I interviewed Mark, an applied sciences student, about his experience in learning English at school.
Mark told me that he really enjoys learning English, so I asked him how he improves the language. Mark told me that he always tries to improve his level. In order to do so he practices every day in different ways, not only studying. For example he said that he changed the language settings of his phone toEnglish so that he can practice the language without even noticing it and he can learn new vocabulary related to technology.
Mark told me that another method he uses to improve his English is listening to music and trying to understand the lyrics so that he can develop his listening and pronunciation. He does the same when he watches films or TV series in English. Mark told me that he has a method to learn new vocabulary every day, he looks up the “Word of the Day” on the Internet and he learns the meaning of that word so that he can learn a new word each day and at the end of the year he knows 365 new words. I found this method really interesting and useful to widen your knowledge quite easily.
Then I asked him what, in his opinion, was the best way to learn English at school. According to my friend, the best way to study English is by taking notes in class, in English of course, and asking the teacher if he doesn’t understand.
After that I asked his opinion on the mastering of the language, in particular my questions were what the most challenging skill to develop was and if it is useful to master grammar to learn a language.He replied that, in his opinion, the most difficult skill to develop is speaking, because it includes a series of other skills, like listening and pronunciation, and it requires a lot of practice to be good at it. Mark added that it is essential to master grammar because it is the base of a language. Another question on this topic I asked him was about the importance of getting to know something about the culture of the country to speak the language. Mark answered that this element is useful but not essential.
After that I asked him about his experience in speaking or understanding English. Mark told me that if he can’t say something he tries to use synonyms or he rephrases concepts and ideas. He also added that he watches films in English with subtitles to improve his skills. He believes that making experience abroad is the best and easiest way to improve a language and that he looks forward to having the opportunity to do so.
One last point is about his experience in talking to people in English. Mark told me that, he usually doesn’t find it difficult to speak in English with other people, native or not, but sometimes he might have trouble understanding a word due to some unfamiliar accents. Mark told me about an episode in which he talked to foreign people in English. He was on vacation with his family and he and his brother wanted to make friends with local people, so one day they met a group of French teenagers and started talking in English. At first, it wasn’t easy to understand what they were saying because of the French accent, but eventually he got used to it. At the end he was very happy and proud because he managed to have his first authentic conversation in English with foreign people.