Following the instructions for this week’s blog post, please provide your answer to the questions on linguistic background, reported English use, and self-reported competence/comfort in English as a (first or second) language.
Week 2: Your English User Profile
World Englishes at UPRM 
It’s hard to describe my English learning experience because I started learning it ever since I was a small child. Despite being born and raised in Puerto Rico, I have always been exposed to the English language since I was born. My parents both knew English and I would watch TV, movies and read in English since before I could remember.
Because of this, in school English classes came naturally to me. My group of friends and I would even talk English with ourselves both in and out of the school when hanging out. This would give me an advantage when in the U.S., since it allowed me to be able to speak comfortably with native English speakers. To this day, I still even code-switch between both English and Spanish.
As such, I consider myself a native bilingual, even though I’m always learning new things, especially now at university as I am getting more exposed to academia and academic writing. These are skills that I’m still polishing in my college years.
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Yarelis Marcial Acevedo
My experience with the English language was somewhat challenging. I was placed in an English immersion school when I didn’t know anything about the language. So naturally, I had a difficult time when it came to homework and tests; for this reason, I was constantly being assisted by home tutors and teachers. My progress, I considered was slower than other kids, because I did not use English often. Outside of school, I would only communicate in Spanish as it was the only language my parents and family knew, so I only used English for those few hours I was in school.
When I reached middle school, I was placed in a program called Read 180, which helped me develop my vocabulary and writing skills, but my speaking skills were somewhat underdeveloped. Because I feared being made fun of for not able to speak correctly and as fluent as others, I tried to avoid using English to communicate. After a few years, when I became somewhat proficient in English was when I started to become comfortable communicating with others. I started to speak to my friends in English and started to use it to communicate with others when I traveled.
In the present, I do consider to be proficient in my writing, reading, and speaking skills as it is basically the language I use most often to communicate with others. It is also the language I feel more comfortable with especially when it comes to expressing myself. Though sometimes I feel a little self-conscious because I have trouble pronouncing certain words, I don’t feel as nervous as before. In general, I think I could improve my speaking skills a little better when it comes to pronunciation.
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I believe my English language learning experience began when I was in preschool. However, I managed to get a better grasp of the language around 4th grade, thanks to the influence of my older brothers and TV shows. Also, I have family members that live in California who feel more comfortable speaking English rather than Spanish.
In school, I remember being able to speak English with most of my friends casually, not only during class but also during our free time and outside of school. Later on, I switched to a private school, where I found English classes to be a little more challenging in terms of the academic load and difficulty. Nevertheless, it also aided me in developing better reading and writing skills.
Based on my experience and familiarity with the language, I consider myself to be a proficient English speaker and fully bilingual. Although, every day I continue to learn more in college. This is specially due to the fact that I regularly have to write academic papers and essays in English. In addition, I am expected to be able to make oral presentations in English in many of my classes. Thanks to which, generally, I don’t feel nervous talking in English with others or in public.
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When I was a little girl, around four years old, I remember hearing my two big brothers speak English. By the time I was born, they were living in Michigan for two years and came back to Puerto Rico speaking fluent English. I remember that in school, one of them began to taught me some words or phrases like “Do you speak English?” or “Do you understand me?”. By that time, I didn’t knew how to respond.
I began to understand more in school because classes were bilingual. I just speak English when I go to vacation to certain places where people only understand this language or sometimes when I text I do it in Spanglish. I think I can defend myself as an English speaker considering is my second language. I don’t have a problem with reading or writing in English, but I’m shy speaking it. I think I can be better at the language speaking it more and stop being so shy when I have to speak it when it’s necessary or in public.
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Alondra Morales Roman:
My English learning experience was a mixture of television, music, school and my family. I don’t have any exact memory of when I started speaking English but I do know that I started picking it up before 1st grade. My sister speaks perfect English and we use it all the time at home but, my mother even thought she speaks good English she barely uses it unless she needs it. On the other hand my friends from high school do speak it all the time, my college friends barely speak it on a day to day basis. The school where I come from really emphasizes English as a necessity so it was always taught ever since I arrived. There would be rules such as no Spanish in the classroom so that we had to speak English for everything, even asking to go to the bathroom.
