HOW DID I LEARN ENGLISH?

Since I was a child, I have been learning English from simple themes like animals and colors
to complex themes like mixed conditionals and tenses. However, my first encounter with the
matter was when I was six years old in first grade. My teacher´s name was Nancy, she was
incredible. She taught me a song about a little fish and I used to sing it everywhere. She not
only taught me a hilarious song, but also she made me feel secure in an unknown field, a new
language. Despite my efforts to be the best girl on class, I never got it. I remember especially
an English quiz in which I didn’t know how to answer so I decided to draw a mermaid sitting
on a rainbow in order to persuade the teacher about my grade. I failed.
To get a bad grade is a terrible situation when you are at school. So, over time I tried to be
my best in order to get good grades. However, in high school, I could see the difference
between good marks and the actual knowledge that you can apply in real life. On ninth grade,
I met an English institute called “carry on English” on my hometown Duitama. My mother
decided to enroll me in this informal course because she said that I had a lot of spare time
(she wanted to rid me of bad friends). There, I had the chance to meet Mark Hammer. I used
to call him “Mark Martillo” in a friendly way. This garage institute provided me the
opportunity to know English in a funny and interesting subject, instead of I had learned for
ten years at school.
Mark Martillo, an English atheist became on my tutor not only of grammar English but also
about my view of life. I remembered our first lesson, he asked me an explanation about
“tamales” because I chose it as my favorite food, I didn’t have any idea about how to explain
my favorite typical food. However, I didn’t keep silence I broke the ice and began with a
poor explanation about its ingredients and preparation I realized about English is more than
a language is a way to foster a culture.
Then, I began with my undergraduate program at the UPTC. Sincerely, I didn’t have a special
reason to select this program I only dreamed of teaching. My mother is the best teacher in
the world, she seeded on my heart the need to do something which could make a difference
in our context. Despite her attempts to persuade me to study any other thing instead of
teaching. She failed. A long my experience as a pre- service teacher I have been meeting
amazing teachers and also so lazy professors.
However, the best decision I could make was to take part in an NGO called AIESEC through
my experience as a volunteer I have discovered my department an also my country. The best
moment on the organization was meeting to Natalia, she did her volunteer experience on
Combita the last year. She is Dutch and we only could talk on English, her accent was as
weird as mine, but we could be friends. She is vegetarian and her favorite thing in life is to
listen soundtracks of classic movies, it was like have Holland on my contact list. English was
my best tool for our strong relationship. Learn a new language provides me the opportunity
to meet valuable people and also, leave on their hearts a little bit about Colombia and myself.
For that reason, I continue improving my English skills to make this kind of experiences the
most spontaneous as possible. Daniela Maritza Rodríguez López.