The first time I read an english word I was 8 or 9 years old. My parents bought me a computer game to learn a little bit of English by having fun. I remember I really enjoyed it and since that time I knew English became important for me. I knew I wanted to learn fluently that language because it pleased me simply.
Then, I started secondary school, place where I really started to learn conjugation and grammar English. English classes bored me because the professor was not interesting at all. We had list of vocabulary we had to learn by heart and each world we had to write five-ten times in a notebook. the teacher used that method to be sure we memorized well english words. The second year of my secondary school, I had the luck to have another English teacher. The best of all. The one who launched my deep interest for English. At the beginning of the year, she told us she will give us penfriends according to our point of interest and our personality in order it fits the best it could in the exchange. I had the luck to fall on a nice english girl called Roma Coates. She liked very much sport like me, was funny and spoke French quite good.
She went to France one week during christmas holidays and then I went to hers one week on Spring holidays. I remember at the beginning of our meeting I was scared because my english was not good and at that time I was shier than today. I realized after that experience I made progress in English, because we helped each other to understand some aspects of our respective language and we didn’t have the choice we had to find a way to understand each other. To make progress, you must go out of your competence circle, your comfort zone.
I had an other approach of English and English people in general that’s why I began to find English very interesting, captivating and useful. Two years after I decided to see her again. We planned a four day’s trip in London (I felt in love of this lovely and colourful city). Then, I spent one week in Wisbech at her town. We still keep in touch and normally we should see each other this Winter in Meribel because she comes to France to work in a ski resort. It’s the opportunity!
My link with this language changed a lot in the best possible way. Scholar system in general doesn’t help to appreciate each discipline in her fair value. Fortunately, if you are motivated, if you achieve to release yourself of all that system which is imposed to you, if you can change you state-mind it’s possible to like something and success in it. You just need to release from all that vices that’s the beginning of pleasure in what you want to do, to undertake.