I do use it in my day to day life. I sometimes find myself forgetting Spanish words and saying them in English even if it’s a very basic word. I believe I am a proficient English speaker. Sure there’s still room to improve but I believe that I can cover all the bases (speaking, writing, etc.). I think that I could really practice my speaking because it’s been two years since I graduated high school and ever since I don’t really use it every day as much as I did and my English speaking cracks and sometimes I mispronounce a word that two years ago I could perfectly say without a second thought. I normally get nervous because I’m talking in public and the language isn’t really my source of anxiety when it comes to talk in public.
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Personally, I find it quite difficult to describe my language learning experience when it comes to English. Much like Spanish, I don’t actually remember how I learned it. This is somewhat peculiar because only a few people in my life speak English; namely my dad and a few friends. Most likely I just absorbed it from the exorbitant amounts of exposure I had to it with the various kinds of media that I have consumed since I was little.
Despite the fact that I was lucky enough to attend a private school, I wouldn’t really attribute my skills in English to my formal education seeing as the teachings there were relatively subpar. Moreover, at least among the students, it was usually considered “odd” whenever people spoke English outside of the classroom; so, I’ve never really engaged with it or spoken it outside of class. In spite of all of this, however, I do remember learning some new words and phrases in school, so I can’t really say it wasn’t instructive at all.
Although confidence isn’t really my strong suit, my English is one of the things I’m genuinely confident about. Whether it be writing, reading, or speaking it, I’m certain I can do it all at least competently. Because of this, I do consider myself as a proficient English speaker. In terms of how I could improve my English, I do believe that vocabulary is something that we can always improve upon no matter the level of proficiency we have in any given language due to the virtually infinite amount of words that exist. When it comes to speaking publicly, however, my nervousness usually stems from factors outside of the language I happen to be speaking in; such as if it’s for a grade.
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1) I first started learning english in school here in Puerto Rico it was fairly difficult since the english they thought was pretty simple it wasnt until i started watching movies in english and tv shows where my english began to actually form. My family and friends pretty much all speak english pretty well i like communicating in english most of the time because it feels more compact and short.
2)Learning english in school here in Puerto Rico wasnt that great every class felt like i was being treated like a child instead of actually pushing me to improve my english it wasnt until i started going to schools in the united states where my english started improving drastically since i was basically forced to learn it.
3)Yes i definitely do speak english outside of school with my friends and family specially with my friends and its because its simple fast i get to the point quicker and youtube and popular trends nowadays kind of pushed me into speaking english more.
4)I feel like im good with my english in all general areas i dont have a thick accent but it is sometimes noticeable specially when im nervous and also reading and writing i feel like im pretty good at it even though some grammar mistakes slip here and there sometimes.
5)I would say if improved on my accent i think i could get better and maybe my grammar too i understand english pretty well and i feel like if i read in english i can understand the material much better than if i read it in spanish.
6)I definitely do get nervous but its mostly because of other variables not really because of my accent or anything when i did first arrive in the united states i was so nervous to speak english because of my accent and so i pretty much spent my whole 6th grade year not speaking to anybody it wasnt until 7th grade where i said whatever and i started speaking in my thick english accent.
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Since I was really young English was a big part of my development. Even though Spanish was the main language that was always spoken in my house, English was present in my home by being on the TV, stories and toys I had as a kid. I remember when I went to school and was formally introduced to English, I had a basic knowledge of it. I did had a slight confusion while learning the language when it came to writing and why the sounds of letters differed so much from Spanish. My parents and close friends do speak English but only when necessary and also we use it a lot in our social media content. As I said, I only speak English only when I feel necessary, so outside the scholar aspect the time I use it is when I watch TV, social media, and even in my work. I consider myself to have an extensive English vocabulary and understanding but there is always room for more and think I can extend it if I took the time and interest to read books. I have had a great number of interactions in public that the only way of communicating was via English, in my work or just any situation where the other person does not know any Spanish. I am very comfortable using my English and like having interactions where its the main way of communicating because that is how I test my knowledge and also learn more.
