news article from a newspaper and read it aloud, trying my best to sound like one of those CNN reporters while recording it. Then, I would listen to my recorded voice again and again.
In high school, I became very active in debates in our English classes. I also participated in various English essay writing activities. And when I was in the University, I became a member of our university school paper organization which was called “THE GAZZETE”. I also actively participated in class debates and joined declamation contests when I was a university student. These experiences honed my English skills, I must say…
Learning a foreign language is never easy. It takes time, effort, patience, and perseverance… Just like any other, I struggled a lot to get better at English, too. But I had a vision. A clear vision of myself speaking English in the future. That vision never faltered.
In my journey to honing my English skills, I learned that if you really want to improve your English, LEARN EVERY DAY, PRACTICE EVERY DAY… Regularity is what creates momentum, and momentum is what accelerates learning. Learn every day even for at least 30 minutes. Some days you’ll do a little more, some days you’ll do a little less, but that doesn’t matter. Just keep learning every day, and whatever you do, don’t ever break the cycle. And don’t forget to track your progress.
Oh, and one more thing, always remember that it is okay to make mistakes with your grammar, pronunciation or spelling. Don’t feel bad when we get corrected. Just don’t forget to make sure that you correct your mistakes. I believe that we also learn a lot from making mistakes and by correcting them.
That it from me today, wonderful Mommies and Daddies… Thank you for sparing your precious time to read my entry. Thank you soooooooooo very much for letting Englishbuds be a part of your brilliant little ones English journey… Thank you for all your trust and understanding. We will do our best to make their English journey FUN, EXCITING, MEMORABLE, and WORTHWHILE…
It has been almost 6 years since Mommy Kayo and I established Englishbuds… Our Englishbuds family has gotten soooooo much bigger. Thank you all for being with us all through these years… Thank you, Mommies and Daddies… Thank you, thank you sooooooooooooo very much, Mommy Kayo for all your hard word and sacrifices… Thank you for always being there to guide me… (ADVANCE) Happy Anniversary, Englishbuds!!! Cheers to more years of incredible and amazing English journey to us…