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1. I was born in Puerto Rico but my mom is from New York and additionally is an elementary English teacher; so learning English was always just natural in my family. Although I’m pretty sure I learned English and Spanish at the same time, I have no recollection of learning Spanish and that has always made me feel like I learned English first. My mom’s entire side is from Manhattan so learning English was motivated by that as well as the fact that the only native Spanish speaker in the house was my father. The lack of a relationship with him caused me to master English becauase I only needed to speak English. Apart from that however, most of my friends and neighbors only spoke Spanish; so each time I would go out I would learn Spanish. But as I grew up, the Spanish I came to learn was strictly Puerto Rican Spanish and a lot of slang.
2. I was placed in private school all my life with the use of Abeka books. That and my mom being an English teacher from New York gave me the privilege to learn and master English academically.
3. I speak English probably an 80% of the time. I usually just codeswitch and mainly just speak English witch my mom. Whenever I get angry or upset or have to explain something I choose Spanish.
4. I do believe myself to be proficient in English. I love both Spanish and English however I think I excel more in English which is one of the reasons why decided to pursue the academic field/career.
5. An area I need to improve is definitely my vocabulary. When writing I usually rely on the same structure of sentences because I lack a diverse set of vocabulary and when writing an extensive paper I tend to repeat things excessively. It’s something I definitely have to work on because I genuinely enjoy writing papers and long essays but every time I proof read I see the same structured sentences.
6. I get nervous speaking to others and in public in general but here in Puerto Rico I don’t get nervous speaking to others in English. However whenever I go to the US, I get really nervous because I always codeswitch and having to speak strictly English makes me get nervous so when I speak, I try to find the correct words but also have to control my need to codeswitch and sometimes I end up screwing up and feeling anxious.
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Since my two old brothers have lived in the US most of the time of their lives, I have been introduced to English since I was in a very young age. They always talked to me in English so I could learn to speak it with them. When I entered to Primary School, I was able to comprehend well my English teacher and develop effectively in the class. Mostly, I owe my two brothers my first experience with the language before school.
In my family, my parents are the less that know the language, because they stopped practicing English a long time ago. I consider that their actual level of knowledge of English is very low and “patia’o” like most of the Baby Boomers generation consider their English. My old brothers, like I mentioned before, and also my old sister know the language pretty well like I do, but much more my brothers since they have direct contact and influence with the language by living in a country that has English as its official language. My friends also speak English, at least, the majority.
My experience learning English in school was pretty easy since I have practiced it constantly with my brothers through phone calls. I have been very fluid in my speaking, writing and reading; and today, I keep adding knowledge in my daily process of learning the language in College and out of College with my friends. I remember that, when I was in High School, I used to speak English with my friends to practice ir more, because we were taking a course of Advanced English, so we were constantly speaking it, writing it and reading it out loud.
Personally, I consider myself as a good speaker and reader of English as a second language, but I think that I’m better writing it. In College, I still speak it with my friends and classmates, and also with brothers and my boyfriend and his sister. I think I could be better in the developing of my reading and speaking skills as well as in my writing skills with more practice. Reading out loud is a custom of mine which I consider that could help me to get better, also, keeping communication with people who knows better the language than I do, in order to apprehend new knowledges from them as we practice the language, and I learn better the pronunciation of words, which is one of my flaws.
Usually, I get a little nervous at first when I speak in English, because I do not know how some words are supposed to be pronunciated, but when I begin to talk, eventually everything starts to flow and the nervousness passes while I get more confident of myself and with the interaction with others.
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I’ve known elements of English for as long as I can remember, even though it has very clearly improved drastically throughout my childhood. Obviously, school played a major part in my linguistic education, but there were other elements in my life beyond school that arguably taught me how to dominate the language sooner. While it is hard to pinpoint exactly when I started to care about it, I can confidently say it was because of the entertainment industry, especially video games and books. Not only did I directly learn more about the language I saw displayed on screen and paper, it also indirectly helped me meet other people with similar interests that also spoke English, which helped me to develop my skills further. English class in school mostly provided supplementary education for a language I was already using, just like Spanish class. When it comes to my family, like most Puerto Ricans, they understand and speak English on a formal level, but rarely use it casually, so my learning experience was mostly based on school, entertainment, and social groups, which seems to be the most common learning experience nowadays. To this day, I still use English as much as I use Spanish, sometimes even more. My friends and I use it to play video games, use social media, and in most social activities. It’s become our “comfort language”, a colloquial form of communication. Personally, I consider myself to be proficient in the language. Not perfect at it, but pretty good. I could probably improve by acquiring more vocabulary and definitions. By “definitions” I mean the definitions of words I understand but get stuck trying to describe or translate to Spanish if I’m asked to, for example. While I’m proficient when I’m in comfortable scenarios, I get somewhat nervous trying to speak English in formal ones, but not in the traditional way. It feels like my skills drop to the minimum when I’m forced to speak it, like when I talk to a native speaker. It might even seem like I think in English most of the time, but when I’m forced to speak it, my mind switches to Spanish and I get stuck translating my thoughts.
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My experience with the English language began when I learned to speak fluently in Spanish. I remember that when I spoke more or less well in Spanish, my father taught me some words in English, since he was born in the United States and wanted to take me to live there. At school, my learning in English began to grow more and more. My elementary school teachers taught me the basics and some things that I already knew. I don’t feel comfortable speaking English since I am very shy. For the same reason, sometimes it is hard for me to speak in public in Spanish even though it is my mother tongue .I do not speak much at school, but I have traveled to New York and I have felt compelled to practice my English in public. I feel that I understand perfectly the English language, but at the moment of speaking it I am not the best. I need a lot of practice with pronunciation and I must also work with shyness. I think that I have lost many opportunities and benefits for not daring to try. Nerves invade my body every time I have to speak in English, even if I practice and know that I do it well. It is a problem that I have since I was a child and I hope to be able to reinforce my skills as long as I continue advancing in my university career and in life.
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1. I first began to learn English when I was in first grade. Learning it in school combined with watching tv in English helped me pick up on the language fairly quick. I normally spoke it in classes and with friends, but I almost never spoke it with my family.
2. My experience to learn it was great as I learned a lot from an early age and it made it easier to digest new things. It was also easier to learn as all of my classes except Spanish were taught in English which meant all the new things I learned in school were in English and we had to continually speak English throughout the whole school day,
3. Nowadays I rarely speak English outside of school. I do so on occasion with friends and professional events. Living in Puerto Rico, English is not talked a lot throughout a normal day.
4. I do consider myself to be a proficient speaker of English to the degree I am quite confident in having conversations with other English speakers even though I prefer to do so in Spanish. I also feel more comfortable reading and writing in English than in Spanish.
5. I believe I can become better by improving my English conversation skills. I do not feel 100% with them, but I am quite confident enough to have normal conversations with English first language speakers. Another thing I can improve on is in expanding my vocabulary further from where it currently stands.
6. I do not get nervous speaking English with my friends, but I do get sometimes get nervous speaking it in public because I don’t like to make mistakes in front of people that I don’t really know.
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1. The first time I got exposed to the English language was at my elementary school, I was 7 years old. At first It was difficult for me adapting to the language because I only practiced it at school. Although every member of my family speaks English, we only communicate in Spanish at home.
2. I would describe my learning experience as a challenging yet exciting journey. During my early years, I had a passionate and intense English teacher, who inspired my improvement in the language and helped me develop.
3. When I´m out of campus, I don´t have full conversations in English,unless its necessary. Normally, I speak Spanish or Spanglish in casual situations and English in academic environments.
4. I consider myself to be a proficient English speaker. However, sometimes I get anxious within conversations. My reading and writing skills are strong.
5. I think I could be better if I work my way out of my linguistic anxiety and start having more conversations in English. Also, expanding my vocabulary would improve my communication abilities.
6. Sometimes I get pretty nervous in conversations but I work my way trough it. It is more frequent in academic atmospheres than in coloquial ones.
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Kaishmarie Alicea Romero:
Learning English became a necessity to me at the age of five. Due to difficult times here on the island, my mom decided to send me and my brother to the state of Indiana with our dad. I first learned the language in my new home because my stepmom and half-brother are full on Americans; speaking English was the only way I was able to communicate with them. Most of my family speaks English as a second language because many of them live in the United States. Due to the English language being such an immense part of my childhood, this involving taste in music and TV shows, almost all my friends and people I grew up with speak English as a second or first language too. Living in the US at five years old, in a hugely Americanized state, meant going to a school where people mainly spoke the English language. My experience learning the language in school was quite smooth and simple due to me being exposed to it at such a young age.English in Puerto Rican schools was way more basic, so to me it was incredibly easy to go forward with the material given in class. Presently, I often speak English to maintain contact with my siblings that reside in Indiana. The language plays a big role in my daily life, meaning that settings in my electronic devices, channels I watch, music I listen to, and just regular day to day activities are wrapped in the English dialect. Due to me being open to learning this type of speech at five years old, I learned it the way native speakers express it; because of this I consider myself to be a proficient speaker, writer, and reader of the language. It’s been almost 12 years since I moved back to Puerto Rico, and even though I have English all around me, it isn’t a necessary way of communicating for my family unit here, than it was for me seeing the context I was in. Since I have become indirectly distant from native speakers of the language, I’d say I could be better at my pronunciation. I mostly get nervous when talking to those who have the English dialect as a mother tongue (my siblings at most), because I feel as if I’m mispronouncing concepts or that my Hispanic/American accent is way overpowering (almost like if I were to get made fun of due to my accent). Speaking the language in Puerto Rico is a lot more relaxing because I am sure that most of the island’s natives speak it to the extent (maybe less) that I do.
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Jyan L.Ballester Velazquez
English has been a smooth learning experience for me since the beginning, fast and simple. Ive first learn it on school and at my house because I use to watch almos everything in English. My family speaks it a bit as well as people I meet on a daily basis
In school, English was only treated as educational language, so besides its class, we never did use it in other classes, but even then, teachers always expose us to conversational English, which made learning it smooth
I talk English a lot outside school, almost to the point I would considerer it my mother tongue, I speak it with people I meet irl and online medias
I would consider myself a almost(kinda like the middle ground) proficient at speaking English, having some words that get “twisted”/”rile up”
I think I could improve and be better with it of I were to practice speaking English more, but also speak it with different accents
I never get nervous talking English around people
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1. I don’t remember exactly when I learned English, but I know I learned it at a young age thanks to the TV and later improved in school when I got older. My family and friends do speak English but I don’t speak to them.
2. I personally had a good education in English when I was young until I reached High School because I din’t learn anything new.
3. I don’t speak in English very often out of school with the exception of some friends.
4. I don’t consider myself a proficient English speaker in some areas even though I understand it because I don’t practice it enough. I do consider my English reading much better than my Spanish reading, my English speaking is decent and my English writing needs improvement.
5. I think I could improve it if I spoke English more often with my friends.
6. I don’t get nervous speaking to other people in English.
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Juxxara Ortiz Silvestry
1. I’ve been teached English since I was a kid in school, however I didn’t really pay attention to it till 8th grade or so. Even then I only used to speak it in class or when necessary. When I traveled to Australia I was forced to use it but I would feel myself uncomfortable speaking it. After that trip in my senior year I went to New Hampshire as an Exchange student in a Linguistic Immersion program. There I was able to manage my English properly and was able to maintain a conversation without being uncomfortable. In my immediate family only my sister and I speak it, most of my friend speak it.
2. I started learning English in 8th grade or so, even though I’ve been taking it since elementary school, I think I started learning it because a necessity, I needed to pass my class and be able to participate. Later on I kept learning it because I wanted to.
3. In a normal basis if I don’t need to I don’t speak English, with my friends I speak Spanish, sometimes we speak English as a practice but nothing more. I only use it when I travel or know someone who prefers speak English.
4. I consider myself “proficient” only because of the fact that I feel confident/comfortable speaking English with native speakers. I do think I could get better at my writing and reading skills even though I consider it’s pretty good.
5. I could be better if I expose myself more going to places whose native language is English so I would be forced to speak it.
6. I don’t get nervous speaking English to native speakers but for some reason I could sometimes get nervous if I’m speaking it with someone whose native language is Spanish.
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My english learning experience was a long process. I can say that i started to really learn English approximately in 9th grade. My family doesn’t speak English. The only ones who speak ir are me and my brother. Like i said before, learning English was a long process for me, my school wasn’t the best teaching it. I like this language but i only use it when is necessary. For example i travel a lot with my parents so basically i’m his translator. I don’t consider myself a proficient speaker, i have a lot to learn and improve with my English. I consider i can improve my English skills obviously practicing more, participating in class and not be afraid to be wrong. I always get a little nervous speaking in public, even more speaking english, but is something that i can control and improve.
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I don’t remember when I learned English. Since I was a little girl, I have always spoken in English and Spanish. In my house, my family has always spoken both languages. My dad is not Puerto Rican and he has always spoken to us in English and Spanish, as well as his side of the family. I grew up watching TV, listening to music and reading in English. Because of all of this, English classes always came easy for me. It was my favorite class in school, and I had a great English teacher in high school that really helped me grow. In school, I spoke “spanglish” with my friends. Nowadays, I have a lot of friends and family with whom I am constantly code-switching. I am also very comfortable speaking with native English speakers, and I have a couple that I talk to on a weekly basis. I have family members and friends that only speak English. I don’t get nervous speaking in English. During my third year of college, I began working as a tutor at the English Writing Center at UPRM and that has helped me further improve my English writing and reading skills. I do realize that because I am constantly code switching, sticking to one language can be sometimes hard for me and I need to practice more my fluency in English because I speak more in Spanish but read mainly in English. Sometimes when I speak in one language, my brain is thinking in another. Still, I consider myself a proficient speaker, almost native speaker.
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I don’t remember when I learned English. Since I was a little girl, I have always spoken in English and Spanish. In my house, my family has always spoken both languages. My dad is not Puerto Rican and he has always spoken to us in English and Spanish, as well as his side of the family. I grew up watching TV, listening to music and reading in English. Because of all of this, English classes always came easy for me. It was my favorite class in school, and I had a teacher in high school that really helped me grow. In school, I spoke “spanglish” with my friends. Nowadays, I have a lot of friends and family with whom I am constantly code-switching. I am also very comfortable speaking with native English speakers, and I have a couple that I talk to on a weekly basis. I have family members and friends that only speak English. I don’t get nervous speaking in English. During my third year of college, I began working as a tutor at the English Writing Center at UPRM and that has helped me further improve my English writing and reading skills. I do realize that because I am constantly code switching, sticking to one language can be sometimes hard for me and I need to practice more my fluency in English because I speak more in Spanish but read mainly in English. Sometimes when I speak in one language, my brain is thinking in another. Still, I consider myself a proficient speaker, almost native speaker.
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I was first introduced to English at school, that’s when my English learning experience started. In my family just my dad and my brother know and are proficient in English. However, no one has ever spoken it at my home. My dad learned English at college and I think my brother learned at private school. My group of friends from school did not speak it neither understand it; my group of friends at college are familiarized with the language because they all studied in privates’ bilinguals’ schools.
At elementary school I didn’t liked the English classes therefore I never pay any attention or gave any importance to them. Although, in middle school I started to get interested in learning the language. I remember I started to watch movies and TV shows with English subtitles when I was in 8th grade. I would describe my English learning experience in school slow and basic.
I do not really engage with English outside of an academic environment. No one speaks English at my house and my friends do not speak it when we are hanging out. Sometimes I interact with the language on social media but nothing else. Thus, I do not consider myself a proficient English speaker. Even thought I do not speak it at all, I do understand if I read it or heard someone speaking English. My writing skills are not that great neither. I think I could be better if I leave behind my anxiety to speak the language and practice having conversations in English more often. Whenever I have to speak in English in public, I got so anxious. Since I know I am not proficient at English it makes me nervous to say something wrong or mispronounce some words.
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When it comes to my English learning experience, I can’t recall how I came to learn it. But I can say that most of my English vocabulary is heavily influenced by cartoons and video games since as a child I used to spend my time playing and watching tv. When it comes to my friends and family most of them know English since part of my family lives in the U.S. and all my friends did receive a good education. English in my school was pretty good since most of its lessons were advance for each grade (one grade ahead).
In my daily life, I do engage in various conversations, since in the place I work it is visited by tourists who only speak English and apart from that when I must speak to family members. When I was a little younger, I did get nervous when I had to engage in conversations, but nowadays I don’t get as nervous as I use to before. all and all I do consider my self a fair speaker and reader of the language but hope that with more daily practice I can get to do better when interacting and writing.
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I’ve spoken English all of my life. My first language was English due to the fact that my dad was born in Canada and my grandparents from my dad’s side are both Indian and Dutch, so I had to learn English first for them. I learned more grammar and pronunciation in school because my school’s main language was also English, meaning that all of the clases were in English minus the Spanish class. I do speak the language outside of school because all of my friends and family speak it normally. I consider myself a ‘proficient’ speaker, because I prefer reading, music, movies, and tv shows in english. Still my skills could better by learning better grammar and pronunciation. I acknowledge that both need work. I get nervous while I speak english in public but I still feel more comfortable speaking in english than I do with spanish. Either way I get very nervous speaking infront of a group of people.
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1. I learned English mostly through TV, since my brother’s themselves are quite proficient at English and preferred it in TV or music.
2. I always found it quite easy, for which I always got good grades but I never really put much effort and it showed, especially in the writing aspect.
3. I do it a lot, with family and friends sometimes even at school, when I can’t express myself in Spanish I’ll usually find it easier in English.
4. I consider myself proficient and quite fluent in English, and in some areas even better than Spanish.
5. As I mentioned earlier writing has been an area in which I should focus more on improving, especially since I’ve never really been good at it in either language.
6. I don’t really get nervous talking in English to a person or in public, and if I do its not necessarily because of the language and more to do with the situation I’m in.
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Ever since I was little I studied in private schools that could be considered bilingual, but it wasn’t until I started traveling to the United States to see my aunt that I got a proper exposure to what English was. After that, I started reading and watching series only in English and that allowed me to obtain a good knowledge of it. Mostly I can communicate with my friends in English because my family only speaks Spanish all the time.
Back when I was in Highschool I only used English in some classes but now that I’m an English major I use it all the time and only use Spanish in certain parts of the university like in the cafeteria.
I use English outside of school when I’m in social media to interact with people because I feel more comfortable doing this than with Spanish. I feel like I can express myself and communicate better with English so this makes me think that I am very proficient when it comes to speaking it. I am also a fast and reader and a decent writer. I always like to expand my knowledge regarding formal language use and words which I don’t know the meaning of.
Even if I do believe that over the years I’ve acquired a proficient level of English I get very nervous about speaking it when I’m with strangers or a person with authority, so my accent gets very noticeable. Yet most of the time this never happens with my classmates or friends.
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1. I have been learning English since my first year of school in 2005, in Corpus Christi. We as a family, never used to practice it in home. I think that my family and I mostly know the basics of this language. About my friends, we speak English usually in specific situations, not in the daily life.
2. My school gave me a lot of work and assignments every day. It was a bilingual school, however, English is not my strength. I don’t liked English, it had been always a little tricky for me.
3. Honestly, never. I just speak when I have to, but not for fun or as my language.
4. No, I am definitely not proficient in English. I have an ugly accent and I have some problems when it refers to organizing words for coherence.
5. I think that the only way that I will be better is speaking it for need in other country.
6. I think that’s the worst part. I don’t like to speak it, I forget the language, I don’t feel skilled speaking English.
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I learned English at a very young age. I learned it, more or less at the same time I was learning Spanish, therefore I consider both languages my native languages. I started learning in preschool when I was 3 years old. My sister and both my parents speak English, but we usually speak Spanish at home. Most of my friends speak English as well.
My school was an all English school, therefore learning English was emphasized and very important. I learned at a very young age, so once I entered kindergarten I already had background knowledge of the language. Then I continued learning as I grew up, expanding my vocabulary and learning how to read and write.
When I was in high school I engaged with English more because I had a lot of friends who spoke only English, so I would speak English in and out of school. Now in university I use English only for my English classes and the occasional code switching with my friends.
I can speak, read and write in English, therefore I do consider myself to be “proficient.”
Something I can improve would be my writing in English. I’m an okay writer because I can express my ideas clearly, but I could definitely improve my semantics and syntax.
I don’t get nervous speaking to others in English, I consider English one of my native languages.
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My English learning experience began as a child. I don’t quite remember learning it, much like I don’t remember actually learning Spanish. My father was always very adamant about us learning English, so we were only allowed to watch TV in English. Both my parents are proficient in the English language, but they learned it as adults and thus struggled with acquiring a second language, and continue to do so; which is why, I assume, it was so important for them to teach us the language from a young age.
In school, my experience with English often left something to be desired. The teachers tried their best but spoke more Spanish than English because most students struggled to understand them. Nevertheless, by the time we graduated, most people had at least a basic understanding and ability to speak the language.
I do speak English outside of school. All of my friends speak English and we regularly code switch between languages depending on what feels most conducive to the conversation. My family also speaks and understands the language well. Therefore, I would say I use both languages to the same extent depending on which makes me feel most comfortable at the moment. It can also depend on whether I am able to remember a word in either language; meaning that, if I remember the main concepts in Spanish, I’ll speak that language and if the main concepts come to mind in English, I’ll continue with that language in conversation.
I am a proficient English speaker, reader and writer. Not only was I one before college, but I am currently an English mayor. Nonetheless, my pronunciation could use improvement and there is always room for expansion in the vocabulary department.
Mostly, I don’t get nervous talking to others in English or doing so in public while in Puerto Rico. Unfortunately, I can’t say the same for when I am in the United States. Although I am well aware of my capacity and ability as a speaker, there is always that little part of that knows my pronunciation isn’t always the best. But it happens only in the US. When I visit other countries, using English as a lingua franca can be the simplest solution and, thus, it becomes easier to speak the language.
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My experiences with English started when I was farily young, mostly because I have two older sisters, one of which is almost ten years older than me. Any experience I had with English prior to entering pre school would have been due to them, and consuming shows, movies or even video games with them. I know that I had at least an hour of English a day one I started pre-kindergarten in a private school when I was four years old. Because both of my older sisters were also being taught English I always had somebody to practice with. My mom, who I spent the majority of my time with, does now know English, but my dad does. Around fourth grade is when we started consistenly reading short stories and making oral presentations in school. I also participated in spelling bees from second to fourth grade. By the sixth grade I was consistently watching shows and movies in English, ocasionally with Spanish subtitles. Once I entered middle school, I was fairly proficient and I would practice constantly with friends but I was very shy about speaking it to native speakers. The English classes I took always alternated between focusing on grammar and reading comprehension.
As an English major not only am I always using English for my classes but I’ve gotten into the habit of talking to my friends in English even when they’re speaking to me in Spanish. As far as being fluent in English goes, I don’t think there are any notable areas of improvement left for me. Any issues I have in English I most likely have in Spanish as well. Additionally, I’ve effectively shaken off any nerves I ever had about speaking to native speakers, or generally in public, in English, proven by my experience as an exchange student in New Hampshire.
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My English learning experience was influenced more by videogames and cartoons rather than learning in school as one is suppose to do. I started learning English since I was a little boy when my parents gave me a PlayStation 1. Since that moment I started to understand that language based on the missions of the video game. I related words to what I was suppose to do in the game. In my family I am the only one that can write, speak and understand English. Where I am from not to many people speak English so it wasn’t very fluent until I got to college and joined the ARMY. There I learned how to speak it more fluently and more proper since is an English environment, that means that we can only speak that language.
In school I didn’t learned English as I was supposed to in my opinion, it was pretty basic since I was in a public school and even in the English class we spoke Spanish. Back then I didn’t speak English outside the English class but right now I think at least most of my days right now I have to speak English. I consider my self proficient in this language since I still have trouble understanding sentences if I don’t know the meaning of a word and I still need to work on how to express my self while a talk or write.
I could get better in this language if I only look up for more documental or informative videos that can help me speak more proper since I don’t know a plethora of words that can make my vocabulary bigger and better. I used to get nervous because I usually speak fast and in English I get stuck and the words don’t want to get out of my mouth. But right now I think I got better in that part.
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I first learned english as a child in kindergarten, its safe to say spanish was my first language or the language i was taught at home but english came close behind it, as soon as i began going to school. I consider myself equally competent in both languages.
My experience learning english in school was mandatory given the fact I was born and grew up in Florida, every single class I took was in english. Except for now and then I would take spanish class in elementary school because of Miami being a very hispanic influenced city.
I do engage and speak english outside of school it tends to be more of spanglish or a sudden switch between dialects to emphasize certain words, I do it quite often.
I consider myself a proficient speaker in english, I believe I have an expansive vocabulary and I read and write fluently.
I could be better in conversation because at times when switching between English and Spanish I get caught up in certain words or loose my train of thought.
I don’t tend to get nervous talking to others in english but I feel like I would if I was in a very professional or prestigious academic setting. But I also believe I would be nervous in any language if that was the case.
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